The term "Latinx" has gained much popularity in some higher education spaces, yet its meaning to and use by those categorized as such has remained unexplored. In this study, we employ narrative inquiry and the lens of Critical Race Feminism to understand how Latinx has evolved into an identity for three individuals who embrace Latinx as…

Teacher retention is a global problem, and why individuals choose the teaching profession can help sustain teacher motivation. This study surveyed 29 predominately Mexican American female students enrolled in the College of Education at a border university in South Texas. The participants were selected using convenience sampling from two courses…

While the number of Hispanic undergraduate students enrolled in higher education has more than doubled in the past 15 years, graduation rates for this population continues to be well below that of white students. Understanding the unique life experiences of bicultural Hispanic undergraduate students becomes vital for higher education professionals…

We used the psychosociocultural framework to conceptualize, analyze, and narrate the perceptions of 10 Latina women about their mothers' influence and role on their educational persistence in higher education. The Latina undergraduates were upper-division students who were of Mexican descent and sought educational success. To make meaning of the…

Empirical research demonstrates that Chicanx students thrive in an educational setting where Western histories are de-centered, and the core objectives of the curricula are the student's own self-exploration, the discovery of their subjectivity, social change, and learning (Cabrera et al. in Urban Rev 45:7-22, 2013). This critical pedagogical…

Childhood trauma represents a major problem for Mexican Americans in the United States and is associated with the development of both depressive and posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms. Neuroticism is suggested to be a contributing factor in this relationship. Using a cross sectional design, we hypothesized that neuroticism would mediate the…

This transcendental phenomenological study will explore the lived experiences of Southern Texas Mexican American/Chicana women pursuing a doctorate. The Chicana's experience achieving a doctorate has been overlooked by the literature, with much of the research on Mexican American women being outdated or focusing on completing high school or…

Mexican Americans have been native to the United States for centuries, but their educational attainment numbers reflect an achievement gap. This has led to increased poverty levels, low social capital, and low quality of benefits. One way to increase social mobility for a racial group is by increasing the number of bachelor's degree holders.…

Latinas holding doctoral degrees are few and far between in the academic world as compared to their White female counterparts (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2020). We explore a crucial topic of Chicana/Latina feminism, which resists traditional theoretical concepts and methodologies in the field of adult education. Chicana/Latina…

Recognizing that our preservice teachers are experiencing a euro-centered teacher preparation curriculum, this study aimed to explore Chicana preservice teachers' interactions with an array of criticalities focused on a bioregional context that highlighted critical and resistant resources. Chapter 1 surveyed the literature on growing critically…

Objective: We explored the explanatory roles of active and avoidant coping in the link between stress and emotional prosocial behavior in U.S. Mexican college students. Participants: Participants included 148 college students (M[subscript age] = 23 years, 67% female, 84% born in the U.S.) who self-identified as Mexican or U.S. Mexican or noted…

Current student success measures have been shown to be necessary, but insufficient, often masking the successes of specific student populations by virtue of their 4-year institutional centricity, aggregate calculation, and reflection of hegemonic definitions of student success. For far too long, academics and policymakers have valued what they…

Using critical race theory counterstorytelling, I tell a story about the experiences of Mexican/Mexican American/Xicanx (MMAX) undergraduate students at a private, predominantly white university in the Northeast. Drawing on in-depth interviews, participant observations, pláticas, and document analyses, I highlight the various ways MMAX students…

This essay utilizes critical race theory composite counterstorytelling to tell a story about Alberto, a first-generation Xicano doctoral student who is presenting his dissertation research proposal to his qualitative research class. Through Alberto's character, I discuss my complicated process of designing and conducting a research study.…

This study explored 17 bilingual teacher candidates' (bilingual TCs) representations of their lived experience of language via linguistic portraits. Specifically, attention was paid to the semiotic elements (space, place, time, and the body) these bilingual TCs employed and the ways this assemblage of elements formed raciolinguistic chronotopes.…