Lower retention and graduation rates continue to persist among urban and Appalachian student cohorts. However, these two groups have historically been viewed as different and needing different supports to persist in their educational pursuits. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine the experiences of, and integrational supports utilized by…

The study of language contact epitomizes the dynamics of language as a system of human communication. The competing linguistic forces at work when speakers of different language varieties come into contact can be narrowed down to two basic concepts--convergence and divergence. Looking at linguistic areas using a macro approach, languages in…

This research focuses on the underrepresentation of minoritized groups in scientific careers. The study is an analysis of the relationships between race, gender, and those with careers in the sciences, focusing on the lived experiences of Black women physicists, as viewed through the lens of women scientists in the United States. Although the…

Current enrollment trends indicate that women now outnumber men in college enrollment among all racial/ethnic populations (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2002b, 2007), and that a large portion of these students are nontraditional (NT). Today, more than 73% of all students in undergraduate institutions are described as different…

Improving the retention and graduation of African Americans and other minority groups in higher education is an important but highly politicized issue on college and university campuses. Prior studies emphasize the relationship between minority retention and achievement, cultural diversity, and racial policies and climates at predominantly White…

The recent growth in the racial and cultural heterogeneity of college students in the United States has increased the demand for higher educational policies that will accommodate the needs of an increasingly diverse collective student body (Kao & Thompson, 2003). Traditionally, underrepresented minority students (i.e., African American,…