Undergraduate research is a high-impact learning experience, but undergraduate students interested in research often face high barriers to entry, such as limited guidance, confusing application processes, and feelings of not belonging. These barriers are especially prohibitive to first-year students, first-generation students, and members of…

Available research discusses the first-generation undergraduate experience, graduate students' sense of belonging, and first-generation graduate students, but little research shows the themes that impact a first-generation graduate student's sense of belonging. Understanding the first-generation graduate students' experience as a marginalized…

Gender-Sexuality Alliances (GSAs) and inclusive school policies and practices that affirm youth with minoritized sexual orientations or gender identities (e.g., lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer youth; LGBTQ+ youth) are two sources of support for LGBTQ+ youth that could promote school belonging. The current study tested a three-level…

Loneliness was declared a national epidemic in May 2023 and an international global threat in November 2023. Sense of belonging, or lack thereof, can greatly contribute to loneliness. Students who feel a sense of belonging at their institution tend to be more engaged and experience higher success rates, which can lead to increased persistence and…

This study explores accessibility barriers in higher education (HE), by centering the voices of 50 disabled students. Drawing on the frameworks of critical disability studies (CDS) and in particular disability justice, we argue that access without belonging is not enough; disabled students need to be fully included in institutional life. Weaving…

This research examines how Middle Eastern American college students experience the campus climate of four-year colleges and universities. Using an explanatory sequential mixed methods research design, the study analyzes the factors of campus climate that have the greatest impact on determining the extent to which Middle Eastern American college…

Handicapped, special, or diverse? Segregated, mainstreamed, or included? The field of disability and difference within education, is vast and wide-ranging. This review of the literature highlights how, although we have come far in the last 40 years, there is still much to learn about effective inclusion of disabled children in early childhood…

Pre-university bridging programs can address the significant under-representation of Indigenous students in Australian universities by providing culturally supported alternative pathways into undergraduate study. However, successful completion of bridging programs does not always correlate with university enrolment for Indigenous students. This…