Asian Americans (AA) are one of the most rapidly growing populations in higher education, increasing by 36% since 2010. AA students are considered the model minority group who are generally academically successful. However, recent studies by Vang (2016) and Nguyen (2018) have disaggregated data and found while many Asian immigrants came to the…

Discriminatory "bamboo ceiling" narratives have been observed to perpetuate historical disparities in career paths (e.g., colonial messages of nursing as the predominant career for Filipino Americans). Certain healthcare careers are then seen as unattainable or culturally unacceptable. More research is needed to explore how racism may…

In Hawai?i, there are over 170,000 students enrolled in public schools, with Filipinos comprising almost 25% of the student population. Native Hawaiian values, culture, and language have slowly gained an important role in school curriculum, but little is known about how students from other backgrounds respond to it. The purpose of this research is…

This dissertation examines how past U.S. colonial education in the Philippines impacts the ways in which Filipino bodies are commodified and racialized under contemporary education and training systems in both the Philippines and the United States. This research project utilizes participatory action research and in-depth interviews with over 50…

This study explores the experience of high-achieving students of color in an honors program at a large research university. Qualitative methods involve surveying students (n = 39) and interviewing a select group (n = 5) in attempts to measure both the frequency and severity of racial microaggression as well as subjective experience relating to…

Increasingly, researchers call for closer examinations of Asian Americans to counter the false, yet widely held, assumption that collectively all Asian Americans are academically successful and have similar higher education experiences. Filipinx American college students are one of the fastest growing student populations of Asian Americans in…

With more women of color (WOC) aspiring to study science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and healthcare (STEMH), colleges and universities serve as a critical environment for preparing and supporting successful transitions from earning a STEMH degree through participation in the STEMH workforce. I use a three-article format to examine the…

This paper considers the rapid demographic shifts in contemporary American society as they manifest themselves in today's classrooms in the United States. An effort to articulate these twenty-first-century student identities is highlighted in data from an ethnographic case study examining the literacy practices of one student of Filipino and…

This study provides a deeper understanding of the interracial connections not just between non-whites and whites, but among non-whites. Filipino American youth attending high school in New York City contended with a dominant bipolar racial discourse that marginalizes the racialized experiences of Asians and Pacific Islanders. However, instead of…