Many African international students see two-year colleges as a pathway to higher education in the United States. It is critical to better understand who these students are, what draws them to two-year colleges, what support services are available, and how their needs are met. As African international students contribute to more robust, diverse,…

In addition to demographic characteristics, it is important to understand how the location of prior educational experiences may impact adjustment for international students. Indeed, international students who graduate from high school outside their home countries are assumed to have easier college adjustments than others due to their previous…

Race in the US is shaped by a history rooted in settler colonialism, colorism, and nativism. Yet, international students are typically excluded from most conversations about race and racialization. Using Fries-Britt, George Mwangi, and Peralta's (2014) emergent framework on learning race in US contexts, we examined international students of…

This chapter explores how a refugee support organization in the Midwestern United States supports the educational experiences of refugee-background learners from various countries in Africa and Asia. Researchers spent over a year as both observers and volunteers in a refugee support organization that directly interacted with students who were…

This study employs narrative inquiry to explore the experiences of two female, first-generation immigrant- and refugee-background students from West Africa. Using interview as conversation for guiding open-ended research questions and Yosso's community cultural wealth (CCW) framework, we present participant narratives that speak to both similar…

Prior to the pandemic, approximately 42,000 students from countries in sub-Saharan countries in Africa enrolled in U.S. universities (IIE 2021). Despite this strong and growing presence, little research exists focusing on their experiences of education in the U.S. Through a small-scale study of the experiences of graduate students from sub-Saharan…

Africans coming to the United States of America to go to school traditionally have the ultimate goal of getting the best education and going back to their respective countries. That was my goal when I left Nigeria many decades ago! However, considering the socio-economic and political upheavals in African nations, one is forced to rethink the…

Meeting the food requirements of international students is one of the many responsibilities of campus dining services that can, if fulfilled well, contribute to the success and retention of these students. Colleges and universities are continuing to diversify their enrollment with the recruitment of international students. Because many of these…

This study provides an empirical approach to utilizing an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based system for identifying students' university choice factors that impact their matriculation decision. We created an AI-based chatbot that gathered both qualitative and quantitative data from nearly 1200 participants worldwide. The entire human-AI…

Black students originating from African and Caribbean nations are well represented in the ranks of international students attending U.S. colleges, at over 51,000 annually (Institute of International Education, 2021). In addition to contributing heavily to the overall economic impact of the universities they attend (NAFSA, 2021), Black foreign-born…

This article is a research summary of a dissertation in progress that explores the experiences of Black Sub-Saharan African-born (BSSA) graduate students pursuing degrees in the STEM fields at a predominantly white institution (PWI). This includes meaning-making of their experience with the campus climate at PWIs from BSSA graduate students'…

Sub-Saharan African immigrant students constitute an important cohort on United States college campuses. In order for U.S. colleges and universities to better accommodate the significant number of Sub-Saharan African immigrant students, it is critical to identify factors that influence these students' cultural and academic processes and provide…

Research suggests numerous cognitive benefits of authentic learning experiences. Beyond cognition, there are additional dimensions for learners who engage in authentic learning experiences. In education, the affective experiences of authentic learning and the role of students' social interactions remain largely unexplored. This paper examines…

This research demonstrates that the experience of international students on U.S. university campuses is replete with cultural, social, relational, work-related and linguistic challenges. This study explored the experiences of two international graduate students from Africa (male = 1, female = 1) as they adjusted to campus life at a Mid-Western…

Religion and spirituality make critical contributions to an inclusive vision for the welfare of minorities, the marginalized and other disadvantaged groups in societies and cultures around the globe. Religious movements and spiritual traditions work to improve social outcomes for disenfranchised groups by enriching educational, political, and…