Care is foundational to the way we reproduce and transform the world around us. Today, in a time marked by widespread calls for racial and social justice, and simultaneous backlash against these calls, it is imperative that we understand the ways that care circulates and operates within racialized struggle. In this dissertation I engage in this…

This qualitative descriptive study explored the experience of Senior Diversity Officers (SDOs) or comparable positions in implementing the frameworks for anti-racism strategies at Jesuit colleges and universities. The study explored how, if at all, SDOs think the Jesuit character impacted the implementation of frameworks and the move toward…

For centuries, Black people in the U.S. have had to navigate structural and institutional racism. This is especially true for the system of policing, which evolved from pre-emancipation slave patrols. Though law enforcement agencies have made strides in the past 160 years, Black people continue to be targeted and killed by police at a…

This qualitative research paper investigated the intersection of the COVID-19 pandemic and the year 2020 in sparking a phenomenon of hiring chief diversity officers (CDOs) in higher education. By exploring the interplay between the pandemic, racial justice movements, evolving higher education landscape, and institutional accountability, this study…

This study utilized critical leadership praxis (CLP) (Pak & Ravitch, 2021) framework in an intrinsic case study of Institutional Effectiveness/Institutional Research (I.E./I.R.) leaders within the California State University (CSU) system to explore how data-informed decision-making processes incorporate the understanding of varying…

The problem addressed in this study is the underrepresentation of professional staff in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives at West Coast community colleges. Although DEI efforts have mainly focused on faculty, professional staff have been overlooked, potentially leading to decreased engagement and feelings of undervaluation. This…

African American women college presidential leadership is more than bureaucratic or technical leadership styles, or a set of skills or traits. African American women college president's leadership is pedagogical, meaning it is rooted in teaching and learning. The purpose of this research investigation is to amplify the role that African American…

The purpose of this research study was to investigate how minority First-Year Writing (FYW)/Composition faculty in the United States theorize and bring the notion of linguistic justice into their teaching. In other words, this study sought to examine pedagogies/practices minority faculty use to incorporate linguistic justice in their…

Higher Education Student Affairs (HESA) practitioners play important roles in supporting their campus communities, specifically students, when bias incidents occur on campus. These HESA practitioners often hold the same minoritized identities as students impacted by bias and see their work in higher education as advancing missions of inclusion and…

The role of the Chief Diversity Officer (CDO) in higher education is a recent phenomenon, having gained prominence only within the last decade. The growth in the role seems to mirror that of corporate America's, which began appointing a senior level executive to focus on diversity and inclusion to achieve economic benefits for the firm…

This qualitative program research development was created to help all school staff, counselors, administrators, and teachers apply anti-racist, social justice, and restorative justice approaches to a culturally responsive curriculum. The research articles and books used in this dissertation break down each approach and how to implement them in a…

Despite efforts of faculty in Higher Education and Student Affairs (HESA) programs focused on social justice/Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) to provide equitable educational experiences for their students, studies on these programs have shown that students of color continue to face racialized experiences in the classroom (Harris & Linder,…

The purpose of this dissertation study was to identify the nature of 23, 4th grade children's talk in social justice awareness circles about topics representative of DEI issues. Omitted in prior research on student talk is the "situatedness" of the classroom discussion and how local context, school climate, media coverage of sensitive…

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore how HESA graduate students? conceptions of critical consciousness transform and evolve during a diversity course and the pedagogical practices that foster consciousness-raising. Each of the twelve participants completed two semi-structured interviews and three journal prompts. Using a case study…

In response to social developments and the civil rights movement in the 1960s, the social work profession began to develop a formal identity which included a commitment to social justice. Today, that concept of social justice includes diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism in education and practice. Teachers and researchers have rarely…