This qualitative study explored strategies to improve Black women's experiences at predominately white colleges and universities. The study used intersectionality as the lens and a narrative inquiry approach. The study sought to determine the usefulness of extracurricular activities and how they aid Black women's retention and graduation. This…

Even though there has been a narrowing of the gender gap in STEM, there is still a pronounced gap in the physical sciences, engineering, and computer science. Females who persist in these fields have a strong STEM identity, including developing specific STEM interests. Females can develop STEM identity through long-term, active involvement in…

Kuh's theory of student engagement was used in this quantitative study to examine the relationship between student participation in co-curricular activities and student engagement among women in engineering programs in community colleges. Self-reported ex post facto student data from the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) for…

Black women undergraduate STEM students at Predominately White Institutions (PWIs) contend with difficult experiences in their academic majors (Charleston et al., 2014; Fletcher et al., 2017; Johnson, 2007; McGee & Bentley, 2017). Black women undergraduate STEM students are battling isolation, microaggressions, chilly climate, and other…

In this qualitative feminist narrative analysis of eight women's reflections on their co-curricular involvement as cast members in Eve Ensler's iconic feminist play "The Vagina Monologues," I seek to understand the ways that participants ascribe meaning to these experiences five or more years later. While evidence in the literature…

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to add the voices and counter-stories of five Black women who attend community colleges to the discourse and literature concerning their co-curricular involvement experiences and persistence. I used critical race theory (CRT) as the theoretical framework to understand how involvement in…

Science education in the United States has endured substantial reform due to national needs for a bolstered, more diverse science, technology, engineering, and mathematics workforce. Recent reform efforts call for students to be engaged in scientific inquiry through the practices of scientists and engineers. Opportunity gaps exist in science…

This qualitative study describes the experiences of Black undergraduate women who are involved in a Black student organization at a public predominantly White institution (PWI) beyond the freshman year. Understanding how these students are involved, the meaning they make of their participation, and how they simultaneously manage extracurricular…

The college experiences of African American students have received much attention in the higher education literature during the past three decades. Unfortunately, the majority of the research regarding the African American student experience at predominantly White institutions has focused on maladjustment, academic failure, racism,…

Despite years of attention, gender inequity persists in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Female STEM faculty, positive social interactions, and enrollment in advanced STEM secondary coursework are supportive factors in promoting female students' persistence in STEM fields. To address the gap in understanding these factors,…

Saudi Arabian female international students enrolled in a public university in Northern Virginia used either problem-focused coping or emotion-focused coping strategies to overcome psychological and social challenges. Sixteen Saudi females participated in this qualitative case study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to obtain the opinions…

Women have been underrepresented in the STEM fields since the 1650's to today (Hunter, 2005). This study examined the extracurricular participation of undergraduate women, in Fall 2009, using both quantitative and qualitative methods, who were majoring in at least one (1) of the 49 STEM majors at Southeastern State University participated in STEM…

More engineers are needed to support the infrastructure of the United States and to solve economic, human, and environmental problems. Women have been cited as the untapped resource who can provide new perspectives, solutions, and diversity. Unfortunately, over the last 20 years, colleges have not learned how to graduate more women, keeping…

Since the 1960s the higher educational system in the United States has steadily lost its single-sex colleges; and as of 2008 only 51 women's and four men's institutions remain (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2008). Many of the previous single-sex schools have admitted members of the opposite sex, giving in to the national trend of…

This correlational study samples twelfth grade (senior) students in one central Midwest high school and examines their participation in credit-based transition programs and their changes in educational aspirations. Surveys and community college data are used to collect quantitative data to address six research questions. Using Hossler and…