The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how Latina K-12 school Administrators described their leadership attributes in relation to their career advancement in CO. The attribution theory served as the theoretical foundation for this study. Two research questions guided this study: (1) How do Latina K-12 administrators…

In 2023, women still make less money than men for the same job, including in the field of student affairs within higher education. In this qualitative, phenomenology of sociology study I investigated the experiences of 12 women mid-and-senior-level administrators as they discussed encounters with gender bias. Several themes were discovered through…

The Latinx population has significantly transformed the demography of the United States and its institutions of higher education. Yet, despite the increase of Latinx students obtaining their bachelor's degrees (U.S. Census 2021) and having one of the highest college enrollment rates, Latinxs have the lowest college attainment (Ayala and Chalupa…

The literature on adult students, and in particular, graduate students with children, reveals that female students often struggle to balance their studies and home life due to juggling multiple roles. To date, research on student mothers has primarily focused on domestic students, with few studies examining the experiences of international student…

The purpose of this study was to understand the risks, responsibility, and rewards women of color in the sciences navigate and negotiate when choosing to speak truth to power. The theoretical lenses that guided this work included Critical Race Theory, Critical Feminist Theory, Harding's strong objectivity, and Foucault's analysis of…

The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of African American women serving as executive-level administrators (assistant, associate, deputy superintendents and/or superintendents) in Texas public school districts. Specifically, this study investigated how executive-level African American women in Texas public schools perceive…

This qualitative study focuses on the experiences of Women of Color in doctoral programs to highlight the challenges they face, the silences they encounter, and the navigational tools they utilize to persist through their programs. Women of Color continue to be marginalized in academia and face many challenges when earning graduate degrees…

The purpose of this study is to investigate how Asian women educational leaders perceive their instructional leadership and the ways in which their racialized and gendered experiences impact their practices. This qualitative case study is anchored by the sympathetic instructional leadership framework that includes holding high expectations in a…

Latinas are underrepresented in top level leadership positions in higher education, comprising a small fraction of the 5% of women of color who serve as college and university presidents. Recent data revealed that the number of Latinas in senior-level leadership positions decreased, signaling a concerning downward trend. While much research has…

The racialized hostile work environments that many Black women educators experience may lead to their departure from the P-12 schools where they work. Studying the experiences of Black women educators provides a distinct pathway for inquiry due to their positioned intersectionality of gender and race and their percentage of representation within…

My dissertation consists of three chapters in the field of labor and education economics. The first chapter studies the impact of early morning classes on students' educational trajectories. The second chapter explores how college course shutouts affects students' educational outcomes. The third chapter investigates the impact of kindness on wage…

Black women in higher education are situated in a hegemonic, white, patriarchal context of academia. Despite staff and faculty attempts to support students utilizing foundational theories of student development, these efforts still reinforce controlling stereotypes of Black women and (re)subjugate them to a tumultuous existence in the academy as…

The present study explores the use of Student Evaluations of Teaching (SETs) within higher education institutions. In particular, bias associated with student ratings was explored in several ways. An experimental study design, using an advanced measurement framework was employed. Eight faculty participants from four ethnic-identity groups, and two…

Women mid-level career professionals continue to face obstacles as they move forward in their careers. Opportunities for advancement and balancing personal and professional commitment remained challenging. Supportive relationships were integral in career guidance, navigating decision-making and office politics, and networking. This qualitative…

The special education to prison pipeline is a documented facet of the school to prison pipeline, in which Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and other youth of color disproportionately experience exclusionary school discipline, increasing their likelihood of incarceration. The special ed to prison pipeline is a sub-trend in which BIPOC youth who are…