Women have been discouraged from pursuing science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers. Women are impacted by this problem by being discriminated against and not being able to advance in college and careers. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to determine the types and frequency of these discouraging behaviors women…

Automated assessment using Natural Language Processing (NLP) has the potential to make English speaking assessments more reliable, authentic, and accessible. Yet without careful examination, NLP may exacerbate social prejudices based on gender or native language (L1). Current NLP-based assessments are prone to such biases, yet research and…

European colonization of vast portions of the world has left its mark long after the point when most societies were supposedly freed. The coloniality of power has ensured the continuing dominance of Eurocentric ideologies in the form of racism, sexism, and the marginalization of Black and Indigenous knowledge production. In this dissertation…

Throughout the years, Black women have worked to advance their quality of life. Black women have been obtaining additional degrees and certifications. Despite the degrees, years of experience, and qualifications, Black women are still unable to secure positions of administration in higher education institutions. Studies have shown that there are…

As recent attacks on the rights of women and gender minorities exemplify, sexism and gender privilege are structural forces ingrained in the fabric of U.S. society. Unfortunately, higher education is not immune to such structural forces and can reinforce the power associated with gender privilege. This phenomenological research study, in concert…

This qualitative study examined the college choice process of high-achieving, secondary African American female students enrolled at a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)-focused Academy aspiring to study STEM at a 4-year college or university. Minority women, unlike White women and racial minority men, face a double bind as…

This ethnographic case study employed a person-centered approach to explore the experiences of a Latinx family navigating an elite, predominantly White independent school in Los Angeles. The study aimed to examine how individual and collective identity development were shaped by these experiences, utilizing Yosso's (2005) Community Cultural Wealth…

As women secondary school principals navigate their career paths and manage their work-life roles, they encounter varied obstacles and barriers requiring them to shift, pause, restart and maneuver to reach their goals. The purpose of this qualitative study is to capture an understanding of how women secondary school principals in British Columbia,…

This multiple case study examined the personal and professional journeys of three women athletic directors at NCAA Division-I institutions. From the data analysis, five primary themes emerged: Macro and micro aggressions; complex situational identities; liberal feminism; mentorship; and persistence. As they shared their journeys, the participants…

Women counselor educators have experienced sexism in the workplace since their inception into the field of counselor education and supervision (CES; Anderson & Rawlins, 1985; De La Garza, 2001; Guttman, 1972; Hoffman, 1996). Due to furtive forms of sexism (Dardenne, Dumont, & Bollier, 2007; Glick & Fiske, 1996; Shnabel et al., 2016)…

This qualitative research examined the experiences of college students at 4-year liberal arts colleges who identified as Afro Latin with their non-Latin(o/a/x) Black and Latino peers and how those experiences affected their sense of belonging. Frequently, student affairs leaders and practitioners assume most, if not all, students of color on…

The academic literature suggests that the experiences of women and faculty of color are differentiated and have more complexity than other groups; however, the specific elements of the academic environment that create or perpetuate these experiences with regard to barriers are not widely explored. This study surveyed 60 tenured and tenure-track…

This dissertation explored the career paths and experiences of Latina school administrators. Critical ethnography (Carspecken, 1996) was utilized to answer the following research question: Why are there so few Latina administrators and superintendents? Intersectionality (Crenshaw, 2016; Hill Collins, 2016) was the theoretical lens which framed the…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine, describe, and understand underrepresentation of Afro-Brazilian women faculty members in higher education. The study aimed to advance knowledge about this underrepresentation based on perspectives of eighteen participants who self-identified as Afro-Brazilian and as women working at the…

The purpose of this study was to examine the career expectations and lived experiences of women employed as adjunct faculty members at public four-year degree granting, Hispanic-Serving Institution in the American Southwest to provide a research-based foundation for higher education administrators to use when evaluating current adjunct hiring…