This dissertation explores the impact of student organizations on the persistence of women in STEM programs at the associate degree level. The findings reveal that participation in SkillsUSA provides students with valuable opportunities for hands-on learning, skill development, and career exploration, all of which contribute to the persistence of…

The importance of post-traditional women's persistence in earning credentials at a community college cannot be understated. The literature addresses the issue of non-completion within the community college; however, it does not address why or how some students complete, in this instance, post-traditional women. Deficiencies exist in the…

Community colleges have been an educational source for individuals to increase capital and social mobility. But the reality of these opportunities is not the same for all. First generation, low income, non-traditional minority students make up a large percentage of students enrolling in community colleges yet retention rates, primarily for African…

The problem addressed in this study was that African American women do not receive adequate academic mentoring to complete graduate school. The purpose of the qualitative case study was to identify the effect of academic mentoring on African American female graduate students. A qualitative exploratory case study approach was selected to gain a…

Community colleges play an essential role in providing student-athletes with the opportunity to continue to pursue athletics and go to college. Community college student-athletes' experiences, specifically those of female student-athletes, are critical to examine. Female student-athletes have unique academic and social experiences that can…

In this article, authors examine literature on the enrollment, degree attainment, and experiences of Black women graduate students. Authors use socialization to examine the failures of academia to account for Black women's intersectional identities and identify ways administrators and faculty can further support these women's success.

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study is to explore how college students from the United States describe the motivational factors that influence them to seek a degree in computer science. There is a gap in the research that shows a need to look at the motivations of women from their first experiences in computer science to begin and…

This study was conducted at a small public university located in New Mexico, in the southwest area of the United States. The purpose of the study was to understand persistence to degree attainment of undergraduate nontraditional Hispanic women (NTHW) students at an institution which is Hispanic-serving (HSI). Challenges for NTHW students on the…

Women are still under-represented in STEM at the collegiate level. To better understand persistence in women, this study focused on women who have completed their sophomore year in their STEM majors. In this basic qualitative study, Astin's Inputs- Environment- Outputs (I-E-O) model was used as the theoretical framework. Seven themes emerged from…

Background: Although a large body of research has identified challenges faced by women in STEM fields and strategies to improve the experience for women in STEM, little of this research has examined which strategies undergraduate women would recommend to their peers. In the current study, undergraduate women in STEM fields (N = 89) wrote letters…

Undergraduate summer field programs are valuable experiences that can foster or reduce students' self-efficacy, an important factor in students' success and retention in geoscience. Growing research findings show that science field experiences can be hostile and unwelcoming to students with marginalized identities, which may negatively impact…

The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of Afghan women refugees in community colleges. Using Yosso's (2005) community cultural wealth theory, the study explored Afghan women's motivation for attending college, the experiences that brought them to the college, the challenges they experienced while navigating the institution,…

The purpose of my study was to understand the perceptions of first-generation female doctoral students (FGFDS) and what factors may impact first-generation female doctoral students' completion of their doctoral program. As the researcher, I collected data through: (a) interviews; (b) participant generated photographs; (c) the group meeting; and…

This phenomenological study aimed to explore the experiences of women with psychological disabilities to ascertain factors contributing to their persistence and success toward obtaining a 4- year college degree. The research questions examined were: (a) What do women with psychological disabilities identify as contributing to their success in…

Experiences of Black women in college are often lost in conversations about college students. Although underrepresented students are highly researched, the focus is usually on Black males and White females. This research identifies the obstacles encountered by Black women at predominately white institutions on their pursuit of a college degree,…