This study uses qualitative methods to explore the subjective experience of Black girls within the formal educational context. Placing two theoretical approaches in conversation, this study applies a decolonial Black feminist epistemological framework to provide a narrative account of the experience of Black girls in their own words. Recognizing…

Institutions of higher education in the United States enroll the largest number of international students in the world each year (Bain & Cummings, 2005). In 2014-2015, the United States hosted 974,926 international students from around the globe (Open Doors, 2016). The number of students attending college in the United States from Latin…

This dissertation study explores the experiences of 11 undergraduate women in a variety of engineering majors graduating from a Southern, research, predominately White institution and the use of theory to understand those experiences. While narrative inquiry is used throughout, this dissertation study is organized into three separate papers. The…

This article examines the rhetoric of the conversion narratives told by a group of women joining a new social sorority on campus. I argue that these sorority conversion narratives are of interest to composition scholars because they document the emotional work involved in entering a community in one's first year of college. My close analysis of…

Using a Black Feminist Thought framework, this phenomenological study focused on lived experiences with mentoring relationships among 38 Black women in doctoral programs in multiple disciplines across universities in the United States. Although emerging studies on Black women in academia acknowledge the significance of mentorship and the reality…

This study examines variation in the cultural stereotypes African American women encounter at a historically Black university and at a predominantly White university and the possible differences in the stereotypes' effect. Prior research reveals a variety of "controlling images" of African American women in the society at large and at…

The authors collected narrative data from 11 African American female college students at a predominantly White institution using the Career Construction Interview (Savickas & Hartung, 2012), the Future Career Autobiography (Rehfuss, 2009), and a qualitative career experiences questionnaire. Using the constant comparison method (Strauss &…

This dissertation proposes a further conceptualization of intersectional identity as a fundamental topic in education reform research. Overlaying the theoretical lenses of Critical Race Theory and intersectionality, a modified narrative inquiry methodology was used to investigate the self-perceived identities among seven women of color, who are…

The current literature suggests that the use of Husserl's and Heidegger's approaches to phenomenology is still practiced. However, a clear gap exists on how these approaches are viewed in the context of constructivism, particularly with non-traditional female students' study of mathematics. The dissertation attempts to clarify the constructivist…

This paper examines an event in a US secondary classroom where a Muslim student was disciplined for reading lesbian erotica in class. While many students read and exchanged erotica in the school, this student in particular was targeted for a disciplinary hearing. I explore this as an affective event, a moment of sensation and excess, to think…

The purpose of this qualitative transcendental phenomenological study was to explore and describe the lived experiences of female student veterans with disabilities entering higher education during reintegration in order to improve programs, services, and support available to female student veterans with disabilities. A screening questionnaire,…

International students enrolled in American institutions of higher education have been increasing during the past decades. The current study addresses the experiences of international female graduate students in the United States, in terms of difficulties as students at a southern American university and temporal residents of the United States.…

Using Merton's (1957) anticipatory socialization theory, this qualitative study explored how participation in dual credit in high school helped introduce 12 female students to the academic and social aspects of college to ease their first-year transitions. These students, who entered one Texas university with between 15 and 78 dual credits,…

While research on monoracial college students' experiences with racial microaggressions increases, minimal, if any, research focuses on multiracial college students' experiences with racial microaggressions. This manuscript addresses the gap in the literature by focusing on multiracial college students' experiences with multiracial…

Previous research suggests that through engagement with higher education (HE), mature female students experience identity change and transformation which could lead to conflict and strain on family relationships. This paper analyses the links between family support and students' feelings of success. The findings are based on qualitative research…