The imperative to increase the representation of historically minoritized groups (HMG) in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers by addressing systemic barriers in the United States remains a formidable challenge with profound implications. By 2036, the majority of high school graduates in the United States will be people…

Higher education has always operated in a very cyclical nature. Last year, even as the world was shaken with a global health pandemic, and colleges and universities were forced to develop sustainable programs for distance learning, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) students, and arguably everyone, experienced another pandemic: the…

The debates that involve banning critical race theory and implementing ethnic studies programs have recently surged. But this is not the first time that controversy about ethnic studies programs and other efforts to promote equity has led to dissension. In the 1960s, similar discord led to violence. Today, right-wing activists are making efforts…

Educational outcomes from traditionally underrepresented groups are generally worse than for their more advantaged peers. This problem is typically known as the awarding gap (we use the term awarding gap over 'attainment gap' as attainment places the responsibility on students to attain at equal levels) and continues to pose a challenge for…

Guided by Queer of Color critique as a theoretical framework, this research project investigated the experiences of Queer People of Color in culturally-based sororities and fraternities (CBSFs). Engaging in a secondary analysis of two critical narrative inquiry studies (one focused on Queer Men of Color and the other on Queer Women of Color), we…

Background/Context: The United States invests in STEM education, but this investment is racialized and political. The country wants to maintain global economic domination, but there are also calls to diversify the STEM workforce (Baber, 2015; Basile & Lopez, 2015; Vakil & Ayers, 2019). This context leaves Black and Brown people to navigate…

In this case study, we focus on a particular University of the Arts London positive action intervention, the Women+ of Colour in Leadership Programme (W+CinL) developed by Creative Shift. The case study explores how taking a more equitable, asset-based approach supports the retention, attainment, and employability of Black, Asian and Minority…

The equity principles that follow are framed with the premise that institutions of higher education are responsible for student learning, creating equitable systems to ensure all students achieve success, with particular attention to systematically excluded students. The principles draw from existing equity research and best practices, but are not…

Today, higher education is in a state of flux. Changing dynamics, from accreditation to unsustainable economic models, have forced colleges and universities to examine their fundamental principles while also grappling with the changing needs of the national and globalized workforce, including the shift to online learning. At the same time, the…

Many institutions of higher education have committed to the principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). This collective move signifies an effort to identify and confront systemic issues of marginalisation and exclusion of minoritised groups in contexts of higher education. Nevertheless, international students are not always considered an…

Educational psychology as a field and area of inquiry has gone underexamined in terms of its role in and contributions to racism and antiblackness. We position educational psychology as a racialized organization relative to the institution of education, a widely recognized site of institutionalized racism. We, therefore, explore the role the…

Many policies in higher education are intended to improve college access and degree completion, yet often those policies fall short of their aims by making it difficult for prospective or current college students to access benefits for which they are eligible. Barriers that inhibit access to policy benefits, such as cumbersome paperwork, can weigh…

Increasingly, institutions are amplifying work on race equality, in order to engage with movements for Black lives and decolonising. This brings universities into relations with individual and communal issues of whiteness, white fragility and privilege, double and false consciousness, and behavioural code switching. Inside formal structures, built…

Long regarded as the "great equalizer" across all social identity categories, including race/ethnicity, class, and gender, the education system plays a pronounced role in the curation and dissemination of knowledge on social stratification. In contemporary times, this role is perhaps no more evident than in academia's gatekeeping role in…

The term Inclusive Excellence (IE) is being applied to many efforts in higher education to address past exclusionary practices. IE is more than a term, it is a vision of what could be. It is a deliberate set of actions to ensure that all students, especially those who have historically been underserved by the fragmented attempts in higher…