Care is foundational to the way we reproduce and transform the world around us. Today, in a time marked by widespread calls for racial and social justice, and simultaneous backlash against these calls, it is imperative that we understand the ways that care circulates and operates within racialized struggle. In this dissertation I engage in this…

This study addresses university leadership and the need to affirm diversity, equity, and inclusion in order to institute organizational change for social justice. My key research question is, "What are effective ways for leaders to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion with the goal of achieving social justice?" There is much research…

This dissertation delves into the dynamic interaction between picturebooks, culture circles, and social justice discussions in a second-grade classroom. Rooted in Critical Pedagogy, Transactional Theory, and Indigenous Social Justice Pedagogy, this study investigates two pivotal aspects. Firstly, it explores the issues raised by students in…

This study examined the espoused values of an institution whose mission calls for a focus and promotion of social justice and how that institution supports its staff's development of a competency focused on social justice and inclusion. It examined the intersection of social justice and inclusion competence, early-career staff development, and…

For centuries, Black people in the U.S. have had to navigate structural and institutional racism. This is especially true for the system of policing, which evolved from pre-emancipation slave patrols. Though law enforcement agencies have made strides in the past 160 years, Black people continue to be targeted and killed by police at a…

This qualitative research paper investigated the intersection of the COVID-19 pandemic and the year 2020 in sparking a phenomenon of hiring chief diversity officers (CDOs) in higher education. By exploring the interplay between the pandemic, racial justice movements, evolving higher education landscape, and institutional accountability, this study…

This study utilized critical leadership praxis (CLP) (Pak & Ravitch, 2021) framework in an intrinsic case study of Institutional Effectiveness/Institutional Research (I.E./I.R.) leaders within the California State University (CSU) system to explore how data-informed decision-making processes incorporate the understanding of varying…

The problem addressed in this study is the underrepresentation of professional staff in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives at West Coast community colleges. Although DEI efforts have mainly focused on faculty, professional staff have been overlooked, potentially leading to decreased engagement and feelings of undervaluation. This…

African American women college presidential leadership is more than bureaucratic or technical leadership styles, or a set of skills or traits. African American women college president's leadership is pedagogical, meaning it is rooted in teaching and learning. The purpose of this research investigation is to amplify the role that African American…

The role of the principal includes various obligations and responsibilities, including leading the school's special education (SPED) program. Many aspects inform how SPED students respond to the curriculum, including their learning needs, race, socioeconomic class, and other aspects that intersect and make their needs more complex. The researcher…

Higher Education Student Affairs (HESA) practitioners play important roles in supporting their campus communities, specifically students, when bias incidents occur on campus. These HESA practitioners often hold the same minoritized identities as students impacted by bias and see their work in higher education as advancing missions of inclusion and…

This dissertation examined how California Community College leaders have been engaging in responsive practices to create and sustain equitable and inclusive learning environments for students who have been historically excluded in higher education. Through a case study of five critical leaders of color, this research illuminated how these leaders…

With the current priorities and challenges surrounding equity in higher education, many institutions are looking for new resources to support diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals at their institutions. One resource that has been shown to be underutilized across social justice development in higher education are peer leaders. While some…

There is a long history of educational discrimination which has led to marginalized populations in the U.S. (Perez, 2021; Love 2019) This structural oppression has continued into the present day. This is apparent even in social work programs. Educational injustice is problematic with social work programs because social work's mission is to be a…

The purpose of this study was to analyze physical education teacher education faculty members and undergraduate students' perspectives on inclusion and social justice in Chile using a social constructionist lens as the theoretical framework. The participants were PETE faculty (n = 6) and students (n = 10) across three PETE programs in Chile. The…