Formal and informal peer-to-peer support through advice plays an important role in enhancing students' experiences and ensuring their success in higher education. For international students who often face social and cultural challenges adapting to their new university environment, direct and authentic guidance from peers can be vital in helping…

This personal experience narrative details the dissonances I experienced conducting my ethnographic dissertation study as a graduate teaching assistant (GTA) studying GTA teaching development. These dissonances arose due to my recognition and scrutinization of the blatant transmission of neoliberal ideology in my research setting ("Cardinal…

Higher education has long known the many challenges facing Black students at predominantly White institutions (PWIs) leading to lower Black student retention rates relative to their White peers. One factor contributing to retention rates among Black students at PWIs is their sense of belonging. There are many factors that contribute to a sense of…

Past research has highlighted a range of factors that impact college students' sense of belonging. It is less clear how the COVID-19 pandemic has shaped college students' experience of belonging. The current study used a reflective photography approach to examine US college students' experience of belonging to their institution during the COVID-19…

This article focuses on the college experiences of 19 Black men who attended historically white institutions (HWIs). Using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, we explore how these students articulate, make sense of, and are confronted by antiblackness during their college years. We find and detail three specific forms of anti-Black racism…

Misgendering and deadnaming can have a negative impact on the experiences and wellbeing of transgender, non-binary, and gender expansive (TGNB) students in higher education. As a part of a larger effort to reimagine and redesign the pursuit of TGNB student health equity, the LGBTQ + Center and Student Health Center at New York University (the…

Background: Latinos/as/xs continue to face many barriers as they pursue engineering degrees, including remedial placement, lack of access to well-funded schools, and high poverty rates. We use the concept of "arrebatos" to describe the internal reckoning that Latino/a/x engineering students experience through their journeys, particularly…

This transcendental phenomenological study examined the factors that led to the successes of Latino males' persistence in obtaining their bachelor's degree. Through the lens of participants' lived experiences, first-generation Latino males unpack their experiences and describe how those experiences impacted their academic achievement to graduate…

This study delves into the divergent experiences of Black students at Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the United States. Employing qualitative methods such as interviews and critical friend groups, the research investigates the social, academic, and cultural landscapes that…

There is a need to fully understand why Hispanic students are not as successful as other cohorts of students are when completing college. In past research, the focus has been on persistence and retention, but understanding the need for connection and feelings of campus immersion have been absent. The research questions investigated the barriers…

This qualitative study collected recommendations provided by Black doctoral students in engineering to explicitly inform the institutional efforts necessary to enhance their academic experiences. This process has informed what needs to be done to support Black students through their direct accounts that provided in-depth understanding of the…

Queer- and trans-spectrum students continue to struggle with hostile campus climates. As a result, queer- and trans-spectrum students may engage in on-campus activism to push their institutions to address cisheterosexism on campus. Bisexual students experience invisibility, marginalization, and exclusion in both heterosexual and lesbian, gay,…

Male social workers make up a small portion of the profession's workforce and little is known about the experiences of male students during social work education. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of male MSW students in the social work learning environment. Using a transcendental phenomenological approach, 22 individual…

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) persons are largely invisible in historically Black post-secondary education research and discourse. To this end, LGBTQ students attending historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are often ignored and their voices are silenced, thus impacting their feelings of marginality and…

This mixed-methods study used the Culturally Engaging Campus Environments (CECE) model to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on college student sense of belonging. The purpose of this study was to explore how environmental changes related to the disruptive effects of the COVID-19 pandemic may have altered students' sense of belonging to…