Concurrent Sessions Session VI Friday, January 29 | 1:45 pm – 2:45 pm
In the Trenches: Black Men in the Academy Navigating Racialized Encounters (Dissertation of the Year) Jesse Ford In historical and contemporary scholarship, racial microaggressions and inadequate socialization are highlighted as recurring challenges in Black men's educational experiences, leaving this population with the lowest graduate rates across all other racial and gendered groups in doctoral education. Moreover, there remains a dearth of research that critically examines the educational challenges and racialized encounters in their daily experiences. The purpose of this three-paper dissertation is to explore the influence of racialized stress on the experiences of Black men in the academy, specifically doctoral students and junior faculty who self-identify as Black men. These studies are collectively based on 60 qualitative interviews with 30 Black men from 27 four-year historically white institutions. The studies highlight three key areas across the three papers: 1.
The early career experiences of Black men in graduate programs and junior faculty roles.
2. The influence of race-related stress on the experiences of Black men in graduate programs. 3.
The Racially Responsive Early Career Socialization Model, a new theoretical framework for understanding the racialized experiences of Black men in the academy.
This work's findings provide recommendations for making academic spaces more inclusive, responsive, and transformative for Black men in the academy.
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Religious, Secular, and Spiritual Identities in the Professional Associations Jacob Frankovich J. Cody Nielsen Jenny Small Ashley Staples Victor Thomas Greg Veltman Religious, secular, and spiritual identities (RSSIs) are often an afterthought in higher education, largely due to lack of focused attention, little to no training in student affairs and higher education graduate programs, and misunderstandings about the importance of this area of identity to the whole of student development. Associations often lack intentional cohorts of professionals working on this area of identity, although within some, including NASPA, ACPA, and CACUSS, groups are seeking to propel the work of RSSIs into the broader efforts of the academy. Join leaders of these organizations as they discuss the character of higher education as it pertains to RSSIs on campus and the importance of valuing and supporting these identities as we shift from campuses in crisis to campuses which thrive with equitable supports for all forms of identities. The discussion by these professionals will include their current efforts within the associations to elevate RSSIs with respect to other identity groups on campus. Specifically, leaders of each association will share how they contribute to the larger goals of RSSI equity within higher education and how individuals can get more involved in the associations.
