Perspective Fall 2023

The Leader in Graduate Enrollment Management

A Newsmagazine for Graduate Enrollment Management Professionals

Where Do We Go From Here? Higher Education Responds to New Regulations and Laws g ortin Supptudents All S

Comp ly New iLng with aws Tr ining Remoa Values t Holis ic Admisstio ns

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Recruitment & Marketing Recruitment & Marketing

Money Matters

Table of Contents

Fall 2023, Vol. 35, Number 3

Money Matters

A Newsmagazine for Graduate Enrollment Management Professionals

From the President .............................................................................3 GEM Operations

By Kristen Sterba, PhD, NAGAP President

GEM

Operations Editor, Melissa Sersland

Director of Graduate Admissions and Recruitment at The Graduate Student School, Lifecycle, Engagement, Northwestern University and Support Evanston, IL Student Lifecycle, Engagement, and Support NAGAPpublications@gmail.com Enrollment NAGAP Perspectives is published Modeling three times per year (fall, spring,Recruitment & Strategic Enrollment summer). Articles of particular & Planning Marketing Modeling interest for publication are graduate & Strategic enrollment management Planning research/ study results, how-to articles, success stories, reports of workshops/ Career, Staff, & Personal Money seminars, book reviews, etc.

Development Career, Staff, Matters & Personal Submissions should be sent to the Development Recruitment editor via email. Articles should be & Marketing provided in Microsoft Word format, Diversity, Equity, with figures and photos provided GEM separately as high-resolution TIFand or Inclusion Operations Diversity, EPS files. APA style isEquity, preferred for Inclusion documentingand sources.

Money Matters Copyright © 2023 NAGAP Student Lifecycle, NAGAP is committed to diversityEngagement, and and Support inclusiveness in all of its activities.

This commitmentGEM embraces respect for differencesOperations including age, culture, disability, education, ethnicity, gender, Enrollment life experiences, race, religion, Modeling and sexual orientation. NAGAP & Strategic championsStudent an openLifecycle, exchange of Planning ideas in a collegial environment Engagement, that embracesand academic Supportfreedom, cooperation, mutual respect, and Career, Staff, responsibility. NAGAP supports & Personal activities that promote and nurture Development Enrollment best professional development, Modeling practices, research, and collaboration & Strategic of a diverse andPlanning global community of graduate enrollment management Diversity, Equity, professionals, encouraging dialogue and Inclusion that fosters professional growth Career, Staff, in the among all of its constituents, & Personal U.S. and internationally.

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Diversity, Equity, Fall 2023 and Inclusion

Reimagining Higher Education: Adapting to Legislative Shifts in the U.S. ...................................... 4

By Caitlin Getchell, JD, The University of Tulsa, and Amanda Miller, MA, The Heller School at Brandeis University

Big Ten Academic Alliance Partners On ConferenceWide Holistic Graduate Admissions Toolkit .............................. 7

By Melissa Sersland, MS, Northwestern University

Coming December 2023: The new GEM Leadership Forum ............................................... 10

By Kate McConnell, MBA, eCity Interactive

Community Feature: Business Community ..............................14

By Katie Olivo, MS, MA, Shenandoah University

Measurement of Professional Identity in Biological and Biomedical Sciences Graduate Students: Opportunities for Student Retention .......................................... 15

By Matthew Moreira Bahnson, PhD, Pennsylvania State University

The Childcare Needs and Experiences of Black Graduate Student Mothers ............................................. 18

By Leah Fulton, PhD, Trinity Christian College

Q&A with NAGAP Board Members with Amanda Ostreko, PhD .......................................................24 with Anthony Perez, MS Ed .........................................................25 2023 Summer PDI Fellowship Essay

By Kyrsti Hamilton, MBA, University of the Pacific .............................................27

FROM THE PRESIDENT

NAGAP Friends, Fall is my favorite time of the year. It isn’t just the weather changing or football, but fall also brings new and continuing students back to campus. It feels like the energy changes, and I am reminded every day why I went into higher education. This issue of Perspectives includes articles highlighting efforts to support students and student retention. We all have a part in student success, whether it is assisting students with the admissions process or providing professional development opportunities. Interviews with two Governing Board members are also included. I am so proud of the work our volunteer Governing Board has done over the last two years. We recently changed association management companies, and this requires additional work on our volunteer leaders. They have worked hard to continue to provide the resources you need to succeed in your role.

I continue to be thankful to serve you as President. We will have elections soon to select a new Executive Committee. I hope that you consider running for office or volunteer on a committee. A call for volunteers will be sent out in the spring. Registration will also be opening soon for next year’s Summit, which will be held April 24-27 in Louisville, Kentucky. I hope that you can join us!

Please visit our website for upcoming webinars, professional development institutes, research, and our blog, NAGAP Insights. As always, feel free to reach out to me with your ideas or educational needs.

In appreciation,

Kristen

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STUDENT LIFECYCLE, ENGAGEMENT, AND SUPPORT

Reimagining Higher Education: Adapting to Legislative Shifts in the U.S.

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By Caitlin Getchell, JD, The University of Tulsa; Amanda Miller, MA, The Heller School at Brandeis University

g ortin Supptudents S All

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Comp ly g w New in Lawsith

True ining Remoa Values t Holisti Admissioc

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igher education in the United States is at a crossroads, facing significant challenges and opportunities as it grapples with the aftermath of recent legislative developments, including anti-trans and anti-DEI bills at the state level as well as the overturning of affirmative action on the federal level. These developments are reshaping the future of higher education, and raising questions about access, equity, and the role of universities in addressing systemic issues.

On the state level, several states have introduced or passed legislation that would severely restrict Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) work on college campuses.

Some of these bills prohibit the teaching of critical race theory or other frameworks that acknowledge systemic racism (like Florida Senate Bill 266); others (like Texas’ Senate Bill 17, which will go into effect on January 1, 2024) require universities to close their DEI offices and ban mandatory diversity training. Critics of this legislation argue that banning or limiting DEI work on campuses 4

Fall 2023

will undo decades of progress on college campuses, making students from underrepresented groups feel less welcome and halting progress toward making campuses more representative of states’ racial makeup. In addition, the applications for many federal grants ask schools to enumerate what a school or program has done to demonstrate a commitment to diversity, so limiting DEI work may also have the unintended consequence of making it more difficult for schools to receive federal funding (McGee, April 2023). But in spite of these

STUDENT LIFECYCLE, ENGAGEMENT, AND SUPPORT

In tandem with anti-DEI legislation at the state level, the Supreme Court’s recent decision to overturn affirmative action has sent shockwaves through higher education. criticisms, many state legislators seem committed to moving forward with these initiatives.

As many of these initiatives are tied to state funding, the impact for many private institutions is still minimal, although students in affected states are often concerned about the environment both on- and off-campus. For many students, these laws may affect their choice of institutions; many LGBTQ+ students are avoiding applying to institutions in states with legislation that may create a hostile environment for them. This could impact the diversity at institutions moving forward, which creates a ripple effect with student learning, as it results in a decline in multiple perspectives represented.

Kelsey Hancock, a non-binary law student, says this is a question of belonging. When your rights begin with the law, and the law says there is no place for you, where do you belong? This question ultimately becomes a mental health issue so massive that society hasn’t been able to even start studying the full effects, although there have been some initial studies, including one by the Trevor Project in 2021 (The Trevor Project, 2021).

Unlike their private counterparts, state institutions are struggling to adjust to the new mandates without sacrificing their ability to support students who depend on the services their institutions provide. For many schools, the new legislation will involve massive changes to university structure, staff titles, and reorganizing a variety of student services in order to comply with the mandates.

At the University of North Texas (UNT) the administration has announced that they are closing DEI offices, which may affect programs like their Pride Alliance and multicultural center. The University of Texas–Austin (UT–Austin) is still in the formative stages of working out how the new legislation will affect the institution, but anticipates staff title changes among other things.

In tandem with anti-DEI legislation at the state level, the Supreme Court’s recent decision to overturn affirmative action has sent shockwaves through higher education.

In a 6-3 ruling, the Court declared race-based affirmative action unconstitutional, contending that it violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This decision

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poses significant challenges for universities’ efforts to promote diversity in their student bodies: affirmative action has been a cornerstone of these efforts, aimed at rectifying historical injustices and promoting greater access for underrepresented minorities. Without it, institutions may struggle to maintain diverse student populations, widening educational disparities.

For those institutions looking to promote inclusive environments on campus, the following initiatives may be helpful: Holistic Admissions: Graduate programs can adopt holistic admissions processes that consider a wide range of factors, including socioeconomic background, personal experiences, and community involvement. Alternatively, at the undergraduate level, many schools have seen positive results by making a commitment to admit any student who graduates in a certain percentile of their high school class — like Texas’ Top Ten Plan (McGee, June 2023) — and graduate programs could explore similar initiatives.

Enhanced DEI Initiatives: While anti-DEI legislation may limit formal diversity training, universities can still invest in creating inclusive campus environments, including fostering diverse faculty and staff, implementing robust mentorship programs, and supporting student organizations that promote inclusivity. This may also involve reviewing existing programming and evaluating whether it is solely a DEI topic or could fall within another office’s domain if rebranded.

“Signaling” to Students: Although colleges and universities may be limited by legislation as to what they can explicitly state to students, there are ways to create campus environments that will signal to students that faculty and staff are supportive of their identities.

Providing menstrual products in all restrooms on campus or having designated “all-gender” bathrooms, for instance, could be a way to show LGBTQ+ students that they are welcome on campus.

Community Partnerships: Institutions can forge partnerships with local colleges, including community colleges, and community organizations to create pathways for underrepresented students to access Fall 2023

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STUDENT LIFECYCLE, ENGAGEMENT, AND SUPPORT higher education. As Philip Guerrero, graduate program administrator at UT-Austin, points out, the Supreme Court decision doesn’t prevent schools from recruiting at an HBCU and HSI. For those working in higher education, these shifts come with significant stress and heightened workloads. Dana Mordecai, assistant director for graduate recruitment at UNT, points out that for staff members in Texas both the closing of DEI offices and the overturning of affirmative action, “those two things combined have really impacted staff… staff are really feeling the brunt of these processes.” Above all, staff in enrollment management should endeavor to practice self-care and advocate for themselves in these difficult times.

As Guerrero says, “One of the things that is important to remember in these discussions is that we [the staff of colleges and universities] are impacted too. I mean, as a member of an LGBT group, as a Hispanic male, I don’t feel welcome here [in Texas] anymore… those are the kind of ripple effects that are going on that affect others.” This sentiment is seconded by Mordecai: “From a recruiter’s

Caitlin Getchell is the director of graduate academic policy and student success at The University of Tulsa.

She holds a bachelor’s degree from John Brown University and a juris doctorate from The University of Tulsa.

The NAGAP Experts Bureau

perspective, it’s terrifying. It’s terrifying to not know how to respond to a student who is going to ask about the culture and the climate in the state.”

Associate Dean for Professional Development in the UNT Toulouse Graduate School Denise Baxter stated that fortunately for now, the legislation hasn’t impacted student experience at UNT as they still have many of the student organizations supporting their students from diverse backgrounds. But Mordecai, Guerrero, and Baxter agreed that the hardest part of these changes is that no one knows yet what the full impact will be or who will be a part of the conversation to decide how to implement the new legislation on affected campuses. n References McGee, K. (2023, April 11). How Republicans’ threats to tenure and diversity might undercut their own efforts to advance Texas’ universities. The Texas Tribune.

McGee, K. (2023, June 29). With race-based admissions no longer an option, states may imitate Texas top 10% plan. The Texas Tribune.

Quilantan, B. (2023, May 17). Ron DeSantis’ ban of school diversity programs is coming to these states next. Politico.

The Trevor Project. (2021). 2021 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health. West Hollywood, California: The Trevor Project.

Amanda Miller is the associate director of admissions at Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Agnes Scott College and a master’s degree from the University of Massachusetts Boston.

The NAGAP Experts Bureau provides members, as well as outside media, with valuable and reliable resources in the matters of GEM. NAGAP members benefit from having well-respected colleagues within the organization who can confidently and respectfully respond to their best-practice questions or concerns.

Areas of expertise include, but are not limited to: • Recruitment & Marketing • Graduate & Adult Student Services • Ethical Issues in GEM • International Recruitment & Retention • Staff Professional Development

• Admissions Policies & Procedures and Operations & Technologies • Diversity & Inclusion in GEM • Academic Program Development • STEM, Biomedical, Medical School Recruitment and Retention

Questions, concerns, or feedback for the Experts Bureau may be directed to nagapmedia @gmail.com.

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CAREER, STAFF, AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

Big Ten Academic Alliance Partners on ConferenceWide Holistic Graduate Admissions Toolkit

By Melissa Sersland, MS, Northwestern University

C

entralized graduate admissions office staff face unique challenges. They typically support dozens of PhD and master’s programs, each with their own departments and faculty leading application review efforts. There is frequent turnover among faculty members in key roles like director of graduate studies and admissions chair, with appointments often lasting only one or two years.

During a regular meeting of the Big Ten Academic Alliance last fall, Dr. Wojtek Chodzko-Zajko, the Shahid and Ann Carlson Khan Endowed Professor of Applied Health Sciences and dean of the Graduate College at the University of Illinois, asked what each institution was doing to train graduate admissions committees.

“The answer for all campuses was ‘little or nothing,’” said Dr. Scott Lanyon, vice provost and dean of graduate education at the University of Minnesota, and Heidi ArbisiKelm, assistant dean for academic affairs at the Graduate College at the University of Iowa. This presented a great opportunity to advance one of Lanyon’s priorities to create more effective and engaged “communities of practice” across BTAA grad schools, he said. “Faculty NAGAP.org

serving on these committees generally get no training or guidance, and they often serve for only a year or two.

So many of these committees are really inexperienced and are simply following past committee practices.”

Lanyon asked each graduate admissions office to gauge their interest in creating a toolkit for graduate admissions committees and held the workgroup’s first meeting in November.

Although the toolkit was launched to help graduate admissions committees generally, Lanyon and ArbisiKelm said, the Supreme Court decision striking down affirmative action this summer provided a “watershed moment for campuses to advance the adoption of holistic Fall 2023

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CAREER, STAFF, AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

Big Ten institutions working collaboratively on the toolkit makes sense given their common goals, Lanyon said. admissions practices more broadly,” Lanyon and ArbisiKelm said.

that’s ‘just’ the SCOTUS decision,” said Lanyon and Arbisi-Kelm.

“This fall admissions committees will be looking for resources to assist them in complying with the SCOTUS decision while also upholding their commitment to recruit diverse student cohorts, representing a wide range of experiences, backgrounds, and interests. We believe the faculty admissions committee toolkit is the right intervention at the right time for graduate education.

Just as faculty are looking to graduate education for support and assistance, we hope to provide it in the form of policy guidance and best practice recommendations.”

“I believe that we all seek to offer more comprehensive, holistic, and general admissions best practice recommendations to our campuses this fall while we have the spotlight. And, I also believe that there is shared recognition among working group members that none of us, individually, could possibly develop a complete set of content modules which are needed by faculty admissions committees. There just isn’t the capacity at any one of our institutions for that.”

Big Ten institutions working collaboratively on the toolkit makes sense given their common goals, Lanyon said.

“The goal of helping faculty do holistic admissions and increasing the diversity of students admitted to our programs is shared by all our institutions, and the steps we would take to accomplish that goal are likely to be extremely similar,” Lanyon said. “It just makes sense to do this cooperatively. It is something that the BTAA as a consortium is ideally suited to accomplish.”

The toolkit will consist of about nine content modules on the following topics: Toolkit Topics: • Admissions Committee Practices • Application Review Systems • Communication Best Practices

The Graduate College at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) has been a leader in this conference-wide toolkit initiative, having spent the 20222023 academic year developing a UIUC-specific holistic graduate admissions toolkit.

“We often hear from graduate programs when they get a new DGS (director of graduate studies) or graduate program contact that they feel like they’re starting from scratch and need guidance on application requirement options, admissions committees, and sending admissions letters,” said Elizabeth Spark, Assistant Dean of Admissions, Registration, and Enrollment Services for the Graduate College

Big Ten institutions volunteered to write content for a particular module. All content will be shared across the conference for institutions to share with their campuses.

UIUC had first created a holistic review toolkit roughly two years ago to showcase the steps admissions committees should take in implementing holistic admissions. Their 2022-2023 holistic admissions initiative was to create a more comprehensive toolkit for admissions committee members. UIUC formed a committee in summer 2022 to review doctoral admissions practices used across campus to develop guidance and best practices. Committee members included the staff from the Graduate College leadership team along with faculty and staff from graduate programs across campus.

“Everyone in admissions offices has been working around the clock to deliver just-in-time guidance to their campuses on SCOTUS updates. It is a big job. And,

In fall 2022, UIUC sent out a survey to programs regarding their current admissions practices. After following up with programs, UIUC saw an 87% response

• Holistic Admissions Practices • International Applicant Considerations • Interview Best Practices • Offer Letters • Recruiting Applications • SCOTUS Decision on Affirmative Action

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The Big Ten Academic Alliance hopes to make its graduate admissions holistic review toolkit available to the group by November in time for application review to begin.

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CAREER, STAFF, AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT rate, with 65 of 74 graduate departments with doctoral programs responding.

Results of the survey were shared at the Graduate College’s annual workshop for Directors of Graduate Studies and graduate program contacts in the spring.

UIUC also presented their proposed guidelines and recommendations for programs, with three committee members presenting how they use holistic admissions in their units. This panel included a director of graduate study from their engineering school and two administrators from professional programs. UIUC then built its toolkit and portal in Slate and presented its findings to UIUC’s then-interim Provost Dr. Bill Bernhard and the Council of Deans.

With the impending SCOTUS decision on affirmative action, UIUC added their recommendations and guidelines on race-conscious admissions to their toolkit and launched the resource with their SCOTUS decision communication rollout.

Upon reviewing their survey results, Spark said her committee was pleased to see that 75% of their programs already had established admissions committees.

However, the committee was surprised that very few programs reported offering training for faculty serving on admissions committees. What training did exist was centered on technical topics like how to use Slate or their local review system.

“There was not a lot of training provided on topics like ‘This is what you should be looking for in an application and these are the different things you should be considering . . . This is how you should review statements, reference letters, the resume, etc.’” she said.

The committee was also surprised to see that more programs conducted admissions interviews than they expected. Programs shared that interviews not only allowed them to get a better sense of who an applicant is but also gave them an opportunity to showcase their programs and increase their chances of recruiting the student. UIUC has now updated its recommendations to advise programs to consider including admissions interviews as part of their process.

Executing the survey was a key piece in developing UIUC’s toolkit.

“In a big decentralized school you don’t always know exactly what review procedures they are using,” Spark said.

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Spark said what worked well was keeping the survey as short as possible – they used 12 questions, with half being “yes/no” and half being “short answer.” Spark said it also worked well to give programs a tight turnaround to submit the survey and to build in time to follow up with programs who do not respond initially. “We stressed to programs that we were working to build something to help them,” Spark said. “We were building them a resource and we needed their help – showing them that benefit was important.”

Presenting the findings to UIUC deans and the provost was one of UIUC’s biggest successes to create buy-in.

Additionally, including committee members from a variety of programs and positions (e.g. directors of graduate studies and program staff) was also important to create buy-in, especially for programs that receive a high volume of applications. “If you can put in front of them a program that is like them and talk about how they have successfully implemented it, it’s more likely you can get through to programs who are skeptical of using holistic admissions,” Spark said.

UIUC’s graduate admissions holistic review toolkit initiative and survey initially focused on doctoral programs but then was rolled out to the whole campus following the SCOTUS decision on affirmative action.

Spark said in hindsight she wishes UIUC had collected more data in their survey from professional master’s programs to better inform their recommendations. Spark hopes to collect more survey data from professional master’s programs in the future.

Once the survey findings are analyzed and recommendations are shared with programs, Spark said graduate enrollment management professionals need to be ready to think about next steps. “Once you build [the toolkit,] it’s not done,” Spark said. “Think about what else you’re going to need to build to make this toolkit successful. You can give them recommendations all day long, but training has to go hand in hand with them.” n

Melissa Sersland serves as the director of graduate admissions and recruitment at The Graduate School at Northwestern University as well as the publications chair for NAGAP. She earned a bachelor’s and master’s in journalism from Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications and a master’s in higher education and administration from the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern.

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CAREER, STAFF, AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

Coming December 2023: The New GEM Leadership Forum

By Kate McConnell, MBA, eCity Interactive

GEM leaders have limited professional development opportunities to engage on high-level topics. Given this critical gap and the need to provide seasoned GEM professionals an opportunity to further their knowledge and skills in collaboration with other professionals seeking to advance and tackle higher level issues and challenges faced in their current positions, the Education Committee developed the new GEM Leadership Forum.

The Forum is designed to provide a unique opportunity for multiple GEM professionals to have their specific challenges processed by the entire group, enabling a broader perspective with multiple potential solutions.

This daylong collaborative experience will be held on December 5 in Washington D.C. utilizing an Issue Processing exercise, which allows for live facilitation of critical challenges raised by attendees.

Ideally, this Forum would happen at least once if not twice annually.

Q. What is the GEM Leadership Forum?

The GEM Leadership Forum is a seminar-style, oneday workshop that enables full group participation and

an opportunity for seasoned professionals to interact and collaborate on issues related to their position of responsibility and experience. It only works because the participants are willing to share that experience and are open to new perspectives. The entire goal of the Forum is for attendees to participate in what is called “Issue Processing,” which is an instructor-led formal process of identifying a complex issue and working through challenges, goals, options, and potential solutions. Unlike a traditional presentation-based educational event, this forum is more of an open conversation with a live workshop focused on three-to-five advanced issues.

Q. Who is the GEM Leadership Forum designed for?

This event is designed for advanced higher education professionals with a minimum of five years of experience and either work in or are responsible for graduate enrollment management. The Forum is ideal for those in middle-to-upper-management positions, especially assistant/associate deans, deans, AVP/VPs, directors, and other executive leadership roles.

Q. What will be the focus of the GEM Leadership Forum?

The majority of the one-day seminar will involve issue

This daylong collaborative experience will be held on December 5 in Washington D.C.

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CAREER, STAFF, AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT processing group work, where participants work together to help process three-to-five key issues brought to the group by members and facilitated by the instructors. After the live workshop, there will be a presentation by an industry leader on a relevant research topic that will include data from survey responses previously submitted by Forum participants.

Attendees will discuss in-depth advanced and complex issues in graduate enrollment management and learn about numerous pathways to a solution. Issues can range from leadership, inter- and intra-department collaboration (or lack thereof), enrollment marketing, strategic planning, funnel conversion, faculty challenges, program development, and budget strategy. The goal is to dive deep into three-to-five issues and learn from and contribute to practical solutions to overcome the issues.

Q. What is Issue Processing?

Issue Processing involves a collaborative experience where peers help each other process complex GEM issues through a facilitator-led activity that involves a seven-step method of: 1. Issue Identification 2. Value Definition 3. Goal Refinement 4. Option Consideration 5. Fear Evaluation 6. Advice Solicitation 7. Action Prediction

Q. Why is engaging in Issue Processing important?

The unique benefit of this Forum is for attendees to learn about multiple solution pathways to advanced complex issues in graduate enrollment management. Regardless of whether the group is processing their own issue, or they are working on the issue with another participant, there is incredible value in learning from the combined experiences of the group.

Q. What should GEM Leaders expect to get from the Forum?

• Identify common issues in GEM that other schools are facing.

• Work through issues with complex situations and receive multiple potential solutions to real-time challenges.

• Learn from other veteran GEM professionals who can share advice from their experience.

For more information on the Forum visit: https://www.nagap.org/events. n

Kate McConnell is a higher education strategist for eCity Interactive in Philadelphia and has over 20 years of experience in GEM serving in leadership roles at two major universities.

In this process, there are important questions for both the participant (the person processing their specific issue) and the group, which can result in clarity, succinctness, and intentionality.

Strategic Partnership Council The Strategic Partnership Council (SPC) is designed for organizations whose missions are aligned with NAGAP’s and who wish to become more strategically engaged with our association.

Through customized marketing and collaboration platforms we offer bundled packages and unique opportunities for organizations to help build and maintain year-round relationships with our members and GEM professionals across the nation and around the world.

To learn more about the SPC, visit our website: https://nagap.org/strategic-partnership-council

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Learn how to utilize emerging technology to work smarter, not harder.

2022–2024 NAGAP Governing Board Officers President Kristen Sterba University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Vice President Naronda Wright Georgia Southern University Secretary Brett DiMarzo Boston College Immediate Past President Jeremiah Nelson Catawba College Executive Director Kari Stringfellow NAGAP, The Association for Graduate Enrollment Management

Publications Committee Sarah Brock University of Chicago

Dave Fletcher Barry University School of Podiatric Medicine Caitlin Getchell University of Tulsa Kate McConnell eCity Interactive Amanda Miller Brandeis University Katie Olivo Shenandoah University The Leader in Graduate Enrollment Management

Kittie Pain Kutztown University Tania Rachkoskie Goucher College

NAGAP’s Fall Virtual Professional Development Institute provides a weeklong series of presentations for professionals of all kinds that focuses on a theme or hot topic within the graduate enrollment management world.

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Ethan Robles Tufts Gordon Institute Nicole Sloan University of Florida Melissa Sersland Northwestern University Troy Sterk Seattle University

NAGAP Chapters

Directors ANNUAL CONFERENCE Brian Derossiers-Tam University of Toronto CHAPTERS Katie-Ann Mason Bridgewater State University EDUCATION Fran Reed Neumann University EXTERNAL RELATIONS AND PARTNERSHIPS Keith Ramsdell Ashland University

Recruitment & Marketing

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS Money Michael Merriam Matters Framingham State University MEMBERSHIP Ryan Taughrin University at Buffalo Graduate School of Education

GEM Operations

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Anthony Perez Student Lifecycle, Medical College Engagement, of Wisconsin and Support PUBLICATIONS Melissa Sersland Northwestern University Enrollment RESEARCH Amanda Ostreko University of Kansas

Modeling & Strategic Planning

Career, Staff, & Personal Development The Leader in Graduate Enrollment Management

Join or Start a Chapter Today!

For those of you looking to get more involved with NAGAP, your local chapter is a great place to start. Chapters provide a wonderful opportunity to network, to participate in regional workshops and conferences, and to assume leadership positions. They are also a great resource for learning more about GEM, especially if you are unable to attend the GEM Summit.

NAGAP has seven regional U.S. chapters, one international chapter, and two special interest chapters. To find out which chapter your state is a member of, visit NAGAP’s Chapters page. Here you will find contact information for each chapter president, and a link to the chapter’s website or social media page.

Most chapters have a “join” or “contact us” link on the landing page.

If you find your state is not affiliated with a chapter, you may be interested in beginning a new chapter. For more information, review the How To Get Started overview. Questions? Please contact us at info@nagap.org.

2024 GEM Summit April 24-27 The Galt House, Louisville, KY

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Join us for three days of education with friends and colleagues along with our vendor exhibitors and sponsors in the only professional association dedicated to graduate enrollment management on Wednesday, April 24 to Saturday, April 27.

Information regarding the 2024 Graduate Enrollment Management Summit will be posted as it is available. Mark your calendar now!

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Fall 2023

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CAREER, STAFF, AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

Community Feature: Business Community

By Katie Olivo, MS, MA, Shenandoah University Interviewed: Jeremiah Nelson, PhD, MS, Catawba College; Kylie Smith, MBA, Indiana University Kelley School of Business

NAGAP Communities are informal networks where NAGAP members can make connections with professionals who share common interests. I recently spoke with the co-leaders of NAGAP’s Business Community to help members understand the benefits as well as how easy it is to join or create communities.

The Business Community was started through The Exchange, NAGAP’s online discussion forum. Nelson started posting and recruiting interest in a community for professionals working in business schools. Smith signed on as a co-leader because she was excited to be involved in a group working with the same audience. Both she and Nelson see the value in networking at larger NAGAP gatherings but recognize the importance of having focused conversations that directly apply to their work.

“The information is really relevant to what I’m doing and I don’t have to convert it to fit my needs,” Smith indicated.

What’s the process to create a community?

Any active member can establish a NAGAP Community by creating a mission statement and gathering at least 15 signatures of interested members. Nelson and Smith indicated that this was the most labor-intensive part of the process, but only because communities were new and members were not sure what signing up entailed.

Signing up to help establish a community is not a large commitment — it just indicates you are also interested and then you can participate at a rate that works for you.

The Business Community currently has about 30 members who are professionals working in business schools. Individuals in centralized offices working with or supporting business schools are also welcome to join. Nelson described the goals of the community as facilitating connections and allowing staff to be collaborative: “Members are able to say to their campus partners that they’ve worked with or talked to other institutions experiencing the same thing.”

What kind of commitment is required to participate in the community?

The commitment is minimal and members come and go.

The Business Community meets every other month for

about an hour, typically at lunch. As co-leaders, the bulk of the work is scheduling meetings, sending out invites, and ensuring session content. So far, they have been able to coordinate topics — members volunteer to present content and are willing to share advice with others.

Nelson is excited for more communities within NAGAP: “My vision is that everyone has a place. There’s potential for communities to make that happen.” Smith’s advice is to participate if you can: “Communities are a great way to meet people in NAGAP and increase your Summit potential because you already have connections. You’re a part of a group where you can benefit from the expertise and assistance of your community members.”

How easy is it to join?

Log into the Exchange, click on the “Communities” tab, and select “Join” next to the community of your choice.

I promise it’s that simple — after talking with Nelson and Smith, I joined the Business Community and I’m looking forward to engaging.

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Measurement of Professional Identity in Biological and Biomedical Sciences Graduate Students: Opportunities for Student Retention

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By Matthew Moreira Bahnson, PhD, Pennsylvania State University

The Graduate Student Enrollment Management Research Grant is designed to encourage emerging knowledge and understanding of the complexities of graduate enrollment management including all aspects of admissions and recruitment, enrollment, retention, and graduation in higher education.

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ttrition in biological and biomedical sciences costs graduate students physically and mentally while generating economic and research productivity costs for principal investigators, institutions, and funding agencies. To address attrition issues, graduate education researchers require tools to assess student development and student-level degree completion intentions. Professional identity provides such a tool. The research supported by the NAGAP Research Grant in 2022 translated an engineering-specific graduate professional identity measure to biological and biomedical graduate students and demonstrates how professional identity predicts degree completion intentions, an important outcome for graduate enrollment management researchers.

Background Biological and biomedical sciences award the highest number of doctorates compared with other science and engineering fields1 while maintaining a less than optimal 10-year Ph.D. completion rate (63%) with attrition of up to 37%2. High attrition represents a loss of talent and productivity, individual and institutional economic costs, and research delays, in addition to NAGAP.org

social and personal costs3. Attempts to reduce attrition have made limited progress, and researchers require new tools to investigate attrition1. Professional identity measures provide a tool to investigate graduate student development4. Previous professional identity research demonstrates the usefulness of identity to investigate career choice, discrimination experiences, and degree completion intentions4, 5, 6.

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STUDENT LIFECYCLE, ENGAGEMENT, AND SUPPORT Biological and biomedical science (BBS) professional identity remains understudied and, to date, has not been used to investigate attrition risk, degree completion intentions, or degree completion as it has been used in engineering. Without validated measures of BBS professional identity, graduate education researchers cannot investigate the linkages between professional identity and student development, engagement, and retention to combat attrition. The purpose of this research, with support from the graduate enrollment management award, was to adapt existing professional identity scales for use with BBS graduate students.

Literature Review In literature, professional identity is associated with persistence, attrition, career choice, and academic performance4,5,6. While STEM fields have benefitted from professional identity research with undergraduate students, they have missed similar information for graduate students7. Researchers need new tools to effectively utilize professional identity to study these issues. In previous work, I developed a measure of graduate engineering identity valuable in measuring the impact of discrimination experiences on professional identity, graduate education experiences, and degree completion intentions. The measure captures the complex professional identity developed by graduate students by combining content expertise identity with researcher and scientist identity development. The graduate engineering identity scale includes subconstructs of recognition, interest, and performance/competence (Figure 1) similar to undergraduate professional identity constructs for engineering5 and physics6. These constructs link career choice, academic performance, and degree completion intentions5, 7, 8.

[Professional Identity] Biological and Biomedical Sciences Identity Performance/ Competences

Recognition Interest

Figure 1. Professional Identity subconstructs proposed for Biological and Biomedical Sciences Identity 16

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As a first step in exploring BBS graduate identity, I conducted 12 semi-structured qualitative interviews with BBS graduate students9. Analysis of the interviews began with open and axial coding, followed by thematic analysis, which highlighted professional identity development constructs congruent with existing measures. Consistent themes included the professional identity subconstructs such as recognition from graduate faculty, interest in developing skills, and self-efficacy beliefs around fieldspecific topics. However, some incongruencies existed, such as students describing graduate education as a step on the path to becoming a scientist, while others focused on their need for research skills. Few participants focused on field-specific identities (e.g., biologist, toxicologist).

The alignment with previous professional identity theory highlights the utility of a BBS professional identity measure.

At the same time, the incongruencies demonstrate the need for a field-specific measure.

Recruitment and Participants The graduate engineering identity scale was adapted for use with BBS graduate students. The field-specific identity (e.g., the word “engineer”) in the items was replaced with a field-specific identity taken from an initial survey question about participants’ discipline-specific area of study (e.g., biologist, toxicologist). Cognitive interviews with five BBS graduate students from Pennsylvania State University were used to ensure clarity of items in the scale.

A sample of universities with biological and biomedical programs was selected based on the NSF Survey of Earned Doctorates. A sample of 50 programs was chosen to represent a cross-section of disciplines (e.g., cell biology, physiology, epidemiology), university and program sizes. Participants were compensated for their participation. All procedures were approved by the Pennsylvania State University Institutional Review Board.

Instrument and Analyses The survey included the revised identity scale, a degree completion intentions scale, and demographic items.

Confirmatory factor analysis CFA and construct level internal reliability analysis indicated the revised scale fit the expected factor structure and held strong internal reliability (Cronbach’s alpha < .90). Linear regression analyses indicated the nine BBS sub-constructs explained 65% of the variance in degree completion intentions (F(9, 266) = 8.77, p < .001, R2 = .65). Particularly important were specific biological or biomedical performance/

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Given the persistent issues with graduate enrollment and attrition in the biological and biomedical sciences, the research is an inaugural study of professional identity across a broad set of fields. competence (p = .012), researcher recognition (p = .001), and researcher performance/competence (p = .037).

Utility for Enrollment Professionals Professional identity in biological and biomedical graduate students could become an early indicator for attrition. As such, enrollment and graduate coordinators could engage in early outreach to intervene with students.

Identification of specific needs such as additional mentorship or recognition, funding concerns, or coursework issues could follow the more general identity measure.

Early identification of issues contributes to more effective management and enrollment for graduate students.

Changes or differences in professional identity development may assist in identifying additional services that may engage students in continuing education.

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Golde, C. (2005). The Role of the Department and Discipline in Doctoral Student Attrition: Lessons from Four Departments. The Journal of Higher Education, 76(6), 669–700.

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Bahnson, M., Perkins, H., Tsugawa-Nieves, M. A., Satterfield, D., Parker, M., Cass, C., & Kirn, A. (2021). Engineering discipline differences in graduate engineering identity point to potential opportunity structures to improve doctoral student experience. Journal of Engineering Education, 110(4), 949-976. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jee.20427

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Godwin, A., Potvin, G., Hazari, Z., & Lock, R. (2016). Identity, Critical Agency, and Engineering: An Affective Model for Predicting Engineering as a Career Choice. Journal of Engineering Education, 105(2), 312–340. https://doi.org/10.1002/jee.20118

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Hazari, Z., Cass, C., & Beattie, C. (2015). Obscuring power structures in the physics classroom: Linking teacher positioning, student engagement, and physics identity development. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 52(6), 735–762. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21214

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Rodriguez, S. L., Lu, C., & Bartlett, M. (2018). Engineering identity development: A review of the higher education literature. International Journal of Education in Mathematics, Science and Technology, 6(3), 254–265. https://doi.org/10.18404/ijemst.428182

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Verdín, D., Godwin, A., Kirn, A., Benson, L., & Potvin, G. (2018, April 29th—May 2nd). Understanding how engineering identity and belongingness predict grit for first-generation college students [Conference session]. The Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity Conference, Crystal City, VA, United States. https://strategy.asee.org/29589

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Bahnson, M. (2018) FYG program evaluation report. Unpublished Manuscript.

Biological and Biomedical Sciences Program, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill.

Conclusion Given the persistent issues with graduate enrollment and attrition in the biological and biomedical sciences, the research is an inaugural study of professional identity across a broad set of fields. This research will motivate future research that will benefit graduate education researchers by providing a new tool to investigate a range of graduate student issues, especially attrition, and degree completion intentions. n References 1

National Science Foundation (NSF). (2021). Survey of Earned Doctorates. https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/srvydoctorates/

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Council of Graduate Schools (CGS). (2008). Ph.D. completion and attrition: Analysis of baseline demographic data from the Ph.D. completion project.

Washington, DC: Author

Dr. Matthew Moreira Bahnson is a postdoctoral fellow in the Engineering Cognition Research Lab in Mechanical Engineering at Penn State. His research focuses on professional identity, discrimination, attrition, and persistence in graduate STEM education. He holds a PhD in Applied and Social Psychology from North Carolina State University.

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The Childcare Needs and Experiences of Black Graduate Student Mothers

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By Leah Fulton, PhD, Trinity Christian College

The Graduate Student Enrollment Management Research Grant is designed to encourage emerging knowledge and understanding of the complexities of graduate enrollment management including all aspects of admissions and recruitment, enrollment, retention, and graduation in higher education.

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igher education research and practice about undergraduate student mothers differentiate the ways that race and class exacerbate childcare needs, student success, and retention (Yakaboski, 2011); however, graduate student mother literature rarely acknowledges Black graduate student mothers (BGSM), their distinct childcare needs (Kaler et al., 2020), or the ways it impacts their experiences as graduate students (Anaya, 2011). Through focus groups with 14 participants, this project examines the childcare experiences of BGSM. By centering the ways that race, motherhood, and graduate education coalesce in relation to childcare needs and experiences of BGSM, this study identified three themes—using [academic] knowledge as power, tradeoffs in childcare and graduate education, and “onlyness.” Findings demonstrate the way that childcare needs and experiences are instigated by and entangled with racial bias and create the need for safety for BGSM and their children, nuancing retention considerations for Black graduate students and graduate student mothers.

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Introduction and Literature Review

their graduate degree attainment by 32% between

Higher education is tasked with responding to the changing demographics and corresponding needs of its students (NSF, 2018; NSF, 2019). While concepts like diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) have become increasingly popular, their application requires responsiveness to the data. Black women increased

2006 and 2016 (NSF, 2018) and represent the majority

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of Black graduate students (NSF, 2019). Further, Black women represented more than half of all first-time Black graduate students and nearly 9% of all graduate student enrollment in 2014 (Allum & Okahana, 2015). Recent data highlights the number of women with advanced

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The primary research question was, in what way do childcare needs and experiences of BGSM impact their studies? degrees and no children has fallen from 35% in 1994 to 20% in 2014 (Livingston, 2015). The increased number of mothers or aspiring mothers who pursue advanced degrees and the large number of Black women in the United States with biological children, 85% among women ages 40-44, (Livingston, 2015) requires considerations of the intersections between Black mothers and graduate education.

Though childcare is recognized as a threat to undergraduate student mother attrition with racial implications (Gault et al., 2014), its discussion in the graduate student mother literature is largely race neutral (Greiner & Burke, 2008; Springer et al., 2009). Issues of racial bias in education have been proven to exacerbate disparities as early as preschool (Gilliam et al., 2016; Morris, 2015; Women’s Bureau, 2016; Wilson, 2017), but higher education has yet to contend with the implications for Black mothers who may also be graduate students.

As questions about motherhood and academia become increasingly important, considerations of race, class, marital status, and other social identities must be accounted for. For mothers of preschoolers, toddlers, or infants, childcare may present challenges such as long wait lists, incompatible hours with student course schedules, or high costs—especially on university campuses (Lynch, 2008). These challenges may be exacerbated for BGSM by Black mothers’ greater likelihood to be low income, single head of household, working full-time, and concerns related to racial bias and cultural wellness of their children in childcare environments (Mata, 2013; Rogers, 2019). Though white parents of children of color may also navigate challenges, they do not contend with the compounding effect of both caring for a racially minoritized child while also navigating systems as racially minoritized students themselves (DePouw, 2018). The recognition of motherhood as a racialized experience may support the ability of graduate schools to redress issues that impact enrollment, retention, and success. This study advances graduate education’s efforts related to DEI by seeking to understand and respond to the childcare needs of BGSM. NAGAP.org

Positionality My interest in this topic is related to my scholarly research, professional background, and personal experience.

Childcare played a significant role in my doctoral student experience as all three of my children were age 3 or younger when I began. My dissertation research on the post-graduation career choices of Black mother doctoral students (BMDS), professional experiences as a student affairs professional, and educational experience as a Black mother doctoral student have provided me with insights into the importance of recognizing the ways that race and motherhood inform childcare access and decisions. Ultimately, I seek to operationalize theory to advance change in higher education policy to become more inclusive of and responsive to the needs of BGSM. Methodology According to Krueger and Casey (2015), the use of focus groups allows for the collection of a large amount of data in a relatively short amount of time. Focus groups create an environment for participants to connect with other people who have shared experiences because people are more likely to reveal “sensitive information when they felt they were in a safe, comfortable place with people like themselves’” (Krueger & Casey, 2015, p. 3). They further assert that focus groups use open-ended, non-directive questions related to a central topic and allow participants to respond as they deem fit. The exchange allows for information to flow freely and identify points of synergy or divergence. Finally, they recommend that focus groups include groups of 6-8 people, between 90 and 120 minutes per session, recording for transcription, and the use of two moderators. The primary research question was, in what way do childcare needs and experiences of BGSM impact their studies?

I recruited 14 participants through snow balling (Goodman, 2011) including social media, professional associations for academic mothers, campus childcare centers, Black women in higher education, and personal networks.

Criteria for participation included Black mother graduate students enrolled in school at the time of participation who have utilized childcare for their children of any age.

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STUDENT LIFECYCLE, ENGAGEMENT, AND SUPPORT who may care for adult children with disabilities, which acknowledges the intersection of race and disabilities conceptualized as DisCrit (Annama et al., 2016).

Findings Study findings showed that race impacts BGSMs and their childcare experiences in three ways. First, participants used their academic training to protect themselves and their children from racial bias. Second, participants made tradeoffs to access childcare, and third, they experienced onlyness (Harper, 2011) as Black mothers or only Black people in their academic programs, which intersected with issues of childcare. Childcare needs and experiences impacted graduate studies by instigating and intersecting with racial bias and creating the need for safety for BGSM. These issues encompassed the full scope of BGSMs’ lives including the work and educational systems they navigated, which contributed to their need for childcare.

“You Black people don’t really know anything”: Using [academic] knowledge as power BGSM leveraged their academic expertise to protect themselves and their children from narratives of racial bias. For example, participant Hilda’s subject matter expertise in education gave her unique insights about “seeing how the sausage is made.” She shared her concerns by saying, “I have high expectations for our educators particularly when we know about the disproportionate impact on our students of color and our Black kids.” Hilda ultimately described “feeling very unsatisfied” with the educational options available for her child. Though she possessed academic knowledge about the lack of racial safety in educational environments, she had little recourse for mitigating those challenges for her child. Other participants’ academic training and knowledge impacted their sentiments about or approach to childcare.

During an experience with a medical clinic associated with her university, participant Willow asserted herself by revealing her credentials when healthcare professionals attempted to oblige her to participate in research in exchange for her child’s medical services. She said, “I’ve learned about research ethics. This is unacceptable.

This is coercion. You can’t just tell people to come and

sign.” Only after administrators intervened during the exchange was Willow permitted to receive services for her child without expectations to participate in the study. In response to the circumstances that led to the exchange, Willow described her perception that others believed: “’You Black people you don’t really know anything.’” The context of Willow’s story was specific to describing the benefits of being in graduate school as a Black mother. Though her experience involved her children with a medical provider because it was within the university’s network, it reflected the entangled relationship between childcare and other institutions. She explained the significance of her story by saying, “so that’s why I said one of the benefits is it has made me more knowledgeable” (Willow). The knowledge gained from her academic training gave her greater confidence.

Willow’s pursuit of a graduate degree and racialized experiences within the university’s structure had implications for where she could (or could not) access resources that supported or hindered her academic advancement. Without her academic training, Willow did not believe that she would have had the knowledge or confidence to challenge medical professionals.

Experiences of bias (or the perception thereof) within institutional networks may guide BGSMs’ future interactions and decision making. Willow indicated that she relied on personal relationships for childcare; however, participants like Wanda highlight the long-term damage and mistrust that bias can breed among BGSM. Drawing on her educational expertise, Wanda said, “the institution is hostile to what Black children need, and so I don’t necessarily prefer to have my kids in the building . . .

I don’t want those worlds to collide.” Academic knowledge served a dual purpose to prepare BGSM for advanced credentials and for advocacy. Colette described the connection between her academic discipline and her children’s marginalized identities: “To be a mom who has two kids who actually fit into two of many categories kind of makes it very personal . . . it’s just helped me to be a better student and to really live into this degree that I’m pursuing” (Colette). Though Colette’s use of academic

Academic knowledge served a dual purpose to prepare BGSM for advanced credentials and for advocacy.

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The racial minoritization of Black mothers creates an unnecessary dichotomy between academic rigor and cultural and racial wellness or safety. knowledge as power was more subtle, it informed her decisions for her son’s education as a Black man with disabilities. Childcare needs and experiences sometimes emerged from the same site of inquiry. The tradeoffs that participants made to access graduate education also involved the role of childcare.

“Mommy needs to fight education injustice”: Tradeoffs and childcare in graduate education Tradeoffs emerged in this study as the ways that BGSM negotiated childcare in relation to their work and educational commitments. Brionna noted the costs to her child and herself when navigating racial trauma in childcare settings: “My daughter experienced some racialized trauma at her school, and so I had to pull her out very suddenly.” Brionna exercised agency on behalf of her daughter when issues of racial bias impacted their family, but she recognized the implications for her time and resources: “We [Black mothers] have to work harder to find safe spaces for our children. We have to engage with the teachers on a whole other level, monitor things, like, all of that takes time, it takes money.” The time and money required of BGSM to either manage, recover from, or avoid encounters with racial bias redirected resources needed for parenting and graduate school.

As a former educator, Wanda described a similar dynamic.

Through reflecting on her children’s earlier educational experiences, she shared, “I feel like I’m cheating my kids because I homeschooled [before graduate school] and it was going really well . . . we didn’t continue because Mommy needs to fight education injustice at schools for a predominantly white institution.” Homeschool is an increasingly popular educational medium to protect Black children from racial bias in traditional schools (Ray, 2015).

Despite her training and expertise, Wanda struggled to reconcile the tradeoff of fighting educational injustice at the expense of creating a safe learning environment for her children at home.

The racial minoritization of Black mothers creates an unnecessary dichotomy between academic rigor and cultural and racial wellness or safety. BGSM were aware of social narratives and stereotypes that instigated NAGAP.org

these paradigms and proactively sought to monitor environments where they anticipated their children’s vulnerability. Paula described her strategy for navigating bias against her son in childcare: “I go to his school sometimes unannounced and just sit and observe what he’s doing . . . Sometimes the feedback that I get based on what I observe is skewed. That weighs on me heavily,” Research indicates that Black boys are subjected to racial bias as early as preschool (Gilliam et al., 2016).

Though childcare is intended to alleviate stressors for parents, racial bias creates additional stressors for BGSM. Heather also described the tradeoffs she was forced to make to pay for childcare and attend graduate school: Professors would like me to do fellowships and other opportunities, but it will require me to give up my full-time employment and I can’t do that.

As much as I would love to go after these big opportunities, it’s not realistic for someone like me.

When asked to further explain the meaning behind the phrase, “someone like me” Heather said, “someone like me as in a solo Black mom who has to provide all things because there’s no secondary source of income . . . There’s no way I can make that work with daycare bills, just regular housing expenses.” Heather’s tradeoff for accessing reliable childcare was the inability to pursue enriching graduate school opportunities. While students from low socioeconomic status or mothers of other racial backgrounds may also face tradeoffs, her experience reflects a larger dynamic related to Black mothers and single parenthood (Stewart, 2021). Tradeoffs constrain BGSM from experiencing the breadth of possibilities that can be afforded through graduate education and the subsequent career opportunities (Fulton, 2023).

“I’m the only Black mom”: Black graduate student mothers and “onlyness” Participants highlighted their experiences with onlyness, “the psychoemotional burden of having to navigate a racially politicized space occupied by few peers, role models, and guardians from one’s same racial or ethnic Fall 2023

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Wilma stated, “I’m the only Black person in my cohort . . .

I had to be a mom and I had to be a student at the same time. Of course we know racism is real, prejudice is real, but what I was doing my household was unrealistic expectations.” In her attempts to avoid racial bias, Wilma initially engaged in bias avoidance through nondisclosure of her parental status (Nzinga-Johnson, 2013); however, she pivoted when she recognized the stressors associated with trying to keep her children hidden during virtual calls with members of her academic program.

Non-disclosure is a common practice utilized by mothers in academia to avoid bias that suggests that they are not committed to their work. Though mothers broadly negotiate bias avoidance through non-disclosure, (Kaler et al., 2020; Lynch, 2009), Black mothers are unable to avoid other forms of bias associated with their race and gender even when they are not explicitly stated (Collins, 2000; Rogers et al., 2019).

healthcare. Marissa’s characterization of her and her son’s experiences as “really fortunate” because they were not subjected to onlyness at work or in childcare demonstrate its relevance to BGSM in their experiences and those of their children.

Discussion and Recommendations

Hilda also had an experience as the only in her program.

“I’m the only Black mom in the program . . . the biggest challenge was just the lack of recognition of women to be a Black mom during 2016 to 2020, the racialized experience we’re all having particularly with children . . . ” The use of course content about race and racism without acknowledgement of the lived experiences of BGSM demonstrates how onlyness operates.

Childcare informed the decisions of BGSM at every stage of the graduate school process beginning with institutional selection. Participants largely navigated issues of childcare in graduate education independently. Few participants referenced assistance from their institutions to meet their childcare needs. The childcare needs and experiences of BGSM were not exclusively related to the experiences within daycare centers, nannies, or babysitters. On the contrary, childcare needs and experience were instigated by, parallel to, and the result of dynamics related to a broad range of factors in the lives of BGSM. Participants’ academic training became a tool to facilitate childcare decision making that protected their children or ensured accountability among educators. For other parents, childcare was a tradeoff that limited time spent with children, but made graduate school, work, or both possible. BGSMs’ experiences with onlyness in their academic programs created a hypervigilant recognition of negative racial narratives in education about themselves and their children. Participants who discussed their experiences with onlyness—Wilma, Hilda, and Paula — also discussed the relevance of race in their childcare selection.

The damaging impact of onlyness (Harper, 2013) can undermine a sense of safety and create a need for greater security in other areas of life. Harper explained that status did not “afford the participants immunity from the racist stereotypes” (p. 193) and impacted multiple dimensions of their experiences associated with the role.

The relevance of onlyness among BGSM facilitated a warranted hypervigilant attentiveness to issues of racism and bias. Even when these experiences happened outside of childcare, participants’ understanding of systems bred fear for their children. This was especially true for participants whose disciplines were education or

Institutions of higher education can proactively support BGSM using three strategies. The use of intersectional lenses to recognize and respond to the distinct needs and experiences of graduate student parents is a key opportunity for graduate enrollment management.

The disaggregation of data to better serve students is a necessary strategy for practitioners and administrators interested in better serving Black students, graduate students, student mothers, and those who live at the intersection of all three identities. Participants were unable to access graduate school opportunities that precluded their full-time work since most did not account

The use of intersectional lenses to recognize and respond to the distinct needs of experiences of graduate student parents is a key opportunity for graduate enrollment management.

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Institutions willing to offer graduate assistant stipends that proactively respond to the needs of BGSM could position themselves as a leader in the industry, as well as increase recruitment and retention. for the responsibilities to care for dependents. Institutions willing to offer graduate assistant stipends that proactively respond to the needs of BGSM could position themselves as a leader in the industry, as well as increase recruitment and retention.

Extending that lens into classroom practices through equipping faculty for culturally responsive classroom management and adopting syllabi statements about dependents may create an additional layer of support that lighten the stressors of navigating childcare as a BGSM. Institutional childcare centers are known for being inaccessible to students due to costs and long wait lists (Anaya, 2011), but student emergency funds for caregivers and directories for needed services like childcare and healthcare may help BGSM redirect their energy from protecting themselves and their children to graduate studies. n

Dr. Leah Fulton is an experienced student affairs professional, consultant, and researcher.

Dr. Fulton’s work centers on issues of racial equity in higher education through a focus on the history of Black women in doctoral education and the experiences of Black graduate student mothers. Her secondary area of research explores the experience of undergraduate students and adjunct faculty of color in leadership education.

Goodman, L. A. (2011). Comment: On respondent-driven sampling and snowball sampling in hard-to-reach populations and snowball sampling not in hard-to-reach populations. Sociological Methodology, 41(1), 347-353.

Greiner & Burke. (2008). No margin for error: A study of two women balancing motherhood and Ph.D. studies. The Qualitative Report, 13(4), 581-604.

Harper, S.R. (2011). Race and racism in the experiences of Black male resident assistants at predominantly white universities, 52(2), 180-200.

Kaler, L.S., Fulton, L.N., Vang, Z., & Stebleton, M.J. (2020). “You should be home snuggling your baby”: Scholar-mothers navigating maternal microaggressions in the academy. In H. Oliha-Donaldson (Ed.), Confronting critical equity and inclusion incidents on campus: Lessons learned and emerging practices (pp.

59-78). Rutgers University Press.

Krueger, R. A., & Casey, M. A. (2015). Focus groups: A practical guide for applied research (5th ed.). Sage Publications.

Livingston, G. (2015, May). Childlessness falls, family size grows among highly educated women. Pew Research Center Social & Demographic Trends.

Retrieved from https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2015/05/07/childlessnessfalls-family-size-grows-among-highly-educated-women/ Lynch, K. D. (2008). Gender roles and the American academe: A case study of graduate student mothers. Gender and Education, 20(6), 585-605. doi: 10.1080/09540250802213099 Mata, I. (2013). Class, race, and motherhood: Raising children of color in a space of privilege. In Castañeda M. & Isgro K. (Eds.), Mothers in academia., pp.

111-122. Columbia University Press.

Morris, M. W.(2015). Pushout: The criminalization of Black girls in schools. The New Press.

National Science Foundation. (2018). Survey of earned doctorates. [Report NSF 18-304]. https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2018/nsf18304/static/report/ nsf18304-report.pdf National Science Foundation. (2019). Women, Minorities and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering. [NSF 19-304]. https://ncses.nsf.gov/ pubs/nsf19304/digest/about-this-report

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Annamma, S. A., Connor, D., & Ferri, B. (2013). Dis/ability critical race studies (DisCrit): Theorizing at the intersections of race and dis/ability. Race, Ethnicity and Education, 16(1), 1–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2012.730511 Collins, P. H. (2000). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment (Rev. 10th anniversary ed.). Routledge.

DePouw, C. (2018). Intersectionality and critical race parenting. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 31(1), 55–69. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 09518398.2017.1379620 Gault, B., Cruse, L.R., Reynolds, E., & Froehner, M. (2014). 4.8 Million college students are raising children. (Issue Brief No. IWPR #C424). Retrieved from https://iwpr.org/wp-content/uploads/wpallimport/files/iwpr-export/publications/ C424_Student%20Parents_final.pdf Gilliam, W.S., Maupin, A.N., Reyes, C.R. Accavitti, M., Schic, F. (September).

Do early educator’s implicit biases regarding race and sex relate to

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behavior expectations and recommendations for preschool expulsions and suspensions? U.S. Administration for Children and Families (ACF) 2016 State and Territory Administrators Meeting. https://medicine.yale.edu/childstudy/ zigler/publications/Preschool%20Implicit%20Bias%20Policy%20Brief_ final_9_26_276766_5379_v1.pdf

Nzinga-Johnson (2013).

Ray, B. (2015). African American home school parents’ motivations for homeschooling and their Black children’s academic achievement. Journal of School Choice, 9(1), 71-96.

Rogers, J., McLean, A., & Mentor, M. (2019). A Seat at the table: Womanist narratives of Black mothers in doctoral programs. Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education, 18(1), 87-108. https://doi.org/10.31390/ taboo.18.1.07 Springer, K.W., Parker, B.K., & Leviten-Reid, C. (2009). Making space for graduate student parents: Practice and politics. Journal of Family Issues, 30(4), 435-457.

Wilson, V. (2017, May 11). African American women stand out as working moms play a larger. [Economic Policy Institute] https://www.epi.org/blog/africanamerican-women-stand-out-as-working-moms-play-a-larger-economic-role-infamilies/ Women’s Bureau. (2014). Working Mothers Issue Brief. [U.S. Department of Labor] https://www.dol.gov/wb/resources/WB_WorkingMothers_508_ FinalJune13.pdf Yakaboski, T. (2010). Going at it alone: Single-mother undergraduate’s experiences. Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 47(4), 463-481.

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CAREER, STAFF, & PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

Q&A

with NAGAP Board Member and NAGAP Research Committee Chair, Amanda Ostreko, PhD

Amanda Ostreko, PhD, Assistant Vice Provost and Director of Graduate Enrollment Management, University of Kansas

In a nutshell, what does your committee work on (or are responsible for)?

The Research Committee oversees efforts to collect and disseminate research that supports best practices in GEM. This includes working on research projects with external partners and/or members of the GEM community, conducting a regular salary survey and publishing the findings in GEMCAT (Graduate Enrollment Management Compensation Analytics Tool), and selecting recipients for the NAGAP Graduate Research Grant.

What led you to your career in graduate enrollment management (for instance, how did you find your first role in GEM? Why have you continued in this field since?)

I am fortunate to have started my career working in GEM, initially assisting the associate dean for research and graduate programs in the School of Engineering at the University of Kansas (KU). My position evolved over my nearly 10 years there, and I was able to complete a master’s and doctoral degree during that time, using my interests to recruit and support graduate students in my graduate school studies and research projects. I now have a university-level role in GEM and enjoy the variety of responsibilities it offers.

Tell us about your current role in graduate enrollment management. What do you enjoy most about it?

I oversee the Graduate Admissions office and provide strategic leadership and direction to the enrollment management efforts of both domestic and international graduate applicants and students. This includes leadership and management of applicant generation, inquiry cultivation, and pre-and post-admit communications.

I manage the graduate application and efforts to provide data and guidance on graduate student retention and graduation. In addition to serving on NAGAP’s board, I serve on the Research Committee for the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS).

I work with incredibly thoughtful and hardworking faculty and staff and appreciate collaborating with them to support the recruitment of students to graduate school.

I also enjoy interacting with prospective graduate students and helping them navigate their options for graduate study.

How long have you been involved in NAGAP, and what led you to becoming involved?

I first attended a NAGAP conference in 2006, after my supervisor’s colleague recommended that I attend.

The support and expertise I experienced at that first conference encouraged me to give back and volunteer at the next annual conference, and I have served on numerous committees since 2010.

What are you most excited to work on or accomplish in your committee chair position?

I am most excited to work on a project to advance GEM-related research as a field of study, with the goal of updating the 2014 white paper on Integrated Interdependence. I also look forward to continuing to

I work with incredibly thoughtful and hardworking faculty and staff and appreciate collaborating with them to support the recruitment of students to graduate school.

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CAREER, STAFF, & PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT provide comparative data on GEM salaries, allocating funding to support GEM research, and developing opportunities for our GEM colleagues to conduct research.

anything outdoors that doesn’t involve getting into a body of water.

What do you like to do for fun?

What is one thing about you people would never suspect?

I like to travel (spending just as much time on the planning process as the actual travel), run, bike, and hike – nearly

I own a boat but don’t like to swim (probably because I’m not very good at it). n

Q&A

with NAGAP Board Member and Professional Development Committee Chair, Anthony Perez, MS Ed

Anthony Perez, MS Ed, Director of Student Recruitment and Enrollment Marketing, Medical College of Wisconsin

In a nutshell, what does your committee work on (or are responsible for)?

We plan and execute NAGAP’s Professional Development Institutes as well as the Pre-Summit Institute.

What led you to your career in graduate enrollment management (for instance, how did you find your first role in GEM? Why have you continued in this field since?)

I began my career in higher education administration (e.g. student affairs), predominantly within residence life and campus activities. I eventually found my way to GEM through someone that my wife had worked with when she was a PhD student at the institution that I now work at.

That someone ended up supporting me to pursue my first professional position working with graduate admissions, and I haven’t looked back. I have now spent over half of

my professional career in GEM, and continue to enjoy it as much today as I did when I first started. For me, the work is as challenging as it is fulfilling, which is an important balance for me professionally and one that I struggled to find previously.

Tell us about your current role in graduate enrollment management. What do you enjoy most about it?

I am currently the director of student recruitment and enrollment marketing at the Medical College of Wisconsin, which is a newly-created position that I assumed in April of 2023. I also direct a summer undergraduate research program, and serve as the primary functional administrator of our institution’s instance of Slate. I most enjoy the aspects of creating access and opportunity for prospective students, particularly those from underrepresented populations. I also enjoy the challenge that comes with creating awareness about and recruiting students for a small, niche institution such as MCW. How long have you been involved in NAGAP, and what led you to becoming involved?

Becoming a NAGAP member was one of the first tasks I completed when I began working at MCW in February, 2015. I had the fortune of transitioning into my role with the person who was transitioning out of it, and was strongly advised by him to be as involved as possible

I most enjoy the aspects of creating access and opportunity for prospective students, particularly those from underrepresented populations.

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CAREER, STAFF, & PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT with the organization. Just over a year after becoming a NAGAP member, I joined the MAGAP Board and remained on it for four years in various capacities.

What are you most excited to work on or accomplish in your committee chair position?

We recently decided to combine the Summer and Winter PDIs into a combined event that will take place in the summer for the next several years, and I’m excited to further explore the possibilities that this will afford us both from an event planning/hosting and attendee experience standpoint.

What do you like to do for fun?

I enjoy road and studio cycling, sampling craft beers and unique foods, and seeking out new experiences of any kind.

What is one thing you would want people to know about you and GEM? I think GEM is one of the best kept secrets within the higher education industry. As a master’s student, my educational experience was focused on current student experiences, with hardly any mention on what it took to get them enrolled. I feel so fortunate to have first been hired at MCW and then welcomed so graciously into the NAGAP community. I consider my role on the board to be a great privilege, and look forward to giving back, paying it forward, etc. in as many ways possible.

What is one thing about you people would never suspect?

I have a ranked Top 10 Rom-Com list that I will share and debate the merits of with anyone interested in doing so. n

I think GEM is one of the best kept secrets within the higher education industry.

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2023 Summer PDI Fellowship Essay

By Kyrsti Hamilton, MBA, University of the Pacific

M

y experience at the NAGAP Professional Development Institute broadened my understanding of what it means to be a part of the higher education industry. The journey hasn’t solely enhanced my professional skills; it has also contributed significantly to my personal growth, highlighting the exceptional advantages that this path offers. The time I spent with others at the same point in their careers as me caused me to consider the way I operate differently. I came back with new ideas and an appreciation for the different paths each student must take to reach graduate school. consider the student experience and how it relates to our processes. I look forward to applying this mindset to my role and the roles I might have in the future.

Through shared experiences and animated discussions, I gained insights into the nuances of challenges faced across the spectrum of higher education. These connections extend beyond the confines of the Institute and are poised to flourish into lasting professional relationships. I am grateful for the advice that I have been given and will share it with my team to make positive changes for my university.

I wanted to attend the Professional Development Institute to learn about the challenges that others in my industry face across the country. Each university and program has a unique perspective to share and learn from. I am grateful for the opportunity to connect

I appreciate the opportunity to be part of the NAGAP Professional Institute and to learn from the higher education professionals who presented at the event as well as from the other participants. I look forward to being a part of NAGAP for the duration of my higher education career. n

with other early career professionals and gain a new perspective on my university’s challenges.

My university supports a wide variety of programs with my focus on the business school as well as the liberal arts. With the shift towards online programs, our recruitment techniques also have to adapt. The discussions surrounding student readiness struck a chord, emphasizing the pivotal importance of aligning

Kyrsti Hamilton joined the graduate enrollment team at the University of the Pacific in August of 2022, excited to make higher education a reality for students who may have not considered it before.

In her current role as a graduate recruiter and outreach manager, Kyrsti is eager to contribute her energy and ideas to foster an enriching and supportive campus atmosphere.

processes with the student experience. We need to

The discussions surrounding student readiness struck a chord, emphasizing the pivotal importance of aligning processes with the student experience.

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