+A Critical Approach to Understanding

URM Graduate Students’ Schooling Experiences in STEM

Tanya Figueroa and Sylvia HurtadoUCLA

Association for the Study of Higher EducationNovember 2013

St. Louis, MO

+ProblemU.S. born Black, Latina/o, and American

Indian students continue to be severely underrepresented within STEM graduate programs.

The issue is exacerbated by low 10-year doctoral completions rates. As low as 40% in some STEM disciplines.

+Research Questions

What challenges do URM students face in the formal academic environment that make progression through their STEM graduate program difficult?

Further, how do students respond to these challenges?

+Theoretical PerspectivesRace is

Embedded within American institutions Power differentials exist across racial lines

Dominant groups Have the power to “other” those they

perceive to be different from them

Micro-inequalities Seemingly trivial practices and behaviors

that communicate devaluation or disrespect, which collectively have large consequences on the outcomes of people.

+Methodology –

Data come from a larger STEM retention project conducted by HERI, one campus selected

Participants recruited by email from structured STEM programs for URM students

Biographic questionnaireA semi-structured focus group

interview technique

+Data Source Midwestern University (MU) – 42,000

students/15,500 Grad23 students across 9 focus groupsBlack 13

Latino 5

Multi-racial 5

Males 14

Age range 25-36

Engineering 11

Biology/Chemistry 6

Other STEM 6

+Analysis

Pertinent data were group coded into salient themes

Constant comparative analysis Intercoder reliability, iterative process,

until agreement was over 85%

+

1. Student hesitancy to share experiences

2. Secondary dataset based on a larger project on graduate experiences

3. Generalizing to other students

Limitations

+Results: Three Overarching Challenges Students Encountered1. Negative consequences stemming

from “underrepresentation” in one’s program

2. Exclusion and conflict, and the ambiguous nature of these experiences

3. Less ambiguous experiences of discrimination

+The Phenomena of Underrepresentation

Participants felt “otherized” and hyper visible within academic spaces.

Participants perceived that others:Were surprised and threatened by their

presenceQuestioned their ability and commitment

to do science Questioned the merits by which they

were admitted

+Austin, mechanical engineering, Black

Here in [Midwestern University]… there’s not a lot of African American or Hispanics walking around. So whenever a minority enters the engineering department I feel as if there’s already some kind of, I don’t want to say stigma, but there’s always... he or she has to prove himself kind of deal. You know, “I wonder how he or she got here?” kind of thing. Are they filling some quota or whatever the case may be? It’s very subtle. I don’t think the university flaunts it. But I definitely know it’s there.

+Exclusion

Negative feelings from being “the only one” were exacerbated by exclusion from peers

Made learning, completing class work, and passing qualifying exams more difficult.

+Dominique, electrical engineering, black If I went to a random person and asked the person this question, I’d have understood, but I’m like, this is someone who’s in my lab group… we’re trying to solve the same project together. We’re supposed to have some kind of bond. And then he said that [he wouldn’t discuss the homework with me] and I was like, “Hmm, maybe I have to rethink working with this guy.” If he’s as individualistic as he is then [he’s] probably not the kind of person I want on my team.

+Less Ambiguous Experiences of Discrimination

I was trying to talk to [a professor] about his research and his response was, “Well, I didn’t think your kind would be interested in this kind of research.” And I stopped and asked myself do I really want to go into this or not? So, of course, me being the way I am, I just decided I’d challenge him. “What do you mean my kind?” And I think a lot of it comes from ignorance – and I don’t even think he thought about what he said. - Brandon, applied physics, Black

+Discussion

Considerations of race are hardly absent from students’ experiences in STEM graduate education

Underrepresentation, inequities, and racism disadvantaged participants

Students responded in multiple ways

+Implications for PracticeIntentional recruitment of URM students Nurturing and collaborative educational

environmentLearn innovations from other placesFuture research

LongitudinalStories of those who drop out

Persistence in STEM graduate programs is within reach!