A Narrative Inquiry of Early-Career Women of Color in Student Affairs

<p>At the time of this study, data revealed student affairs professionals were exiting the profession at high rates (Chamberlain et al., 2022). This rate was higher among new student affairs professionals (Buchanan & Shupp, 2015). Professionals in the field face common challenges including low job satisfaction and high levels of burnout (Aros, 2022; Chamberlain et al., 2022; Quaye et al., 2024) and a lack of appropriate supervision (Shupp & Arminio, 2012) and mentoring opportunities (Aros, 2022; Maramba, 2011). However, people of color and women in the profession face additional challenges, including racial battle fatigue (Quaye et al., 2024), racism and microaggressions (Briscoe, 2022; Garcia, 2016; Núñez et al., 2025), and tokenism (Bizzell, 2024; Maramba, 2011). Researchers have investigated the experiences of senior-level women of color student affairs professionals, yet existing research has failed to center the experiences of early-career women of color in student affairs. The purpose of this narrative inquiry study was to better understand the experiences of early-career women of color in student affairs. The researcher used critical race feminism as a theoretical framework to understand the impact of coparticipants’ races and genders on their experiences and perceptions of institutional resources and support. The findings, presented as four composite narratives, revealed coparticipants perceived their experiences as shaped by the challenges of navigating primarily White spaces, others’ attitudes toward them because of their ages, their communities of support, positive and negative supervisory experiences, a decline in mental health and burnout, their passion for supporting students, and feeling undervalued and undercompensated.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Education, PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

Open Access Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

School of Educational Studies

Year dc:date.available

2026

Author dc:creator

• Jin-Leyva, Nora Anitzya

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dina Maramba
• Cristina Alfaro
• Mónica Baldonado-Ruiz

• early-career
• entry-level
• higher education
• narrative inquiry
• student affairs
• women of color
• Education

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/1107

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarship.claremont.edu:cgu_etd-2129