Racially minority students and faculty are disproportionately underrepresented nationally, particularly at Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), which are meant to serve minority populations (Hurtado et al., 2008). As the number of minority students grows, the gap for representation grows wider, which has added to the high departure of minority students. Additionally, the lack of faculty representation has minority faculty experiencing racial fatigue and tokenism. This qualitative research used the counter-storytelling tenet of Critical Race Theory as a theoretical framework to explore how students and faculty conceptualize representation in their graduate program at an MSI.
By employing co-constructed interviewing in the data collection, the researcher created an intimate, relational, and flexible method of in-depth conversations that focused on telling and listening; the respondents in this study gave their experiences with representation in their current graduate program and built ideal models of representation. Through intimate interaction, follow-up questioning, and shared experiences, faculty and students expressed how perceived behaviors, policies, and procedures were determinants that contribute to the minority population disparities within the institution. The conclusions suggested that institutional leaders embrace and encourage differences by implementing strategies to recruit and retain more minority faculty and intentionally support inclusive policies at MSIs to increase student and faculty belonging and the value of diversity through equitable populations.
","abstract_html":"<p>Racially minority students and faculty are disproportionately underrepresented nationally, particularly at Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), which are meant to serve minority populations (Hurtado et al., 2008). As the number of minority students grows, the gap for representation grows wider, which has added to the high departure of minority students. Additionally, the lack of faculty representation has minority faculty experiencing racial fatigue and tokenism. This qualitative research used the counter-storytelling tenet of Critical Race Theory as a theoretical framework to explore how students and faculty conceptualize representation in their graduate program at an MSI.</p> <p>By employing co-constructed interviewing in the data collection, the researcher created an intimate, relational, and flexible method of in-depth conversations that focused on telling and listening; the respondents in this study gave their experiences with representation in their current graduate program and built ideal models of representation. Through intimate interaction, follow-up questioning, and shared experiences, faculty and students expressed how perceived behaviors, policies, and procedures were determinants that contribute to the minority population disparities within the institution. The conclusions suggested that institutional leaders embrace and encourage differences by implementing strategies to recruit and retain more minority faculty and intentionally support inclusive policies at MSIs to increase student and faculty belonging and the value of diversity through equitable populations.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Love, Phylecia"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Ed.D. Doctor of Education","degree_level":"Dissertation - Public Access","degree_discipline":"Higher Education Leadership","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Jaclyn Rivard","Jamal Scott","Danielle Lemmerman"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2024,"date_issued":"2024-04-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2024-04-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:21:20Z","subjects":["African American Studies","Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education","Educational Leadership","Ethnic Studies","Higher Education"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.nl.edu/diss/836","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Jaclyn Rivard","Jamal Scott","Danielle Lemmerman"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Love, Phylecia"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2024-06-21T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Higher Education Leadership"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation - Public Access"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ed.D. Doctor of Education"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["African American Studies","Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education","Educational Leadership","Ethnic Studies","Higher Education"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.nl.edu/diss/836"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Racially minority students and faculty are disproportionately underrepresented nationally, particularly at Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), which are meant to serve minority populations (Hurtado et al., 2008). As the number of minority students grows, the gap for representation grows wider, which has added to the high departure of minority students. Additionally, the lack of faculty representation has minority faculty experiencing racial fatigue and tokenism. This qualitative research used the counter-storytelling tenet of Critical Race Theory as a theoretical framework to explore how students and faculty conceptualize representation in their graduate program at an MSI.
By employing co-constructed interviewing in the data collection, the researcher created an intimate, relational, and flexible method of in-depth conversations that focused on telling and listening; the respondents in this study gave their experiences with representation in their current graduate program and built ideal models of representation. Through intimate interaction, follow-up questioning, and shared experiences, faculty and students expressed how perceived behaviors, policies, and procedures were determinants that contribute to the minority population disparities within the institution. The conclusions suggested that institutional leaders embrace and encourage differences by implementing strategies to recruit and retain more minority faculty and intentionally support inclusive policies at MSIs to increase student and faculty belonging and the value of diversity through equitable populations.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Representation and Equity Gaps in Higher Education: Conceptualizing Minority Representation in Graduate Programs at an MSI"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Jaclyn Rivard","Jamal Scott","Danielle Lemmerman"],"dc:creator":["Love, Phylecia"],"dc:date.available":["2024-06-21T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Racially minority students and faculty are disproportionately underrepresented nationally, particularly at Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), which are meant to serve minority populations (Hurtado et al., 2008). As the number of minority students grows, the gap for representation grows wider, which has added to the high departure of minority students. Additionally, the lack of faculty representation has minority faculty experiencing racial fatigue and tokenism. This qualitative research used the counter-storytelling tenet of Critical Race Theory as a theoretical framework to explore how students and faculty conceptualize representation in their graduate program at an MSI.
By employing co-constructed interviewing in the data collection, the researcher created an intimate, relational, and flexible method of in-depth conversations that focused on telling and listening; the respondents in this study gave their experiences with representation in their current graduate program and built ideal models of representation. Through intimate interaction, follow-up questioning, and shared experiences, faculty and students expressed how perceived behaviors, policies, and procedures were determinants that contribute to the minority population disparities within the institution. The conclusions suggested that institutional leaders embrace and encourage differences by implementing strategies to recruit and retain more minority faculty and intentionally support inclusive policies at MSIs to increase student and faculty belonging and the value of diversity through equitable populations.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.nl.edu/diss/836"],"dc:subject":["African American Studies","Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education","Educational Leadership","Ethnic Studies","Higher Education"],"dc:title":["Representation and Equity Gaps in Higher Education: Conceptualizing Minority Representation in Graduate Programs at an MSI"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Higher Education Leadership"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation - Public Access"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ed.D. Doctor of Education"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:21:20Z"}