{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/129399"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/129399","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Reminisce, reconcile, & reclaim: A qualitative study centering Black alumni and their engagement with their undergraduate predominantly White institutions","abstract":"Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2025-10-19 without embargo terms","abstract_html":"Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled &#x27;Open Access&#x27;. The submission was exported from vireo on 2025-10-19 without embargo terms","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Brewster, Courtney E."],"institution":"University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"Ed.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Lee, Sharon S","Pak, Yoon","Commodore, Felecia","Justice, Patricia"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025-04-22","date_published":"2025-04-22","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:05Z","subjects":["Administrators","African American","Alumni","Black","Colleges","Diversity","Engagement","Equity","Faculty","Generosity","Higher Education","Identity","Inclusion","Philanthropy","Predominantly White Institution","PWI","Race","Staff","Students","Undergraduate","Universities"],"languages":["en","eng"],"rights":["Copyright 2025 Courtney Brewster"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129399","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Lee, Sharon S","Pak, Yoon","Commodore, Felecia","Justice, Patricia"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Brewster, Courtney E."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2025-04-22","2025-05"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text","Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ed.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Administrators","African American","Alumni","Black","Colleges","Diversity","Engagement","Equity","Faculty","Generosity","Higher Education","Identity","Inclusion","Philanthropy","Predominantly White Institution","PWI","Race","Staff","Students","Undergraduate","Universities"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en","eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2025 Courtney Brewster"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129399"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2025-10-19 without embargo terms","The student, Courtney Brewster, accepted the attached license on 2025-04-16 at 00:26.","The student, Courtney Brewster, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2025-04-16 at 00:41.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2025-04-22 at 15:29.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #21791 on 2025-10-19 at 18:18:18","As colleges and universities influence perspectives, affiliations, and status, the responsibility and accountability required to equip constituents to work within a global society are essential in shaping alumni's experience for engagement. This descriptive qualitative study utilizes Social Identity Theory (Tajfel, 1974; Turner & Oakes, 1986) and Self-Categorization Theory (Hogg & Terry, 2000; Tajfel, 1974) frameworks, in addition to the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Alumni Engagement Task Force Metrics, volunteer, experiential, philanthropic, communication (2018), and “the rule of the 5T’s, a definition of women’s philanthropy”, time, talent, treasure, ties, and testimony (Loehr, 2025) conceptual frameworks to analyze data through interviews. Realizing how predominantly White institutions’ culture and priorities situate themselves to engage Black/African American alumni provides an opportunity to explore how experiences with faculty, staff, administrators, community members, and their peers affect their level of engagement. Through thoughtful inquiry into the history of philanthropy’s effect on higher education and illustrations of how Black/African American community members engage, centering their narratives is crucial to illuminating the themes revealed in the study: connection, corrective action, education, engagement, generosity, and restructuring systems. Additionally, the categories participants cited reflect their racial identity connections, involvement with students, faculty, staff, and administrators, and their overall experiences as undergraduate students and alumni. Furthermore, it is important to recognize how the sub-themes are influenced by the impact of positive and negative experiences around institutional classroom and campus experiences, practices, and the values and commitment participants uphold for the Black/African American community. Conclusively, it is essential that institutions intentionally define an ethos that affirms and moves to embed practices for culturally responsive engagement."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Reminisce, reconcile, & reclaim: A qualitative study centering Black alumni and their engagement with their undergraduate predominantly White institutions"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Lee, Sharon S","Pak, Yoon","Commodore, Felecia","Justice, Patricia"],"dc:creator":["Brewster, Courtney E."],"dc:date":["2025-04-22","2025-05"],"dc:description":["Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2025-10-19 without embargo terms","The student, Courtney Brewster, accepted the attached license on 2025-04-16 at 00:26.","The student, Courtney Brewster, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2025-04-16 at 00:41.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2025-04-22 at 15:29.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #21791 on 2025-10-19 at 18:18:18","As colleges and universities influence perspectives, affiliations, and status, the responsibility and accountability required to equip constituents to work within a global society are essential in shaping alumni's experience for engagement. 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Through thoughtful inquiry into the history of philanthropy’s effect on higher education and illustrations of how Black/African American community members engage, centering their narratives is crucial to illuminating the themes revealed in the study: connection, corrective action, education, engagement, generosity, and restructuring systems. Additionally, the categories participants cited reflect their racial identity connections, involvement with students, faculty, staff, and administrators, and their overall experiences as undergraduate students and alumni. Furthermore, it is important to recognize how the sub-themes are influenced by the impact of positive and negative experiences around institutional classroom and campus experiences, practices, and the values and commitment participants uphold for the Black/African American community. Conclusively, it is essential that institutions intentionally define an ethos that affirms and moves to embed practices for culturally responsive engagement."],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129399"],"dc:language":["en","eng"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2025 Courtney Brewster"],"dc:subject":["Administrators","African American","Alumni","Black","Colleges","Diversity","Engagement","Equity","Faculty","Generosity","Higher Education","Identity","Inclusion","Philanthropy","Predominantly White Institution","PWI","Race","Staff","Students","Undergraduate","Universities"],"dc:title":["Reminisce, reconcile, & reclaim: A qualitative study centering Black alumni and their engagement with their undergraduate predominantly White institutions"],"dc:type":["text","Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ed.D."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:05Z"}