Fall Issue

This study examines the perceptions of ideal mentoring behaviors among Latino international graduate students in STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine) programs. Few studies examine the mentoring experiences of international students even though they make-up a large number of graduate students studying STEMM in the U.S. (Bhojwani et al., 2020). Even fewer studies seek to understand the mentoring experiences of students from Latin countries. This qualitative study interviewed 30 international Latino graduate students enrolled in STEMM about their perceptions of ideal mentoring behaviors, such that students described the behaviors of faculty mentors and emphasized ideal behaviors. Major findings include building interpersonal relationships with mentors in which students feel seen and cared for, and at the same time emphasizing cultural understanding in the mentoring. Specific guidance for faculty application of findings is presented.

This collaborative autoethnographic platica centralizes a research methodology in which the researchers retrospectively and selectively analyze their personal experiences among three academics (authors), a Chinese, a KoreXicana, and a Purépecha/Chicana through conversations – pláticas. This paper draws upon Nira Yuval-Davis’ notion of the multi-layered citizen, whereby women of color academics belong to multiple political communities. The authors reflect on the vicissitudes of the global pandemic, yellow peril discourse, anti-immigration, ongoing racism, and gender-based violence. These sociopolitical issues are the context for what it means to teach and do research in a predominantly white institution (PWI) where exclusions are rife. The authors also discuss challenges experienced, institutional structures, and interlocking oppressions related to research and teaching.

Drawing upon examples from our home institution coupled with the experiences of faculty and administrations from other large Midwestern publics, this paper explores ways that the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted a growing rift between faculty and administrators, culminating in two distinct narratives about what the current crisis means and requires. In addition to exploring these narratives, the authors propose seven specific ways forward that university leaders can use to bridge these divides. Fundamentally, they argue, finding ways to bridge these narratives is essential to mitigating the most serious risks to equity colleges and universities currently face.

To understand how surveillance and regulation from social contexts of higher education occur, the authors examined the intersections (race/gender) related to systemic racism that exclude Black women’s experiences from university’s discourse of normality. This working paper outlines how Black women experience through surveillance and regulation in white academic spaces. Research on Black women describes either the racism they experience or how they resist that racism in the academy, however, this study pushes against this binary and highlights how institutional actors (who are often white) limited the inclusion of Black women in many academic spaces.