Date of Award

Fall 9-24-2014

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

PhD Higher Education Leadership, Management, Policy

Department

Education Leadership, Management and Policy

Advisor

Eunyoung Kim, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Joseph Stetar, Ph.D.

Committee Member

J. Luke Wood, Ph.D.

Keywords

Black Male College Attainment, Black Male Retention, Black Male Academic Resilience, HSI, CRT, African American College Men

Abstract

This qualitative narrative inquiry based research sought to gain a better understanding of how Black male upperclassmen and recent college graduates experience the process of academic resilience and attainment within the context of their intersecting identities of race, class, and gender at a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). The theoretical framework guiding this study draws upon two distinctive collections of scholarship: Critical Race Theory (CRT) and academic resilience.

Findings revealed Black male risk to postsecondary attainment was adversely impacted by academic (dis)integration, fractured sense of belonging, physical and mental illnesses, lack of financial support, racialized and gendered experiences, and lingering affects of resource deficient and violent communities. These threats were thwarted by participants’ self-determination, self-efficacy, spiritual faith, proactive help seeking tendencies, familial and peer support networks, and the supportive HSI campus ethos. It was also found that successful Black men educated and empowered other marginalized campus peers on how to persist by sharing their success-based counter narratives. Findings led to the development of the Black Male Academic Resilience Cycle (BMARC), which provides a framework that infuses CRTs intersectionality of social identities with experiential risk and protective factors, explaining the process of academic resilience experienced by Black male collegians.

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