Date of Award

Spring 5-15-2026

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

EdD Education Leadership, Management and Policy

Department

Education Leadership, Management and Policy

Advisor

Santiago Castiello, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Omayra Arocho, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Ibiyemi Adesanya, Ed.D.

Keywords

Black women, doctoral programs, imposterism, student experiences, persistence

Abstract

This phenomenological study explores the lived and student experiences of Black women pursuing Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) and Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) degrees in the United States, centering the underexamined internal barrier of Imposter Syndrome — the persistent experience of intellectual fraudulence in the face of demonstrated competence.

The study investigated Black women's perceptions of Imposter Syndrome, the lived and student experiences that contribute to feelings of imposterism, and the coping mechanisms and strategies they employ to persist and succeed in doctoral programs. A pre-screening survey administered to 124 Black women enrolled in doctoral programs across the United States measured the prevalence and severity of Imposter Syndrome within this population. From that cohort, 16 participants experiencing frequent or intense levels of Imposter Syndrome were selected for in-depth, semi-structured interviews. Participants represented a range of institutional contexts — including predominantly White institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and minority-serving institutions — across varied academic disciplines.

Analysis of the interview data yielded eleven themes organized across the three research questions. Regarding perceptions of Imposter Syndrome, participants described a pervasive questioning of their right to belong, experiences of hypervisibility paired with assumptions of incompetence from faculty, and the compounding toll of emotional labor within unwelcoming academic environments. In exploring the experiences contributing to imposterism, four themes emerged: representation gaps within doctoral programs and faculty ranks; gatekeeping behaviors and patterns of faculty neglect; the weight of cultural burden and familial expectations; and the cumulative harm of microaggressions and subtle racial and gendered bias. When examining how Black women navigate these challenges, participants revealed four resilience strategies: faith as identity and spiritual tenacity; the sustaining power of counterspaces built through mentorship and peer community; intentional self-care, the setting of boundaries, and the preservation of joy; and the transformational act of turning personal pain into collective purpose.

Grounded in the data and in dialogue with existing theories of doctoral persistence, this study introduces the Black Women's Doctoral Persistence Theory (BW-DPT), a three-phase framework composed of Recognition, Resistance, and Reclamation. This model reframes Black women's doctoral journey not through a lens of deficit, but as a dynamic process of self-awareness, active resistance to systemic harm, and purposeful reclamation of identity, authority, and belonging.

The findings carry significant implications for higher education policy, doctoral program design, and faculty practice. Institutions seeking to support Black women's doctoral success must move beyond surface-level representation and build infrastructures that address imposterism as a structural, not merely personal, phenomenon. This study contributes to persistence theory, Black feminist scholarship, and the growing body of research honoring the tenacity of Black women who do not merely survive doctoral education — they transform it.

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