The Influence of Campus Climate on the Success of Queer-Spectrum and Trans-Spectrum Students

• In Event: Emerging Research on Queer-Spectrum and Trans-Spectrum Students in Higher Education

Abstract

Presenter #1 will provide the context for the symposium through a discussion of Presenter #1’s scholarship on campus climate and its influence on the academic success and persistence of queer spectrum and trans spectrum students. In aligning with the theme of the conference, the presenter offers the importance of centering marginalized students, in this case, queer spectrum and trans spectrum students. Presenter #1 has conducted climate assessments at over 170 colleges and universities inclusive of the experiences of queer spectrum and trans spectrum students. For the past 30 years, Presenter #1 has served as the principal investigator on national research projects focusing on queer spectrum and trans spectrum people. The data and methods from this body of work form the foundation of this symposium. Using a conceptual framework that integrated Astin’s I-E-O model (1991) and the work of Smith (1999), Presenter #1 developed a model to examine campus climate and offer administrators and practitioners with processes to develop actions. In Presenter #1’s body of work on queer spectrum and trans spectrum people, Presenter #1 has focused on inherent evolving challenges of identifying and naming queer spectrum and trans spectrum participants in survey research.

Author

• Susan Rankin, The Pennsylvania State University