Belonging and Persisting: Sense of Belonging as Resistance for STEM Graduate Students of Color

• In Event: 79.028 - "Supporting Low-Income Students’ College Transition: Factors Related to Sense of Belonging in the First Year"

Abstract

With a need to increase underrepresented (URM) faculty in STEM fields, scholars and practitioners have created interventions to grow success of URM graduate students. This paper uses qualitative interview data, part of an NSF-funded intervention, to highlight the necessity and importance of not only understanding sense of belonging for URM graduate students, but also the necessity and importance of understanding the necessity and importance of understanding factors that contribute and detract from sense of belonging for these students. Using adapted grounded-theory techniques we identified three themes that contributed and/or detracted from graduate student sense of belonging: peer support, faculty interactions, and programmatic interventions. We conclude with implications for future research that and practice will be presented.

Authors

• Gordon J. M. Palmer, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

• Jeffrey K. Grim, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

• Raul Gamez, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

• Tabbye Chavous, University of Michigan