Learning Disciplinary Legitimacy: How Faculty and Students Construct the Transition to Doctoral Candidacy

• In Event: Early Career Socialization and Gender and Race Considerations

Abstract

The transition to candidacy is a common attrition point within the doctoral journey; however, it is both undertheorized and underexamined. We examined how students and faculty in highly ranked and lower ranked physical sciences PhD programs construct the transition to candidacy, how the candidacy process mediates learning, and how students are socialized into disciplinary norms that maintain inequalities. Through comparative case study, we find the transition to candidacy is a process of learning disciplinary legitimacy—students demonstrate or perform it, and faculty evaluate it. We find disciplinary language use is a critical practice for students’ sense of belonging, and program status shapes the design of the transition and what candidacy means. We explore implications for student learning and wellbeing.

Authors

• Román Liera, Montclair State University

• Aireale Joi Rodgers, University of Southern California

• Lauren N. Irwin, University of Iowa

• Julie Renee Posselt, University of Southern California

• Gloria C Anglón, University of Southern California