Poster #16 - Can Intersectional Analysis of Race-Gender-First Generation College Status & Ethnicity Advance Equity Metrics, Policy & Practice?

• In Event: Friday Poster Reception

Abstract

What patterns of educational inequalities remain invisible when we report six-year undergraduate graduation rates by race/visual status alone, gender alone, ethnicity/cultural heritage alone or parent level of education at age 16 (first generation college status) alone? What patterns of inequality can be revealed when intersectionality as inquiry and praxis is used as a lens in higher education and specifically STEM outcomes? Dr. Claudia Diaz Fuentes and Dr. Nancy López present findings from institutional data from at three HSIs to provide a focused examination of intersectional inequities in six-year undergraduate graduation with a focus on STEM  that would otherwise remain invisible in most equity metrics. Intersectionality or attention to race-gender-ethnicity-parent level of education as analytically distinct social statuses, yet simultaneous categories of experience in systems of power is a transformational paradigm for illuminating complex configurations of inequities. Intersectionality engages paradigmatic concepts such as power, relationality, social inequality, social context, complexity and social justice as described by Patricia Hill Collins (2019). The data from this study are based on analysis of  administrative data, 2013-2023 funded by the NSF Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) HUBs (Website: hsistemintersectionality.com). We provide descriptive statistics and odds ratios that reveal complex inequities. Our findings have major policy implications for the future of equity-based research, policy making and practice in Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) and beyond. We argue that acknowledging intersectionality as a buzzword or performative awareness, is not enough. We need engagement with the foundational scholarship, teaching and transformational implications for critical inquiry, praxis and distribution of resources. We end our discussion a call to action through interactive discussion about employing intersectionality as a baseline normative principle for equity-minded leadership, distribution of resources and impact. 

 

 

Authors

• Nancy Lopez, University of New Mexico
  Non-Presenting Co-Author

• Claudia Maria Diaz Fuentes, University of New Mexico
  Presenting Author