The graduate school experience for students of color has been theorized as oppressive and dehumanizing (Gay, 2004). Scholars have struggled to document how students of color navigate and negotiate oppressive and dehumanizing conditions in their daily experiences of doctoral education. We provide a critical race analysis of the everyday experiences of Latina/o and black 1 doctoral students. We draw from critical inquiry and critical race theory to establish and describe an overarching and powerful social narrative that informs, influences, and illustrates the endemic racism through which black and Latina/o students struggle to persist in pursuit of the doctorate. We call this social narrative, "Am I going crazy?!" Deconstructing the narrative into its core elements, we provide an extended definition that illustrates a dehumanizing cultural experience in the everyday lives of doctoral students. We problematize these cultural norms to promote a more humanizing experience of doctoral education for black and Latina/o students.

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on intergroup dialogue (IGD) has primarily focused on student outcomes in traditional semester-long, 3-credit courses, documenting the positive impact IGD has on college students' (a) intergroup understanding, (b) intergroup relationships, (c) intergroup collaboration and action, and (d) perceived relevancy of diversity in higher education. The University of Illinois at Chicago's First-Year Dialogue Seminar (FYDS) was designed as a 1-credit, half-semester course based on traditional IGD courses and associated outcomes. Approximately 100 freshman students participated in the pilot of the seminar, completing both pre-and posttest measures of intergroup understanding, intergroup relationships, intergroup collaboration and action, and relevancy of diversity in higher education. In addition, a comparison group of approximately 80 freshman students, not enrolled in the course, were administered the posttest survey at Time 2. The results showed significant gains across measures of intergroup understanding, intergroup collaboration and action, and relevancy of diversity in higher education. Furthermore, FYDS students had significantly higher means across several of the same measures of intergroup understanding and intergroup collaboration and action than the comparison group. These results suggest the potential efficacy of a new model of IGD-based pedagogy and learning.

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This list of definitions outlines commonly utilized terms the reader will find in this study. It is meant to clearly articulate my understanding of the language in the context of this research. Further, today there remains a quandary when referring to people who represent the Latina/o ethnicity. For this purpose I specifically outline how I define the terms that reference the participants in this study. Terms are listed in alphabetical order. Attrition: Failed re-enrollment of a student in education in consecutive academic terms. Also known as 'dropout,' which can imply that leaving higher education is solely the individual student's fault when institutional factors are also at play. Chicana/o student(s): In this study, Chicana/o is a term employed to represent Mexican American students. The term has come to be used as a way to reflect one's dual cultural identities, historical constructions, and political struggles for social equity (Jones & Castellanos, 2003). My choice to use the term Chicana/o when referring to participants in this study was a political choice meant to symbolize my epistemological assumption that recognizes and values the historical, political, and social struggles of Mexican Americans. Chicana/o studies: Chicana/o studies is a field that grew out of resistance to dominant Anglo scholars and practices in American higher education. It is a fluid and multidisciplinary field of study and specifically focuses on appreciating and applying the ways of knowing, being and living among Chicana/o people over history and in today's society. Culturally relevant: Ladson-Billings (1995) defined "culturally relevant" teaching as a relative and contextually based form of teaching that meets three criteria: (1) culturally relevant teaching must develop a student academically, (2) culturally relevant teaching must ix value and nurture cultural competencies and capital, and (3) culturally relevant teaching must develop a student's critical consciousness or ability to critique personal, social and political systems that impact their lives and communities. Educational attainment rate: The educational attainment rate is the percentage of people/students who graduate from any given institution, college, or department. Equality: In this study the term equality serves to mean that any relational or material possession of political, social or educational content is distributed evenly and balanced among all people. Equity: In this study I operationalize the term equity as a synonym for justice and fairness based on need. For instance, while all Chicana/o students have the right to pursue higher education in the United States, the schools in which this education takes place are unfair in that certain schools will have more resources than others, which indirectly and directly impacts students' academic participation. Therefore, education is provided to all equally, but the resources for individual schools are unjust and can require increased need among certain people. Hispanic: Hispanic, from the Latin word for "Spain," ...