Developing Models of Graduate Student Degree Progress

Girves, Jean E.; Wemmerus, Virginia

doi:10.1080/00221546.1988.11778320

Cited by 155 publications

(194 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…play in graduate student retention and advancement (Curtin et al, 2013;Gardner, 2007;Girves & Wemmerus, 1988;Golde, 2000). Graduate students' sense that they had ongoing mentors and positive experiences with others in their departments was more important to their sense of belonging than reported microaffirmations or microaggressions, though they also played a role.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sense of Belonging and Its Contributing Factors in Graduate Education

O’Meara

Griffin

Kuvaeva

et al. 2017

IJDS

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Aim/Purpose: The purpose of our study was to gain a better understanding of the factors that contribute to graduate student sense of belonging and gain insights into differences in sense of belonging for different groups of students. Background: Sense of belonging, or the feeling that a person is connected to and matters to others in an organization, has been found to influence college student retention and success. Literature on sense of belonging has, however, focused primarily on undergraduate students and little is known about graduate students’ sense of belonging. Methodology: We conducted an exploratory, cross-sectional survey study of graduate students at four public doctoral and comprehensive universities in Maryland, USA. All four institutions were participating in the NSF-funded PROMISE program, which strives to support the retention and academic success of women and underrepresented minority (URM) graduate students. A total of 1,533 graduate students from these four institutions completed the survey. To analyze our data, we used Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to test direct and indirect effects of multiple latent variables (i.e., gender, race/ethnicity, STEM affiliation, critical mass of women, participation in the PROMISE program, sense of belonging) on each other. Contribution: Research found that sense of belonging influences graduate student retention and success. Thus, gaining a better understanding of the factors that influence graduate student sense of belonging can help improve retention and completion rates, an important issue as national seven-year completion rates have hovered around 44% in the United States. Completion rates have been even lower for women and URM students (i.e., African Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders) compared to White students, making sense of belonging an important topic to study for these populations. Findings: We found that professional relationships matter most to graduate student sense of belonging. Professional relationships influenced graduate student sense of belonging more than reported microaggressions and microaffirmations, though they also played a role. We also found differences based on students’ identity or group membership. Overall, microaffirmations played a bigger role in female graduate student sense of belonging and the eco-system of non-STEM programs seemed to have more facilitators of sense of belonging than the ecosystem of STEM programs. Recommendations for Practitioners: We recommend that graduate programs think strategically about enhancing sense of belonging in ways appropriate to the distinct culture and nature of graduate education. For example, departments can make efforts to support sense of belonging through creating community-oriented peer networks of students, transparent policies, and access to information about resources and opportunities. Programs such as PROMISE can support the retention and success of women and URM graduate students, but aspects of these programs also need to be incorporated into graduate programs and departments. Impact on Society: Because graduate student sense of belonging has been found to impact stu-dents’ interest in careers in academia, fostering graduate student sense of be-longing could be a tool for improving pathways to the professoriate for groups that are typically underrepresented in academia such as women and racial or ethnic minorities. Increasing the number of women and URM faculty could, in turn, positively impact the support available to future URM students, which could positively influence future URM students’ sense of belonging. Future Research: Sense of belonging is an important area for future graduate education research and should be studied through survey research with a larger sample of U.S. students than the current study. Sense of belonging is relevant to graduate education worldwide. Future studies might explore graduate student sense of belonging in different national contexts and the role culture plays in shaping it. Moreover, changes in graduate student sense of belonging over the course of their program should be assessed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sense of Belonging and Its Contributing Factors in Graduate Education

O’Meara

Griffin

Kuvaeva

et al. 2017

IJDS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For example, students supported as research assistants have greater opportunities to learn the norms of the department and, hence, to become integrated (Girves & Wemmerus, 1988;Lovitts, 2001;National Science Foundation, 1998;Tinto, 1993). Girves and Wemmerus (1988) …”

Section: Social and Academic Integrationmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…The overall norms and expectations of the departments and the quality of relationships with faculty are important factors in predicting degree progress (Girves & Wemmerus, 1988). Mentors within graduate school can be particularly valuable in providing moral support and encouragement (Cooper, 2000;Herzig, 2002;Hollenshead et al, 1994) and advice on how to negotiate the system (Etzkowitz et al, 2000).…”

Section: Mentoring and Advisingmentioning

confidence: 98%

Becoming Mathematicians: Women and Students of Color Choosing and Leaving Doctoral Mathematics

Herzig

2004

Review of Educational Research

145

190

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Few women and even fewer African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans complete doctoral degrees in mathematics in the United States. This article proposes a framework for understanding the small numbers of women and students of color who persist in doctoral mathematics based on the notion that academic and social integration are critical to persistence and that integration develops through particular types of participation in the communities of practice of graduate school. An integrated summary of previous research on attrition and persistence of doctoral students identifies particular obstacles faced by women and students of color in doctoral mathematics and directs attention to ways in which faculty and others involved in doctoraleducation can work to improve the persistence rates, experiences, and diversity of their doctoral students.

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“…Yet, close mentoring may not only help to reduce the feeling of many Black students that their institutions are racially discriminatory (Nettles, 1990), but also may help these students obtain a positive attitude toward statistics. Indeed, the frequency and quality of interactions that students have with their faculty and mentors in graduate school have been found to be very important predictors of academic achievement and career development at graduate school (Blackwell, 1987;Girves & Wemmerus, 1988), with students perceiving these relationships to be the single most important aspect of their satisfaction and successful completion of graduate programs (Arce & Manning, 1984;Blackwell, 1987).…”

Section: Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Statistics Anxiety among African American Graduate Students: An Affective Filter?

Onwuegbuzie

1999

Journal of Black Psychology

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The recruitment and retention of African Americans in graduate schools remains a significant problem. Statistics anxiety has been found to be prevalent among graduate students, being implicated both as a barrier to success in quantitative courses and a barrier to completion of theses and dissertations. To date, it is unclear whether African American graduate students experience higher levels of statistics anxiety. Thus, the purpose of this study was to compare levels of statistics anxiety between African American and Caucasian American graduate students. A series of t tests revealed that the African American graduate students had higher levels of statistics anxiety than did their Caucasian American counterparts. Recommendations for future research are provided. Also, implications for educators responsible for recruiting and retaining African American graduate students are discussed.

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Developing Models of Graduate Student Degree Progress

Cited by 155 publications

References 16 publications

Sense of Belonging and Its Contributing Factors in Graduate Education

Sense of Belonging and Its Contributing Factors in Graduate Education

Becoming Mathematicians: Women and Students of Color Choosing and Leaving Doctoral Mathematics

Statistics Anxiety among African American Graduate Students: An Affective Filter?

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