Where do Latinas and Latinos earn social science doctorates?

Abstract

It is a national imperative to increase the percentage of Latinas and Latinos who earn doctorate degrees in the social sciences and who enter into faculty positions. For the purposes of this study, I focus on whether Latinas and Latinos earned their doctorates at the nation’s most research-intensive universities because those schools are uniquely equipped to prepare doctoral students for careers in academia. I find that more than 40% of Latinas and Latinos who earned social science doctorates did so at universities with lower research profiles. I also test whether there are relationships between Latinas’ and Latino’s undergraduate institutions (e.g., community colleges and Hispanic Serving Institutions) and doctoral universities (classified by research-intensity). I did not find a relationship between attending community college and the type of university where a Latina or Latino social scientist earned the PhD. However, I found that Latinas and Latinos who earned baccalaureate degrees from Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) had higher relative risk of earning doctorates from less research-intensive universities. This institutional pathway may be beneficial for increasing the number of Latinas and Latinos who earn social science doctorate degrees; however, it may be problematic for preparing future faculty members. I discuss implications for supporting the Latina-Latino pathway to the PhD.

Sink or swim: The mentoring experiences of Latinx PhD students with faculty of color.

“…As existing literature highlights that Latinx individuals are underrepresented in graduate studies and faculty in the academy (Espino, 2014; Fernandez, 2020; Ramirez, 2017), my study is crucial by expanding higher education agents’ understanding of CECE within doctoral education for Latinx students. Further, this study points out how faculty members, including FOC, can cause cultural harm within these institutional environments.…”

“…Latinx doctoral students often experience unequal access to professional development opportunities and faculty mentorship, and typically have better recognition, inspiration, socialization experiences, and persistence to graduate when exposed to supportive faculty mentors (Fernandez, 2019; Parks, 2000; Ramirez, 2017). Successful mentoring relationships are critical for these scholars to feel validated and thrive—due to a PhD education being the main gateway to careers in research and the professorate (Solórzano, 1998)—therefore, it is imperative that scholars analyze the experiences and perceptions of Latinx PhD students’ academic training, resources, and the opportunities available to them, some of which may include the institution types they are graduating from (Fernandez, 2020), scholarly socialization (Reddick, 2015), teaching, research and publication opportunities, community-building with peers and faculty, graduate assistantships, internships, grant writing, funding for conference participation, and mentorship (Haro & Lara, 2003; Heflinger & Doykos, 2016; Tran et al, 2016).…”

“I Love How We Developed a Community Already”: A Graduate Student Orientation Model for Minority-Serving Programs and Institutions

“…(Ramirez, 2014). Moreover, one study found that more than 40% of Latinxs with doctorates in social science fields attended universities with lower research profiles (Fernandez, 2020), institutions that often have fewer resources to provide the range of supports that graduate students need to meet their educational goals.…”

How can a documentary presentation of HMC (historically marginalized community) post-graduate stories inspire other HMCs to consider applying to graduate school?

“…Contextually this aligns with the research paradigm to strengthen understanding of ethnic, social, professional, family, and informal ties and relations impacting a student's motivation, utilizing a qualitative participatory action research discipline for the inquiry (Herr and Anderson, 2015). A secondary question examines how Latinx women within the HMC cohort find enablers or barriers in making post-graduate decisions (Fernandez, 2020). This also involves how to navigate financial and social realities of higher education (Chen & Bahr, 2021;Frederick et al, 2021) In my own experiences as a first-generation student, while meandering in and out academe for more than three decades, and viewing postgraduate decisions heavily influenced by recruiters, marketers, and institutional advisors, the personal curiosity was transformed into the search for a meaningful personal and institutional guide to solving HMC challenges.…”

“…The motivational desires for job and life satisfaction appear to translate well in cross-cultural and interdisciplinary settings. While ample review of Latinx communities focused first on social sciences, there have been broader and more academically diverse reinforcements of self-actualized motivation for first-generation college graduates (Fernandez 2020;Frederick, et al, 2021). Inbound international graduate students from China, particularly in Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs echo the need personal achievement parity with U.S. students in terms of fulfillment of self-identified goals in graduate school (Jiang, 2018).…”