Why Didn't I Know? Black Women Mathematicians and Their Avenues of Exposure to the Doctorate

Borum, Viveka; Walker, Erica

doi:10.1615/jwomenminorscieneng.2011003062

Cited by 7 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…We highlighted how PEOs affect persistence mainly through expressive social capital that supported improved feelings of fit, like when students saw many people like themselves doing engineering. We also found that the provision of instrumental social capital was particularly well received by women and URM students in women-focused and race/ethnicityfocused PEOs because it was provided by homophilous alters (Brown and Josephs, 1999;Morganson et al, 2010;Borum and Walker, 2011;Evans et al, 2011;Joseph et al, 2017;Campbell-Montalvo et al, 2021;Leyva et al, 2021). In short, this study reveals how students become connected to PEOs, and how PEOs provided students access to instrumental and expressive social capital delivered by people with similar characteristics that affected fit consequential in persistence.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 52%

“…In such cases, students are referred to as the "ego" and comprise a focal point, while the influential people to whom student relationships are mapped are known as the "alters" (Burt, 1982;Lin, 1999;Son and Lin, 2012;Tulin et al, 2018). Students, including Black women in mathematics fields (Brown and Josephs, 1999;Morganson et al, 2010;Borum and Walker, 2011;Evans et al, 2011;Joseph et al, 2017;Leyva et al, 2021), who have access to homophilous alters (i.e., same-gender alters, same-race alters) receive culturally sustaining guidance when they experience obstacles and affirmation, which aids their persistence in the often unwelcoming STEM climate (Campbell-Montalvo et al, 2021). Studies that examine the intersection of STEM department culture, women and URM student values, and social capital from alters who can help mitigate dissonance between department culture and women and URM student values offer insight into the structural factors shaping engineering persistence.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Influence of Professional Engineering Organizations on Women and Underrepresented Minority Students’ Fit

et al. 2022

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Our work focuses on women and underrepresented minority (URM) students’ cultural models of engineering success (CMES) or beliefs about doing well in engineering. Because of its consequential effect on persistence, we pay special attention to the fit domain of CMES—student feelings of belonging in their engineering program. We examine 1) how student fit is affected by participatory social capital (i.e., participation in professional engineering organizations [PEOs] that have as part of their mission a goal to assist students in their STEM education and careers), as well as 2) the factors that affect students’ decisions to participate in PEOs. Due to the traditional prioritization of majority norms in engineering programs, women and URM students’ CMES may conflict with the cultures manifested in engineering departments. Analysis of interviews with 55 women and URM engineering students shows that PEOs, particularly gender- and race-focused PEOs, affect students’ feelings of fit. PEOs affect student fit positively and primarily through expressive social capital—emotional support wherein students feel they fit in because PEOs provide a sense of community and opportunities to be around successful women and URM engineers. PEOs also allow students to build instrumental social capital, such as academic and professional skills, including networking and knowledge development. Encouragement from others and their desire to be around people like themselves played a central role in students joining PEOs. However, students identified time, financial, and fit issues that discouraged them from participating in PEOs. This investigation illuminates how socially distant others from PEOs affect student fit, extending previous work which uncovered how more proximal others affect fit as well as previous work finding that URM students participating in PEOs were more likely to persist in their engineering program. Research, theory, and practice applications are presented.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 52%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Influence of Professional Engineering Organizations on Women and Underrepresented Minority Students’ Fit

et al. 2022

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“…Learning centers that provide mathematics tutoring for standardized examinations have also proven useful (Knight-Diop, 2010). In postsecondary settings, summer research enrichment programs for undergraduate students have supported many Black women on their journey to becoming mathematics doctorate degree holders (Borum & Walker, 2011). Analogously, affirmative action and education pipeline programs help retain Black women and girls in mathematics programs as they navigate college and postgraduate mathematics education.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, the presence of same-race and same-gender peers normalizes the presence of Black women and girls in educational spaces (Borum & Walker, 2011). In the context of mathematics learning, a sense of belonging (mediated by same-race and same-gender peers) can help Black women and girls become high achievers and combat the social stereotype of male superiority in mathematics in primary and secondary schooling (Brown & Josephs, 1999; Evans, Copping, Rowley, & Kurtz-Costes, 2011).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are racial disparities in how educators organize mathematics learning, teaching, and assessment (Cobb & Russell, 2015). Nothing about the places in which Black women and girls learn mathematics reflects colorblindness and objectivity (Borum & Walker, 2011; Joseph, 2017; Walker, 2014). Black women are usually the only one of a few Black people in their advanced mathematics courses and programs and have to constantly prove their worth and value to the mathematics community, all while enduring isolation (Joseph, 2017; McGee, 2013; Walker, 2014).…”

Section: Interpretive Framing and Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Black Women’s and Girls’ Persistence in the P–20 Mathematics Pipeline: Two Decades of Children, Youth, and Adult Education Research

Joseph

Hailu

Boston

2017

Review of Research in Education

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Like other women and girls of color in the U.S. education system, Black1 women and girls negotiate and integrate multiple marginalized identities in mathematics. As such, this integrative review used critical race theory (CRT) and Black feminism as interpretive frames to explore factors that contribute to Black women’s and girls’ persistence in the mathematics pipeline and the role these factors play in shaping their academic outcomes. A synthesis of 62 research studies reveals that structural disruptions, community influences, and resilience strategies significantly influence Black women’s and girls’ persistence in mathematics, and that combined, these factors can culminate into a more robust mathematics identity for Black women and girls. A robust mathematics identity, in turn, is an aspect of self-actualization that is needed for persistence, engagement, and sustained success in the pursuit of a mathematics doctoral degree. New questions, paradigms, and ways of examining the experiences of Black women and girls in mathematics to advance further knowledge that will inform policy are identified and discussed as a future research agenda.

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How stereotypes and relationships influence women and underrepresented minority students' fit in engineering

et al. 2021

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Women and underrepresented minority (URM) undergraduates declare and complete science, technology, engineering, and mathematics majors at different rates in comparison to majority groups. Explanations of these differences have long been deficit oriented, focusing on aptitude or similar characteristics, but more recent work focuses on institutional contexts, such as academic climate and feelings of belonging (fit). This study examines the experiences of women and URM students in engineering undergraduate programs, focusing on how they fit, experiential factors affecting fit, and how fit is mitigated by social relationships from their networks and organizations in which they participate (i.e., social capital). Thematic analysis of 55 women and URM interviewee responses shows that students who fit well were those with majority characteristics, including race (i.e., White, White‐passing) and gender (i.e., men, masculine appearance), and those in groups well represented in their programs numerically (i.e., men, Asian). In contrast, women and Black students encountered threats to their fit due to stereotyping from bias and differential treatment from others (i.e., being excluded from group work). However, students received advice from their social networks (i.e., family, professors) in which they were warned to expect discrimination, or through organizations in which they participated (i.e., National Association of Black Engineers) where their sense of community was expanded. The advice and resources provided through this network‐based and participatory social capital mitigated fit for women and Black students, albeit in different ways, helping to preserve their feelings of belonging and promote their persistence in engineering. We offer suggestions to enact university policies to increase access to social capital with homophilious alters and educational opportunities for majority groups.

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Why Didn't I Know? Black Women Mathematicians and Their Avenues of Exposure to the Doctorate

Cited by 7 publications

References 0 publications

The Influence of Professional Engineering Organizations on Women and Underrepresented Minority Students’ Fit

The Influence of Professional Engineering Organizations on Women and Underrepresented Minority Students’ Fit

Black Women’s and Girls’ Persistence in the P–20 Mathematics Pipeline: Two Decades of Children, Youth, and Adult Education Research

How stereotypes and relationships influence women and underrepresented minority students' fit in engineering

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