The Adjustment of First Year African American Women to Predominately White Institutions

167 Pages·2016·0.95 MB·English

The University of San Francisco
USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library |
Geschke Center
Doctoral Dissertations Theses, Dissertations, Capstones and Projects
2016
The Adjustment of First Year African American
Women to Predominately White Institutions:
Implications for Best Practices
Maisha Beasley
University of San Francisco, [email protected]
Follow this and additional works at:https://repository.usfca.edu/diss
Part of theAfrican American Studies Commons,Educational Administration and Supervision
Commons, and theWomen's Studies Commons
Recommended Citation
Beasley, Maisha, "The Adjustment of First Year African American Women to Predominately White Institutions: Implications for Best
Practices" (2016).Doctoral Dissertations. 307.
https://repository.usfca.edu/diss/307
This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, Capstones and Projects at USF Scholarship: a digital
repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of USF
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The University of San Francisco

ADJUSTMENT OF FIRST-YEAR AFRICAN AMERICAN FEMALES TO
PREDOMINATELY WHITE INSTITUTIONS: IMPLICATIONS FOR BEST
PRACTICES

A Dissertation Proposal Presented
to
The Faculty of the School of Education
Department of International and Multicultural Education

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Education

By
Maisha Beasley
San Francisco
May 2015
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THE UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO
Dissertation Abstract

Adjustment of First-Year African American Females to Predominately White
Institutions: Implications for Best Practices

Currently, both scholarly literature and educational practice are lacking depth and
scope about the lived experience of African American (AA) female students, and,
as a result, they lack effectiveness for this population of students. In particular,
they do not address the varying ways AA female students adjust to the university
during their first year, the most critical year for student retention and persistence
in the college experience (Pike & Kuh, 2005), nor do they recognize how
intersectionalities of identities in AA women are salient to successes and
challenges at PWIs. This study addresses this gap in the research by not only
highlighting the challenges AA women face, but also by capturing their stories of
leveraging resources and social interactions, academic attainment, and familial
relationships as they navigate the normative terrains of predominantly White
institutions. Using the theoretical frameworks of Black Feminist Thought and
Community Cultural Wealth, the study was situated in the foundation laid by
Christa Porter (2013) in her model on the development of Black undergraduate
women. Utilizing narrative inquiry, it captured the experiences of 10 participants
from a large, public university in the Western region of the United States through
a reflection essay prompt, semi-structured interviews using a set of individualized
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questions directly related to participants’ reflection essays, and focus groups. All
of the women who participated cited that some family member, whether parental
or extended, assisted them during their journey to college and through the first
year. In addition, the majority of the study’s participants (7 out of 10) were not
eligible to seek out the support originally mandated for oppressed communities,
since these programs and services require that students be first generation and low
income. The assumption made by predominantly White institutions that AA
students who come from more affluent homes with college graduate parents do
not need the same types of support as their first-generation, low-income peers is
false and indicative of a deficit-thinking framework. This study provided valid
examples of both first-generation and non-first generation students who needed
the same resources as they progressed through their first year in college.

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This dissertation, written under the direction of the candidate’s dissertation committee
and approved by the members of the committee, has been presented to and accepted by
the Faculty of the School of Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of Doctor of Education. The content and research methodologies presented in this
work represent the work of the candidate alone.
______________________________________ ___________________
Maisha E. Beasley Date

Dissertation Committee

______________________________________ ___________________
Dr. Shabnam Koirala-Azad, Chairperson 4/29/2016

______________________________________ ___________________
Dr. Emmal Fuentes 4/29/2016

______________________________________ ___________________
Dr. Uma Jayakumar 4/29/2016
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DEDICATION
My family, my friends, and to those who shoulders I stand on who have gone
before me… I am forever grateful.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Five years. For five years, I pursued this doctorate journey, and it all started when
someone said I should, and then a school that will go unnamed told me I wasn’t smart
enough to attend their school. In the end, I am graduating from the program and the
school that were just right for me. So I will start off by thanking Dr. Gregory “Coach”
Wolcott for coming to a NODA conference in Arizona to find me just to tell me that he
thought I could thrive in the International Multicultural Education program at University
of San Francisco. Thank you for believing in me, Coach! To my dissertation committee,
thank you for your words of encouragement, phone conversations, and pushing me to be
a scholar, activist, and a better student.
If I listed in it all of the people who have touched my life over the last 37 years,
this acknowledgement section could become its own chapter. So to try to truncate it the
best way I know how, I will break it into the following sections: mentors, students,
friends, and family.
To my mentors, I didn’t know I could until I saw you do. To my undergraduate
mentors, Dr. James Kitchen, Jennifer Johnson, Mike Minjares, and Dr. Lori White, thank
you for all of your words of wisdom, calls to action, and unwavering faith in my ability.
Jen, you were my first AA women (wo)mentor. You taught me lessons I still use to this
day in my everyday work ethic and with my students. Dr. Kitchen, your very presence
inspired and challenged the AA population of young minds at SDSU to be better going
out than coming in. Thank you. Mike, I would walk barefoot in the heat to get a sandwich
for you! J You gave me the foundation for my career that I still use. You never saw
what I couldn’t do, and you always pushed me to see everything that was possible. I am
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forever grateful for the life and professional lessons you taught me through action, not
just words. Dr. Lori White, the first thought I had when I met you was, “Wow, I didn’t
know Black women could do this job.” Your life is an example of what is possible if you
remain to your beliefs, ethics, and upbringing. It is no coincidence that you came into my
life when you did or that you are also from the Bay Area. You have left a path that is
bright with opportunity because of the hurdles you have jumped. Thank you.
To my graduate mentors, Dr. Julie Sina, Dr. Joanna Royce-Davis, Dr. Dan
“SenSai” Shipp, and Dr. Mylon Kirksy. You have all instilled such wonderful lessons and
values into the person I have become. Julie, every day I learn from you—I mean every
day. I learn how to be compassionate, intelligent, strong, and a woman of great
conviction and character. Your life is a master class that I have been grateful to take for
the last 13 years. Joanna “Mamma Jo,” how do you do it all?! Really, how do you do it? I
heard in a movie once this, “there are humans on this Earth masquerading around as
angels….” I believe this is absolutely the truth for you. You are truly one of God’s gifts
on this Earth doing his work with your warmth, unconditional love, and constant wisdom.
One conversation with you makes it all okay. “SenSai,” you believed in me when I was
ready to give up on this profession and myself. You picked me up dusted me off and told
me what you saw. You gave me the courage to bring all sides of myself to work, and you
rejuvenated my self-confidence in my abilities as professional. You already know this:
BatGirl loves my “SenSai.” Mylon, Jesus only knows what we have experienced
together. From graduate school you have been my big brother, my confidant, my
cheerleader, and my truth teller. I know we act like siblings, but really, truly you are my
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mentor. I am watching you and learning from you as you traverse this profession with
passion and tenacity. Brother, you amaze me.
To the SDSU, University of the Pacific, Saint Mary’s College of California, and
UCLA communities, thank you for all of the lessons and love. A special thank you to
Alex, my work partner in crime for the last three years of this doctorate journey. Thank
you for your hard work, care, and partnership. I couldn’t have done this without you. To
all of the staff folks I have the pleasure of working with over the last five years, thank
you for your dedication to your work and support of my journey to Dr. Beasley. Finally,
UCLA Parents’ Council, I have never met such amazing folks in all of my professional
career. Simply thank you, and I love you.
To my students, I don’t want to name any of you because I will leave someone
out. However, I will acknowledge all of my “kids” by saying you are the joy of my life. I
am because of you. I don’t know if I will have any biological kids in this life, but I do
know that each one of you has impacted my life and left a heart print on my soul.
Watching you become and be who God intended you in the world is an amazing gift. You
have become doctors, pharmacists, teachers, artists, business people, world travelers,
lawyers, students of life. You have taken your life into your hands and found a way to
leave your mark in the world. Words don’t do the love I have for each of you justice. I
am grateful that my life has crossed and continues to cross your lives.
To my friends. My family in the form of friends. My God, thank you! Thank you
for letting me be me. Thank you for your unconditional love, laughter, special moments,
and support. To the OGs: FeTira and Jeanie, you are my sisters. FeTira from the age of
seven until we leave this Earth, we will do this thing called life together. Every
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experience, every special moment, every life lesson you have been a part of. You know
you have saved me so many times, and I love you to the moon and back for loving me.
Jeanie, my BFF, I wish I could just copy and paste the words to all of favorite R&B and
hip-hop songs to tell you how much I love you. J Twenty plus years of friendship, and I
am still wondering how I got so lucky. You are my sounding board, where I lay my fears
and triumphs. You are my bulldog ready to fight for me, protect me, support me, and
offer all your love to me. I can’t truly say it all here, but you already know. To Sosena,
Liza, and Candace, Jalila, Priscilla, my sisters, I love you. I learned how to be a woman
with you ladies. You, my family away from home, you are my truth tellers and
cheerleaders. I am so blessed and thank God every day for the bond created in 49F (front
free). Dr. Ron Johnson, Akbar, Harlan, and Derek, thank you for being my brothers. You
give me such joy and amazing memories. Ron, you know I blame this whole doctorate
thing on you. J Chrissy, Ashley, Shauna, Jonli, Samarah, Josie, Lisa, Raquel, Hayonna,
Cristobol, RoMel, Yolanda, Regina, Jarod, Donny, Quentin, and all those I was unable to
mention, you all hold such a special place in my heart. Thank you for the pep talks, the
trips, the love, care packages, and prayers. I hold you all in love and gratitude.
Last in my acknowledgements, but most important in my life, my family. Anyone
who knows me knows my family means everything to me. I decided to end with them
because that would put them closest on paper to the dissertation. They are the reason this
dissertation is almost complete, and I am days away from being Dr. Beasley. They are my
backbone, the reason I exist. They are my motivation. To my cousins, you all are my first
friends, first teachers, first protectors. You are my forever support system and life
partners. I can’t even say thank you because that is not adequate for the love I feel. I am
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