The Development of Coping Skills for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Students: Transitioning From Minority to Majority Environments

Urban Ills: Twenty First Century Complexities of Urban Living in Global Contexts is a collection of original research focused on critical challenges and dilemmas to living in cities. Volume 1 examines both the economic impact of urban life and the social realities of urban living. The editors define the ecology of urban living as the relationship and adjustment of humans to a highly dense, diverse, and complex environment. This approach examines the nexus between the distribution of human groups with reference to material resources and the consequential social, political, economic, and cultural patterns which evolve as a result of the sufficiency or insufficiency of those material resources. They emphasize the most vulnerable populations suffering during and after the recession in the United States and around the world. The chapters seek to explore emerging issues and trends affecting the lives of the poor, minorities, immigrants, women, and children

Race, identity, and resilience: Black college students negotiating success in mathematics and engineering.

Race, identity, and resilience: Black college students negotiating success in mathematics and engineering

REIMAGINING CRITICAL RACE THEORY IN EDUCATION: MENTAL HEALTH, HEALING, AND THE PATHWAY TO LIBERATORY PRAXIS

Abstract. Long-standing theoretical education frameworks and methodologies have failed to provide space for the role mental health can play in mediating educational consequences. To illustrate the need for such space, Ebony McGee and David Stovall highlight the voices of black undergraduates they have served in the capacities of teacher, researcher, and mentor. Building from the theoretical contributions of intellectual giants like Frantz Fanon and W. E. B. Du Bois, the authors attempt to connect oppressive social systems to the psyche of the oppressed in a way that is relevant to black students. McGee and Stovall pose a challenge to the current research trend of attributing the survival of black students at traditionally white institutions primarily to grit, perseverance, and mental toughness, noting that research on the aforementioned qualities often fails to properly acknowledge multiple forms of suffering. Utilizing the lens of Critical Race Theory (CRT), the authors also challenge the construct of grit to consider the extent to which the mental health concerns of black students go undetected. Although critical race theorists have unmasked and attacked the racial trauma experienced at all levels of the educational system, the connection of CRT to mental health and wellness research is in its embryonic stages. For these reasons, McGee and Stovall argue that CRT scholars need to incorporate praxis to address mental health and wellness in order to address a fuller spectrum of black students' racialized worlds. Ultimately, they seek interdisciplinary perspectives that can help identify and foster strategies to support black students in the project and process of healing from multiple forms of racialized trauma they experience within and beyond their educational encounters

Impact of COVID-19 on the Career Trajectories of Black, Indigenous, and Latinx IT Graduate Students and Professionals

This study utilizes an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design to examine the impact of COVID-19 on the career trajectories of information technology (I.T.) graduate students and professionals of color. Building on individual differences theory in the initial quantitative phase, data from a national survey of 356 STEM graduate students and professionals of color (Black, Indigenous, and Latino) were analyzed to investigate intersectional differences among I.T. and non-I.T. STEM graduate students and professionals by race/ethnicity, gender, and socio-economic characteristics. Findings suggest differential impacts of COVID-19 on I.T. graduate students and I.T. professionals. Among STEM graduate students, financial strain significantly affected their career plans, whereas among professionals, gender was a significant predictor. Qualitative evidence from I.T. respondents clarified quantitative findings. I.T. graduate students (n=239) were more concerned about research setbacks and career instability, while I.T. professionals (n=117) were concerned with setbacks in professional roles and networks, work/life stability, and increased desires for entrepreneurship