Author: Ashley Robinson

Celebrating Native and Indigenous Higher Education Scholarship

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November is Native American Heritage Month (NAHM), and as we in the HESA program pause during UConn’s fall break, we reflect on the critical importance of recognizing and honoring the role of Native American and Indigenous scholars, practices, and thought in our field. UConn’s campuses are located on land that is the territory of the Mohegan, Mashantucket Pequot, Eastern Pequot, Schaghticoke, Golden Hill Paugussett, Nipmuc, and Lenape Peoples, who have stewarded this land throughout the generations. We thank them for their strength and resilience in protecting this land, and aspire to uphold our responsibilities according to their example. Native and Indigenous people bring rich knowledge and experiences to our educational spaces, including the field of higher education and student affairs. Indigenous methodologies, pedagogies, and existence in higher education are acts of resistance against an oppressive educational system that has expropriated native lands and attempted to erase native knowledge and ways of living. 

In celebration of NAHM, we highlight some of those Native and Indigenous methodologies, pedagogies, and practices in higher education and student affairs. We offer a very brief selection of resources below, which may serve as a starting point for further engagement. We encourage members of our HESA community to engage with these and other resources to deepen your learning about Native and Indigenous communities, educational experiences, and ways of knowing. 

Professional and Scholarly Communities

Indigenous Student Affairs Network (ISAN)

ACPA Native, Aboriginal, and Indigenous Coalition (NAIC)

NASPA Indigenous Peoples Knowledge Community (IPKC)

Edited Volumes

Beyond Access: Indigenizing Programs for Native American Student Success (2018), edited by Heather J. Shotton, Shelly C. Lowe and Stephanie J. Waterman

Reclaiming Indigenous Research in Higher Education (2018), edited by Robin Starr Minthorn and Heather J. Shotton

Beyond the Asterisk: Understanding Native Students in Higher Education (2013) edited by Heather J. Shotton, Shelly C. Lowe, Stephanie J. Waterman

Journal Articles

“New Research Perspectives on Native American Students in Higher Education”  (2019), Stephanie J. Waterman

“I Thought You’d Call Her White Feather”: Native Women and Racial Microaggressions in Doctoral Education (2017) Heather J. Shotton

“Home Away From Home: Native American Students’ Sense of Belonging During Their First Year in College” (2016) Amanda R. Tachine, Nolan L. Cabrera & Eliza Yellow Bird

“Toward a Tribal Critical Race Theory in Education” (2006) Bryan McKinley Jones Brayboy

UConn at ASHE Highlights

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UConn faculty, students, and post-docs from the Department of Educational Leadership, the HESA program, and Office of Diversity & Inclusion will be involved as presenters and volunteers during this year’s annual ASHE (Association for the Study of Higher Education) virtual conference on November 18-21 and pre-conference for the Council for Ethnic Participation (CEP) on November 13. Ten of our faculty, recent graduates, and graduate students from UConn will present 12 papers and interactive symposia and serve as discussant or chair on five paper sessions and interactive symposia. You can see a full overview of UConn participation in the ASHE Conference here.  Our faculty and students will be presenting on a wide variety of research and scholarship that enhances the study of higher education within the theme of Advancing Full Participation. We asked some of our faculty and students three quick questions about the work that they will be presenting during the conference.

“Making Space for Community, Support and Healing in Racial Equity Higher Education Work”

Dr. Milagros Castillo-Montoya, Assistant Professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs.

Why did you undertake this work?

As a community of racially minoritized faculty, it is important to create space for community, support and healing. I experienced this in a profound way during a trip to the Netherlands with amazing higher education scholars who exemplified what this means and feels like. I want to share about how powerful that experience can be.

What are the important takeaways?

With a strong sense of community, racially minoritized faculty can thrive. As such, having space for this community to develop is critical to our well-being in the academy.

What do you hope practitioners can learn from this work?

I hope practitioners will learn that creating space for racially minoritized folx to connect and create community has to be more of an institutional priority.

“How Does Whiteness “Show Up” in Student Affairs Work? A Literature Analysis and Framework for Practice”

Ashley N. Robinson, PhD Candidate, Leadership and Education Policy

Why did you undertake this work?

Research shows that efforts for racial equity in higher education consistently fail because racism and white supremacy pervade higher education, a social institution built on exclusionary and racist foundations. I wanted to explore how exactly racism and white supremacy are being made real, institutionally, on a day-to-day basis? What is happening with actual texts—written policies, forms, visuals, media representations—as they land in people’s real, everyday work, that continually creates situations in which educators who really want to enact antiracist responses to racist harms end up doing things that uphold institutional racism instead?

What are the important takeaways?

I offer a framework to interrogate the tensions of responding to racist harms toward the aim of uncovering how the discourse of whiteness might show up in textually mediated ways in response work. The framework consists of nine concepts that are characteristic of the discourse of whiteness in student affairs work, offers a literature-informed description of each concept, and analytical questions that foreground the materiality of the concept related to responding to racist harms.

What do you hope practitioners can learn from this work?

In practice, I recommend using this framework to analyze texts like incident reports, incident reporting forms, protocols, procedures, policies, training materials, investigation reports, meeting notes, budget documents, and public statements. The purpose of such textual analysis is two-fold: firstly, to name and uncover the specific ways that attempts to respond to racist harms may, in fact, uphold white supremacy and institutional racism, and secondly, to empower student affairs educators at all levels to transform their approaches to responding to racist harms.

“Decolonizing Academic Spaces: Advancing Full Participation Globally to Promote Racial Equity in Postsecondary Education”

Dr. Saran Stewart, Associate Professor & Program Director of Higher Education and Student Affairs

Dr. Frank Tuitt, Professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs & Chief Diversity Officer

Saran Steward, headshot

Why did you undertake this work?

Central to our work is developing critical consciousness and to do that, we argue you must confront and disrupt the colonizers’ gaze and epistemologies.

What are the important takeaways?

  • Decolonising the mind through ways of knowing and knowledge construction;
  • Decolonising pedagogy;
  • Decolonising structures, policies and practices; and
  • Reimagining the academy from a decolonised lens. 

What do you hope practitioners can learn from this work?

We hope that the presentation will provide concrete examples to create decolonised spaces both in and out of the classroom where minoritised students can engage in learning that suggest their lives and lived experiences really matter. 

“Masculinities as Barriers to Full Participation: A Longitudinal Study on Fraternity Masculine Norms and Hazing Motivations”

Dr. Adam McCready, Assistant Professor In-Residence, Higher Education & Student Affairs

Why did you undertake this work?

Surprisingly little is known about how men are socialized to perform gender during their undergraduate experiences. Looking specifically at fraternities, fraternity leaders often claim that these organizations “make better men”, but these groups are associated with troubling outcomes like hazing.

What are the important takeaways?

While fraternity men reported statistically significantly lower conformity to misogyny after three years of fraternity membership, their conformity to eight other masculine norms and their hazing attitudes did not change significantly over this time period. Increased adherence to misogyny and risk-taking over three years predicted increased endorsement of hazing.

What do you hope practitioners can learn from this work?

Because fraternities may recruit men who share similar attitudes toward hazing and adhere to similar gender performances, practitioners may want to focus their interventions on membership recruitment efforts. In addition, interventions designed to address misogyny and risk-taking among fraternity men may also mitigate hazing attitudes.

UConn Higher Education Scholars & Practitioners at 2020 ASHE Conference

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UConn at ASHE | Support UConn Scholar-practitioners during the ASHE 2020 Virtual Conference

UConn faculty, students, and post-docs from the Department of Educational Leadership, the HESA program, and Office of Diversity & Inclusion will be involved as presenters and volunteers during this year’s annual ASHE (Association for the Study of Higher Education) virtual conference on November 18-21 and pre-conference for the Council for Ethnic Participation (CEP) on November 13. Ten of our faculty, recent graduates, and graduate students from UConn will present 12 papers and interactive symposia and serve as discussant or chair on five paper sessions and interactive symposia. For those interested in participating in the conference, registration is still available. 

The theme for the 2020 Conference is Advancing Full Participation. The association noted that:

Advancing full participation requires dismantling racism, classism, sexism, and other forms of oppression that systematically disadvantage different individuals and groups. It requires that we construct and study “architecture of inclusion” (Sturm, 2006) at various decision points, across sectors, and between siloes. We need to understand the mechanisms most likely to foster inclusion and full participation across public, private, national and international contexts. 

Indeed, the scholarship and research that our UConn scholars are sharing during the conference is aimed at advancing full participation, incorporating qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods approaches, and addressing wide-ranging topics from pedagogy and learning, to policy, to student development, to global education. If you are planning to participate in the annual ASHE conference, we hope that you will take time in your schedule to support and learn from the excellent work of our UConn scholars. You can refer to the compiled selection of sessions with UConn presenters, chairs, or discussants below. Of course, we recommend using the official conference schedule for the most accurate and up-to-date information.

Session Name Date Time (EST) Location Session Type UConn Scholar Role Paper Title Link
Making Space for Community, Support and Healing in Racial Equity Higher Education Work Fri, November 13 12:45 to 2:00pm EST Council for Ethnic Participation Virtual Pre-Conference, Bulbancha Room Interactive Symposium Frank A. Tuitt Co-Chair http://tinyurl.com/y6fdfx3s
Making Space for Community, Support and Healing in Racial Equity Higher Education Work Fri, November 13 12:45 to 2:00pm EST Council for Ethnic Participation Virtual Pre-Conference, Bulbancha Room Interactive Symposium Milagros Castillo-Montoya Presenter http://tinyurl.com/y6fdfx3s
Learning Through Engaging: Colleges Developing Activistas, Global Citizens, and Worldviews Wed, November 18 4:30 to 5:45pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Ida B. Wells Room Paper Session Adam M. McCready Discussant http://tinyurl.com/yx8z4hlc
Difference in Opinion: Making Sense of Student Encounters Wed, November 18 2:45 to 4:00pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Natchez Room Paper Session Ashley N. Robinson Chair
New Perspectives on Faculty Workload Inequities Thu, November 19 12:00 to 12:45pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Natchez Room Roundtable Milagros Castillo-Montoya Presenter Braids and Bridges: A Collaborative Postcolonial AutoEthnography of Racially Minoritized Women Teaching Intergroup Dialogue http://tinyurl.com/y2o2nyxs
Examining Race, Culture, and Fit in Higher Education Thu, November 19 12:00 to 12:45pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Houma Room Roundtable Luz Burgos-López Presenter The erasure of Blackness and role of Antiblackness in the Construction of Higher Education Latinidad http://tinyurl.com/yyflojxx
Multicultural and Critical Teaching and Learning Perspectives Thu, November 19 12:00 to 12:45pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Michigan State Room Roundtable Joshua Abreu Presenter Learning to Teach Through Experimentation: A Multi-Case Study on Three Professors Teaching Historically-Marginalized Students http://tinyurl.com/y4bbf7t3
Critical Perspectives on Service Learning Fri, November 20 1:00 to 2:15pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Equitable Engagement Room Paper Session Milagros Castillo-Montoya Presenter Developing Latinx students’ critical consciousness in a sport-based critical service learning http://tinyurl.com/y5jds384
Critical Perspectives on Service Learning Fri, November 20 1:00 to 2:15pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Equitable Engagement Room Paper Session Ajhanai Channel Inez Newton Developing Latinx students’ critical consciousness in a sport-based critical service learning http://tinyurl.com/y5jds384
The Influence of Policies on Graduate Education and Workforce Development Fri, November 20 4:30 to 5:45pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Michigan State Room Paper Session H. Kenny Nienhusser Presenter If You Fund Them, Will They Come?: Findings from a Graduate Student Fellowship Program http://tinyurl.com/y62dy47f
The Influence of Policies on Graduate Education and Workforce Development Fri, November 20 4:30 to 5:45pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Michigan State Room Paper Session Milagros Castillo-Montoya Presenter If You Fund Them, Will They Come?: Findings from a Graduate Student Fellowship Program http://tinyurl.com/y62dy47f
Racism Off-Campus and Online: Quantitative Investigations Fri, November 20 2:45 to 4:00pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Chitimacha Room Paper Session Adam M. McCready Presenter Does Experiencing Racialized Aggressions on Social Media Predict Mental Health Outcomes http://tinyurl.com/y42hjwjj
Attitudinal Inquires: Mixed-Methods Approaches to Student Safety Fri, November 20 4:30 to 5:45pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Houma Room Paper Session Adam M. McCready Presenter Masculinities as Barriers to Full Participation: A Longitudinal Study on Fraternity Masculine Norms and Hazing Motivations http://tinyurl.com/y6oydyap
Teaching and Learning in Global Contexts Fri, November 20 4:30 to 5:45pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Utah Room Paper Session Saran Stewart Presenter Decolonizing Academic Spaces: Advancing Full Participation Globally to Promote Racial Equity in Postsecondary Education http://tinyurl.com/yyfnpr4h
Teaching and Learning in Global Contexts Fri, November 20 4:30 to 5:45pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Utah Room Paper Session Frank A. Tuitt Presenter Decolonizing Academic Spaces: Advancing Full Participation Globally to Promote Racial Equity in Postsecondary Education http://tinyurl.com/yyfnpr4h
Institutions’ Role in Perpetuating or Disrupting Inequity Fri, November 20 2:45 to 4:00pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Caddo Room Paper Session H. Kenny Nienhusser Discussant http://tinyurl.com/yyg87sg4
Facilitating College Pathways through College Access Programs Fri, November 20 1:00 to 2:15pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Caddo Room Paper Session Leslie Allen Williams Presenter Filling the Potholes: How College Access Programs Aid Participants’ Journeys to, through and Beyond College http://tinyurl.com/y3kkx37r
(Im)Possible Strategy? Globalizing Efforts for Racial Equity in Higher Education Sat, November 21 1:00 to 2:15pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Houma Room Interactive Symposium Frank A. Tuitt Chair
(Im)Possible Strategy? Globalizing Efforts for Racial Equity in Higher Education Sat, November 21 1:00 to 2:15pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Houma Room Interactive Symposium Milagros Castillo-Montoya Presenter http://tinyurl.com/y4ty8j8b
Student Affairs on the Front Lines: Addressing Hazing, White Supremacy, and Success for Students of Color Sat, November 21 2:30 to 3:45pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Chitimacha Room Paper Session Ashley N. Robinson Presenter How Does Whiteness “Show Up” in Student Affairs Work? An Institutional Ethnographic Literature Analysis http://tinyurl.com/y6skb2dw
Taking a Stand: ASHE’s Position Taking Committee Year in Review Sat, November 21 2:30 to 3:45pm EST ASHE Virtual Conference, Bulbancha Room Invited Session H. Kenny Nienhusser Presenter http://tinyurl.com/y3cft87u

Celebrating Latinx Scholarship and Activism in HESA

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As we reach the end of Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month (September 15-October 15), we want to highlight and celebrate some of our HESA faculty and educational leadership doctoral students’ recent contributions to scholarship, practice, and activism in higher education. Our faculty and students are uplifting Latinx voices and experiences, contributing to the policy and public discourses,  and centering, celebrating, and pushing the boundaries of Latinidad in student affairs and higher education. 

In this post, we highlight program faculty Dr. Milagros Castillo-Montoya and Dr. Kenny Nienhusser, recent graduate Dr. Joshua Abreu (‘20G), and current Ph.D. student Luz Burgos-López. Though all of their work integrates and spans research, public engagement, service, and activism, we have put specific publications and projects into those categories below. We hope that you will learn more about and engage with their work as we end this month of celebration and uplift, and well beyond. 

Research Articles

Castillo-Montoya, M. & Verduzco Reyes, D. (2020) Learning Latinidad: The role of a Latino cultural center service-learning course in Latino identity inquiry and sociopolitical capacity, Journal of Latinos and Education, 19:2, 132-147, DOI: 10.1080/15348431.2018.1480374

Nienhusser, H. K., & Oshio, T. (2020). Postsecondary education access (im)possibilities for undocu/DACAmented youth living with the potential elimination of DACA. Educational Studies, 56(4), 366–388. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131946.2020.1757448

Nienhusser, H. K., & Oshio, T. (2019). Awakened hatred and heightened fears: “The Trump Effect” on the everyday lives of mixed-status families. Cultural Studies « Critical Methodologies, 19(3), 173–183. https://doi.org/10.1177/1532708618817872

While Dr. Nienhusser’s scholarship does focus on undocumented students and about 80% of undocumented immigrants are Latinx, he does not hold this as synonymous to Latinx. In other words, the undocumented community comprises a diverse membership of individuals from a wide array of racial/ethnic identities.

Public Scholarship

Dr. Nienhusser on the Hablemos de Política podcast. The podcast episode, which is in Spanish, though it did not focus on the U.S. Latinx population, provided an overview of the U.S. higher education system and current issues, including cost of college, international students in US higher education, and undocumented students. The podcast audience is for Spanish-speaking audiences in the US and abroad.

Dr. Joshua Abreu’s article in La Galería magazine, “Gaining Political Power and Losing Bodegas: A Dominican-American Paradox” reflects on community voter engagement in Dominican-American communities, engaging with the tension of increasing voter participation at the same time of increasing gentrification in communities like Washington Heights. 

In a recent article in The Crime Report, which was informed by his dissertation research, Dr. Abreu critiques and provides recommendations for criminal justice education. Dr. Abreu highlights the importance of examining instructional equity in Criminal Justice education, “given that about 40 percent of criminal justice degree recipients are either Latinx or Black college students.” 

Service and Activism 

At UConn, Dr. Nienhusser serves as the faculty director for La Comunidad Intelectual, which is a learning community with a residential community component focused on supporting students who are a member of or have a strong appreciation for the Latinx diaspora. 

Ph.D. student Luz Burgos-López is actively involved in activism and community engagement, including founding the online community Non-Black Latinx in Higher Ed: Addressing Antiblackness in Comunidad, the purpose of which is “for non-Black Latinx folx to engage in unpacking our antiblackness in ourselves, our familia, our community, and within our field of higher education.” Luz’s research interests focus on antiblackness in constructions of Latinidad in higher education, and she will also be presenting a scholarly paper titled “The erasure of Blackness and role of Antiblackness in the Construction of Higher Education Latinidad” at the upcoming Association for the Study of Higher Education annual conference. 

Luz has also recently co-founded Colectivo Bámbula, a coalition of anti-racist Eduvists cultivating Puerto Rican liberation politics, artistry and scholarship with the intent to re-imagine and honor ancestral knowledge and work towards the decolonization of the past, present and future.

Fall 2020 HESA Director’s Welcome

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Dear HESA Family,

As the season changes and we enter into the crisper and cooler months, I want to send a warm and heartfelt welcome to our HESA community. This Fall semester is different from any other we have experienced before given the wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and surge of anti-Blackness racism in the US. More than ever, the student affairs professional is being asked to redefine their role and re-conceptualize programming and activities to both combat anti-Blackness, simultaneously contend with the spread of a pandemic and traverse virtual and racial battle fatigue.

Throughout it all, the HESA faculty continues to excel, lead and set an example in the field of higher education and student affairs with their scholarship, leadership and activism. I invite you to visit our HESA website to see all they have been engaged with and accomplished. They work tirelessly to prepare for a virtual Fall semester and like many of us, have had to pivot, become more agile and adapt to our “new” normal. I would like to welcome both Drs. Frank Tuitt and Adam McCready to the team as well as our graduate assistant Ashley Robinson. We are excited to have this stellar compliment of scholar-practitioners within the HESA program.

This year, we hosted our first virtual academic welcome and welcome back retreat for both cohorts of students. Our admissions cycle went live in September and we are actively preparing for our upcoming informational webinars. Our first HESA Prospective Student Webinar will be held on October 13 from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.

The HESA program continues to engage in curriculum renewal and we will announce some exciting changes to our program in the near future. As we strive to engage our students in transforming theory to practice, the program faculty decided to sign up for a program-wide registration for this year’s ACPA21 Virtual Convention. This means that all students and faculty in our program will be able to participate in the convention, which will take place from March 1-17, 2021. The registration also includes a complimentary 1-year membership for master-students who are not currently not members.

Lastly, I want to thank our graduate assistantship and practicum site supervisors, who continue to provide invaluable on-site training and professional development for our students. Without you, our program would not be complete. As we all continue to pivot and adjust to a constantly changing climate, I ask that we show grace, support and care for each member of our community. I wish for you and your loved ones continued good health, safety and wellness.

Saran Stewart, Ph.D.
Director
HESA Program

Saran Steward, headshot