EXPERIENCES OF BLACK WOMEN STUDENTS IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATHEMATICS AT A HISTORICALLY WHITE INSTITUTION IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A MULTIPLE CASE STUDY

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to understand the experiences of Black women students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) at a historically White institution (HWI) with the goal of making recommendations for changes at various levels of the institution. The study sought to answer two overarching research questions: (1) What are the experiences of Black women students in STEM departments at HWIs? (2) In what ways might HWIs and STEM departments influence those experiences? The study employed multiple case study methodology with intersectionality as a multilevel analytical tool to understand Black women students’ experiences. The study identified beliefs, policies, and practices that complicated Black women’s persistence in STEM majors. A major complication was the inequitable engagement of Black women students in co-curricular and extracurricular STEM initiatives for educational enrichment. These findings, which have implications for policy, practice, and future research, are related to the fact that the demographic composition of most STEM departments at this institution could be described as “too White and too male.”