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“That does not apply”: graduate students’ (mis)perceptions of the racial climate in STEMM

Andrea Kunze (Department of Counselor Education and Psychology, Delta State University, Cleveland, Mississippi, USA)
Rodney Hopson (Department of Educational Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois, USA and School of Education, American University, Washington, District of Columbia, USA)

Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education

ISSN: 2398-4686

Article publication date: 28 May 2024

Issue publication date: 26 August 2024

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explore how science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM) graduate students’ experiences with and conceptualizations of racism can more clearly expose the current racial climate across multiple academic institutions.

Design/methodology/approach

A mixed-method approach using a single online questionnaire consisting of open-ended and Likert scale questions about their perceptions of the racial climate in their department was completed by 34 graduate students of different races and STEMM disciplines.

Findings

Results from this study suggested that graduate students, regardless of race, consistently perceive STEMM as colorblind. The results also suggest that experiencing or witnessing racial discrimination is potentially predictive of perceptions of negative social support. Furthermore, multiracial and international graduate students often face different experiences of discrimination than do other graduate students.

Originality/value

By better understanding STEMM academic climates, higher education institutions can begin to reflect on the social barriers that may limit minoritized students from matriculating in academic STEMM spaces and affect retention.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

No funding sources were provided for this research, but we would like to thank Matt Smith and Chuck Rozek from Case Western Reserve University and research assistants Faith Adekeye, Kolin Heck, and Jasmine Ng from the Political Ideology Group lab for supporting this research study. Additionally we thank Drs. Brian Burt, Helen Neville, and Ishmail Conway for their thoughtful and useful comments to the final version of this manuscript, and Cynthia Williams for her exceptional editorial and editing support.

Disclosure statement: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors..

Citation

Kunze, A. and Hopson, R. (2024), "“That does not apply”: graduate students’ (mis)perceptions of the racial climate in STEMM", Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education, Vol. 15 No. 3, pp. 290-305. https://doi.org/10.1108/SGPE-07-2023-0064

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited

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