An examination of DIMAC and Critical Race Theory in the programmatic support of Black/African American doctoral students

Author: Pamela Felder-Small, Ph.D., Founder and Consultant, Black Doctorates Matter

One of the ways to support the work of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts focused on the doctoral student experience is to draw connections between the importance of cultural frameworks and their application to research and practice.  This commentary is an opportunity to discuss the relevance of critical race theory and The Doctoral Initiative for Minority Attrition and Completion (2015), the DIMAC study.

In support of this report, additional review of key findings through a critical race, critical leadership, and equity-minded lens provides an overview analysis of marginalised students pursuing doctoral degrees in STEM fields and national conversation on the need to understand racial and ethnic disparities in doctoral education.  In particular, disparities focused on the participation of Blacks/African Americans identifies concepts of socialisation consistent with scholarship on doctoral student advising, faculty support, disciplinary identity development, and campus culture to center the lives of marginalised doctoral students (Felder & Freeman, 2016).   Recent attacks on critical race theory, through a series of state, federal initiatives, has emphasised the need to highlight its role in the research on doctoral education.

DIMAC’s broad perspectives on doctoral student attrition offers a closer review of the contextual influences shaping academic success and degree completion. To contribute to the national conversation on the student perceptions of Black Doctoral Students and what may influence attrition, this commentary briefly focuses on recommendations in the report and how critical race theory informs the development of programmatic support. The findings include:

1. conducting interventions during the doctoral process;
2. providing enhanced academic support;
3. monitoring and evaluating programmes; and
4. cultivating a culture of diversity and inclusion.

The DIMAC recommendations offer insight on outreach activities helpful to the improvement of completion rates and for the decrease of attrition rates for Black/African American STEM doctoral students.  Critical race theory is well-cited in education research with particular emphasis in the knowledge on the experiences of Black/African American doctoral students.  Qualitative research is critical for increasing knowledge focused on socialisation issues within the Black doctoral experience.  Qualitative methods provide guidance for exploring data in the DIMAC Study specific to the Black Doctoral student experience.  In particular, case study methods can contribute to the knowledge on the attrition and completion of a specific marginalised doctoral student group in STEM by addressing findings and recommendations for cultivating a culture of diversity and inclusion.

According to Creswell (2009), there are five main intellectual goals for why conducting qualitative research in this area can be increase knowledge on the Black doctoral experience: understanding the meaning of participants in the study; understanding the context; identifying unanticipated phenomena or influences; understanding the processes and events that take place; and developing causal explanations. The intellectual goals of this work serve the purpose of broadening an understanding Black Doctoral Student perceptions, interests, and academic needs by identifying the outreach, admissions, and yield efforts critical to their academic success and degree completion at the 21 institutions in the DIMAC Study, specifically, with implications for understanding the experiences of marginalised doctoral students.  Critical race theory informs all of the areas Creswell describes.

In the case of the DIMAC study, critical race theory is a tool for understanding what influences the experiences of marginalised doctoral students.  In conducting interventions, the findings of the DIMAC study suggest that extending interventions beyond the first year of doctoral study could be helpful to institutions building relationships with students and supporting their investments in their education.  Critical race theory informs that relationship building must consider the impact of racism on students, their communities, families, and ways students process racial inequities in their lives. Institutional programmatic support should invest in practices committed to addressing these issues in doctoral programmes to provide enhanced support for marginalised doctoral students to facilitate academic and research experiences that matter to be culturally relevant and focused.

Critical race theory reinforces that creating support for these research experiences must consider the normalcy of racism and structures of oppression.  And, as institutions continue to build relationships with marginalised doctoral students, and in particular with an understanding of  Black/African American experience, the inclusion of critical race theory reinforces sustained formal evaluation of interventions to ensure the racial experience is central in the support of students (Smith, Altbach, and Lomotey, 2002).  Furthermore, in the cultivation of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, critical race theory is a resource that provides structure to the commitment and implementation of initiatives to address the needs of faculty and administrators who work to support marginalised doctoral students.

References:

Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (3rd ed.). Sage Publications, Inc.

Felder, P. P., & Freeman Jr, S. (2016). Editors' introduction: Exploring doctoral student socialization and the African American experience. Western Journal of Black Studies, 40(2),  77-79.

Smith, W. A., Altbach, P.G., & Lomotey, K. (2002).  The racial crisis in American higher education:  Continuing challenges for the twenty-first century.  Albany:  State University of New York Press.

Sowell, R., Allum, J., & Okahana, H. (2015). Doctoral initiative on minority attrition and completion. Washington, DC: Council of Graduate  Schools.