Bridget Turner Kelly

Experiences with Diversity in the Curriculum: Implications for Graduate Programs and Student Affairs Practice

The purpose of this study was to assess individuals’ perceptions of and experiences with diversity in the curriculum of graduate preparation programs in student affairs. We were particularly interested in how diversity is incorporated into the curriculum and how individuals have been able to apply what they learned about diversity issues to student affairs practice. Using focus group interviews, data were collected from graduate students and student affairs practitioners. Three major themes that focus on requiring diversity in the curriculum, what should be included in diversity courses, and effective ways of linking theory to practice are discussed.

Faculty Teaching Diversity through Difficult Dialogues: Stories of Challenges and Success.

Teaching diversity courses in graduate preparation programs is likely to trigger difficult dialogues that evoke a range of emotional responses. Difficult dialogues on diversity topics must be managed effectively in order to enhance multicultural competence. This interpretive study examined the experiences of faculty who teach diversity courses in higher education programs. The findings highlight challenges experienced by faculty, as well as strategies for managing difficult dialogues.

The Role of Students in the Experience of Women Faculty on the Tenure Track

Women faculty disproportionately leave academia by their second or third semester and experience slow rates of tenure and promotion. What then, may cause women faculty, both White and of color, to leave early or conversely, to stay through tenure? With a critical feminist framework, this article presents qualitative research into women’s experiences at research universities from a job satisfaction and institutional fit perspective and concludes with a discussion of what might assist women faculty’s career satisfaction and eventual promotion with tenure. The 22 women who participated in this study reported working with students as highly influential. Interactions with students, both positive and negative, are a window into understanding the faculty experience.

Using Film to Critically Engage Student Development Theory

Bridget Turner Kelly and Kamaria B. Porter describe how film can be a powerful pedagogical tool to help students recognize, understand, and critique abstract, theoretical concepts in higher education graduate classes at Loyola University Chicago.

Authentically Me: Examining Expectations That Are Placed Upon Black Women in College

Through analyzing critical life stories with Black alumnae from predominantly White institutions, this article offers a narrative, in-depth approach to explore the ways in which alumnae managed and resisted expectations and stereotypes that were placed upon them by peers, faculty, and staff during college. Findings suggested that participants grappled with assumptions of who they should be as Black college women. As they resisted stereotypes and expectations, they crafted unique pathways toward asserting their authentic selves. The findings emphasize heterogeneity among Black women and the need for varied support structures in educational institutions.

Experiences of Black Alumnae from PWIs: Did they Thrive?

This study qualitatively examines 16 Black alumnae’s college experiences from a Black feminist thought intersectional lens. Findings reveal they graduated but did not thrive in the ways described by the thriving quotient and point to ways institutions can measure success not by graduation alone but by all students leaving college with wholeness, well-being, and self-efficacy.