Doctoral Candidates: Joelle Davis Carter

Factors Influencing The Engagement Of White Undergraduate Students On Historically Black College And University (HBCU) Campuses

Dissertation Summary

My dissertation explores and examines factors influencing the engagement of White undergraduate students attending our nation's public historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). This study uses individual interviews and focus groups to explore factors influencing White undergraduate students' engagement on campus. Using a qualitative approach and the case study method as a mode of inquiry, I assess the levels of White undergraduate student engagement through benchmarks such as faculty interaction, involvement in co-curricular activities, and interaction with students from other ethnic backgrounds.

HBCUs have recently witnessed an increase in the enrollment of White, undergraduate students. Recent reports indicate that between 1980 and 1990, white student enrollments across all HBCUs increased by 10,000 students. Specifically, "in 1995, the enrollment peaked, with 35,963 white students at HBCUs throughout the country." The increase in White undergraduate students attending HBCUs offers a new perspective to the discourse on diversity in higher education and to the trajectory of HBCUs across the United States.

Over the past twenty years, volumes of research has been produced on the academic and social experiences of Black students on predominately white institution (PWI) campuses and comparative studies on the experiences of Black students attending PWIs and HBCUs. The dimension absent from the research literature is the "flip-side" of student experiences from non-Black student populations. Specifically, there is a lack of research and discussion regarding the presence, engagement, and persistence of White and other non-Black undergraduate student populations attending HBCUs.

By investigating levels of White student engagement, this study provides the higher education community, and specifically faculty and higher education administrators, with insight on strategies to develop student support services and skills to facilitate cross-cultural communication and strengthen community between Black and White students on campus. Such a process may also address social ills and racial tensions that currently exist in our society.

Bio

Joelle Davis Carter is a doctoral candidate at the University of Maryland College Park in the Department of Educational Leadership, Higher Education and International Studies. She received her Master's degree in higher education from The Ohio State University and her Bachelor's degree in Middle Grades Education from Winston-Salem State University. In addition to her graduate studies, Carter has served in numerous leadership and administrative positions in higher education that include Student Development Coordinator at Winthrop University and has served in the following positions at the University of Maryland College Park: Coordinator for Transitional Programs, Director for Diversity, and Executive Director for the Office of Human Relations Programs.

Currently, Carter serves as Pre-College Coordinator in the Academic Development Center at Morgan State University. In addition to her work in higher education, Carter also co-owns a consulting company, RJC Consulting, LLC, with her husband, R. Laurence Carter. Through RJC, Carter has been invited to facilitate workshops and seminars and serve as a keynote speaker for over 50 events for educational institutions, corporations and non-profit organizations.

Carter has received many awards including, 2007 Woman of the Year from Southern Prince George's Business and Professional Women; 2007 University of Maryland College Park Division of Research in recognition of her raising over $500,000 in grant funds; and 2004 Exempt Staff Minority Achievement Award from the University of Maryland College Park President's Commission.