Browsing by Subject "belonging"
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Item Daily Sexism Experienced by Women in STEM Majors: Incidence and Relations to Belonging, Interest, and Intentions(2020-08) Baker, MajelThe purpose of this observational longitudinal study was to assess everyday experiences of sexism in academic contexts among women who are interested in majoring in a physical science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (pSTEM) field. This study hypothesized that everyday comments and behaviors that communicate gender stereotypes and demeaning and exclusionary behavior based on gender would relate to women feeling less belonging in their major on a daily basis. Additionally, more sexist experiences over time would predict less interest in STEM and less intent to major in a STEM field. We recruited first year and sophomore undergraduate women (N = 282) interested in a pSTEM major for a daily assessment, measurement-burst longitudinal study of their academic experiences. STEM major belonging, interest, and intent were assessed at baseline half-way through the semester. Participants later completed 14 nightly surveys three weeks apart in the semester that assessed if they experienced or personally witnessed 13 different sexist events within the context of their classes or professional development. Participants were assessed again at the beginning of the following semester. Many (67%) reported at least one sexist event over the two weeks surveyed, with an average of one-to-two sexist events per week. The most common events were demeaning and exclusionary behavior, and women identified that these frequently came from male classmates, friends, and peers within the school and classroom context. Results from multilevel modeling confirmed the hypotheses and found that on days women reported gender stereotyping and demeaning treatment they felt less belonging in their major. Sexist experiences did not predict STEM interest and major intentions the following semester as hypothesized, especially after controlling for relevant variables in a path analysis. However, more belonging did predict later interests and intentions. Overall these findings suggest that sexism remains frequent in STEM fields and relates to less belonging, and belonging itself may be an important predictor for later academic engagement. Daily social support predicted more major belonging and may be a protective factor for women in the face of sexist experiences. Other relevant factors to sexism in STEM are discussed, including individual differences in women’s expectations to encounter sexism and implications for educators and researchers.Item Fall 2021 University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts First-Year Student Surveys(2022-01-07) Estrella, Emma; Davis, Cassandra N; Mody, Isha; DeWitt, Katie; Roy, Aarushi; Yan, Chenwei; Hines, Alexander; Hammell, Abbey E; Hofelich Mohr, Alicia; Ronning, Emily; estre059@umn.edu; Estrella, Emma; University of Minnesota Office of Student Experience; Liberal Arts Technologies and Innovation ServicesThis data is from two surveys distributed to first-year students in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota. The surveys include questions about the value based on one's identity, comfortability with various tasks related to transitioning to college, sense of belonging in various campus communities, identity, discrimination, mentorship, Canvas use, and demographic identifiers. Survey 1 was sent at the beginning of the Fall 2021 semester, and Survey 2 was sent at the end. The aim of these surveys were to better understand the first-year experience for students, including the transition to college and campus climate.Item Seeing the National Body: Racialization and Belonging in Germany(2016-05) Olstad, AshleyMy dissertation explores the role of the visual, in particular seeing the national body, in discussions of migration, integration, and belonging in post-unification Germany. I provide an exploration of what is considered to be specifically German about the German body, as it is remembered, imagined, represented, and reproduced, and I show the prevalence of the notion of German as a physical type. The visual—in terms of the national body as seen and unseen in the German public—underlies even the more mundane areas of immigration, integration, and belonging. Focusing on the “visible yet unseen” German national body, I critique official visual representations of integration that fix categories of migrant/German. In order to identify the broadest extent of racialized thinking on the national body, I also use ethnographic modalities such as interviews, conversations, and participant observation, as well as the analysis of visual content, specifically modes of representative seeing in literature and popular music. Drawing creatively on government posters, pop musicians, and conversations with Russians, to name a few of my sources and texts, I cross genres, disciplines, dominant discourses, and various minority groups to uncover the national imagination. It is critically important to reveal the unreflected way we see the national body, calling our attention to how modes of seeing function in a variety of settings: mass culture, political propaganda and everyday essentialisms in private, interpersonal contexts. I explore the trope of the white German body, but my dissertation also explores more broadly the way race, and thus national belonging, is conceptualized—beyond skin color—in Germany. My research on the contingency of racial categories in Germany therefore contributes to the critical discourse of race and ethnicity and interrogates how the complicated intersection of cultures and “looks” might be brought to bear on discussions of migration in German Studies. I argue that assumptions about the link between looks and nationality persist into the present day and that “German” often functions as a racial label. Despite globalization and migration to Germany, the country still struggles with the idea that Germanness is defined by origins and associated with a particular look.Item Should I Stay or Should I Go? : Fit, Belonging, and College Persistence Decisions for Students from Low-Income Families(2017-06) Snyder, SethCollege persistence and completion rates for students from families earning low incomes are consistently lower than for students from wealthy families. Some of these inequitable gaps may be associated with students’ perceptions of fit and belonging at higher education institutions dominated by upper-middle-class systems and norms. This mixed-methods study investigates how structural fit and sense of belonging are related to persistence choices made by low-income students who are members of a college-access program. Findings from 628 completed surveys suggest that sense of belonging is associated with persistence choices, but structural fit factors dominate persistence choice in multivariate analyses. Findings from 14 individual interviews support the survey findings, with participants discussing their adjustment to college and experiences as college students. The overall results of the study support earlier research findings of the centrality of financial aid and other aspects of structural fit in college persistence choices as well as the importance of all students feeling that they belong and are valued on college campuses.Item Spring 2022 University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts First-Year Student Surveys(2022-06-09) Estrella, Emma; Voss, Ethan; Mody, Isha; DeWitt, Katie; Roy, Aarushi; Yan, Chenwei; Hammell, Abbey E; Hofelich Mohr, Alicia; Hines, Alexander; Ronning, Emily; estre059@umn.edu; Estrella, Emma; University of Minnesota Office of Student Experience; Liberal Arts Technologies and Innovation ServicesThis data is from two surveys distributed to first-year students in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota. The surveys include questions about the value based on one's identity, comfortability with various tasks related to transitioning to college, academic support networks, use of academic services, sense of belonging in various campus communities, identity, discrimination, mentorship, Canvas use, and demographic identifiers. Survey 1 was sent at the beginning of the Spring 2022 semester, and Survey 2 was sent at the end. The aim of these surveys were to better understand the first-year experience for students, including the transition to college and campus climate.