Kareen Odate1
1Kareen Odate, Medgar Evers College, Brooklyn, New York, USA
Abstract: Research exploring the experiences of Black female students at predominantly White institutions (PWI) asserts that in such environments they face numerous challenges to academic success. The data also emphasize the importance of understanding how race and gender influence their undergraduate experience. As a higher education professional of more than 20 years, the author shares her own journey as a traditional age Black, female, urban student of Haitian descent, who attended a competitive PWI over 25 years ago. This autoethnography applies a theoretical framework of “multiple dimensions of identity” in relating various aspects of the author’s college experience. The author makes a unique contribution to the literature on Black female student experiences at PWIs by offering a candid, transparent, and personal narrative of her academic and campus lived-experience as a graduate of Williams College, as well as some challenges she encountered and the support systems which helped her to persist.
Keywords: Black Female Undergraduate, Predominantly White Institution, Campus Life, Challenges, Persistence
Published: March 1, 2022
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International Journal of Social Sciences & Educational Studies
ISSN 2520-0968 (Online), ISSN 2409-1294 (Print), March 2022, Vol.9, No.1