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Creating inclusive and supportive environments in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educational settings are important tools for countering racially hostile academic spaces and attracting and retaining talented Black and African American students. STEM faculty and other university members may display Black Lives Matter and similar "signs of solidarity" to express their support for Black students. However, how Black students perceive such signs is unknown. On the one hand, the "identity safety cue" literature suggests such signs relate to increased comfort and a sense of belonging among individuals from minoritized groups. On the other hand, some contemporary perspectives toward Black Lives Matter and other signs of solidarity have been criticized for lacking substance and impact. Given the extant literature's omission of Black students' perspectives about signs of solidarity, the current study employed semi-structured interviews and qualitative analytic methods to solicit and analyze the perspectives of 12 Black STEM graduate students. The findings revealed a general preference for some signs over others, as well as nuanced perspectives toward each sign of solidarity. Implications for STEM researchers and faculty who aspire to support Black students are discussed. Further, recommendations for adopting an "informed ally approach" are provided.

This qualitative case study explored the perceptions of struggling students who identified as first- generation, low-income, and/or Students of Color (i.e., Historically Excluded Groups), and their beliefs about success, struggle, and characteristics of supportive instructors. Thematic analysis revealed student participants understood academic success and struggle in terms of "Identifying Performance Measures," "Developing a Growth Mindset," and "Integrating Knowledge." Students identified supportive instructors by using one or more of the following themes, which were described using in vivo codes: "Creates More Motivation for Me," "Puts the Joy into Learning," "Doesn't Make You Feel Dumb," "Not Here to Hurt Your Grades," "Makes Material Understandable," "Treats Us as More Than Just Students," and "If I Ever Needed Anything." Implications for practice include expanding the definition of academic success and engaging specific instructor dispositions and behaviors to better support these students.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how Black undergraduates demonstrate resilience in response to experiencing racial microaggressions. Given that racially hostile and unwelcoming campus environments persist and that some response strategies have been associated with mitigating the effects of microaggressions, there is a need to further explicate how Black students resiliently respond to microaggressive environments that assail their beingness. We used resilience theory as a conceptual framework to uncover positive adaptations that contributed to Black undergraduate students' resilience. Focus group interviews were conducted with 17 Black undergraduates at a public research university in the Midwest. Findings indicated that students engaged in five positive adaptations that contributed to their resilience: (a) making sense of racial microaggressions, (b) increasing awareness of racism and racial microaggressions, (c) focusing on academics, (d) developing assertiveness, and (e) resisting cultural discontinuity. We offer recommendations for supporting Black undergraduates' resilience and systematically confronting racism and racial microaggressions.

In the current qualitative study, we explored father (and varying father figures’) ethnoracial and gendered socialization messages toward Latina and Black college women. We conducted six focus group interviews with Black (n = 3 groups) and Latina (n = 3 groups) college women. Guided by Chicana and Black feminist interpretive phenomenological analysis, we identified four clusters which detailed perceived paternal influences in the lives of these college women: (a) paternal caring, (b) gender socialization, (c) value of education, and (d) developing platonic and romantic relationships.