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Journal of Negro Education
Black Men in Engineering Graduate Education: Experiencing Racial Microaggressions
within the Advisor–Advisee Relationship
Author(s): Brian A. Burt, Alade McKen, Jordan Burkhart, Jennifer Hormell and
Alexander Knight
Source:
The Journal of Negro Education
, Vol. 88, No. 4 (Fall 2019), pp. 493-508
Published by: Journal of Negro Education
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7709/jnegroeducation.88.4.0493
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©The Journal of Negro Education, 2019, No. 88, No 4 493
The Journal of Negro Education, 88 (4), 493-508
Black Men in Engineering Graduate Education:
Experiencing Racial Microaggressions within the
Advisor–Advisee Relationship
Brian A. Burt University of Wisconsin-Madison
Alade McKen Iowa State University
Jordan Burkhart Colorado School of Mines
Jennifer Hormell University of Delaware
Alexander Knight Colorado Mesa University
The underrepresentation of Black men in engineering graduate programs contributes to the low
numbers of Black faculty members, and in general, role models who could teach and inspire future
generations of students in STEM. Addressing this national concern requires stakeholders to identify
prevailing obstacles such as racial microaggressions, and where they occur.
This article focuses on the advisor-advisee relationship and its effects on students’ persistence. By
addressing practices and activities that turn students away from sustained participation in
engineering, we may be able to increase the number of Blacks males who enroll, remain in, and
graduate from engineering programs.
Keywords: Black males, broadening participation, racial microaggressions, persistence, identity
Of critical importance to the nation’s infrastructure and workforce is the ability to access talent from
underrepresented populations by influencing institutional and systemic change (Chubin, May, &
Babco, 2005; Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering (CEOSE), 2016; Foor,
Walden, & Trytten, 2007; Moore, 2006). According to Yoder (2015), in 2015, Black men comprised
only 1% of those enrolled in engineering graduate programs (master’s and doctoral), or 1,574 out of
156,407 students. In the same year, less than 1%, or 112 out of 11,702 doctoral degrees conferred in
engineering were awarded to Black men. These data do not include Black men with international
status. These alarming yet consistent statistics highlight a missing segment of the population who
could contribute to the knowledge economy (Hurtado et al., 2008; Lundy-Wagner, 2013; Palmer,
Maramba, & Dancy, 2011; Tsui, 2007). An increase in the number of Black men in engineering could
lead to an increase in Black faculty members, education and thought leaders, mentors, and role
models who could teach and inspire future generations of students in science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics (STEM). To address this national concern, however, stakeholders must
first identify prevailing issues that threaten the long-term participation of Black men in science and
engineering. One such issue is the prevalence of racial microaggressions within the advisor–advisee
relationship.
In this article, the authors define racial microaggressions and illustrate how and in what ways
they manifest within an important engineering educational context, the advisor–advisee relationship.
The deleterious effects racial microaggressions have on Black men graduate students in engineering
is highlighted and evidence is presented about how students cope with those effects. Finally, the
authors offer implications for research, policy, and practice that can improve the advisor–advisee
relationship, as well as the broader engineering educational environment, for Black male students
who regularly face racial microaggressions. By addressing this critical relationship, which has the
potential to deter students from sustained participation in engineering, engineering educators may be
able to increase the number of Black men who enroll, complete degrees, and remain in engineering.
__________
This work was supported by the National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship Program,
and the National Science Foundation CAREER Award (under grant 1651808).
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494 ©The Journal of Negro Education, 2019, No. 88, No 4
The nature of the advising relationship impacts a number of student outcomes; the most
commonly cited in higher education research are time to degree, productivity, academic sense of self,
and completion rates (Barnes, Williams, & Archer, 2010; Felder & Barker, 2013; Lovitts 2001;
Nettles & Millett, 2006). Because of these potential outcomes, the advising relationship is often
considered a mentoring relationship where the advisor helps the advisee learn about and become
socialized to the academic field of study, the university, research, ethics, and many other important
aspects related to being a graduate student (Wrench & Punyanunt, 2004). Additionally, the advisor
can help students network by making new contacts and gaining exposure to other faculty, advanced
students, and members of their broader professional community (Bargar & Mayo-Chamberlain,
1983; Paglis, Green, & Bauer, 2006).
The advisor–advisee relationship is complex and life changing; an advisor can help to generate
ideas and support students’ postgraduate career choices, and help influence students’ professional
identity (Burt, 2019). In fields like engineering, where the academic advisor may also serve as a
student’s research supervisor (Burt, 2017), the advisor–advisee relationship includes myriad power
dynamics. As a result, the advising relationship could have positive and/or negative effects on
graduate students, including but not limited to promoting feelings of accomplishment and
progression, or disappointment and failure (Barnes, 2009-2010; Barnes, Williams, & Archer, 2010;
Felder & Barker, 2013; Fountaine, 2012; Johnson-Bailey et al., 2008: Palmer, Maramba, & Dancy,
2011). The extant higher education literature on advising tends to discuss these relationships across
fields of study, including samples from social sciences, humanities, and, natural sciences (see for
example Baker, Pifer, & Flemion, 2015; Gardner, 2007, 2008; Golde, 2005, 2007). A more nuanced
approach that focuses specifically on students within engineering would provide detailed examples
of how engineering advising relationships impact students.
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
The construct of racial microaggressions is gaining a considerable amount of attention in higher
education and psychology literatures (Pittman, 2012; Torres, Driscoll & Burrow, 2010), and even in
news outlets (Beaman, 2016; Garcia & Crandall, 2016). This increased attention highlights a growing
discourse around the experiences of individuals from underrepresented groups. Racial
microaggressions are typically described in the literature as subtle (or not so subtle) comments or
behaviors, unfair treatment, stigmatization, hyper-surveillance, and personal threats or attacks on
one’s well-being (McCabe, 2009; Minikel-Lacocque, 2013; Smith, Allen, & Danley, 2007; Smith,
Hung, & Franklin, 2011). Racial microaggressions can be brief or recurring and tend to surface
through daily verbal communication, as well as behavioral and environmental policies and practices,
whether intentional or unintentional. Several studies have found that some perpetrators of racial
microaggressions are unaware that they engage in such communication and behaviors when they
interact with people of color (Sue et al., 2007; Sue et al., 2008). This lack of familiarity with how
one’s own actions impact other individuals poses some challenges to eradicating these behaviors.
Whether brief or ongoing, intentional or not, the message remains the same: racial microaggressions
denote “otherness” and are interpreted by recipients as insulting. The consequences of racial
microaggressions are still being explored, but existing scholarship acknowledges the psychological
stress experienced by victims of microaggressions (Johnson-Ahorlu, 2013; Smith et al., 2007).
Racial microaggressions exist in a variety of contexts (e.g., academic and non-academic), which
indicates that no matter where people of color go, they are inundated with messages that they are
different. Furthermore, their differences are often seen bad or negative. However, this article focuses
on how racial microaggressions take place on college campuses. In existing scholarship on
underrepresented students of color attending predominantly White institutions, students
overwhelmingly describe the campus climate as being hostile, isolating, and unwelcoming (Brooms
& Davis, 2017; Burt, Knight, & Roberson, 2017; Burt, Williams, & Smith, 2018; Dortch, 2016;
Felder & Barker, 2013; Harper, 2012, 2015). For example, Black students on these campuses
routinely report confronting negative comments and stereotypes from White instructors and peers
(Fries-Britt & Griffin, 2007; Johnson-Ahorlu, 2013).
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©The Journal of Negro Education, 2019, No. 88, No 4 495
In Smith and colleagues’ (2007) exploration of 36 Black men across five institutions, they found
that among other things, Black men were hyper-surveilled while engaging in common collegiate
activities such as using the computer lab on a weekend to complete an assignment. Kevin, a student
in their study, was stopped and asked for his identification by a campus police officer after someone
called to report suspicious activity. In this particular case, Kevin was perceived to represent a criminal
threat, someone who was not likely to be in a computer lab on a college campus on the weekend. To
Kevin, however, the action by the police officer, and the initial call by an anonymous campus peer,
signaled a racial microaggression, based on the common criminalization trope regarding Black men.
Both the caller and the police officer made assumptions that he did not belong, not because he did
anything wrong, but based on their own perceptions of what a stereotypical college student looked
like. The result of Kevin’s case, and those of other Black men in their study, was severe psychological
stress induced by persistent racial microaggressions. Similar to the findings of Smith and colleagues,
McCabe’s (2009) multi-race study of racial and gender microaggressions, which included six Black
men, found that Black male collegians perceived themselves as being treated as threats to their
professors and peers as they, too, received unprovoked attention from police.
As a result of such confrontations, students feel obligated to validate their intellectual
competence in the classroom and affirm their rightful position at their institution (Fries-Britt, 1998;
Fries-Britt & Turner, 2002). In other words, students feel required to, and as a result, attempt to
disprove implicit and explicit assumptions made about them (Moore, Madison-Colmore, & Smith,
2003). At colleges and universities, students of color are not only striving to complete academic work,
they are simultaneously finding ways to mediate challenging feelings of inadequacy brought on by
racial microaggressions (Johnson-Ahorlu, 2013; McCabe, 2009; McGee & Martin, 2011; Truong &
Museus, 2012). For instance, Johnson-Ahorlu’s (2013) racially diverse study (participants were
African American, Asian American, Latinx, Native American, and White) explored how, if at all,
students experienced stereotypes and stereotype threat related to their racial identities. Most germane
to this study, African American students experienced racial stereotypes, which were presented to
them as attacks on their academic capabilities (e.g., shock from faculty and peers when they achieved
in the classroom and inquiries about their abilities to handle the course workload). In addition, the
fear of fulfilling these stereotypes further debilitated students and negatively affected their academic
performance. McGee and Martin (2011) also investigated how stereotypes impacted Black students’
academic achievement. In their study of 23 Black undergraduate and graduate students in
mathematics and engineering across four institutions, they reported occasions—both within the
academy and within society—where the students’ capacity to excel in mathematics and science were
questioned based on stereotypes about their Black identity. As a result of these experiences, Black
students formed strategies (i.e., stereotype management) to cope with the stereotypes they faced on
campus. Such strategies included disproving their academic inferiority, attempting to maintain
control of their environment, which included being prepared for future racial assaults, oscillating
between cultural ways of communicating (for example, between one’s Black peers and White
individuals within the academy), rejecting existing stereotypes about Black learners and instead
defining their own sense of academic self, and seeing themselves as contributors to future students
by serving as mentors. By incorporating these strategies, students experienced increases in their
academic performance and persistence.
While there is a growing body of scholarship regarding the racial microaggressions college
students face, the majority of these studies center on undergraduate collegiate students.
Comparatively absent from this corpus is research on how graduate students experience racial
microaggressions. Even less scholarship details how racial microaggressions present themselves in
domain-specific contexts (e.g., engineering). Taking a more nuanced approach to identifying these
harmful behaviors at the graduate level is important because racial microaggressions are likely to
also manifest in field-specific ways that may go unnoticed without deeper investigation. Furthermore,
microaggressions that occur at the graduate level, and in the case of this study, specifically, in one’s
field of study, impact student retention, achievement, sense-of-self, and identity in that field (Burt,
2019; Burt, Williams &, Smith, 2018). Highlighting the voices of students who experience racial
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496 ©The Journal of Negro Education, 2019, No. 88, No 4
microaggressions within engineering will provide helpful illustrations of messages and behaviors
perceived as being detrimental to their academic achievement and persistence in engineering.
Using “racial microaggressions” as a conceptual framework, the following research questions
guide this study:
• What do racial microaggressions look like within the advising relationship for Black men in
engineering graduate programs?
• What are the impacts of racial microaggressions on Black men in engineering graduate
programs?
METHODS
Data Collection
Data were drawn from interviews with 11 Black men in engineering graduate studies from a large
Midwestern research institution (referred to as “Midwestern University” from this point forward).
Students varied in their engineering specializations. They also ranged in class level (i.e., the year they
were in graduate school during the time of data collection). It should be noted that in this study the
term “Black” is used to denote the more global diaspora of race. Thus, Black is not synonymous with
African American; six participants considered themselves Black but not necessarily African
American (i.e., Nigerian, West African, Caribbean, Ethiopian, and Ghanaian). One student had
attended a historically Black college and university (HBCU) and another had attended an
undergraduate institution outside of the United States, whereas the rest attended predominantly White
institutions (PWIs) for their undergraduate studies. Finally, at the time of data collection, five students
were interested in obtaining industry positions upon graduating, one was interested in a faculty career,
and five were uncertain of their post-graduate plans. See Table 1 for participants’ demographics.
Table 1
Demographic Data for Study Participants
Pseudonym Class
Level
Engineering
Specialization
Undergraduate
Origin
Post-
Graduate
Career
Intention
Alphonso
5th
Electrical
PWI
Industry
Chris
5th
Chemical
PWI
Industry
Jackson
3rd
Mechanical
PWI
Uncertain
Jaden
2nd
Electrical
HBCU
Industry
James
4th
Biomedical
PWI
Faculty
Marcus
3rd
Mechanical
PWI
Uncertain
Paul
4th
Electrical
PWI
Uncertain
Quentin
5th
Electrical
PWI
Uncertain
Terrence
2nd
Material
International
Uncertain
Trai
4th
Mechanical
PWI
Industry
Victor
5th
Chemical
PWI
Industry
The majority of students were identified through snowball sampling (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016),
in which the principal investigator (the first author) identified a small purposeful sample of eligible
participants (i.e., Black, male, doctoral student in engineering) who then referred other eligible Black
graduate engineering students. The principal investigator conducted all interviews using a semi-
structured interview protocol (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016) in which a standard set of questions guided
interviews but there was flexibility to ask follow-up questions where necessary. Interviews ranged
from one to approximately two hours. Participants were asked about their collegiate background,
doctoral experiences, and identification with and intentions to remain in engineering. After data were
collected, audio recordings were transcribed verbatim to capture participants’ meanings in their own
words.
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©The Journal of Negro Education, 2019, No. 88, No 4 497
All researchers (this study’s authors) conducted data analysis using thematic analysis to analyze
the interview data. Thematic analysis helps to identify patterns in text data (Braun & Clarke, 2006;
Fereday & Muir-Cochrane, 2006). This analytical method was selected because the preliminary data
were to be reviewed by multiple researchers, and the flexibility of the method allowed for the
discovery of patterns, discussion among us, and explicit connections to existing literature (Braun &
Clarke, 2006).
Data Analysis
For the first round of analysis, we divided transcripts among ourselves so that each transcript was
reviewed by at least two of us. We first searched for evidence based on existing knowledge related
to racial microaggressions in higher education. Each of us read through the transcripts and identified
areas that captured how students experienced racial microaggressions within the engineering context.
Additionally, we noted the ways in which racial microaggressions impacted the students who were
interviewed. After highlighting potential areas that addressed the research questions, we met as a
team to discuss initial thoughts. Based on the preliminary findings, we decided to focus on instances
of racial microaggressions between students and their advisors. During the second round of analysis,
we considered how students’ interpretations were similar and different, and where different,
discussed the nuanced dimensions. For example, we noted considerations pertaining to how
interactions between students and advisors exemplified racial microaggressions, participants’
feelings after being microaggressed, and effects of these offenses on students. After these steps, the
findings were organized into two themes: Racial Microaggressions within the Advisor–Advisee
Relationship; and, Threatening Effects of Experiencing Racial Microaggressions within the Advisor–
Advisee Relationship.
Ensuring Quality
Several steps were taken to ensure the quality of the findings. First, after the transcripts were
produced, the audio recordings were checked against the transcripts to verify the accuracy of the data.
Second, the transcripts were sent to the participants to verify the accuracy of content and meaning;
no participants responded with changes to their transcripts. Third, the authors intentionally assigned
multiple researchers per transcript to improve the interpretations of the data. Engaging in this peer
debriefing, which also included ongoing discussions around preliminary findings and themes,
provided checks to the interpretations and allowed consensus on the study’s findings. Finally, because
five researchers analyzed the data, and we had different backgrounds and perspectives, we reflected
on our positionalities and subjectivities (Cooper et al., 1998; Peshkin, 1988). This process of being
reflective helped to acknowledge who we were and the biases we held relative to the data. By
engaging in these practices, we were able to acknowledge, and to the extent that it was possible, to
separate our biases from the data analyzed.
Limitations
This study has some notable limitations that should be considered. First, the sample size of 11 is not
representative of all Black men graduate students in engineering at Midwestern University nor of all
Black men in graduate programs in engineering in the United States. Therefore, readers should be
aware that this study’s findings provide a nuanced understanding of a select group of students at one
“high research activity” institution. Similarly, because of Midwestern’s heavy emphasis on research,
it is possible that certain kinds of racial microaggressions, related to students’ research abilities, were
more likely to surface between the student and advisor at this institution. It is possible that at other
types of institutions (e.g., teaching-focused), other kinds of racial microaggressions would surface.
As an example, if at other institutions students are required to hold teaching assistantships, they may
encounter racial microaggressions from the students they teach. Those messages, too, could inform
Black men of what a future academic career in engineering might entail. Second, engineering
students’ experiences vary by their specializations because they are involved in different sets of
courses and interact with different departmental faculty and peers. Finally, existing higher education
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498 ©The Journal of Negro Education, 2019, No. 88, No 4
research suggests that students experience graduate education differently depending on their current
stage in their doctoral program (Gardner, 2009). It is possible that students’ recognition of racial
microaggressions were related to their levels of class status (i.e., students who were more advance
could more easily speak to the microaggressions they had experienced).
Despite these noted differences, research on the experiences of Black students in STEM suggests
that these students tend to share some common racialized experiences (e.g., racial microaggressions,
tokenism, imposter syndrome, stereotype threat) with regard to race (Fries-Britt, Burt, & Johnson,
2012; McGee & Martin, 2011). These racialized experiences tend to occur despite students’ STEM
field of study, specialization, year in graduate school, and institutional type. In other words,
regardless of these potential factors, Black men in STEM report similar challenges that threaten their
persistence in STEM.
FINDINGS
Findings from this study illustrate that Black men in engineering graduate programs engage with their
faculty advisors in a variety of educational spaces, including one-on-one meetings, the laboratory,
and occasional casual conversations. In particular, the authors discuss these findings across two broad
themes. Students reported that through these interactions with faculty advisors, they encountered
experiences that shaped how they valued the advisor–advisee relationship (“Racial Microaggressions
within the Advisor–Advisee Relationship”). Equally important, students revealed how they processed
subtle and overt racial microaggressions within the engineering educational community
(“Threatening Effects of Experiencing Racial Microaggressions within the Advisor–Advisee
Relationship”).
Setting the Context
At the time at which these data were collected, all participants had witnessed the election of Barack
Obama as President of the United States. Like many other college campuses, Midwestern University
was a location where race, gender, and politics permeated the campus environment (Jaschik, 2008;
Tatum, 2008). Because race was at the forefront of the national and international discourse, students
in this study were participants, passive or otherwise, in campus efforts to address racial discord.
Simultaneously, the more advanced students noted previous successes in recruitment efforts to
diversify the engineering community. In fact, many of the advanced students stated that they were
targeted and strongly recruited to attend Midwestern University, and that if not for such strategies,
they might not have attended the prestigious institution. However, they also explained an abrupt
transition when all recruitment efforts ceased as a result of attacks on affirmative action at the federal
(Supreme Court) and local (state referendums) levels. Thus, their experience of being
underrepresented and isolated became further exacerbated as fewer Black students were recruited for
the engineering graduate program. To provide further context, Table 2 indicates the number of
students enrolled at Midwestern University at the time of data collection. Note that Black graduate
student men across the entire university only comprised 1.4% of the student body; the specific
numbers of Black men in engineering were severely low and are masked to protect the anonymity of
the institution and participants. Consequently, while the study’s sample size of 11 may appear to be
small, the men included in this sample represent the “critical mass” of Black men engineering
graduate students at Midwestern University at the time of data collection.
Table 2
Graduate Enrollment by Race and Gender at Midwestern University
(Academic Year 2009-2010)
White
Asian
Black
Hispanic
Men
2,810
531
169 (1.4%)
198
Women
2,800
503
325
195
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©The Journal of Negro Education, 2019, No. 88, No 4 499
Racial Microaggressions within the Advisor–Advisee Relationship
The participants defined their perceptions of the role of an advisor and the advisor’s importance in
shaping the graduate school experience. For example, Jackson, a third-year mechanical engineering
doctoral student, compared the advisor–advisee relationship to a marriage:
Well some people liken the advisor, advisor–advisee relationship to a marriage in that you know you are
likely to be together four/five/six/seven years, depending on how long you are here and so. Being able to
come in and kinda foster that relationship is important.
Jackson’s interpretation of the advisor–advisee relationship acknowledges the potential extended
time that an advisor and advisee could be “together” and the importance of “fostering” their
relationship for the duration of the academic experience. In addition, Jackson’s quotation sets the
tone for how participants described their expectations of their relationship with their advisors. All
participants described having or wanting a supportive relationship, one where they learned and
received encouragement from an expert in their field. Jackson’s quote also represents how students
entered into their relationships with their faculty advisors with respect to their understanding of the
power dynamic between student and faculty advisor; this relationship suggested, at least to some of
the participants in this study, that one should not do anything that could jeopardize the “marriage,”
as Jackson called it. The participants in this study stressed the importance of the connection between
engineering student and advisor in terms of the mediating roles faculty played in students’ academic
careers, or at least students’ perceptions of the role faculty would play in their academic careers in
the future.
When graduate students reach out to potential advisors, their first interactions are crucial to their
relationship, which make microaggressions occurring during these interactions particularly
problematic. In the present study, two participants described prospective advisors who did not
respond, which influenced early negative perceptions of their prospective advisors and shaped their
perceptions of how the advisor–advisee relationship might continue. Jaden, a third-year electrical
engineering doctoral student, described his first interaction with his advisor:
When I did my initial grad search I only found a few advisors who I considered working with. Um. A lot
of them wouldn’t respond to email and I thought, “this won’t go well.” The one who did, I went to his office
and he gave me this bizarre look. I’m not sure if he expected me to be Black honestly, that’s what I think it
was.
In the statement, Jaden connects the interaction with his advisor to race. Jaden’s initial interaction
with his advisor produced subtle feelings that caused internal dissonance, and made him question
himself—“Is my advisor not talking to me because I am Black?” In this case, Jaden interpreted his
initial meeting with his advisor as being a racial microaggression based on the quizzical look. As
explained by Solórzano, Ceja, and Yosso (2000), racial microaggressions can be subtle, but because
they also tend to accumulate over time, they nonetheless trigger feelings of inadequacy in those who
experience them.
Jackson, too, was uncertain about how well the “marriage” was going between him and his
advisor. Because of the infrequency of interactions with his advisor and their different personality
styles, Jackson had concerns about the relationship:
At the same time, I had reservations about my advisor. At the time I had only met with him once. I was
unsure as to whether or not our styles would mesh, whether we would get along for you know the extended
period of the Ph.D., whether he would provide the right type of support and interaction that I thought would
be beneficial.
As students progressed through graduate school, however, they all described both positive and
negative interactions with faculty advisors. What was perhaps most enlightening was how some
students’ early perceptions of the advisor–advisee relationship set the foundation for their future
interactions. Jackson explained,
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500 ©The Journal of Negro Education, 2019, No. 88, No 4
I slowly started to realize that the advisor who I was kind of unsure about became more and more solid in
my mind . . . From my first half an hour interaction with him, of course it’s difficult to tell how he is going
to be for the next five years.
If the early interactions were uncomfortable, it took more time, and perhaps required more mental
energy, for students to trust their advisors. This might suggest that students were fearful that their
assumptions about mismatches between advisor and advisee may have been accurate.
While this treatise primarily focuses on racial microaggressions from academic advisors, one
student described receiving racial microaggressions from others in positions of intellectual authority,
such as the instructors of their courses. Similar to experiences expressed by Jaden, James, a fourth-
year biomedical engineering doctoral student, also experienced an interaction that prompted him to
question his status and belonging in graduate school. He described a scenario of indiscernible grading
practices from his professor:
My second year I was taking this class and the professor said one thing and did something else. . . he gave
me grade that I wasn’t—I think—he gave us—overall, it was a group, it was a team, it’s a teamwork class.
. . Yet, he decided, he would give the grade to the individual he felt did the most work. I don’t know how
he came about doing that, but there was people in our group that made higher grades than other people and
we did similar amount of work. . . I felt like it was a bump because he gave me a grade I wasn’t or that I
didn’t deserve or expected. And therefore that was something I didn’t have control over.
To mentally overcome the effects of what he perceived to be unfair treatment, James
compartmentalized and rationalized his experiences:
Stuff doesn’t always go your way, but you know, you suck it up and fight some more. . . I mean I’m happy.
. . I’ve obtained what I expected other than like, I guess, the small bumps that really, I guess have no control
over.
It is clear from James’ quotations that he nonchalantly deemphasized the uphill struggle he faced in
order to move past the negative experiences. In order to deal with microaggressions and persevere,
he rationalized his negative experiences and minimized them as “bumps along the road.” While James
does not explicitly name race or racism in the context of his story, he recounted the above scenario
when asked to describe the experiences of being a Black male graduate student in engineering and
the challenges that arise. That is, while he did not mention race, the context in which James spoke
points to racial microaggressions.
Threatening Effects of Experiencing Racial Microaggressions within the Advisor–Advisee
Relationship
Findings from this study illustrate that some Black male graduate students interpret racial
microaggressions in a variety of ways that threaten their understanding of their professional identity
as engineers and influence their decisions regarding whether or not to persist in engineering. One
finding suggests that students’ perceptions of racial microaggressions were primarily related to oral
communication with their faculty advisors. For example, James, explained that his advisor
communicated with him in ways that appeared to belittle his intelligence and level of academic
preparedness:
Um—so like . . . it’s like when he tells you stuff it’s kind of . . . if you approach him, and he asks you
questions and it was like some fundamentals you don’t know, or you were never taught it as far as software
stuff, he just—I don’t want to say he belittles you, but he’ll kind of be like “yea, you learned this as a junior
in undergrad, and the sophomores here are doing it, blah, blah, blah”, and I’m like, “ok” (laughter). It would
go in one ear and out the other, but yeah, you know you don’t really feel good afterwards. But then I guess
talking to other students in the lab that’s been there longer than I have, supposedly that’s how he is, and
that’s the way he approaches, I guess approach you when you have “x, y, or z” lack of knowledge.
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©The Journal of Negro Education, 2019, No. 88, No 4 501
In this quote, James painted a picture of what appears to be a typical interaction with his research
supervisor/advisor. While one could argue that the advisor was merely assessing James’ pre-existing
knowledge and skills, James suggests that this conversation and communication style was not an
isolated incident, but rather that his advisor routinely enacted microaggressions against him by asking
questions to verify whether or not he was qualified to engage in the work of their discipline. The
messages the advisor sent to James caused him to question his ability to successfully engage the
engineering material. Furthermore, evidence is seen of the psychological effects that racial
microaggressions can have on students. Although James hesitated to name the verbal assault as
“belittling,” perhaps a conscious move to help cope with the stinging effect of the comment, he
acknowledged that he did not “really feel good” after hearing the diminishing comment. Another way
James dealt with receiving the comment from his advisor was, to some extent, to ignore the
microaggression, as if to help reduce its psychological effect. While it is likely that he could not
completely ignore what was said, allowing the comment to go “in one ear and out the other” provided
temporary relief from what could otherwise be psychologically paralyzing to one’s sense of academic
self. Unfortunately, James provided an example of what he was learning as an engineering graduate
student: do not ask questions for fear of being perceived as intellectually inferior.
Another facet of dealing with the racial microaggressions that Black men students are subjected
to is internalizing what they hear, rationalizing it, and as a result taking ownership of the harassment
as a means to cope. This was apparent when Jackson commented on feedback he received from his
advisor: “And, I guess my feeling is that maybe I’m subject to other judgments that if I were in the
majority I wouldn’t be necessarily subject to.” Jackson’s comment suggests he believed that he was
being judged and subjected to different levels of scrutiny from his advisor because he was part of an
underrepresented ethnic group rather than being in the majority (i.e., White and Asian students).
Equally important to acknowledge, Jackson does not just recognize what he perceives to be unequal
treatment; he appears to rationalize and possibly normalize the treatment he receives in order to cope
with receiving microaggressions.
The outcomes of receiving racial microaggressions, across the engineering context, from the
same and different people, made students feel less comfortable in the field of engineering.
Alarmingly, all students expressed exhaustion due to having to navigate and negotiate what they
perceived as an unwelcoming academic space. Chris, a fifth-year chemical engineering doctoral
student, explains his exhaustion:
Now, when those get uncomfortable for the Black male, and especially the advisor relationship might get
uncomfortable coupled with the prejudice people may have with you being a minority male, in a field
dominated by White men, the pressures can get to you and can see the fact that you can’t do it.
Chris spoke of both the abstract and local effects for Black men specifically, and for minority men in
general, in engineering. He explained that the pressure of being in a White male-dominated field
contributed to his thoughts of failure. As a result of not feeling supported as a “minority male,” Chris
was uncertain of completing the doctoral program. In addition to trying to decipher what was and
was not racial prejudice within the engineering field, and in society more broadly, Chris and his peers
also had to contend with how race and racism was infused in their advisor–advisee relationships.
Similarly, Paul, an electrical engineering doctoral student, described interactions with his advisor that
challenged his sense of academic self and professional engineering identity. Paul explained, “I don’t
know why, I still don’t know why he, he basically said, you know, ‘why don’t you go out and work
first for a few years,’ that was his opinion.” Sometimes individuals who encounter racial
microaggressions may not be immediately aware of the offense, and might overlook such behavior
and comments in the moment (Constantine & Sue, 2007). In this particular case, Paul had difficulty
understanding whether his advisor was trying to be helpful or offensive, causing Paul to rationalize
the nature of their interaction. Paul attempted to make sense of his advisor’s recommendations. To
work in the field, rather than continue with his education, seemingly challenged what he had believed
about himself as an emerging scholar and an engineer. Although Paul and his Black male peers
experienced important decisive points where they felt questioned about their status as graduate
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502 ©The Journal of Negro Education, 2019, No. 88, No 4
students, all of them remained enrolled and engaged in their programs. Taking Chris’s and Paul’s
statements together, these findings reveal why interactions with one’s advisor and professors are such
critical factors for Black men completing their doctoral program: interactions within the College of
Engineering mediates students’ learning, influencing their decisions about whether or not to persist
in the graduate program, and perhaps whether or not to remain in the field of engineering.
Appearing to be indifferent about experiencing racial microaggressions was a reoccurring
strategy practiced by participants in this study. The authors noted several instances when participants
laughed or chuckled, another form of appearing nonchalant, while simultaneously describing their
emotional pain and frustrations related to negative experiences with their advisors. Microaggressions
tend to create a sense of helplessness and can make individuals feel powerless to do anything about
them. For example, as described by James, he felt as if he had no control over the grade that was
given to him. That particular situation caused him unnecessary stress because he thought it would
“affect me staying here and continuing for my Ph.D.” While this coping strategy may be a form of
“cool pose” to maintain one’s sense of pride (Harris, Palmer, & Struve, 2011; Majors, 2011), the
strategy of diminishing one’s experiences with race and racism may also be an effect of victimization
(Smith, Hung, & Franklin, 2011). This finding is similar to observations by McCabe (2009), who
noticed that participants occasionally laughed when describing the offenses made against them.
Words alone could not capture how students were feeling, particularly if their learned coping
strategies included not discussing their pain and challenges. Thus, it is clear that the combination of
verbal and nonverbal data, afforded through qualitative analysis, provided further additional clues
into how students internalize and then cope with experiencing racial microaggressions.
DISCUSSION
The decision to pursue doctoral studies represents a sacrifice to forego a potentially lucrative
engineering career with a bachelor’s degree (Brazziel, 1987). But students make the choice to attend
graduate school to meet their personal and professional goals. In the current study, the excitement
and allure of being a graduate student and reaching one’s goals dissipated as students entered
Midwestern University. Upon matriculation, and throughout their academic journey, students faced
racial microaggressions (e.g., meeting the advisor, receiving a grade during a second-year class,
moments of being insulted later in the process). Although it is important to recapitulate the
cumulative effects of racial microaggressions over the lifespan of the students, the purpose of this
article was to provide a focused view of racial microaggressions toward Black men in engineering
graduate studies at one “high research activity” institution and their academic advisors. When the
Black men in this study entered graduate school, they did not anticipate facing consistent
antagonizing insults from those who were supposed to be their main sources of professional support,
their faculty advisors. Rather, they expected mentorship throughout their academic experience and
their entrée into the broader engineering professional community. This contextual background is
similar to Felder’s (2010) findings on Black doctoral degree completers who attended a large
prestigious institution. While the participants in her sample were not in STEM graduate programs,
she reported how students perceived faculty advisors to be necessary partners to their socialization
in graduate school and their field of study. The students, however, also noted times when they felt
disrespected by their advisors. These behaviors by advisors, Felder asserted, further marginalized
study participants. Her recommendations, with regard to improving advising experiences, appear to
align with the needs of the Black men in the present study who held higher expectations for a healthier
advising relationship.
The extensive, direct contact that faculty advisors have with students across multiple contexts
(e.g., classroom, research experiences, academic meetings) raises concern about the number and
severity of racial microaggressions Black men experience over the life-cycle of their graduate
education. Undergirding the racial microaggressions experienced by students might be conscious or
subconscious stereotypes of Black men. As highlighted by existing scholarship, there remain
assumptions (i.e., stereotypes) that Black students are academically ill-prepared and incapable of
achieving academic success (Dortch, 2016; Hernstein & Murray, 1994; Johnson-Ahorlu, 2013).
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©The Journal of Negro Education, 2019, No. 88, No 4 503
Although students in this study did not report perceptions of feeling like criminals (McCabe, 2009;
Smith, Allen, & Dantley, 2007) within their advising relationships, deep-seated historical perceptions
of Black men may still be consciously or subconsciously at play. When preconceived stereotypes of
Black students persist, behaviors such as questioning the integrity of students’ work or work ethic
and interrogating students’ commitment to graduate study or specific field of study, for example, may
be perceived by students as racial microaggressions. As a direct result of being “othered” or
intellectually attacked by their faculty advisor, students described experiencing several psychological
and health difficulties, with thoughts of dropping out, or leaving engineering. Thus, persistent racial
microaggressions from their advisors further isolate students from their institution, graduate studies,
and potentially their field of study.
To be clear, none of this study’s participants chose to pursue graduate studies with hopes of later
dropping out. Rather, similar to other Black doctoral students (McCallum, 2016), participants in this
study excitedly enrolled in graduate studies with dreams of fulfilling their goals, making their families
proud, and improving their cultural communities with their academic and professional talents. To
accomplish these feats, however, they learned to cope with the experiences they faced within the
isolating and hostile engineering community. This finding contributes to existing scholarship that
reports other instances where Black students—across gender, undergraduate and graduate studies,
and fields of study—implemented coping strategies in efforts to make progress in the academy
(Brooms & Davis, 2017; Burt, Williams, & Palmer, 2019; Fries-Britt & Griffin, 2007; Johnson-
Ahorlu, 2013; McCabe, 2009; McGee & Martin, 2011; Truong & Museus, 2012). In each of these
studies, as with the students in this study, to be successful, Black students had an additional task to
perform beyond that of course-taking: students had to psychologically manage the hostile messages
they received within their educational communities. These adaptive strengths (i.e., coping strategies)
were necessary to survive and thrive in their engineering community.
IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH AND PRACTICE
This article identifies several opportunities for future research and implications for future
professional practice. First, faculty advisors were identified as being perpetrators of racial
microaggressions against Black men. However, evidence suggests that there are other individuals
within engineering contexts that also cause harm to Black men through racial microaggressions. More
research and analysis are needed to identify who those individuals are, their relationships with Black
men, and the contexts in which those racialized incidents occur. Such an examination would provide
a more expansive picture of how some Black students experience engineering, including how their
retention in the STEM field is threatened. A second area for future research would interrogate the
campus or college climate. A study that explored the environmental factors from a campus climate
perspective might provide clues to the systems and structures that give rise to racial microaggressions
within a college of engineering.
Addressing racial microaggressions through professional practice needs to be a priority. Findings
from this study indicate that after experiencing racial microaggressions, some students express a
diminished sense of self as related to their academic ability, which has the potential to threaten their
retention in the STEM field. Additionally, it appears that some students struggle to develop an
identity consistent with engineering after facing racial microaggressions. These findings suggest that
there might be a relationship between one’s educational experiences (including one’s negative
interactions with a faculty advisor) and one’s engineering self-concept and identity as an engineer.
To address this concern, faculty, staff, and administrators need to be more aware of their Black men
students, and understand that while many graduate students struggle at times, Black men may face
additional challenges caused by the engineering context.
Besides helping to eradicate racial microaggressions, those in positions of power should create
more intentional support structures that strengthen historically underrepresented students’ academic
sense of self and help to buffer, at least in part, the negative impact of experiencing racial
microaggressions. In addition, faculty advisors need to become more culturally competent in the ways
they behave and interact with students from underrepresented groups. Addressing racially charged
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504 ©The Journal of Negro Education, 2019, No. 88, No 4
behaviors and comments, whether those are intentional or not, is a small yet important step in the
direction of increasing and sustaining Black men’s participation in engineering.
Black men engineering graduate students have high expectations of a supportive advising
relationship. In the event that their reality falls short of their expectations, they must seek out
alternative people and experiences that can assist them in fully participating in the engineering
community. Although this final recommendation places an additional burden on Black men instead
of fixing the systemic issue of focus (racial microaggressions in engineering), their long-term
persistence in engineering could depend on it.
CONCLUSION
The findings in this article provide a clearer understanding of racial microaggressions within an
engineering context. Centering participants’ voices revealed a shared pattern of experiences between
students and their advisors. Understanding their collective lived experiences can better inform the
engineering education community of some of the challenges faced by Black men in engineering
graduate programs. It is important to acknowledge that since data collection, all participants have
graduated with doctorates from Midwestern University. Although their persistence should be
celebrated, the pattern of Black men having to overcome consistent negative experiences is not cause
for celebration. The engineering education community cannot continue to explain away students’
racialized experiences, no matter how challenging these experiences may be to remedy. This call to
action provides an opportunity for engineering educators and other members of the engineering
community to interrogate various actions and behaviors; for example: “How might my actions be
perceived as unwelcoming to students from underrepresented groups”? If we, as a scholarly
community, are serious about broadening participation, we must investigate the systematic practices
and activities that threaten to push students from underrepresented groups out of engineering.
While this study focuses on racial microaggressions between Black men in doctoral studies and
their advisors, there are other contexts within colleges of engineering where racial microaggressions
occur (e.g., between peers, with staff and administrators, through systematic policies). Scholars
should continue examining racial microaggressions and the implications they have for the field of
engineering, especially because there remain those who do not believe that racial microagressions
occur (e.g., Harris, 2008; Thomas, 2008). More scholarship on this topic might serve to affirm
students who have historically endured unwelcoming and isolating experiences in engineering, but
who have never had the language or evidence to “prove” that their experiences were valid.
The findings in this article have the potential to better inform those who interact with students
from underrepresented groups. Reducing the number of microagressions that occur in advisor–
advisee relationships and dismantling the systems and structures that allow these behaviors to
continue need to be priorities. With this understanding, engineering educators can help to create
supportive educational spaces for academic achievement; engineering can then become a more
welcoming field of study for Black men.
___________
We would like to thank the participants who courageously shared their stories with us, members of the Burt
Research Group (BRG) who helped with peer review, and the reviewers for providing valuable feedback and
helping to strengthen this work.
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AUTHORS
BRIAN A. BURT is Assistant Professor of Higher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy
Analysis, and Research Scientist, Wisconsin Equity & Inclusion Laboratory, University of
Wisconsin-Madison. ALADE S. MCKEN is doctoral candidate, Social and Cultural Studies of
Education, Iowa State University, School of Education. JORDAN BURKHART is a Residence Life
Coordinator at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado. His research and practitioner
work focuses on equity and inclusive practices in the STEM education field; especially in the areas
of networking and restorative justice. JENNIFER HORMELL works in Residence Life & Housing
at the University of Delaware. ALEC KNIGHT is the Coordinator for International Programs at
Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, Colorado.
All comments and queries regarding this article should be addressed to brian.a.burt@wisc.edu
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