Journal Article

Toward Reciprocal Research Partnerships in Student Affairs: Accounting for Racialized Power Dynamics in Minority Serving Institutions

Gutierrez, Rose Ann, Lee, Nicolas, Kurland, Willa, Nguyen, Bach Mai Dolly, Nguyen, Thai-Huy Peter, Le, Annie, Samayoa, Andrés Castro

2024

Overview

Empirical studies on minority serving institutions (MSIs) have proliferated in higher education scholarship in the past two decades. Using the MSI designations to identify distinct types of postsecondary institutions can be a useful, race-aware strategy for understanding the US higher education landscape. However, such usage warrants further examination of the racialized dynamics inherent in the scholarly enterprise engaging with MSIs. Drawing from scholarship on Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions and Hispanic Serving Institutions, we illustrate how researchers engaging with institutional actors within these organizations have yet to explicitly account for the racialized processes of conducting research alongside MSIs. In this conceptual paper, we propose a heuristic—Transparent, Aligned, and Responsive—as a methodological guidance for scholars and practitioners interested in advancing empirical knowledge on MSIs through a commitment to race-aware reciprocal partnerships with student affairs professionals.

• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Subject: African American Leadership / Alaska Natives / Asian Americans / Black Colleges / Educational Researchers / Ethnography / Feminism / Guidance / Higher education / Historically Black Colleges & Universities / Indigenous Populations / Minority Serving Institutions / Native peoples / Opportunities / Participation / Participatory research / Political power / Predominantly White Institutions / Qualitative research / Racial Differences / Racial Factors / Research methodology / Researchers / School Accounting / Tribal Colleges & Universities / Tribally Controlled Education / Vertical Organization