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| From left: Reka Barton, Nora Leyva and Amir Zargar. |
Three students in San Diego State University’s Joint Doctoral Program in Education with Claremont Graduate University were honored for their research excellence at the 2021 SDSU Student Research Symposium (SRS).
Nora Leyva, Reka Barton and Amir Zargar were all recipients of the College of Education Dean’s Award at the annual public forum where SDSU students present their research, scholarship and creative activities. SRS took place virtually on March 19 and 20.
Leyva and Barton jointly presented “The Impact of Research and Mentoring Programs on Black and Latinx Female Social Science Students’ Pathway to the Professoriate.” It was based on a research paper authored by Leyva; Barton; Dr. Felicia Black, assistant professor in child and family development; and Kimberley Folkes-Dunkley.
“We began working on this study back in 2018 after Reka and I discussed some of the challenges we had experienced as women of color in graduate programs,” Leyva said.
As part of their qualitative study, Leyva and Barton collected more than 1,200 survey responses and found that only 9.7% of Black and 6.2% of Latinx female social science students had participated in research and mentoring programs. Their other analysis illustrated the significant positive relationship between participation in such programs and meeting research career aspirations.
Zargar presented “Race and Attainment Differences in Postsecondary Students’ Academic and Social Integration.” His qualitative study investigated the impact of academic and social integration on the college persistence and degree attainment of students of color.
“Results indicated that, regardless of whether a student was a part of the ethnic majority or minority, academic and social integration scores were higher for those students in the sample who persisted in school long enough to attain a degree,” Zargar said.