Unveiling Concealable Stigmatized Identities in Class: The Impact of an Instructor Revealing Her LGBTQ+ Identity to Students in a Large-Enrollment Biology Course

Busch, Carly A.; Supriya, K.; Cooper, Katelyn M.; Brownell, Sara E.

doi:10.1187/cbe.21-06-0162

Cited by 18 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 99 publications

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“…Revealing a stigmatized identity to the wrong person, at the wrong time, or in the wrong way may lower their own sense of belonging in the environment (Newheiser et al, 2017; Newheiser & Barreto, 2014). The choice of revealing or concealing a stigmatized identity also creates an additional burden as far as how sharing that information may adversely affect others or whether that information would be considered inappropriate to share in that setting (Busch et al, 2022). However, for visible stigmatized identities such as race/ethnicity, students are subjected to acts of implicit and/or explicit bias before they even tell others about themselves.…”

Section: Theoretical Underpinningsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Isolation, resilience, and faith: Experiences of Black Christian students in biology graduate programs

Google,

Bowen,

Brownell

et al. 2023

J Res Sci Teach

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To increase participation of students of color in science graduate programs, research has focused on illuminating student experiences to inform ways to improve them. In biology, Black students are vastly underrepresented, and while religion has been shown to be a particularly important form of cultural wealth for Black students, Christianity is stigmatized in biology. Very few studies have explored the intersection of race/ethnicity and Christianity for Black students in biology where there is high documented tension between religion and science. Since graduate school is important for socialization and Black students are likely to experience stigmatization of their racial and religious identity, it is important to understand their experiences and how we might be able to improve them. Thus, we interviewed 13 Black Christian students enrolled in biology graduate programs and explored their experiences using the theoretical lens of stigmatized identities. Through thematic content analysis, we revealed that students negotiated experiences of cultural isolation, devaluation of intelligence, and acts of bias like other racially minoritized students in science. However, by examining these experiences at the intersection of race/ethnicity and religion, we shed light on interactions students have had with faculty and peers within the biology community that cultivated perceptions of mistrust, conflict, and stigma. Our study also revealed ways in which students' religious/spiritual capital has positively supported their navigation through biology graduate school. These results contribute to a deeper understanding of why Black Christian graduate students are more likely to leave or not pursue advanced degrees in biology with implications for research and practice that help facilitate their success.

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Section: Theoretical Underpinningsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Isolation, resilience, and faith: Experiences of Black Christian students in biology graduate programs

Google,

Bowen,

Brownell

et al. 2023

J Res Sci Teach

Self Cite

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show abstract

“…Some instructors of college S&E courses aim to be approachable to their students to improve student outcomes in the course [1,14,15]. Sharing personal experiences and information including hobbies, pets, family, and identities or characteristics can help foster positive relationships with undergraduates [16][17][18][19][20]. Although limited, some recent research suggests that sharing concealable stigmatized identities (CSIs) may also help build student-instructor relationships and disproportionately so for students who share these marginalized identities [16].…”

Section: Instructor Concealable Stigmatized Identity Disclosurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, instructors have described that revealing their LGBTQ+ identities to students can benefit students by making LGBTQ+ students feel more comfortable in the classroom and by modeling authenticity [ 33 , 34 ]. Indeed, when an instructor revealed a CSI to undergraduates during class, students largely perceived a positive impact on their course experience, especially the students who shared the CSI [ 16 , 35 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Women drive efforts to highlight concealable stigmatized identities in U.S. academic science and engineering

2023

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Concealable stigmatized identities (CSIs) are hidden identities that carry negative stereotypes and can result in a loss of social status if revealed. Instructors often choose to conceal these CSIs due to anticipated negative student reactions, yet revealing CSIs can have a positive impact on undergraduates. Women are generally more likely to reveal personal aspects about themselves in social situations, but may face greater consequences for revealing a stigmatized identity to students given their already marginalized position in academic science and engineering. Therefore, in this study, we were interested in understanding to what extent there are differences between men and women science and engineering instructors in (i) the representation of CSIs, (ii) their decisions to reveal CSIs to undergraduates in their classes, and (iii) their perceived stigma of CSIs. Based on a national survey of over 2,000 instructors in science and engineering from very high research activity doctoral institutions, we found that women were more likely than men to report having depression, anxiety, or a disability. Of instructors who held CSIs, women had 1.5x higher odds than men of revealing their CSIs to some undergraduates compared to no undergraduates and perceived greater stigma associated with all CSIs. Despite perceiving greater stigma associated with concealable stigmatized identities, women are more likely to reveal their CSIs to college science and engineering students, leading the way to a more diverse and inclusive scientific community by demonstrating themselves as role models for these identities.

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“…In addition to instructional practices that provide inclusive access, explicit DEI-related practices include instructors discussing intentions for inclusivity in class, ensuring sources come from a variety of diverse voices, and disclosing their own experiences with inclusivity and identity ( 9 – 11 ). Use of these practices in the classroom has been shown to improve perseverance in STEM programs and increase commitment to STEM careers for undergraduate STEM students, particularly in Students of Color ( 2 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Student perceptions of inclusive pedagogy in undergraduate STEM classrooms

Valdez,

Kelp

2023

J Microbiol Biol Educ.

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In university STEM classrooms, the incorporation of inclusive practices improves student performance, decreases disparities in the academic success of underrepresented students, and increases student retention and persistence in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) programs. Inclusive pedagogical practices include effective instructional choices like active learning, providing rubrics, and other strategies that have been shown to support students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Additionally, explicitly inclusive practices such as addressing microaggressions and sharing pronouns can promote a sense of belonging for students. While a plethora of literature has shown these impacts and faculty have access to resources and training about inclusive pedagogy, we were interested in whether students are noticing these practices and how student identities impact their observations of instructional practices. We surveyed undergraduates ( n = 74) from diverse STEM disciplines at a large land-grant university regarding their observation of 11 different inclusive pedagogical practices. Overall, students observed inclusive instructional practices more often than they observed explicitly diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)-related practices. For explicitly DEI-related practices, white students observed more practices than Students of Color. This suggests that more work needs to be done to train faculty in explicit DEI-related practices, especially with the goal of supporting Students of Color who have been historically excluded from STEM.

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Unveiling Concealable Stigmatized Identities in Class: The Impact of an Instructor Revealing Her LGBTQ+ Identity to Students in a Large-Enrollment Biology Course

Cited by 18 publications

References 99 publications

Isolation, resilience, and faith: Experiences of Black Christian students in biology graduate programs

Isolation, resilience, and faith: Experiences of Black Christian students in biology graduate programs

Women drive efforts to highlight concealable stigmatized identities in U.S. academic science and engineering

Student perceptions of inclusive pedagogy in undergraduate STEM classrooms

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