The intersection of agriculture, Latinas/os, and higher education in the land grant system: a mixed methods study
Date
2015
Authors
Archibeque-Engle, Shannon L., author
Aragon, Antonette, advisor
Gloeckner, Gene, advisor
Jennings, Louise, committee member
Pritchett, James, committee member
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Abstract
From government reports and academic journals to popular media there is a call for more educated agriculturalists. Latinas/os have long been instrumental in United States' agriculture and yet similar numbers of Latinas/os are not studying agricultural sciences at land grant universities. The mission of land grant universities is to provide access to education, especially agricultural education. Given the changing demographics of the United States, if land grant universities are to address our nation's need for educated agriculturalists, Latinas/os must be included as part of the solution. This study provides universities, particularly land grant institutions, a portion of the data and analyses necessary to identity how to both recruit and successfully graduate people prepared to lead as professional agriculturalists. This study deconstructs the intersection of agriculture, Latinas/os, and higher education. This transformative convergent parallel mixed methods study examines the learning environment of agricultural higher education from a Critical perspective. This examination is conducted through three distinct studies and is organized in a manner similar to the chronological order an undergraduate student would encounter a College of Agricultural Sciences. That is, what do students first encounter in terms of physical artifacts, what are the lived experiences for students, and finally what are the student success outcomes in the College of Agricultural Sciences. The first segment of this dissertation focuses on what a student first encounters upon entering a College of Agricultural Sciences. Physical artifacts present in educational settings make visible the values of the institution. Such messages signal the institution's desire for a culturally inclusive and supportive environment. Given the land grant mission of inclusive education, the labor heritage of agriculture, and the saliency of stereotype threat in creating an inclusive learning environment, critically assessing the equity climate of departments of animal sciences in land grant universities is overdue. This study utilizes Banning et al.'s 2008 taxonomy based on visual ethnography methodology to interpret the equity climate of three departments of animal sciences at land grant institutions to answer the critical question: who is welcome? The systematic coding and thematic analysis reveal exclusive learning environments clearly communicated by the physical artifacts present. The second portion of this dissertation addresses the lived experiences of students. While there has been a focus on recruiting Latinas/os and others to study agricultural sciences, there has not been an examination of the lived experience of Latinas/os currently studying agricultural sciences in college. The purpose of this narrative study was to describe the lived experience of six Latina undergraduate students studying in a College of Agricultural Sciences at a Predominantly White Land Grant Institution. The thematic analysis of the transcribed interviews yielded three distinct themes, namely, Overt Exclusion, Nepantlera, and Intersectionality through the saliency of agricultural identity. Recommendations for inclusive agricultural education environments were voiced by the participants, providing us a path forward to fully include and support Latina students in the agricultural academy. The third segment of this dissertation study focused on undergraduate student success. Given the financial constraints of most institutions, it is important that we are strategic in our programming to support an ever more diverse undergraduate population. This study offers a rigorous and systematic approach to quantitatively assess programmatic needs in three segments: an analysis of the demographic representation of the state, an analysis of historic opportunity gaps (1990 through 2014), and an analysis of recent undergraduate student success utilizing predictive logistic regression models. Using Colorado State University (CSU) as a case study for this systematic assessment, CSU was found to not represent the state it serves, Colorado. Further, statistically significant opportunity gaps were found for gender, Pell eligibility, first generation status, residency, and minority students. Finally, the first year retention, four year graduation rate, and six year graduation rate predictive models provided evidence for program investment to support first generation, minority, and resident students. Of note, non-minority students were found to be 1.78 times more likely to graduate in four years than were minority students. Minority students were 53 percent less likely to graduate then majority students in six years. First generation students were less likely than non-first generation students to graduate in six years and non-residents were more likely to graduate than residents of the state within the six year time frame.
Description
Rights Access
Subject
agriculture
Chicana feminism
critical theory
land grant
Latino
mixed methods