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  Creating Inclusive Community: Understanding, Connecting, and Taking Action

  Maritza Yajiria Betancourt, Gabrielle Nicole Bryson, Angelic Edwards-Rojas, Eileen E. Ellis, Kaitlin A. Hall, Carlos Alberto Herrero-Rivera, Paola Nicole Ramos, Camila Isabel Sanchez-Gonzalez

  Creating Inclusive Community involves students, faculty, and staff who enrolled in UDI 380 “Understanding, Respecting, and Connecting: Examining Privilege and Taking Action” and attended a virtual diversity conference. The focus of the conference was to examine the challenging concepts of privilege and oppression and to develop strategies to create a more equitable world. Come hear the students experiences at the conference and discuss the skills and knowledge they gained to enhance the campus climate for inclusivity and diversity at the University of Dayton. Please join us for a lively discussion!

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  The Puzzle of Hope: Cultivating a Sense, Experience, and Reality of Hope

  Emillie Anna Boyd, Josie K. Forsthoff, Abby Danae Hentz, Avery Lyn Lewis, Emma K. Merryman, Kevin O'Gorman, Jillian K. Tore

  As the junior cohort of Chaminade Scholars completes its capstone course, Vocation and the Arts, one of the main goals is to portray the meaning of “Fraternity and Social Friendships” and awaken a sense of interconnectivity for wholeness and holiness in the world. The idea of “hope” has been extremely prevalent in today’s world and conversation. This project aims to show the interrelation of an individual’s interpretation of hope, faith, and social fraternity with others and themselves. Involving personal reflection from members within the UD community as well as from the junior Chaminade Scholars cohort, the puzzle of hope is a visual display of this deep and intentional reflection of how faith can shape art and vice versa. It is ultimately a culmination and celebration of the hope, faith, and community we are cultivating here at UD and beyond.

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  Identity, Persistence and Exit in STEM: Understanding the Student Experience

  Abigail Stover and Sierra Johnson

  Sierra Johnson, Abigail Stover

  The experience of historically underserved and excluded identities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) undergraduate majors lacks research despite an increased effort to diversify the workforce. A lack of women-identifying individuals, people of color, and intersecting identities impacts the sense of belonging and trajectory of individuals in STEM fields. The current case study seeks to understand the experience of historically excluded and historically underserved students who are currently majoring in or who previously majored in STEM fields at a private Midwestern university. An anonymous Qualtrics survey of 371 participants of both current and former STEM students found patterns in desires for additional academic and community based support, mental health challenges, and the impact of one’s identities on their STEM experience. Similarly, 62 focus group participants reaffirmed barriers both in the classroom and outside of the classroom to student success, difficulties caring for one’s well-being, and a tense racial climate. The study addresses policy implications for the University as well as recommendations for supporting both current STEM students and former STEM students. These policy implications and recommendations come from both the students and the researchers, after analyzing the data.