Author ORCID Identifier

0009-0005-9164-5182

Date of Award

Summer 8-31-2025

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Education/Higher Education PhD

First Advisor

Cheryl D. Ching, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Tara L. Parker, Ph.D.

Third Advisor

Kerrie Wilkins-Yel, Ph.D.

Abstract

When a Black woman persists in a STEM undergraduate academic space as the only Black woman in that space, how is she shaped as a human being? How does she fare? How does the experience influence her decision making as she contemplates graduate school applications? Does the experience guide her decision to stay or leave STEM? In this study, the author used Black Feminist Thought to provide cultural and critical oversight of her engagement with Hermeneutic Phenomenology. Hermeneutic Phenomenology requires this oversight because the methodology’s theoretical foundations are grounded in Heidegger’s Nazism and should be critiqued if and when appropriate to do so. The author engaged with eight Black women who self-identified as the only Black women in STEM undergraduate academic spaces—The Only. The author used qualitative research methodology to make meaning of the stories of each Only and to better understand the experience of being The Only. The stories were documented by first using a journaling exercise, followed by an individual interview with the researcher, and, lastly, participation in a Sista Circle. The study participants were from an array of colleges and universities across the United States. The study findings showed that the well-being of Black women is challenged when a Black woman is The Only. Participants often described feeling the need to “armor up” or to adapt to survive STEM environments. They also described feeling disappointed because they did not expect to be The Only, that they were not in community, and isolated, and they endured great pressure as The Only. Although these experiences influenced them as students and people, the Black women who were The Only in this study persisted to the graduate level in STEM.

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