The U.S. college presidency remains predominantly white and male. However, trend data over the past several decades have documented increased diversity by race, gender, and race and gender (Green, 1988; Melidona et al., 2023). Still, LGBTQ+ college leadership has not been included in instrumentation resulting in a paucity of literature, with only two empirical studies published to date (Bullard, 2015; Leipold, 2014) that include LGBTQ+ as central subjects in the study of the college presidency. Although these studies were significant in centering queerness in the college presidency, they had a limited sample of almost exclusively white participants. Similarly, scholarship on the college presidency centering on race, gender, and the intersections of race and gender, take no formal accounting of LGBTQ+ identities. Driven by the urgent need to raise visibility and expand the discourse on diversity in the college presidency, this qualitative dissertation study explored how Queer Men of Color (N = 4) characterized their ascension to the college presidency using a critical collective case study approach (Yin, 2013). This study employed the theoretical frameworks and analytical tools of intersectionality ((CRC, 1974; Collins & Bilge, 2020; Crenshaw, 1991; hooks, 2000) and queer theories (Hames-Garcia, 2011; Warner, 1991; Watson, 2005), and the data collection process involved in-depth interviews, a demographic survey, and site visits to understand the career ascension to the college presidency for four Queer Men of Color. Despite their unique and varied experiences, this study found participants pursued purpose-driven pathways specific to the community college context, with an unplanned ascension to the college presidency. Participants reported supportive relationships and career-advancing opportunities as key affordances along their career pathways. At the same time, they described their career journeys as challenged by varied experiences of stress connected to their multiple marginalized identities, both as LGBTQ+ and as People of Color. Study findings offer empirical support that leaders with multiple-marginalized identities, specifically Queer People of Color, face nuanced yet similar barriers and affordances in ascending to the college presidency. Implications for policy, practice, and future scholarship from this dissertation contribute to a growing line of inquiry concerned with challenging hegemonic notions of leadership and promoting increased diversity in leadership ascension, inclusive of Queer People of Color, most especially the college presidency, in ways that more closely reflect our diverse student communities.

Higher education provides an avenue for social upward mobility for low-income, first-generation,and historically underrepresented students (Teranishi et al., 2011). In the United States (U.S.), two-year and four-year colleges are part of the postsecondary system. Some high school graduates enroll directly in four-year institutions to pursue a Bachelor’s degree. Alternatively, students can start at a two-year institution, also known as a community college. Community colleges serve numerous educational and community functions. Two-year institutions offer the chance to obtain an associate degree, acquire a technical degree or certificate, or complete basic course requirements to later transfer to a four-year institution. These institutions are sometimes located where students cannot access four-year institutions. In addition, the massification of higher education in the U.S. can be credited to two-year institutions because of their open access policies to higher education (Zamani-Gallaher, 2016). An analysis conducted by the Community Colleges Research Center estimated that 8.9 million students were enrolled in two-year institutions in the 2020 - 2021 academic year, representing 41% of undergraduates in the U.S. (“Community College FAQs”, n.d.). As of 2023, there were 932 public two-year institutions in the U.S.

As a quantitative higher education scholar, examining two-year and four-year institutions isimportant to understand the relationship between higher education pathways, student experiences, and degree attainment. By exploring degree attainment at two-year institutions, the experiences of students attending four-year institutions, and the transition perceptions of transfer students from two-year colleges to four-year institutions, I can depict a more comprehensive view of students’ pathways, experiences, and outcomes in higher education. I began this work by first focusing on the characteristics of two-year institutions associated with degree completion because community colleges provide a point of entry into higher education for historically underrepresented students in higher education. However, this pathway also has drawbacks. For example, in 2010, of students who enrolled in two-year institutions intending to transfer to a four-year institution, only 31.5% successfully transferred by 2016 (Dowd et al., 2020). Next, I delved into students’ college adjustment at four-year institutions. Students’ college adjustment is associated with student outcomes such as re-enrollment, engagement, and degree attainment. Once students enroll in college, their experiences are shaped by the type of university students attend, the institutional racial climate, their sense of academic belonging, student agency, community, faculty, and advisor support (Brown et al., 2024; Means & Pyne, 2017; Ostrove & Long, 2007; Torres & Hernandez, 2009). Lastly, I examine Latinx1 college satisfaction for transfer and non-transfer students. I also explore whether there is an association between college satisfaction and college adjustment for Latinx students and whether there are differences in college satisfaction for first-generation Latinx students compared to their non-first-generation peers. Below, I lay out the research question, data source, and contribution to the literature for each of the three studies in this dissertation.

Study 1In my first paper, I focus on degree attainment at two-year institutions in the U.S. I examined the relationship between associate degree attainment and institutions’ characteristics (location and size). This study used a publicly available dataset, the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), for 805 two-year institutions in the U.S. from 2000 to 2015. This study uses multilevel and longitudinal modeling, and the study findings included that rural small and medium institutions, on average, had higher associate degree attainment than suburban or urban community colleges. When examining the effect of institutional quality, higher education research has traditionally focused on four-year institutions (Alon & Tienda, 2005; Long, 2008; M. J. Mayhew, 2016; Melguizo, 2008). This paper contributes to the current literature by focusing on two-year institutions and controlling for institutional quality indicators such as the faculty-student ratio. A second contribution of this paper is the analysis of 14 years of longitudinal data for all U.S. 2-year institutions. Traditionally, degree attainment research at two-year institutions has focused on smaller time frames (Yang & Venezia, 2020). Third, I use two random intercept models to handle clustered data in the study to correctly estimate p-values and standard errors while controlling for the effect of educational expenditures, faculty-student radio, and financial aid allocation per student to obtain a more accurate association between the institution’s size, location, and degree attainment.

Study 2From students’ first year to graduation, college adjustment changes as they navigate higher education. College adjustment and experiences can be positively or negatively associated with a student’s social and academic progress and retention and graduation rates. This study focused on developing and validating an instrument that measures student college adjustment using item response theory. Building on previous instruments used to measure college adjustment, this instrument expands the literature by incorporating five adjustment domains: academic belonging, student agency, community, faculty, academic advisor support, and equity (Byrd, 2019; Harbin, 1997; Laanan, 2004). Traditionally, research that examines college adjustment has looked at these domains separately (J¨a¨askel¨a et al., 2021; Kuh et al., 2006; Tovar et al., 2009). This study elaborates on a pilot study that I conducted in Fall 2021. Data collection for this study was conducted in Spring 2023 using the Undergraduate Student College Transition and Adjustment (USCTA) survey at an elite public four-year institution member of the Association of American Universities. The survey contained 130 questions, including academic and demographic questions, questions used for study two of the dissertation, and only 65 items were used to calibrate the instrument. I contribute to the literature by examining all academic years and students’ adjustment by transfer status. This instrument expands on Tinto (2012) and Berger’s (1997) work by including an equity domain and focusing on an elite public institution. Previous work has shown differences in student experiences and outcomes by the type of institutions students attend (Byrd, 2019; Scott et al., 2016). This project advances the literature by developing a new instrument to measure college adjustment at elite public institutions. Findings show that the instrument is valid for measuring students’ college adjustment. College adjustment also varies across academic years and by race. When examining college adjustment by race, Asian students had higher levels of college adjustment, followed by their White and Latinx peers.

Study 3The Latinx population in California continues to grow; over one-quarter of all Latinx living in the U.S. live in California (Reddy & Siqueiros, 2021). However, college enrollment and degree attainment rates by Latinx students do not reflect its population demographics (Reddy & Siqueiros, 2021). To comprehend the Latinx college experience, this study centers on Latinx college satisfaction and adjustment. Previous research has highlighted the relationships between college satisfaction and adjustment on students’ re-enrollment, retention, and graduation rates (Duncheon, 2018; J. Llamas et al., 2020; T. Yosso et al., 2010). This study uses the USCTA survey, data collected in Spring 2023 at an elite public institution with 32,831 undergraduate students enrolled in Fall 2022. I first examine if there is a difference in college satisfaction for Latinx students by transfer status. This was followed by studying the association between college adjustment and three components of college satisfaction: academic and community satisfaction, student well-being and resources satisfaction, and ethnoracial diversity satisfaction. Lastly, after aggregating all three components of college satisfaction into one satisfaction score, I examine its association with college adjustment after controlling for students’ characteristics such as transfer status, gender, socioeconomic status, and first-generation status. Results showed that Latinx transfer students do not differ in college satisfaction from their non-transfer Latinx peers. Also, I found a positive association between college adjustment and two components of college satisfaction: academic and community satisfaction, student well-being, and resource satisfaction. Also, after aggregating the three components of college satisfaction, there was a positive association with college adjustment. Lastly, first-generation Latinx students had lower levels of college satisfaction than their non-first-generation Latinx peers. This study contributes to the literature by conceptualizing and operationalizing college satisfaction using a new multidimensional approach incorporating three dimensions of Latinx college satisfaction. In this paper, I use disaggregated data to examine college adjustment and satisfaction for Latinx transfer students compared to their non-transfer Latinx peers at an elite public institution. In summary, these three studies have highlighted key institutional characteristics such as size and location associated with associate degree attainment. Moreover, they have introduced innovative methodologies for measuring students’ college adjustment through a comprehensive approach encompassing five domains and a new method for understanding Latinx college satisfaction within an elite institution. Collectively, these studies contribute to the field of higher education by offering new approaches and methodologies that better capture the diverse array of student experiences, thereby contributing to our understanding of degree attainment, college adjustment, and college satisfaction.