Scholarship suggests that science self-efficacy and science identity are associated with improved experiences and outcomes of postsecondary science, technology, engineering, and mathematics students, especially those who are underrepresented within these fields. Yet, Southeast Asian students have largely been excluded from this scholarly discourse. This exclusion has been driven by the reporting of enrollment and degree attainment data that aggregates nearly 48 Asian American & Pacific Islander ethnic groups which has perpetually obscured the unique dispositions and experiences of Southeast Asian students. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the development of science self-efficacy and science identity of Southeast Asian STEM students during their first year of college. Additionally, this study compared Southeast Asian students with their AAPI peers to illuminate and underscore the unique experiences of these students.

This study utilized four years of longitudinal data between 2016-2020 from the Higher Education Research Institute’s CIRP Freshman Survey and Your First College Year Survey, two surveys that were respectively administered at the start and end of students’ first college year. Guided by a conceptual framework that synthesized Lent and colleagues’ social cognitive career theory, Carlone and Johnson’s science identity model, and Yosso’s community cultural wealth, this study first sought to explore differences between Southeast Asian students and their AAPI peers across various pre-college characteristics and experiences. Next, this study examined changes in science self-efficacy and science identity of Southeast Asian students and investigated if and how these changes differed from their AAPI peers. This study concluded with inferential analyses aimed at unpacking predictors that were most salient for science self-efficacy and science identity development of Southeast Asian students.

Results from this study suggest that Southeast Asian students entered college with statistically significant differences in their socioeconomic and generational statuses when compared to their AAPI peers. Furthermore, findings indicated that while Southeast Asian students maintained their confidence in completing science-related tasks during their first year of college, their identity as a scientist decreased significantly. Lastly, various environmental influences and learning experiences emerged as salient predictors of science self-efficacy and science identity development for Southeast Asian students. Overall, these findings suggest that preparing Southeast Asian students to become future STEM professionals and leaders requires the acknowledgment of a distinct sociopolitical history that heavily influences how Southeast Asian students learn and make decisions about college, how their community cultural assets strengthen their adjustment to and experiences in college, and the types of environments that bolster their science self-efficacy and science identity development.

In recent years in the United States, women have been outpacing men on important college outcomes such as grade point average and degree attainment. While women have made strides in the last few decades, there are still important areas of higher education in which women are significantly underrepresented. In student government, women are vastly underrepresented in the top leadership role, the president.

This study examined the experiences of college women who ran for the student government president position. Using a combination of the leadership labyrinth and human ecological systems this study sought to learn more about women’s leadership pathways into running for student government president and the contextual factors that impact that ways in which they navigate their pathways. This study took an in-depth, phenomenological approach in which data was collected through a three-part interview process with seven women who were running for student government president at their respective institutions in spring 2017.

The findings from this study suggest that pre-college and early college experiences are important for women. Specifically, the women in this study gained important leadership insights from competitive sports in high school and experiences with activism early in their college careers. Interestingly, women did not necessarily see high school student government or involvement in college student government as a precursor to running for president. Further, findings revealed that women went through a process of validating their internal sense of self as a leader with others while navigating varying levels of confidence about their perceptions of themselves and external perceptions of them as leaders. Finally, findings also suggest the women were impacted by issues related to gender and politics that surfaced during the 2016 national election and struggled with social media bullying during their campaigns. This study provides important implications for theory, faculty, and student affairs professionals who work with women and/or student government in light of these findings.