Dr. Tonisha Lane of the University of South Florida will present the address “Black Students in Higher Education: Disparities, Challenges and Triumphs” on Tuesday, Feb. 20, at 6 p.m. at Hope College in the Schaap Auditorium of the Jim and Martie Bultman Student Center in conjunction with national Black History Month.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
The presentation will highlight statistics and research and scholarship related to the state of black students in higher education. Topics will include the participation and achievement of black college students, and contemporary issues such as implicit bias, campus climate, racial microaggressions, stereotype threat and sense of belonging.
Lane is an assistant professor of higher education and student affairs in the department of Leadership, Counseling, Adult, Career and Higher Education at the University of South Florida. She received her PhD in higher, adult and lifelong education with a graduate certificate in urban education from Michigan State University.
Lane’s research agenda broadly examines diversity, equity and inclusion in postsecondary education with the objective of advancing inclusive and transformative policies and practices. Her primary research strand investigates the experiences and outcomes of underrepresented groups in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Using qualitative methodologies, she has explored access and success for underserved students of color in STEM and STEM intervention programs. The line of research also seeks to understand the nuances and complexities of participation and persistence in STEM fields and develop new models for explaining such phenomena. Her secondary research strand focuses on the participation and achievement of Black students and professionals in higher education. She is the principal investigator or co-principal investigator on several grant-funded research projects including the national Black Doctoral Women Study (BDWS), the Women in Engineering Study (WIES), and Bulls-Engineering Youth Experience for Promoting Relationships, Identity Development and Empowerment (Bulls-EYE PRIDE).
Lane has presented her research at major conferences including American Educational Research Association (AERA), Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE), ACPA-College Student Educators International (ACPA) and the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE). Due to her research program, involvement in professional associations and civic engagement, she has also received several honors. Her recent awards include being named a 2018 ACPA Emerging Scholar designee, a 2017 ACPA Advocate award, and being named a 2017 McKnight Junior Faculty Fellow, 2015 Asa G. Hilliard III and Barbara A. Sizemore Fellow (AERA), 2014 King-Chavez-Parks Future Faculty Fellow (MSU) and a National Center for Institutional Diversity (NCID) Emerging Diversity Scholar.
Prior to becoming a faculty member, Lane served in a number of administrative roles and settings including residence life, multicultural engineering programs, TRIO programs, MSU’s Neighborhood Student Success Collaborative, Wayne County Community College District’s Educational Affairs and Distance Learning, and the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Postsecondary Education.
The event’s sponsors include the college’s Center for Diversity and Inclusion, Black Student Union, Women in Science and Engineering organization, and the GROW collaboration.
The Jim and Martie Bultman Student Center is located at 115 E. 12th St., at the center of the Hope campus between College and Columbia avenues along the former 12th Street. Schaap Auditorium is on the building’s lower level near the southwest corner.