Research & scholarship
“I write to liberate, educate, celebrate, and enhance the experiences of others”
Dr. Ford’s research explores the historical and social-cultural experiences of people of color. Using cultural responsive frameworks to improve the lived realities and experiences of communities of color, selected research of Dr. Ford can be seen below.
Dr. Ford’s most recent scholarship has centered the following topics:
· Faculty experiences
· Graduate student socialization
· Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU)
· Issues of race in higher education
· Black students experiences in education
Selected Scholarly Contributions
Returning home: Reflections on cultural capital cultivated for Black men faculty through multicultural affairs work.
This qualitative study examines the cultural capital that two Black men faculty members cultivated during their time as multicultural affairs professionals (MAPs) in higher edu…
My brother’s keeper: two Black men navigating the tenure-track experience
This study explores the tenure-track experiences of two junior faculty Black men in higher education, while growing still remains vastly unexplored in higher education. Using an autoethnography approach with a critical race theory lens..
Battling Campus Racial Climate Strife: Student Affairs Professionals Experiences with Politics
The authors investigated 12 student affairs professionals’ experiences with political climate across five predominantly white institutions using a multiple case study constant comparative approach. This article describes how recur…
“Not Every Advisor Is for Me, but
Some Are”: Black Men’s Academic Advising Experiences during
COVID-19
Contemporary research indicates that Black American men encounter multiple obstacles in higher education settings. Understanding the complexities of how Black men…
Building the Bridge: Practical Considerations for Student Affairs Practitioners and Faculty to Support Black Students in First Year Seminars
Black students are enrolling in college at higher rates than they have ever done in the past. This scholarship provides a new way of thinking and conceptualizing first year…
Race Based Admissions and Affirmative Action: Revisiting Historical Implications on Black Students in Higher Education
The legacy of discrimination and oppression against Black Americans has influenced the development and implementation of policies rooted in a desire to…
Challenges and opportunities: Reinventing faculty advising in the era of COVID-19
This scholarship explores the lived experiences of three faculty advisors working at different institutions of higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic…
Reimagining and Reframing: Using Appreciative Education Techniques During COVID-19
Design is used to define an action plan to achieve the dream. In my classroom, this became how we would challenge preconceived notions on college students. As…
Showing up and Navigating the Academy’s Trenches as a Black Man
Research shows that Black faculty face many hurdles in higher education highlighting issues such as racism…
Basic needs insecurity among
doctoral students: What it
looks like and how to address it
SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS AFTER the publication of Abraham Maslow’s seminal theory on the importance of basic needs (Maslow, 1943), we now know food, housing, and security…
“They don’t value my knowledge”: Interrogating the racialized experiences of Black first-generation doctoral students in HESA programs…
Research on first-generation doctoral students and Black doctoral students have largely remained separate despite the significant overlap in the two populations. With almost…
Say Her Name: The Socialization
of Black Women in Graduate
School
The purpose of this qualitative study was to develop a deeper understanding of how Black women experience graduate education. Drawing on concepts from…
Yes, Teaching and Pedagogical Practices Matter: Graduate Students’ of Color Stories in Hybrid HESA Graduate Programs
Faculty members must employ pedagogical practices that foster humanizing learning environments for graduate Students of Color who have been marginalized and…
In the trenches: just trying to
make it as black men in early
career faculty roles
At all levels of education, deficit models and negative narratives about Black men prevail. For many Black men, negative messages, associated feelings of isolation, and…
Detoxing the trauma of academic writing for Black scholars: Vulnerability, authenticity, and
healing
This article first contextualizes the authors’ perspectives and purpose to aid the reader in situating the narratives of three Black scholars. Their stories are woven together to help…
Expect the best; Not the worst: The impact of parental expectation on black males’ math scores
Due to the racial and gender disparities within K-12 education for Black males, this study examines parental expectations as a moderator in the association between…
School climate as a link between high school Black males’ math identity and outcomes
The association between students’ academic identity and their academic outcomes has been well-established. The importance of a positive school climate has also been…
Thriving in the academy: Culturally responsive mentoring for Black women’s early career success
Current literature highlights challenges that Black women in academia face. The evidence typically suggests lack of a critical mass of Black women in institutions are to blame for…
I am Because We Are: The Peer Mentorship Experiences of Black First Year Masters Students in HESA Programs
Despite the fact that more Black students than ever pursue graduate education, the experiences of Black graduate students in higher education and student affairs programs…
Building First-Generation Student Satisfaction for Students of
Color: The Role of Academic
Advising
Research shows positive student perceptions on advising are associated with communication methods and advising styles. Despite the benefits of advising, first-generation…
“We don’t feel like we belong”: Graduate Students’ of Color Racialized Experiences in Hybrid HESA Graduate Programs
Using Critical Race Theory and sense of belonging, we examined the racialized experiences of 17 graduate Students of Color in hybrid higher education and student…