THE INFLUENCE OF BLACK GREEK MEMBERSHIP ON THE ACADEMIC ENGAGEMENT OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALE STUDENTS
Graduation Semester and Year
2021
Language
English
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies
Department
Educational Leadership and Policy Studies
First Advisor
Catherine Robert
Abstract
The purpose of this qualitative study was to better understand the experiences of Black male students who are members of Black Greek Letter Fraternities (BGLF) while attending a large institution. This study examines the academic practices of the fraternity members, and the effects fraternity membership has on their academic progress. For this study, four Black male undergraduate fraternity members and five graduates shared stories of their undergraduate experiences and how being in a fraternity impacted their academic progress. Semi-structured questions were used during the interviews to explore the student’s academic engagement and they focused on the following research question: 1. How does membership in a BGLF contribute to persistence at a large institution? Findings reveal that there is evidence that Black Greek membership has a positive effect on the academic engagement of its members. Participants indicated that membership in their Greek fraternity, had a positive impact on their academic engagement while in college. This narrative study examined the relationship between membership in a BGLF and the overall academic experiences of African American male college students attending a large institution. The findings from this study can be used to develop programs for students in their first year of college to help foster a sense of belonging that may lead to increased retention, persistence and increased graduation rates for students who may struggle early on. These programs can be designed to fit a number of different demographics.
Keywords
Persistence, African American male academic engagement
Disciplines
Education | Educational Leadership
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Shelby, Cedric D., "THE INFLUENCE OF BLACK GREEK MEMBERSHIP ON THE ACADEMIC ENGAGEMENT OF AFRICAN AMERICAN MALE STUDENTS" (2021). Educational Leadership & Policy Studies Dissertations. 9.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/edleadershippolicy_dissertations/9
Comments
Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington