Retention of Students of Color in Honors : Reflections on an Interview Project

Abstract

To address the equity gap between students of colors and their white counterparts in the honors program, we undertook a research project in 2022 and 2023 to strengthen our understanding of experiences of honors students of color at UWEC. A team of student researchers interviewed honors students of color about their experiences. Compared to the use of quantitative measures, these interviews provided a more nuanced and context-rich account of how students of color understand their identity as honors students. One of our primary findings was that many students of color felt obligated to speak up in order for their classmates to gain a deeper understanding of or another perspective on the topic being taught. Our data also suggests that the number of faculty of color teaching in honors is one significant factor in students experience since it creates a sense of shared identity between the student and the professor and can alleviate this pressure on students. At the same time, we also found some positive responses, in particular the idea that these students of color felt proud of being an honors student due to the prestige the name holds.