Award Date

5-15-2026

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Teaching and Learning

First Committee Member

Norma Marrun

Second Committee Member

Christine Clark

Third Committee Member

Marla Goins

Fourth Committee Member

Ung-Sang Lee

Number of Pages

199

Abstract

This qualitative study centers the lived experiences of U.S. Central American students at a large community college in the Southwestern United States. Guided by Latinx Critical Race Theory (LatCrit) and Garcia’s (2023) Servingness framework, the study examines how institutional structures—including classrooms, student support services, and co-curricular spaces—shape students’ experiences of belonging, access, and recognition. Grounded in LatCrit, particularly its attention to racist nativism, the study situates students’ experiences within broader racialized and migration-related contexts. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with eight Central American students and recent alumni. Findings reveal patterns of misrecognition, generalized understandings of Latinidad, and navigational challenges within institutional systems. While some students described meaningful support from individual faculty and staff, these experiences were inconsistent and often dependent on personal relationships rather than institutional design. Students frequently carried responsibility for interpreting systems, advocating for themselves, and locating support. Building from these findings, the study introduces Centrolizar as a Central American–specific analytic intervention that centers Central American histories, identities, and lived knowledge within community college structures. The study contributes to scholarship on community colleges by emphasizing institutional responsibility in creating equitable conditions beyond student resilience toward structural accountability.

Keywords

Central American Students; community college; educational equity; Latinx Critical Race Theory (LatCrit); racist nativism

Disciplines

Education | Educational Methods | Higher Education

File Format

PDF

File Size

1851 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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