Date of Award

2026

Abstract

Student Affairs Professionals of Color (SAPOCs) at predominantly white institutions (PWIs) navigate complex institutional environments shaped by racialized expectations, leadership structures, and systemic inequities. While existing research documents high turnover and burnout within student affairs, less is known about how mid-level to senior SAPOCs make meaning of their decisions to stay in or leave leadership roles over time. This qualitative study examines how institutional, interpersonal, and systemic dynamics shape professional sustainability and exit among SAPOCs in the Northeastern United States.Grounded in Critical Race Theory and Black Feminist Thought and informed by narrative inquiry methodology, this study draws on in-depth interviews with 17 mid-level and senior SAPOCs who currently work at or have departed from PWIs in the Northeast. Resume analysis and thematic coding using NVivo supported cross-case and within-case analysis. Five central findings emerged. First, decisions to stay or leave were not singular career events but evolving processes of meaning-making. Second, institutional structures and leadership practices—rather than isolated incidents—consistently shaped professional sustainability. Third, advancement into leadership often increased responsibility and visibility without corresponding authority or institutional protection. Fourth, participants employed adaptive coping strategies to navigate racialized institutional contexts, with turning points emerging when those strategies became unsustainable. Finally, differences between current and former professionals reflected shifts in interpretation over time rather than fundamentally different institutional conditions. This study contributes to scholarship on leadership, retention, and racialized labor in higher education by centering the narratives of SAPOCs and highlighting the structural conditions that influence professional sustainability. Implications are offered for institutional leadership, policy, and the cultivation of more equitable and sustainable environments for professionals of color.

Document Type

Dissertation

First Advisor

Andrew D Coppens

Second Advisor

Todd Leach

Third Advisor

Kathleen M Neville

Department or Program

Education

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

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