Darris Means, associate director of 黑料不打烊 Academy, and Jenni Johnson, assistant director of student life and senior scholar support, co-presented a session titled, “Paving the Way: Supporting College Students who are Undocumented.” The session provided an overview of federal and state policies regarding college admission and financial aid for undocumented students. The session also provided best practices for supporting undocumented college students.

Means and Kimberly Pyne, assistant professor of English, co-presented a paper titled, “The Institutional Barriers and Opportunities for First-year, Underrepresented Students.” The paper was based on a multi-year, multi-institutional qualitative study that explored the academic and social experiences of first-year, underrepresented college students.

Means co-organized and served on a panel titled, “‘Quaring’ Education: Black Gay Men in Higher Education Doctoral Programs.” The panel explored the educational journeys, barriers, and opportunities for six Black men pursuing their doctoral degrees.

Mitchell and Means’ published an article titled, “‘Quadruple Consciousness’: A Literature Review and New Theoretical Consideration for Understanding the Experiences of Black Gay and Bisexual Men at Predominantly White Institutions.” The article was published in the Journal of African American Males in Education.

Darris’ research explores the collegiate experiences of Black gay and bisexual male students in higher education. His dissertation was on the spiritual journeys and spaces of Black gay male college students who attend predominantly White institutions.

In addition, he has two publications on the collegiate experiences of Black gay and bisexual men in higher education, and he has given 10 presentations at state, regional, and national conferences on the topic, including at the Association for the Study of Higher Education and the American College Personnel Association.

The paper explores the intersection of race, gender and sexual orientation in higher education and ends by offering a new theoretical consideration to better understand the collegiate experiences of black gay and bisexual men who attend predominantly white institutions. The article can be found online .

This study explores the collegiate experiences of men who attend historically black universities as they seek to embrace their sexual orientation identity. The article can be found online .

This study explores the first-year experience of one student as she navigates a selective, predominantly white institution. 

The primary purpose of the award is to formally recognize graduates of the Clemson University Student Affairs preparation program for significant contributions to the profession/academia and service to students which reflect honor and distinction on the University and the student affairs preparation program.