Perceptions of Climate and Student-Faculty Interactions amongst African American Persisters in a Business Program at a Predominantly-White Institution

While representation of African American students in freshmen enrollment has improved, degree attainment of African Americans and other minority groups continue to lag behind the White and Asian American populations. Compounding the issue of lower attainment is the issue of degree major. African American students are highly concentrated in lower-paying college majors and are underrepresented in high-paying majors, including business. With the scarcity of research on African American students in a business discipline, there remains the necessity of understanding the academic success and persistence issues they encounter. Gaining a better understanding of African American students' experiences and perceptions is vitally important for institutional agents and scholars.;Using a phenomenological research method, the researcher listened to the stories of ten African American students in the business school at Southeastern University (SEU), while focusing on their experiences and perceptions of the interactions they have with business faculty members. In addition, the researcher aimed to identify how these interactions impact academic success and persistence to graduation amongst this sample population. The themes that emerged included (a) A Racially Charged Climate; (b) Business Faculty Can Be Accessible, But Not Approachable; and (c) As An African American Business Student... Where Do I Belong? The study results indicated that student interactions with faculty were viewed as essential to supporting the African American business students' academic success and persistence.