In a book chapter titled “Student Perspectives on HBCU Graduate Student Advising,” Tryan McMickens, Ed.D., and eight graduate students get their say about what works in the world of online advising.
The chapter is part of a new online book, “Celebrating Students and their Experiences at HBCU’s,” which was published by the University of South Carolina National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience® and Students in Transition. The chapter evolved from three different presentations that McMickens made and culminated with a presentation at the 2026 American Educational Research Association meeting in Los Angeles.
Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) account for the education of a disproportionately large percentage of Black students. According to an article by the Pew Research Center, “HBCUs accounted for 16% of the bachelor’s degrees that Black college students earned in the 2021-22 school year” although they make up fewer than 3% of colleges in the United States.
McMickens says that is due to a nurturing environment for students and a low student-to-faculty ratio.
The chapter suggests that successful online graduate programs emphasize:
- Opportunities to connect with classmates emotionally and socially.
- Students can understand concepts, explore ideas and integrate theory to practice.
- Instructional design that enhances both the social and cognitive presence.
Faculty advisors at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) in the higher education administration master’s program that McMickens coordinates support online graduate students in several ways. Those include discussing what it will look like when students complete their master’s degrees, placing students with scholarly practitioners who “have vast experience in the field of higher education,” a speaker series McMickens started in 2021 that invites college presidents, provosts, deans and scholars, and providing opportunities for graduate students to co-present and co-publish.
The chapter quotes from eight students (pseudonyms are used) who discuss the advantages of attending an online program at NCCU, a historically Black university.
“Madison,” for example, writes about having two Black professors at her primarily white undergraduate institution. In contrast, “There is a distinct comfort in seeing examples of Black people in higher education, thriving and joyful and bringing their full selves to the work that they do . . . it is the first time in my life I am able to be an excellent student without it being racialized. I can just focus on excelling.”
The authors – who include Ontario Wooden, Ph.D., NCCU provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs and professor of higher education – note that students at HBCU’s have a one in two chance of being taught by Black faculty.
The chapter uses autoethnography as a method, where the authors use their own personal experiences (auto) to understand and describe their broader advising and mentoring phenomenon (ethno).
“Our (chapter) was centered on issues of voice and looking at the way students have knowledge, experience and a voice to tell their own stories,” said McMickens.
Other contributors to the chapter are Brianna Elise Martin, Nyasia Lloyd, Jada Hunter, Resharia Keller, Christopher Walls, Zaida Walker, Eric Martin and Celicia Coleman.
The book may be downloaded here.