College of Education Graduate to Receive Dissertation Award at AERA

College of Education alumna Menthia Clark (Ph.D., 2006) was selected as the winner of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), Division G 2007 Distinguished Dissertation Award. She will be honored at the annual meeting of AERA in Chicago on Wednesday, April 11, 2007.

Clark’s dissertation, titled “Say It Loud! I’m Black and I’m Proud! A Study of Successful Black Female Students Educated in an Urban Middle School,” builds on previous research which reported that academically successful Black females must choose between academic success and a positive racial identity. Clark’s study examines factors that create resiliency and success in the lives of Black female students in middle schools. Through an intensive, six month involvement with girls at school, their homes, and their after school activities, Clark discovered that each girl had a positive racial identity, was proud of her academic accomplishments, and had high expectations regarding future careers. Clark is modifying her dissertation for publication as a book and plans to propose it for a film, as has happened with similar dissertations that explore the lives of young Black students.