Author ORCID Identifier
Semester
Spring
Date of Graduation
2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Type
PhD
College
Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design
Department
Not Listed
Committee Chair
Peter V. Schaeffer
Committee Co-Chair
Michael Dougherty
Committee Member
Tiffany Mitchell Patterson
Committee Member
Amena O. Anderson
Abstract
As the spread of COVID-19 escalated into a global pandemic in 2020, simultaneously, the nationwide media in the United States (U.S.) highlighted coverage of the country’s ongoing incidents of longstanding systemic anti-Black racism in America, another pandemic. In the Summer of 2020, a collective of Black students at West Virginia University (WVU) signed and publicly submitted a petition to the university’s leadership with a list of demands to address their needs as they were further exacerbated by the dual pandemic. This study is guided by the question, “What are the lived experiences of Black Students at West Virginia University during the dual pandemic?”. This study utilizes qualitative phenomenological research methods to illuminate and examine the self-told individualized experiences of Black students who attended WVU during the dual pandemic of COVID-19, and systemic anti-Black racism.
This study is significant because it provides the opportunity for Black students to have their experiences documented and to share their advice with the university leadership regarding how the institution can improve its practices and programming in a way that has the potential to lead to increased satisfaction, retention, and recruitment of its Black students. The participants in this study were experiencing a three-fold phenomenon of being a Black student at a predominantly white institution (PWI), located in the Appalachian region (at WVU) and during the dual pandemic.
This study contributes to the very limited and relatively dated existing literature about the experiences of Black college students in the Appalachian region. The findings and implications from this study add a wealth of information behind the expressed needs of Black students who are studying at Appalachian colleges, at PWIs, and under the oppression of anti-Black systemic racism.
Recommended Citation
Owens, Toni, "“Black Students Matter”: A Phenomenological Study of Black Student Experiences at a Predominately White Institution in Appalachia During the Dual Pandemic of COVID-19 and Systemic Anti-Black Racism" (2026). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 13252.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/13252
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