Enhancing Sense of Belonging: Exploring How Multicultural Centers Communicate and Document Retention Initiatives

The focus of this research study was to dive into the different media and genres multicultural centers used to communicate and document retention initiatives. Because writing doesn’t follow a singular composing and delivery track, predominately white institutions (PWIs) need to be exposed to the increasing range of composing software required to effectively build retention content and media channels used to disseminate content (Blythe, Lauer, & Curran, 2014). The different media and genre choices are all forms of professional communication where certain choices may appear more frequently used than others. By taking a mixed-methods approach to this descriptive study, my goal was to find common themes and patterns of (un)conventional forms of professional communication by describing media and genres multicultural centers use to communicate their retention efforts to stakeholders. Moreover, this research study describes why these centers are using certain media and genres to create a best practice list for PWI administrators who are looking to establish or enhance their multicultural centers as a key retention initiative for marginalized graduate students. By identifying those choices, this research study will contribute to the field by describing the best practices these centers value.