People Like Me: Experiences of BIWOC and LGBTQ+ People of Color in a Physics LA Program

The physics department at Texas State University has implemented a Learning Assistant (LA) program structure informed by the theory of communities of practice. Since its beginning in 2011, the department has seen a significant increase in overall student retention, as well as an increase in the racial and gender diversity of majors. In addition, students who identify with marginalized groups have described the department to be more supportive and inclusive than other STEM communities. In our research we invite multiply-marginalized physics students to participate in semi-structured interviews about their unique experiences. We’ve found that those who participated in the TXST LA Program all reported that they were able to find other physics majors who shared many, or all, of their individual social identities. The analysis examines the narratives the interviewees share about their time as LAs how the communities of practice centered structured allowed them to find other ‘people like me’.