Dra. Elaine Jessica Castillo Tamargo

PhD in Higher Education & Organizational Change

Dr. Elaine Jessica Castillo Tamargo is a full-time Lecturer at the Department of Education Leadership at California State University, Long Beach, where she teaches graduate courses in student development, equity issues in higher education, and intergroup dialogue. She earned her Ph.D. in Education with a focus on Higher Education and Organizational Change from the University of California, Los Angeles. In 2023, Elaine was a Top 10 Finalist in UCLA’s Grad Slam, a competition to share one’s research in a 3-minute speech. Dr. Tamargo’s mixed-methods dissertation explores the different ways the vestiges of colonialism affect career decision-making for Filipina/x/o American college students, and her goal is to help reconceptualize university career and counseling services to better serve students from immigrant backgrounds.

Before earning her doctorate, Dr. Tamargo worked as a career counselor and a K-12 educator. Besides presenting on research, Elaine is an advocate for raising awareness of students with caregiving responsibilities, becoming a part-time caregiver herself during graduate school. Outside of work, Elaine enjoys spending time with her family, tending to her plants, and going on travel adventures.

Dissertation

Choose Your Own Adventure? Exploring the Influences of Colonialism on Filipina/x/o Americans’ Career Choices

It is well known that Filipina/x/o nurses from the Philippines immigrated to the U.S. and many other countries during various worldwide nursing shortages. In this study, I explore whether the contemporary conditions due to colonialism have any impact on the children of these immigrants, second-generation Filipina/x/o Americans who are in the process of making their career choices. I do this in two ways: first, I analyzed a dataset made up of 12,991 incoming first-year college students who identified as Filipina/x/o, looking for commonalities and differences when grouping students by their intended career choice. Then I conducted two individual interviews with 12 Filipina/x/o American students in the process of pursuing a career in nursing. Interview participants shared their families’ immigration narratives, their own education journeys, and their perspectives on what has influenced their career trajectories. Through this study, there were clear associations between the remnants of colonialism (both Spanish and American) and career choice. Besides adding to the scholarship and understanding of Filipina/x/o Americans’ career development, this study seeks to improve career advising to better serve all descendants of immigrants. Finally, this work challenges higher education institutions to actively interrogate their role in perpetuating cycles of inequality.

Read the Abstract

In California, Filipina/x/os continue to be overrepresented in the nursing workforce, with the percentage of nurses identifying as Filipino increasing from 13.4% in 1993 to 20.6% in 2018 (Spetz et al., 2018). While a particular ethnic group being overrepresented in a certain industry is not problematic on its own, certain careers come with greater occupational risk. Striking reports during the COVID-19 pandemic found that 21% of nurses who died of COVID-19 were of Filipina/x/o descent, despite comprising only about 4% of nurses nationwide (National Nurses United, 2023). While scholarship has connected the colonial-era initiatives in the Philippines to Filipina/x/o immigrants’ career choices, career development literature has not explored the potential roles of colonial remnants to subsequent generations Filipina/x/o Americans.

This study investigated whether the vestiges of colonialism and colonial mentality could explain this pattern in Filipina/x/o Americans’ career choices (David, 2013). This mixed-methods study first utilized the Higher Education Research Institute’s Freshman Survey to examine demographic, academic, and cognitive/affective characteristics of 12,991 Filipina/x/o incoming first-year students by intended career choice and by gender. Then, 12 Filipina/x/o American current nursing students engaged in two semi-structured interviews prompting them to reflect on their life histories, educational trajectories, and influences on their career choices.

Key findings from the quantitative phase indicated significant associations between intended career choice and several demographic characteristics, including gender, religion, and family income. In comparison to their counterparts pursuing other careers, aspiring nurses anticipated the least likelihood of changing their career choice during college, and these students also regarded their families’ opinions of college more highly than their peers. Findings from the qualitative phase further unpacked these findings, connecting remnants of colonialism to participants’ college and career choices. Participants consistently shared that their families’ motivations to immigrate impacted their college and career choice. While participants’ pre-college career aspirations revolved around healthcare more generally, all of the participants acknowledged early exposure to Filipina/x/o nurses and positive messages highlighting nursing as a suitable and stable career. Together, these findings suggest that certain aspects of colonial mentality influence Filipina/x/o Americans’ career decision making processes. In addition to calling for higher education institutions to more intentionally interrogate their role in perpetuating colonial cycles, recommendations for practice include pre-college advising incorporating foundational career education and for career centers in higher education to develop more family-oriented career programming.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse