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A Case Study Of Two Exemplary Black Cultural Centers In Higher Education, Demetrius D. Richmond

Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Despite their long-standing history and contribution to the success of Black students at Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs), many Black Cultural Centers (BCCs) face uncertain futures, and others do not. Some BCCs have closed, some have been transformed in name and mission, and some have persevered and have become "exemplar" centers. These exemplary centers have been expanded and given more responsibility and resources by their institutions, and are clearly not feeling a threat to their identity or future. In a time when so many BCCs at PWIs are under threat, what is it about some centers that allows them to …

Understanding The Development Of Alphabet Knowledge In At-Risk Populations: The Influence Of Pre-Literacy Skills, Ashley Coursin

Theses and Dissertations

In the current research, alphabet knowledge has been confirmed as a critical component of children's developing emergent literacy proficiency. The assessment of pre-literacy skills, such as alphabet knowledge, plays an important role in the management of children at-risk for poor reading outcomes. This study aimed to better understand the influence of phonological awareness skills, print skills, and receptive vocabulary on the development of alphabet knowledge in at-risk preschool-age children. Statistical analyses revealed that a significant unique relationship was present between phonological awareness skills and the development of alphabet knowledge. Furthermore, this study identified three clusters of children based on the …

The R Factor: Centering Race In The Mentoring Of African American College Students, Bridgette Coble

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mentoring provides personal support, academic assistance and career guidance to college students of color whose experiences have been documented to be very different from those of their White counterparts. Achievement inequity, problems of persistence, experiences of racism and student reports of feeling marginalized and misunderstood threaten the ability of students of color to succeed in college. While it may be assumed that race plays a central role in the mentoring relationships of students of color, this assumption may be misguided. The existence of formal mentoring programs and informal mentoring relationships that support students of color does not necessarily ensure that …

School Counselors' Activities In Predominantly African American Urban Schools, Lacretia T. Dye

Dissertations

Urban school reform has begun to penetrate the school counseling profession in both theory and practice. The American School Counseling Association’s National Model (ASCA, 2005), as well as the Transforming School Counseling Initiatives component of the Education Trust (2007) are initiatives within the school profession promoted, in part, as responses to urban school reform. In particular, the ASCA National model is a “call to action” for school counselors to promote student success by closing the existing achievement gap whenever found between students of color, poor students, or underachieving students and their more advantaged peers (ASCA, 2005). However, little information is …

African American Male Student-Athletes: Identity And Academic Performance, Kathryn Mary O'Brien

Dissertations

The purpose of the current research was to examine racial, male and athletic identities and their individual and collective impact on the academic performance of African American male Division I student-athletes (AAMSAs). Data was collected using the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity (MIBI), the Male Role Norms Scale (MRNS), and the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale (AIMS). The MIBI is a measure of racial identity and is comprised of seven subscales: (1) centrality, (2) private regard, (3) public regard, (4) assimilation, (5) humanist, (6) minority, and (7) nationalist. The MRNS takes status, toughness and antifemininity into account to calculate a masculinity …

African American Entrepreneurship: Narratives Of Fresno County, California, African American Entrepreneurs, Felix Shielim-Nwaeke Enunwa

Doctoral Dissertations

The entrepreneurial spirit of African American has been misunderstood. This dissertation used the voices of 15 African American entrepreneurs in Fresno County to reconstruct the historical development and performance of African American entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship developed from the necessity to survive; it was the outcome of deprivation, exclusion, and legal and political alienation. For African Americans, historical development and experience in entrepreneurship has been turbulent; understanding of African American entrepreneurship has been distorted with flawed theoretical constructs based on false premises of a lack of a tradition of business establishment and inadequate support for capitalism in African American communities.

Despite many …