Digital Commons Network^™

The Lived Experience Of Counseling Students In Natural Disaster, Amy M. Sirocky-Meck

Dissertations, 2020-current

After natural disaster, survivors may experience moderate to severe signs and symptoms of emotional distress which may subside or worsen as time passes (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2022). Adults pursuing higher education when natural disaster strikes experience an additional array of unique issues which may exacerbate symptoms of emotional distress (Wilkinson et al.,2013). To create and improve curricular and co-curricular structures that meet the needs of their students, educators in many health and mental health disciplines can draw from a variety of quantitative and qualitative studies, particularly those focused on how their disciplines’ students navigate the experience …

Higher Education Vulnerability: An Assessment Model, Daniel A. Finseth

Dissertations, 2020-current

In the face of declining enrollments and increasing accountability and expectations, private colleges and universities will be facing greater internal and external pressures to deliver higher quality education at a lower cost. In this environment, multiple stakeholders are focused on institutional sustainability. To address these concerns, it is important to understand whether there are leading indicators that may aid in the anticipation of institutional decline. While there is a body of work addressing institutional metrics that serve as predictors of higher education financial viability, there has been little emphasis on complex organizational dynamics. This integrated mixed methods study employed grounded …

Leading A Community Promise: A Mixed Method Study Exploring The Dynamics Of Adaptive Leadership And Student Success, Elizabeth M. Narehood

Dissertations, 2020-current

The purpose of this study is to gain greater understanding of the dynamics between adaptive leadership strategy and the success of community college students. A strategic alliance formed between a community college and a college promise non-profit organization provides the complex environment to explore these phenomena. The establishment of a “Future Center” on the community college campus serves as the adaptive focal point of the study. The study’s theoretical framework is based upon the interaction of two perspectives: the ecological model of student development (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) and adaptive leadership theory (Heifetz & Laurie, 1997). Study design utilized a three-phased exploratory …

Systems Leadership On Seamless And Transparent National-Level Transfer Credit System: A Mixed Methods Study, Sevinj Iskandarova

Dissertations, 2020-current

Transfer students often lose credits that they have earned for completing courses at previous institutions and face other complications during lateral transitions between public four-year institutions because the current process of transferring credits is awkward, which raises barriers to affordable, accessible, and accountable national-level transfers. More research is needed to understand how the transfer policy could best be adapted to create an improved, transparent, and seamless transfer process. This mixed methods study’s purpose is to explore how the transfer policies across states are functioning, and determine what states are doing regarding postsecondary transfer policy and which factors influence the decision …

Using Grit Scale Scores To Predict Retention And Persistence, Kristin Sowden

Dissertations, 2020-current

Existing theory and evidence regarding the effects of grit on a range of antecedents suggest that students reporting higher grit levels should be more likely to be retained and to persist when meeting the challenges of earning a college degree. However, like others before it, this study does not indicate support for overall grit scores on student retention and persistence outcomes. Therefore, grit should not be considered as a non-cognitive predictor for the admissions process. These null findings were present for overall grit scale scores and grit subdimension scores (passion, perseverance). One significant interaction was found between Pell recipiency and …

Predicting Attrition Of New Student Affairs Professionals Through Perceptions Of Work-Related Quality Of Life, Synergistic Supervision, And Executive Servant Leadership, Wendy Lushbaugh

Dissertations, 2020-current

Abstract

New professional attrition in Student Affairs has been established as a concern for the field (Bender, 1980; Lorden, 1998; Renn & Hodges, 2007; Marshall, Gardner, Hughes, & Lowery, 2016). The debilitating impacts on university finances, productivity, organizational stability, team disruption, and innovation as a result of this problem creates urgency for the field to understand its predictors. The current study reviewed the impact of new professionals’ work-related quality of life, their perception of the use of synergistic supervision by their direct supervisors, and their perception of the use of executive servant leadership by divisional leaders as potential predictors of …