Digital Commons Network^™

Encouraging Professional Competency Development Of Higher Education Administration Graduate Students Through Supervised Student Affairs Practice, Andrew S. Tinnin

Theses and Dissertations

Professional preparation and socialization of student affairs educators and their competency development is increasingly important in today's higher education environment (ACPA & NASPA, 2015; Janosik, Creamer, Hirt, Winston, Saunders, & Cooper, 2003; Schuh, Jones, & Harper, 2010). This professional preparation often occurs during graduate programs in higher education administration, and features a supervised practice component (CAS, 2012; Janosik, Cooper, Sauders, & Hirt, 2015). The purpose of this grounded theory study is to explore the process of competency development of higher education administration graduate students as part of their professional socialization into the student affairs profession. The intent of the study …

Advancing Evaluation In Community Colleges: A Mixed Methods Case Study Of Outcomes-Based Assessment Training In Student Affairs, Tammy L. Russell

Dissertations

Many student affairs departments struggle to contribute to an institution’s evidence base of student learning. In part, this results from student affairs personnel not having adequate training in how to assess learning outside the classroom. This is a particular challenge for small community colleges, in which individual units (e.g., admissions or financial aid) may have only one or two employees. Failure to assess co-curricular learning poses challenges to institutions in meeting accreditation standards, placing them at risk for increased scrutiny and loss of state funding under a performance-based system. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to use a …

Understanding How Intentionally Unplugging From Cell Phones Shapes Interpersonal Relationships And The Undergraduate College Experience, Jadelin P. Felipe

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of what motivated college students—the Unplugged Students—to intentionally use their cell phones less and how they understood the impact that unplugging had on their interpersonal relationships and college experience. Nine undergraduate college students from four private schools were interviewed in one-on-one semi- structured interviews. These students, considered non-users, provided a particularly useful perspective as these students made a conscious choice to counteract social norms and experienced both being plugged in and unplugged. Cell phones and the act of unplugging proved to make up a complex and more nuanced topic than …

The Lived Experiences Of Conditionally Admitted College Students, Ashley J. Wildman

Dissertations

College students vary in their preparedness for higher education. While low high school grades and standardized test scores are associated with poor college performance, many colleges and universities admit at least a few academically underprepared students in order to maintain a certain student body size, meet goals for ethnic or socioeconomic diversity, or recruit students with certain artistic or athletic skills (Hossler & Kalsbeek, 2009; Mapes, 2011; Parisi 2012; Zwick, 2007). In order to help academically underprepared students such as these, some institutions admit students who do not meet regular admissions standards “conditionally” and offer them specialized programs to provide …

Complexity In A Gender Binary: The Challenge To Universities To Include Transgender Students, Tricia Nicole Collins

Master’s Theses

This research explored how colleges are addressing gender diversity by exploring the lived experiences of Trans college students in relation to institutional supportive resources. A total of four Trans-identifying students at Bucknell University volunteered to participate in semi-formal interviews to share their experiences. The foundation of this study reveals that the pervasive understanding of gender in binary terms narrows the limits of "appropriate" behavior into two mutual exclusive categories of masculinity and femininity. Such a narrow definition of gender causes problems for Transgender (Trans) students who do not easily fit within these categories. Through the interviews, Trans student insights show …

Implementing Talking Circles In A Living Learning Community, Shaniqua Jones

All Capstone Projects

Restorative Justice is a collaborative decision-making process that has been integrated as an alternative approach to historic means of justice systems globally for thousands of years. Restorative justice began to impact higher education in 1998 in order to strengthen student ties to their respective colleges and universities by enriching student voices and experiences in various areas of academic and student life, including living learning communities. Talking Circles are one of many restorative practices used to facilitate effective dialogue among shareholders because it fosters a similarity of integration, motivation, and values. The purpose of this research is to determine if the …

Retaining Staff Members Of Color At A Midwestern Predominantly White Institution, Tiffany L. Steele

Masters Theses

There continues to be a gap between the growing multicultural student body and predominantly White faculty and staff members who work with students. One factor in increasing the likelihood of persistence in college for minoritized students is the presence of a mentor with a similar ethnic background. Nevertheless, as of 2004, the populations of faculty, staff and administrators are still disproportionately dominated by White Americans. This study investigated how a university or college can better retain staff members of color. The participants were current and past staff members of color who worked at one university within the Midwestern United States. …

Not Just A Watered-Down Version Of A Freshman Orientation, Emily Skibski

Honors Projects

I developed and piloted two 40 minute sessions for Bowling Green State University’s (BGSU) Student Orientation, Advising, and Registration (SOAR) Program, a one-day intesenive orientation program. After developing facilitation guides for these sessions, I trained a group of eight Orientation Leaders (OLs) to facilitate sessions for nontraditional and transfer students during SOAR, which occurred on January 8, 2016. Depending on how a student self-identified, the student attended among sessions for nontraditional, transfer, or traditional students. A facilitator’s guide for a session for traditional students was already developed and in use. The facilitation guides created for this honors project were designed …

“I Am Because We Are”: A Portrait Of Trans* Postsecondary Educators’ Experiences In Higher Education, Symone L. Simmons

Dissertations

Within higher education, trans* students have become more visible and advocacy for them important. To support these claims, scholars have conducted research and produced literature on trans* college students’ identity development and experiences on campuses. However, the lived experiences of trans* educators working in colleges and universities are missing from the literature, consequently from the minds of scholars, practitioners, and administrators alike. Trans* educators experiences are important because they contribute to shifts in higher education conversations around supporting and affirming trans* people on campus. Trans* educators are mentors, advisors, and role-models, teachers, and advocates, and perhaps knowing their journey and …

"Is It Even Possible?": Student Affairs And Practitioner Preparation For More Racially Diverse College Campuses, Kristin Lee Deal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years student activism on college campuses has called for new and more equitable racial policies, practices, and pedagogies. Both fueled by and fertile ground for social movements, colleges and universities have mirrored national protests and calls for action toward the democratic imperative of higher education. However, often student affairs administrators have struggled in conceptualizing their roles in engaging students. How were they prepared for this? This research seeks the answer this question - how, if at all, are student affairs practitioners being prepared to work on more racially diverse college campuses?

Grounded in cultural-historical activity theory (Engeström, 2001) …