Education Commons^™

Familiar Faces And Comfortable Spaces: The Role Of The College Union In Fostering Sense Of Belonging On A College Campus, Adriane Reilly

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

The physical environment of the college union building has the potential to influence a student’s sense of belonging. Using a conceptual framework that included campus ecology framework (Strange & Banning, 2001) and sense of belonging theory (Strayhorn, 2019), this study explored undergraduate student experiences of belongingness in the college union. Particularly, this study focused on a college union located on the campus of a public, regional university in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Further, this study aimed to explore the variety of ways that the union’s physical space does (or does not) influence sense of belonging for a …

The Search For Something Better: Narrative Inquiry Into Why Women In Non-Faculty Roles Left Higher Education During Covid-19 Pandemic, Amanda Corsi

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

Stressors brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic for women working in non-faculty roles in higher education still need to be understood. While there is extensive research on voluntary turnover, the influence of the pandemic on how and why women choose to leave the field is still lacking. Most research on higher education professionals fails to include the perspective of women in non-faculty positions. This study conducted a qualitative narrative inquiry to understand the experiences of women in non-faculty roles who worked in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic and how that influenced their reasons for turnover decision-making. The results found …

Animating Faith Development: The Experience Of Student Affairs Professionals At U.S. Catholic Colleges & Universities, Sarah Williamson

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

Faith is a form of social identity encompassing an individual’s religious and spiritual beliefs that aid them in making meaning in their lives (Fowler, 1981; Patton et al., 2016). While many secular institutions have reduced or removed learning about faith, Catholic higher education is an environment that integrates faith development into its work with students (Clark, 2001; Astin & Oseguera, 2004; Estanek, 2008). However, limited research exists on faith development in practice by early to mid-career student affairs professionals within Catholic higher education (James & Estanek, 2012). This qualitative study explored student affairs professionals' personal faith development experiences and their …

Career Longevity In Student Affairs: Implications For New Professionals From A Qualitative Study, Diane R. D'Arcangelo

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

Over the past several decades, the retention of new professionals in student affairs has been a concern. Many newcomers leave the profession before completing five years in the field. This qualitative study explored factors contributing to career longevity in student affairs professionals through semi-structured interviews. I interviewed eight participants working at Mid-Atlantic University for more than five years. The semi-structured interviews were set up with a dual focus. The first half of the interview focused on the participants' experience as new professionals, followed by questions that explored their perspectives on supervising new professionals. Seasoned professionals who remained in the field …

More Than Just A Seat At The Table: Shared Governance For Graduate Student Mentorship, Katherine Canazzi

West Chester University Master’s Theses

Since its inception, public education in the United States has billed itself to the masses as an “equalizer” that “prepares the citizenry.” Although there are varying institutional types in higher education, Americans believe the myth that higher education is an extension of the same K-12 educational values. Despite higher education teaching the components of civic engagement separately, the skills are seldom combined for students to practice. Students do not learn how to transfer or combine these skills into their “real lives” outside of higher education. Since graduate students are electing to further their education, higher education has an increased responsibility …

More Than Colleagues: Understanding International Higher Education Partnerships During Crisis, Christina M. Kinney

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

Higher education is now globally connected. While a positive development, such connections make international partnerships susceptible to global and regional crises. This study focused on a consortium partnership called the Cooperation on Higher Education and Professional Development (CHEPD) program. This study examined how international colleagues in China and the United States co-manage partnership challenges using a network approach to social capital theory. Such an approach helps to understand how administrators navigate relational resources by describing the consortium’s network composition. This study used a mixed-methods approach with a social network analysis to supplement the qualitative relational data. The literature shows that …

The Perception Of International Students Toward Programs And Support Services Offered By Higher Education Institutions In The Mid-Atlantic Region Of The United States, Charity Alinda

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

Historically, the United States has been one of the most popular destinations for international students. However, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the mobility of international students. As the effects of the pandemic recede, an increasing number of international students will seek to travel from their home countries to acquire an international education. The United States remains one of the premier destinations for international students. With travel restrictions easing, more American universities have increased efforts to recruit and enroll international students. One of the fundamental responsibilities for colleges and universities toward admitted international students is to keep the promises of providing international …

Skilled Trade Education In America, Brent Tracy

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

This project explores the idea of whether incorporating skilled trade education into colleges and universities would lead to more people pursuing the skilled trades as a career. The research question is: Would incorporating skilled-trade education into colleges and universities in America lead to more people pursuing careers in the skilled trades?” The hypothesis is that incorporating skilled trade education into colleges and universities will lead to more American students pursuing skilled trade education and careers in the skilled trades.

The purpose of exploring this is to address the shortage of skilled tradespeople in the United States. In order to determine …

Name, Image, And Likeness Rights As A Means To Student-Athlete Self-Authorship, Wesley Hamilton

West Chester University Master’s Theses

Today, the common discourse surrounding student-athletes’ Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) Rights is evolving from an archaic sense of paternalism and conservative protectionism to various forms of redistribution such as salaries and endorsement rights. Although I have found the NCAA’s protectionist stance on amateurism to be outdated, I do not find the salarying of student-athletes to be tenable for the majority of higher education institutions. The NCAA should roll back their codes (2.9, 2.13, 12.4.4, 15.1, in particular) restricting student-athlete NIL rights in order to maximize these students’ potential for self-authorship. To support student-athletes bfore, during, and after this legislative …

The Higher Education Experiences Of International Students: Rethinking Orientation With A Participatory Action Research (Par) Perspective, Matheeha Majeeth

West Chester University Master’s Theses

The U.S.A. has the world’s largest international student population (Institute of International Education, 2019). While there is some research on the stressors and the impact those stressors have on the educational experiences of international students, there is very little research on the common practices around orientation and its efficiency. The traditional format of new student orientation, an event that happens for a day or two upon the arrival of the new international students, fails to address the needs of those students as well as it could. Rather, orientation should be presented as a gradual, progressive process that both the university …

Mitigating Risks Of Miseducation Within Labor-Focused High-Impact Practices, Andrew Garda

West Chester University Master’s Theses

In this thesis, I address the risks of miseducative experiences resulting from the labor-focused high-impact practices of internships and service learning/community-based learning. As high-impact practices are often considered inherently valuable, there is a need to examine these two practices under a critical action research lens in order to expose the ways in which these practices are not serving students properly. I go on to argue that issues such as unpaid internship programs taking advantage of free student labor and voluntourism existing on travel-based service learning/community-based learning programs negate the potentiality of students to experience the growth in their sense of …

More Than An Income: Learning Through Student Employment, Raina Johnson

West Chester University Master’s Theses

When attending university, many students choose to work, whether off or on campus, in order to earn some money or enough to pay their way. Student employment can help students become more acclimated to campus and aid in building transferable skills that will follow them throughout college and beyond. However, on campus not every job is equal and not all students can clearly say what skills were cultivated during their experience. To bridge the gap between student learning and employment I propose a centralized student employment office which will implement a training and advising program for student employees and their …

New State Of Mind: A Living Learning Community For Out-Of-State Students, Molly Rorick

West Chester University Master’s Theses

The term out-of-state resonates with any person who does not permanently live in a particular state but has visited from across state lines multiple times. In this case it is in relation to students who have decided to pursue their education at an institution that is located in a different state. This thesis examines the lack of resources for OOS students living within the university's walls using the lens of transition theory. With the lack of resources, this creates a barrier between the student and their potential for their success. New State of Mind is a proposed intervention, which opens …

Queering The University: Implementing A Systematic & Organizational Approach To Equity, Brian Moore

West Chester University Master’s Theses

Too often higher education educators take a lackadaisical approach to solutions surrounding negative queer and trans student experiences; however, educators hold an obligation to foster student success, retention, catalyze identity development, and maximize the human potential of queer and trans students. This master’s thesis develops a systematic and organizational approach to achieving an equitable campus for queer and trans student experience through a critical action research proposal. Utilizing my perspective as queer and trans educator and/or student, I will primarily use the philosophical lens of Friere, hooks, Foucault, and queer theory to support my philosophy of education. Theoretical frameworks from …