A Descriptive Phenomenological Study Of College Student Belonging Experiences With Peers In The First Semester, John Knapp

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated how first-year college students described belonging experiences with college peers in the first semester, specifically conceptualizing these relationships as bidirectional, where college students both receive and provide support to one another in a mutual way. A descriptive phenomenological research design was employed to identify invariant structures of this phenomenon utilizing data collected from semi-structured interviews with 10 first-time, full-time undergraduate college students in their first semester enrolled at a private, religiously affiliated, four-year university in the midwestern United States. This study found that the invariant structures of belonging in college peer relationships in the first semester were …

Lgbtq Community College Students’ Decreased Sense Of Belonging, Joseph Falco, Michael Sparrow Ed.D.

New York Journal of Student Affairs

LGBTQ students experience a lower sense of belonging at community colleges. The correlation between campus and classroom climate and academic success, campus involvement, identity, level of outness, and well-being for LGBTQ students contributes to their decreased sense of belonging. Non-LGBTQ-affirming and non-inclusive community college campuses and classrooms lead to feelings of fear, invisibility, lack of validation, mental health challenges, and poor academic performance for LGBTQ students. An extensive literature review was conducted to determine the root causes around the decreased sense of belonging for LGBTQ students enrolled at community colleges.  Three themes emerged that explained this decreased sense of belonging: …

The Experiences Of Black Men Living On Campus At A Pwi And Belonging, Jeanette Zalba

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This study aimed to examine the experiences of Black men living on campus at predominately White institutions (PWIs) and their sense of belonging. Perception of social support, connectedness, and acceptance with the campus community was used as the operational definition of sense of belonging used for this study. Research suggests that Black men have less belonging than their White counterparts at PWIs and that living on campus can positively influence the development of sense of belonging. However, the literature lacks Black men’s experiences in the residence halls at PWIs and influences on sense of belonging. This qualitative study utilized a …

Using Grounded Theory To Understand How Commuter Students Develop A Sense Of Belonging, Amy M. Barnhart

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This study is concerned with the fact that commuter students persist at a lower rate than their residential peers. As colleges and universities seek to increase educational attainment rates, understanding why commuter students struggle with retention is important. Research shows sense of belonging can positively affect intention to persist. As such, the guiding research question for this study was as follows: How do commuter students develop a sense of belonging in their university? This research was conducted at a large, public, primarily nonresidential, doctoral university in the Midwestern United States. This study utilized constructivist grounded theory methodology to understand how …

Experiencing Workplace Inclusion: Critical Incidents That Create A Sense Of Inclusion For Professional Staff In Higher Education, Katherine Penn Lampley

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

Professional staff make up the majority of employees at colleges and universities in the United States but are rarely the focus of research in higher education. As a result, little is known about how these employees experience the workplace, creating a challenge for educational institutions working to attract, develop, and retain this essential resource. Employees who feel included in the workplace have higher performance levels and are more likely to remain with their organizations, but workplace inclusion is a complex and undertheorized psychological phenomenon. This exploratory study provides insight into the psychological experience of inclusion by examining the experiences, interactions, …

Caring For Our Communities Of Practice In Educational Development, Christopher V. H.-H. Chen, Katherine Kearns, Lynn Eaton, Darren S. Hoffmann, Denise Leonard, Martin Samuels

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Given the backdrop of multiple concurring crises—a global pandemic, political instability and violence, and multiple structural inequalities—we see the problem of now as this: How do educational developers continue to address the wicked problems in teaching and learning when we are simply so exhausted? Our article presents the importance of communities of practice for educational developers, inviting us to witness and name the communities in which we belong; the important functions they engage; who they nurture and how; and what care is undertaken to sustain these groups and ourselves. To help educational developers understand and appreciate the ways that communities …

"I'M Thankful Every Day I Did It": An Exploration Of Belonging For Commuter Students In Historically White Sororities And Fraternities At Primarily Commuter Public Institutions, Michael D. Giacalone

Journal of Sorority and Fraternity Life Research and Practice

Membership in historically White sororities and fraternities (HWSF) has been connected with sense of belonging (Cohen et al., 2017; McCreary & Schutts, 2015). The experience of commuter students in sororities and fraternities, however, has been largely overlooked, including an understanding of what belonging consists of as members. This phenomenological study sought to close that gap by exploring how commuter students in HWSF experienced belonging at primarily commuter public institutions through interviews with alumni who lived that experience. Three themes emerged from the data: personal connections, feeling welcomed and accepted, and transformation of the college experience.

Sense Of Belonging Of New Members Who Are First-Generation College Students: A Single-Institution Qualitative Case Study, Levi J. Harrel-Hallmark, Jason Castles, Pietro A. Sasso

Journal of Sorority and Fraternity Life Research and Practice

While there is research to suggest that first-generation college students benefit from and have a greater sense of belonging as a result of involvement in student organizations, there is limited research on how first-generation college students develop a sense of belonging specifically through their involvement as new members of a fraternity or sorority. This study, constructed within a single-institution qualitative case study framework, highlighted the unique role that organizational involvement, mentorship, emotional support, and first-generation status and identity can play in the development of sense of belonging for fraternity and sorority new members that are first-generation college students.

Vocation, Belonging, Courage: Gender Equity In Narratives Of Non-Exempt Women Administrative Assistants In Academic Units At The University Of Dayton, Julio A. Quintero, Heather Ashley

Reports from the Gender Equity Research Fellowship

Gender roles normalize thinking patterns, behaviors, actions, and attitudes. The workplace is not immune to their influence. Gender roles make certain labor invisible, either because it does not typically fit with the expectations of a determined gender group, or because it is deemed normal and therefore expected.

This report condenses the narratives of 11 non-exempt women administrative assistants at the University of Dayton in reference to how vocation, belonging, and courage are affected by gender. Based on the responses, the report proposes several approaches to equity, which is defined as the modifying of structures and practices that have intentionally or …

Perceptions Of Faculty-Student Informal Mentoring Relationships, Robert Meier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Perceptions of Faculty-Student Informal Mentoring Relationship

This qualitative study examined the informal mentoring relationships between faculty and students at two small, faith-based, liberal arts campuses. Perceptions of both faculty and students’ views of informal mentoring were studied. The research questions further explored the factors that encouraged or discouraged faculty-student informal mentoring as well as the role of on-campus faculty housing. Student participants were selected after completing an online survey regarding their perception of connection with professors at the campus location. Faculty participants were selected after completing an online survey regarding their perception of how much time they spent with students …

Rural Students’ Sense Of Belonging At A Large Public University, Benjamin P. Heinisch

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This qualitative case study explored how undergraduate students from rural areas experience higher education environments and develop a sense of belonging at a large Midwestern public university. This study defined rural considering students’ hometown population size and density as well as each individual participant’s constructed reality of a rural identity (Crockett, Shanahan, & Jackson-Newsom, 2000). The following questions guided this study: (1) How does students’ identification with their rural background influence how they experience their college environment? (2) What do rural students see as key environmental factors affecting their sense of belonging? (3) Is the institution providing supportive environments for …

Exploring African American Students’ Perceptions Of Belonging At An Urban Community College In The Western United States, Sylinda Nicole Gordon Musaindapo

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

African American students’ perceptions of belonging impact their experiences on community college campuses and in their local communities. This research study explores the impact of gentrification on a group of resilient African American college students in an urban community college located in the western region of the United States. Participants used negative experiences with onlyness and otherness as opportunities to build community for other African Americans.

Sense Of Belonging In Greek Lettered Organizations, Is It Different For First-Generation Students?, Samantha A. Martens

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Involvement on a college campus can lead to students’ persistence through graduation (Tinto, 1993). Student attrition can be in an issue at institutions and Tinto (2012) states, “For four-year colleges and universities, whether public or private, 38% of those who leave will do so in their first year, and 29% in their second year” (p. 3). All students come to college with different backgrounds, experiences, and identities that impact their intentions on departing from their institutions (Tinto, 1975). One of these characteristics is first-generation student status. This quantitative study explored the experiences of first-generation and non-first-generation students by analyzing their …

Adjunct Faculty Organizational Sense Of Belonging And Affective Organizational Commitment, Constance L. Merriman

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

In recent years all public higher education institutions have increased their reliance on adjunct faculty. Adjuncts provide expertise in key areas, are available at times that meet the needs of the changing student demographic, and cover an increasing number of introductory courses. It has been suggested that adjunct faculty may be more weakly linked to their students, colleagues, and institution. This may, in turn, be detrimental to the organizational health of the institution. Prior research has indicated that adjunct faculty have different motivations and expectations from teaching that impact the connections they form in the higher education workplace. This study …