Education Commons^™

Understanding The Influence Of Strengths On The College Experience: A Qualitative Case Study Of Undergraduate Business Students, Jennifer A. Mostek

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

The purpose of this qualitative, interview-based study was to identify the way that students and advisors utilized knowledge about students’ strengths in college. Strengths were defined by StrengthsQuest, a product of The Gallup Organization. Five college students and three academic advisors from the business college at a large, public research university, representing various cultural backgrounds, family statuses and ages participated in the study. Student and advisor participants explored the influence of strengths on self awareness, confidence, relationships, academic matters, as well as future plans. Advisor participants also discussed the need for additional courses or integration of strengths-based education in existing …

A Study To Determine The Influence Of Student Status And Gender On The Learning Styles Of Freshmen Students, Ali J. Morris

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

The purpose of this study was to compare the learning styles, as defined by David A. Kolb, of traditional freshmen students and non-traditional freshmen students to determine if there is a significant difference between them. The researcher also collected data to determine if there is a correlation between learning styles for gender and traditional/non-traditional student status.

Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory (LSI) was used as the survey instrument and was administered to all students in the sample. The stratified random sample population consisted of 550 students selected from the freshmen class and provided to the researcher by the Office of Institutional …

Can Student Reflection Predict Academic Success And Clinical Performance In A Physical Therapist Education Program?, Jeanne L. Cook

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

The purpose of this retrospective study was to determine if a predictive relationship existed between student reflection and student academic and clinical success as determined by student performance on the National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE) and the Clinical Performance Instrument (CPI). Secondary questions included whether higher and lower reflection scores would correspond with higher and lower NPTE and CPI scores respectively, and whether students’ reflection scores would increase between the first and fourth clinical internships. Journal entries were submitted by students from a physical therapist education program at a large North Central Region university over the course of two clinical …

Presidential Leadership During Strategic Transition: A Case Study Of Two Christian Institutions Of Higher Education, Douglas N. Searcy

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

This qualitative research addressed presidential leadership during the strategic transition of the respective Boards of Trustees at Gardner-Webb and Wingate Universities (private, Christian institutions in North Carolina). In addition to interviewing each institutional President, personal 60-minute interviews were conducted with selected faculty members, trustees, administrators, and students and relevant documents were perused for substantiating information. The objective of the study was to learn how each institution’s President guided their respective constituencies toward acceptance of change while conveying a sense of stability and focus on visioning.

Leadership theories and studies were introduced illustrating presidential considerations, roles, and implications encountered during institutional …

Making The Transition: African American Female Sophomores At A Midwestern Research-Extensive University, Sheena M. Kennedy

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

The purpose of this study was to explore the college experiences of African American females in their sophomore year at a Midwestern Research-Extensive institution. This study investigated these individuals’ transitions to college and sought to understand their lived experiences. Also, the study examined what strategies these individuals employed to persist in college. The intent of this study was to contribute to research on African American women in higher education by documenting their experiences.

This study upheld the literature that African American students encounter feelings of isolation, alienation, and marginality on the college campus (Allen & Haniff, 1991; Fleming, 1984; Gossett, …

The South Omaha Community Scholarship Program: A Qualitative Study Of Persistence Of Hispanic Students At Bellevue University, Tracy J. Mctavish

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

The purpose of this case study was to determine the impact of the South Omaha Community Scholarship Program on the persistence of the Hispanic students who participated. Previous research on Hispanic student persistence has focused on the reasons why students do not persist and more recent research has been conducted on programs and retention efforts, colleges and universities are implementing on their campuses. This study researched a specific program, The South Omaha Community Scholarship Program, designed to provide financial, academic and other needed resources to help Hispanic students persist to graduation. The researcher believes this study was important because it …

Voice And Volume Of Leader Self-Awareness, Michael J. Mcdonald

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

This study proposed that the level of self-awareness possessed by a leader has a direct relationship with the engagement level of the team he or she leads. A quantitative approach using the results of self-other leadership ratings and team engagement ratings were examined to explain employee engagement through perceptions of leadership awareness.

By understanding leadership through the integration of two instruments, one designed to measure seven specific demands of leadership (the L7 instrument) and another to measure employee engagement on twelve dimensions (the Q12 instrument), this study explored the relationship between leader self-awareness and the effect of that awareness on …

Women Leaders In Student Affairs: A Case Study Exploring Career Choices, Julie C. Taylor-Costello

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

This qualitative, multiple case study explored what women working in student affairs reported as influences on their career choices and the impact that the type and level of student interaction has on their careers.

Data from semi-structured interviews and journal entries were obtained from ten women working in student affairs at private, four-year institutions of higher education in the Midwest. The “Stage Model of the Careers of Successful Women” (White, Cox, & Cooper, 1992) provided the theoretical framework and the basis for selecting women for the study. Two women at each of the five stages of White, Cox, and Cooper’s …

Attracting College Men To Sexual Violence Prevention: A Multiple Case Study Of Male Peer Educators, Janice M. Deeds

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

The prevalence rate for sexual assault of U.S. college women has stayed around 13% since 1982 despite the efforts colleges and universities have made to create effective prevention programs. Campus violence prevention programs have changed in focus and approach as research has provided a broader understanding of sexual violence and the important roles men can play in its prevention.

Peer education is currently the most commonly used method of teaching sexual violence prevention information to college students, but unless college men become involved as sexual violence prevention peer educators, campus programs will not be able to effectively reach other male …

The Role Of The College Campus Environment And The Racial Identity Development Of Biracial College Students, Natasha H. Chapman

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

The purpose o f this study was to explore how biracial students described the role of the college campus environment on the development of their racial identity. The research questions were: 1) What is the biracial student’s self-assigned racial identity? 2) What life experiences have aided in the formation of the biracial individual’s racial identity? 3) How has the college experience contributed to the development o f the biracial individual’s racial identity? 4) What key factors in the campus environment were most salient to biracial college students in the development of their racial identity? 5) How do biracial college students …