An Assessment Study Of Student Experiences In A University Conduct Process, Lucas Jay Morrill

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study implements a quantitative assessment survey to explore how experiences of students who participated in a conduct hearing process during the 2020 fall academic semester align with the conduct process learning outcomes of a private liberal arts institution located in northeast Florida (Northeast University). Survey descriptive statistics indicate Northeast University’s conduct process facilitated student understanding of university policies, understanding of their impact on the campus community, and facilitated a process that resulted in a student’s intention to no longer violate university policy again in the future. Data collected also presents trends for students held responsible for COVID-19 related policy …

College Choice And College Match Among High-Achieving Pell-Eligible Students: An Instrumental Case Study Exploring Social Actor Influence, Jennifer A. Perkins

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

College undermatch, the pattern of well-qualified students applying to and attending less selective colleges than their academic qualifications would permit, disproportionally affects low-SES students, a particular concern since attending a match college increases the likelihood that a student will graduate and reduces the amount of time to degree. The number of college-going individuals in one’s social network (including parents, peers, teachers, mentors, etc.) has a strong influence on whether a student attends a good academic match college, but little is known about the nature of the interactions between students and these college-going influencers. This instrumental case study sought to fill …

Examination Of Athletic Academic Support Services Of Ncaa D-I Hbcus, Clifford Eugene Harrell Ii

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since 1991, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has mandated academic support services for student-athletes at all Division I institutions. Today, there is a vast difference of athletic academic support units at Power 5 Conferences compared to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The resources at Power 5 Conference institutions are also immensely different at HBCUs although the main services provided are similar. Advising, tutoring, orientation, assessment of study skills, compliance checks, personal counseling, career counseling, student-athlete scheduling/advising, testing of academically at-risk student-athletes are all services that are provided at both Power 5 institutions and HBCUs but there is still …

Intellectual Property Policies Concerning Ownership Of Faculty-Created Online Course Materials In Public Higher Education Institutions, Tracey S. Makley

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify the key components of the policies that designate ownership of faculty-created online course materials at public higher education institutions that offer distance education in order to establish the key components of those policies and learn how they differ within higher education institutions. The researcher utilized a document analysis procedure with both qualitative and quantitative characteristics to identify the key components of the polices under consideration. The findings of the study demonstrated that there are a wide variety of ownership policies in place, but the content of the policies generally fit into six …

Presidential Approaches To Fundraising At Selected Historically Black Colleges And Universities (Hbcus), Samantha O. Betton

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Fundraising is a critical element for the success and survival of higher education institutions. These institutions are all dependent on financial contributions from alumni as well as philanthropic organizations and private benefactors to support the institution. The presidents of these institutions are instrumental in seeking and obtaining funds in order to maintain the stability of these colleges and universities. Presidents should be knowledgeable of the nuances that make an institution successful and must aim to create those environments.

The purpose of this qualitative investigation was to examine college presidents’ approaches to fundraising at selected Historically Black Colleges or Universities …

College Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders And Their Knowledge Of Self-Determination: A Study To Inform Educational Practices And Policies, Tara Rowe

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The number of students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) attending postsecondary education has steadily increased in recent years. A need has been identified for campus administrators to better understand the needs of students with ASD (Becker & Palladino, 2016; Oswald, Winder-Patel, Ruder, Xing, Stahmer, & Solomon, 2017). In order to gain insight about students with ASD, research providing a foundation of understanding the unique characteristics and needs of this growing population must take place. By recognizing the need for further education and training, campus administrators may have opportunities to develop professional development trainings that could provide insight into understanding a …

Individual And Organizational Culture Predictors Of Participation In Training And Development Activities Among Student Affairs Professionals, Andrea Adams-Manning

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Organizational culture substantially impacts employee motivation, employee behavior, and employee participation in professional development activities. In the field of Student Affairs, it is critical for employees to regularly participate in professional development activities to stay up-to-date with understanding today’s students’ needs and meeting federal and state demands. This study examined what individual and organizational culture factors predict participation in professional development activities among student affairs professionals at higher education institutions. For this study, 354 participants from various public and private institutions were emailed an anonymous web-based survey. Field theory served as the theoretical foundation giving perspective as to how external …

Living-Learning Communities Effect On Students’ Self-Efficacy Of Their Successful Social And Academic Transition To College, Sarah Friswold-Atwood

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the effect of the integrated learning environment fostered by Living-Learning Communities on students’ self-efficacy towards their social and academic transition to college at a large regional institution in the Southeast. Grounded in a theoretical framework guided by Schlossberg's Model for Analyzing Human Adaptation to Transition and Bandura's Triadic Reciprocal Determinism, a two-part structural equation model analysis was conducted with SkyFactor survey data from 427 first-year students. The first analysis, which compared outcomes for LLC participants with non-participants, demonstrated a small statistically significant positive effect for LLC-participants perception of their housing environment. Regardless of LLC participation, the general …

A Study Of State College Faculty Trust In Immediate Supervisors, Anna Byrd

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This quantitative study investigated faculty trust in their immediate supervisors (academic deans and faculty chairs) in a state college setting. A survey instrument created for this study was based on existing research on trust in schools by Bryk and Schneider (2002) and Tschannen-Moran and Hoy (1998), as well as research on trust in corporate setting. The study’s purpose was to determine the types and frequencies of interactions between community college faculty and deans/faculty chairs – i.e., faculty immediate supervisors – that are related to higher levels of faculty trust. Also investigated were the relationships between faculty trust and demographic characteristics …

The Perceived Roles Of Student Affairs Administrators In Public Higher Education, Luisa C. Martinez

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The field of student affairs administration could benefit from research on how student affairs administrators perceive their duties, responsibilities, and obligations, as well as how such an understanding could contribute to organizational theory, practice, and policy. The purpose of this study was to examine how administrators in student affairs perceive their role in public higher education institutions in the United States. This study examined SAAs’ duties, obligations, and responsibilities (role) using Q methodology. Although there are perception studies using Q methodology in higher education, there are fewer empirical studies on how SAAs’ perceive their roles. Consequently, this study recruited forty …

Examining Leadership Approaches Of Community College Administrators: Understanding Leadership And Change Processes, Jametoria Lynette Houston Burton

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This purpose of the study was to explore the personal perspectives of three select state college administrators regarding their purpose, values, and beliefs they inherently espouse about leadership, developmental education and academic success. The researcher examined the ways in which community college administrators used communication strategies to lead change processes within their organizations. The researcher identified the administrators’ leadership approaches in leading a major redesign of a developmental education program at a large community college in Florida. The following primary research question was explored: What are the strategies adopted by the select state college administrators leading a major developmental education …

Examining Perceptions Of Black Administrators In Higher Education Regarding Administrative Leadership Opportunities, Renita Taylor Thompson

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In spite of the research highlighting the significance of the presence of Black administrators to the success of Black students, there continue to be noticeable disparities in the representation of Black and White administrators in higher education. The racial and ethnic makeup of institutions of higher education does not reflect the demographics of the U.S. population. Black administrators are disproportionately underrepresented throughout academe, and are even more sparse at the executive levels of leadership. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions and attitudes of mid-level Black administrators with respect to progressing into executive-level administrative positions at predominantly …

Analyzing The Effect Of Individual Factors And Organizational Context On Faculty Participation In Online Teaching, Deborah F. Miller

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This quantitative study analyzed the influence of individual factors and institutional context on faculty participation in online teaching at public higher education institutions in the United States. Through an ex post facto design, cause and effect relationships were explored using statistical analysis of a large national data set. Variables in the data set directly related to the areas of interest in this study included interest in teaching, student-centered pedagogy, autonomy and control, instructional support, and institutional climate. Factors related to interest in teaching and institutional reward were statistically significant (p

Facility Matters: The Perception Of Academic Deans Regarding The Role Of Facilities In Higher Education, Wallace Harris

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine how academic deans perceived the characteristics of facility built environment and its impact on learning in higher education. Q methodology was used as the means to explore the subjective opinions of academic deans within the State of Florida regarding the facility built environment’s impact on learning in higher education. For this Q study, the concourse statements were the result of communications taken from the subject literature and participant responses to this study’s online concourse questionnaire. The resulting 32 item Q sample was sorted online by 43 academic deans, associate and assistant deans. …

The Power Of Facebook For Universities: A Study Of Official Facebook Pages Of Florida's Universities, Jerrett R. Dumouchel

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to investigate the potential power of Facebook to be used by higher education institutions as a key communication tool to provide viewers’ emergent impressions, or frames, of the institution. This study was intended to contribute to the knowledge base of social media and higher education by studying the emergent frames formed from the posts on the official Facebook page of each member university of the Florida State University System.

Building A Professional Learning Community At The University Level: A Case Study Of An Information Fluency Initiative, Susan Bennett Slavicz

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

An examination of the research regarding the problems associated with student academic writing indicated that two abilities, writing abilities and information literacy skills, intersect, and that an accepted term for this intersection is information literacy. The University of Central Florida’s Information Fluency Initiative recognized information literacy as a key component in developing students’ information fluency skills. This qualitative case study of the initiative used semi-structured interviews, study of documents, and observations to gather data in order to describe how the university planned, developed, and implemented the initiative. Study of relevant literature, narrative analysis (Tierney & Lincoln, 1997), inductive analysis (Hatch, …

Nontraditional Graduate Students' Satisfaction With Their Transnational Educational Experience, Christopher Ihesiaba Nnoduechi

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This retrospective, nonexperimental, quantitative study was designed to explore nontraditional students’ perceptions of satisfaction with their graduate education experience in a customized transnational educational context. This study was undergirded by theories and concepts gleaned from multiple disciplines. Disconfirmed expectations theory of consumer satisfaction derived from expectancy theory, which describes the motivations and behaviors of consumers who purchase a service but cannot fully evaluate the service until it has been consumed, provided the overarching conceptual framework for the research.

This research analyzed data from 62 graduates of a customized, transnational Master of Education program in educational leadership. Participants responded to a …

Reel Deans : The Portrayal Of Higher-Education Administrators In American Films, Jeffrey Todd Hess

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Leadership theory routinely focuses on the relationships of leaders within the context of the work environment; however, culture and, specifically, films are a pervasive influence on both individuals and work environments. The literature review revealed that the relationships between higher-education faculty and administrators are strained. A conceptual framework known as the dark side phenomenon identified three dynamics affecting the work between faculty and administration: working relationships, supervisory roles, and the cultural impact. This lead to the research question: How are higher-education administrators portrayed as characters in popular American films? Data collection began with the selection of American films to study …

The Leadership Of Catholic Sisters Who Have Served As College Presidents : The Impact Of Gender And Religion On Leadership Efficacy, Karen M. Scolforo

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

For over a century, Catholic Sisters have assumed leadership roles in higher education. They have impacted the lives of future leaders and empowered women to explore options to domesticity. Despite their profound contribution to higher education leadership, their history is missing from textbooks and library shelves. The purpose of this qualitative and phenomenological research study was to examine the lived experiences of Catholic Sisters who have served as college president; to gain an understanding of their perceptions and perspectives as they relate to leadership and leadership efficacy; to identify the role, if any, that gender and religion have played in …

Institutional Factors That Pertain To Commuter Student Success, Heather Adams Kenney

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore what institutional factors affect retention and student success at a Florida public, 4-year university for commuter students. This study included institutional factors controlled by the university that affect retention with students who commute to the institution. Commuter students compose over 80% of enrollment at the nation’s college and university campuses. This mixed-method study included both a survey and focus groups. In the first part of the study, quantitative data were collected, using the Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory (SSI). The survey analysis of the data collected using the SSI indicated that the scores …