Education Commons^™

Examining Responses To A Racist Event In A Sorority And Fraternity Life Community: A Case Study, Crystal Eufemia Garcia, Antonio Duran, Michael Anthony Goodman

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

Racism has been interwoven in implicit and explicit ways within historically white sorority and fraternity life (SFL) communities since their inception. However, few studies have provided insight to how practitioners address the realities of racism in SFL broadly, or specifically how SFL practitioners have attended to race-based incidents on their local campuses, the success of these initiatives, and to what degree their actions have been sustainable over time. This project sought to contribute insight to these dynamics by mobilizing a case study approach guided by an institutional response framework to focus on how a particular SFL community at Sunnydale University …

Conversations About Food Insecurity: Examining College Campus Climates, Crystal Eufemia Garcia

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

This qualitative critical narrative inquiry study explored the experiences of 19 students within four universities in a single Southern state that used campus food aid resources such as a food pantry. Using Hurtado et al.’s Multicontextual Model for Diverse Learning Environments (MMDLE), this paper sheds light on how participants discussed the campus climate for students experiencing food insecurity within their respective campuses. Findings unpack students’ reflections on a lack of awareness and discussion about food insecurity and food aid resources within the campus community, the role that stigmas played in participants’ perceptions and use of campus food aid resources, and …

Nphc And Mgc Sororities And Fraternities As Spaces Of Activism Within Predominantly White Institutions, Crystal E. Garcia, William R. Walker, Ciera A. Dorsey, Zachary W. Werninck, Jessie H. Johns

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

This study explored how Students of Color within National Pan-Hellenic Council and Multicultural Greek Council sororities and fraternities engaged in activism and in what ways this involvement connected to their membership. Using a qualitative critical narrative approach, we examined the journeys of ten participants. Findings unpack ways participants engaged in activism and resistance aimed at educating individuals and increasing awareness of societal injustices, addressing inequities through service, and inciting disruption and cultivating institutional and societal level change.

Motivations For Queer Women Of Color To Join Culturally Based Sororities, Crystal Eufemia Garcia, Antonio Duran

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

This critical narrative inquiry explored the motivations for Queer Women of Color to join culturally based sororities. Using Muñoz’s concept of disidentifications, we found that participants made strategic decisions when navigating the sorority membership process as well as in deciding what organization to join. Findings showed the importance of race/ethnicity, sexuality and gender, and other important connections to individual identities in participants’ motivations. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

The History, Evolution, And Trends Of Academic Dishonesty: A Literature Review, Amy Zachek

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

Academic dishonesty is a murky problem without a commonly agreed upon solution in American higher education. It has a long-standing history in higher education but a short history in academic literature, it has evolved rapidly and longitudinally (McCabe & Trevino, 1996), and it has several easily apparent trends and others that the majority of researchers are in disagreement about. While traversing this perilous landscape of dichotomies, this paper will examine connections and gaps in the literature, make suggestions and recommendations for future study based off of these results, and examine the implications that these recommendations could have on higher education …

Differences In Retention-Related Risk Factors And Potential Resources Across First-Generation And Non-First-Generation College Students, Taylor Lofdahl

Honors Theses

This study was completed to examine the differences in experience of first-generation and non-first-generation college students both before and during college. The purpose focused on retention-related risk factors as well as potential resources. The study was conducted through an online survey system called Qualtrics. There were 246 participants from the psychology department of the University of Nebraska- Lincoln, and participants received research credits for completing the survey. The study included measures for stress, depression symptoms, anxiety, perceived support as well as questions regarding academic practices and biographical information. The results of the study were analyzed using SPSS software, and they …

Does Location Really Matter? Exploring The Role Of Place In Domestic And International Service-Learning Experiences, Elizabeth Niehaus, Crystal Garcia

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Correlates Of Turkish Preschool Preservice Teachers’ Social Competence, Empathy And Communication Skills, Emine Ahmetoglu, Ibrahim H. Acar

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

The purpose of the current study was to examine the associations between Turkish preschool pre-service teacher’s personal and educational characteristics, and their social competence, empathy, and communication skills. A total of 385 state university Turkish pre-service teachers (age range 18 to 32 years) from the early childhood education field completed a Demographic Information Form on personal and educational characteristics, the Social Skills Inventory (SSI) Scale measuring their social competence, The Scales of Empathic Tendency for measuring empathy skills, and a Communication Skills Evaluation Scale measuring communication skills. Bivariate Pearson-correlations, independent t tests, and one-way ANOVAs were used to test study …

Alcohol Expectancy, Drinking Behavior, And Sexual Victimization Among Female And Male College Students, Kimberly A. Tyler, Rachel M. Schmitz, Scott A. Adams

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

College students have high rates of heavy drinking, and this dangerous behavior is strongly linked to sexual victimization. Although research has examined risk factors for sexual assault, few studies have simultaneously studied the various pathways through which risks may affect sexual assault and how these pathways may be uniquely different among females and males. As such, the current study uses path analyses to examine whether alcohol expectancies mediate the relationship between social factors (e.g., hooking up, amount friends drink) and drinking behavior and experiencing sexual victimization, and whether drinking behavior mediates the relationship between alcohol expectancies and sexual victimization among …

Exploring The Multiple Dimensions Of Intelligence Identity In High-Achieving Students, Amy A. Holland

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

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the important elements reported by second-year undergraduates at Midwestern University (MU) as they renegotiated their intelligence identity of being the smart one. The five participants were members of the 2012-2013 first-year cohort of Jumpstart Business Community (JBC). Per inclusion in JBC, the students identified as high-achieving students and/or were classified as accelerated learners in high school. The reconceptualized model of multiple dimensions of identity from Abes, Jones, and McEwen (2007) informed this study in the examination of renegotiation of the intelligence identity.

The main research question of this study was what …

Generativity In Young Adults: Comparing And Explaining The Impact Of Mentoring, Lindsay J. Hastings

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

The purpose of this embedded explanatory sequential mixed methods study was to examine the impact of mentoring relationships on generativity in college students. Generativity refers to concern for establishing and guiding the next generation The first, quantitative phase compared generatvity levels among general college students, college student leaders who do not mentor, and college student leaders who mentor through a program called Nebraska Human Resources Institute (NHRI) at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. Data were collected via surveys (N = 273) using the Loyola Generativity Scale (LGS), the Generativity Behavior Checklist (GBC), and the Personal Strivings measure. A multivariate …

Does Being Rural Matter?: The Roles Of Rurality, Social Support, And Social Self-Efficacy In First-Year College Student Adjustment, Allison L. Bitz Phd

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

One out of every three first-year college students will not return for a second year of college (Postsecondary Education Opportunity, 2010). Due to a variety of factors, minority students are at an even higher risk of dropping out of college. Rural youth, comprising approximately 22% of the nation’s total youth, form a significant minority population; yet the rural student experience in college has not yet been widely considered in research. The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore college adjustment and its predictors among first-year students, with an emphasis on the role of rurality in college adjustment. Social self-efficacy, …

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, …

Exploring The Complexities Of Learning Motivation In Pre-Service Teacher Education Students: A Grounded Theory Approach, Kristin K. Grosskopf

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This qualitative, grounded-theory study investigated learning motivation differences among three achievement groupings of undergraduate students enrolled in the College of Education and Human Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Nine students participated in in-depth interviews that explored their reasons for pursuing their degree, their learning experiences in a university setting, their perceptions about meaningful learning experiences, and the nature of factors that both enhance and challenge their learning motivation. Participant responses conveyed strategies and conditions that were coded and analyzed, and a theoretical model was developed describing causal conditions that underlie students’ motivation to learn, phenomena that arose from those …

College Students And Service: A Mixed Methods Exploration Of Motivations, Choices, And Learning Outcomes, Ronald Chesbrough

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

Advisor: James V. Griesen
The purpose of this two-phase exploratory mixed methods research was to add to an understanding of the motivations toward service among college students, to get a clearer sense of how students choose their particular service involvements, and to better understand the learning outcomes from service involvement during college. Underlying philosophical assumptions of the study were that service involvement during college contributes in several positive ways to student development, and that student descriptions of their motivations, choices, and learning from service will vary based on gender, year in college, and amount of service performed.

Findings indicated that …

Anabolic Androgenic Steroids: Use And Perceived Use In Non-Athlete College Students, Joseph M. Berning, Kent J. Adams, Mark Debeliso, Bryant A. Stamford, Ian Newman

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Objective: The authors investigated the use and perceived use of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) among nonathlete college students. Participants: The authors surveyed a sample of 485 nonathlete college students at a major metropolitan university. Methods: They administered a survey on use and perceived use of AAS to the students. Results: Forty-two participants (9%) reported using AAS (37 men, 5 women). Seniors were the most likely to use AAS (36%), and freshman the least likely (7%). Thirty-four percent of nonusers and 41% of users indicated they knew between 1 and 5 AAS users. Of the total sample, 36% perceived that 5% …