Education Commons^™

Student Involvement & Growth: A Case Study On Student Stories Of Agency & Adulthood, Jamie Nicole Taylor

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

Often students face their most challenging life decisions and periods of growth during college. Engagement and involvement with their institution helps students develop socially and academically; some research shows that involvement can support other students’ needs as well. The goal of this project is to explore the ways in which students perceive their agency or sense of freedom of choice relative to their college engagement. Using multi-level data collection, consisting of a background recruitment survey and two interview sessions, the data generated in this layered approach came from the third-year student cohort at one state university in the southeastern US. …

Pray And Play: The Impact Of Fellowship Of Christian Athletes Among Di African American Collegiate Football Players In Kentucky, Rasheed Flowers

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

Participation in athletics provides student-athletes with opportunities to further themselves outside of athletics through academic assistance, educational opportunities and experiences, physical wellness, and personal/professional development. One often overlooked portion of this holistic development is spiritual development. As demonstrated in the name student-athlete, it implies a dual identity. Few student-athletes navigate multiple identities and a myriad of additional challenges in their collegiate journey than African American football student-athletes (AAFSAs). Spiritual development is vital for student-athletes; the literature validates that student-athletes growing in their faith may be better equipped to navigate the tension of multiple identity roles and cope with various circumstances. …

Authorship & Agency: Exploring Coaching As A Tool For Student Success, Allison Rebecca Lake

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

Coaching has emerged as a new, innovative practice within higher education. However, we have only begun to understand the true impact of coaching for college students. Research from individual coaching programs has shown that students who participate in coaching sessions are more likely to be retained, have higher GPAs, and engage in self-regulated learning. However, little research has been done to explore coaching from the student perspective. We do not yet understand how students utilize coaching as a tool to optimize their student experience. The goal of this project was to explore how coaching impacts the student experience and to …

Role Strain And Role Satisfaction Of Academic Program Coordinators At A Southern Research-Intensive Doctoral Granting University, Samer R. Jan

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

The research dissertation examined, through a self-administered survey, the activities academic program coordinators perform at a US research-intensive university and whether they suffered from role strain during the 2020-2021 academic year. The dissertation also explored what academic program coordinators found satisfying in performing their roles. The research contributes to the field of higher education by providing a better understanding of the roles and activities academic program coordinators perform, along with factors that cause role strain among program coordinators. A total of 47 program coordinators responded to the survey representing a 20% response rate.

The research found that program coordinators perform …

Retention Of First-Generation College Students At A Four-Year Regional Public Institution, Matthew Andrew Schumacher

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

Every year a significant number of college students stop out of college and fail to persist and complete their degree. First-generation college students are more likely to exit college without a degree than continuing-generation students. The purpose of this quantitative, archival, nonexperimental study was to explore how first-generation college student demographic, academic background, college academic, and student engagement factors were related to and predict first-year to second-year retention at a mid-sized, public regional university. The factors explored were gender, age, race/ethnicity, income status, high school GPA, ACT, cumulative GPA, first term attempted hours, housing, participation in a Living Learning Community, …

Understanding The Impact Of A First-Year Engineering Program On Undergraduate Student Persistence In Engineering, Brad Hubbard

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

The goal of this research study was to understand the impact first-year engineering programs have on undergraduate student persistence in engineering. First-year engineering programs feature a uniform first year curriculum for undergraduate engineering students and are designed to strengthen retention and increase graduation rates. This study sought to understand which factors present in first-year engineering programs influence student persistence in engineering. This study took place in the local context and examined the experience of engineering undergraduate students enrolled in a first-year engineering (FYEng) program at a state-level flagship land grant research institution in the southern region of the United States, …

Housewives To Heroines: Continuing Education For Women At The University Of Kentucky, 1964-1988, Allison L. Elliott

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

Beginning in the early 1960s, the movement for the continuing education for women (CEW) brought together a seemingly unlikely alliance of American activists, educators, philanthropists, and government agencies. Fueled by philanthropic funds, accelerated by the quest for “womanpower” to bolster national defense, and aligned with regional workforce needs as well as the personal goals of individual women, CEW programs pioneered new models of academic advising and student support that continue to influence higher education practitioners today. By studying the experiences of both administrators and students involved with CEW at the University of Kentucky, this study sheds light on how one …