Education Commons^™

Five Year Follow-Up Evaluation Of A Faculty Development Program: A Qualitative Study, Marcia Tennill

Dissertations

This qualitative follow-up evaluation explored the long-term impact of a faculty development program on participants who were five years post program. This study focused on 12 faculty members who participated in the University of Missouri’s New Faculty Teaching Scholars program. The nine month program focused on creating a culture of teaching within the university and enhancing peer networking among participants. Data was collected through the review of existing program documents, interviews with program participants, classroom observations, and the review of participants’ syllabi and curriculum vitae. The primary purpose of this study was to learn how a faculty development program affected …

Students With Mental Health Issues In Higher Education: A Survey Of Prevalence And Fall-To-Spring Persistence Rates In A Community College Environment, Pendy J. Pecka

Dissertations

Among the multitude of challenges and adversities students face during their first year of higher education, many experience deterioration of their emotional or mental health. Current research focuses on the perceived rise in the breadth and complexity of student mental health concerns at four-year colleges and universities. Even though community college students encompass the majority of individuals enrolled in the United States higher education system, no research specifically examines the mental health prevalence of these students and whether these difficulties negatively impact persistence. This study explored the relationship between evidence of mental health problems and fall-to-spring persistence for first-year students …

Exploring The Relationship Between Planning And Training, And Response To Campus Safety Incidents, Kimberly Michele Harvey

Dissertations

Over the past 50 years, campus violence has significantly impacted our institutions of higher education. As a result, campus safety has become an increasingly important topic for all colleges and universities. The Virginia Tech tragedy in 2007 highlighted the necessity of emergency management planning and training as well as employee understanding of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Emergency management plans for 27 institutions in Missouri were collected and evaluated to determine how they instructed employees to respond to various campus safety scenarios and how training factored into the campus plans. Two-hundred, fifty-one employees were then surveyed to …

Legal Discourse, Conceptual Metaphors, And Basic Writing Programming: A Study Of Ayers V. Fordice, Joyce Olewski Inman

Dissertations

In what ways does legal discourse influence our perceptions of students labeled as basic writers and these students’ perceptions of themselves? How does standards-based discourse affect student writers’ abilities to define themselves in academe? This dissertation involves an examination of legal and public discourse surrounding Ayers v. Fordice, one of the most prominent desegregation cases in higher education, in an attempt to answer these questions. Its intent is to explore how conceptual metaphors prevalent in these discourses affect our understandings of basic writing programming in the state of Mississippi but also in the field of composition more globally.

My …

Single Mothers In College: The Effect Of Selected Variables, Rickey Booker

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Single parent mothers who are currently in poverty may find it difficult to find routes out of poverty and/or even to enrolling in college. Little empirical research has been conducted on low-income single parent mothers who attempt to enroll, persist and graduate college. The current research has shown that single parents are at a high risk of dropping out of college because of many barriers including poverty related issues. This study examined women who had at least one child or dependent, were in poverty, and were first time beginners in college. The purpose for conducting this study was to identify …

How Graduate Interior Design Programs Prepare Emerging Educators To Teach, Anne Wilkinson-Burke

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Pictorial History Of The Drury College Student: The First Fifty Years, Mindy Maddux Gay

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Established in 1873, Drury College in Springfield, Missouri, provided a unique experience for their undergraduate students. A limited amount of research has been conducted on the institution but no work has been done to specifically look at the undergraduate student experience. Using archival research methods and information from literature on image based research; the researcher has created a pictorial history of Drury College utilizing photographs, images, and archival documents. The specific research questions asked were: How do archival images and documents of Drury University's first 50 years describe the undergraduate student's experience, specifically in the area of their involvement and …

Social Media In Higher Education: Building Mutually Beneficial Student And Institutional Relationships Through Social Media., Megan L. Fuller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Social applications such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter have driven the public growth of Web 2.0. Universities and colleges are using social media to reach student prospects, keep contact with current students and alumni, and provide a mechanism for group collaboration and interaction in the classroom. Higher education institutions are influenced by current social media trends, and figuring out how to effectively interact with various constituencies within the social media environment can be challenging.

In this study, a group of higher education students were surveyed about their social media practices and preferences with a focus on education-related activities. The goal …

Using Transformative Learning Theory To Investigate Ways To Enrich University Teaching: Focus On The Implementation Of Student-Centered Teaching In Large Introductory Science Courses, Ioana Alexandra Badara

Doctoral Dissertations

Previous studies have reported high attrition rates in large-enrollment science courses where teacher-centered instruction was prevalent. The scientific literature provides strong evidence that student-centered teaching, which involves extensive active learning, leads to deepened learning as the result of effective student engagement. Consequently, professional development initiatives have continually focused on assisting academics with the implementation of active learning. Generally, higher education institutions engage faculty in professional development through in-service workshops that facilitate learning new teaching techniques in a specific context. These workshops usually do not include self-scrutiny concerning teaching or do they provide continuous support for the implementation of strategies learned …

Examining The Experiences Of Six Women On Their Personal Journeys To Becoming Deans Of Agriculture: A Qualitative Study, Sarah Jane Kleihauer

Masters Theses

Understanding one’s own personal journey provides for effective learning, growth, and development of self (Madsen, 2010). Reflection on the influences and experiences of successful women leaders is essential to understanding the factors that have enabled them to obtain and sustain leadership positions in nontraditional career fields. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the lives of women deans in agriculture in an attempt to conceptualize the leadership styles they have developed as a result of their positions as deans in a predominantly male field, as well as their upbringing and life experiences. Six women deans of agriculture were …

Understanding How Institutional Leadership Affects Civic Engagement On University Campuses, Prairie Leigh Burgess

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Higher education in America has a long tradition of civic engagement education. Although there is theoretical and rhetorical support, many institutions still struggle with implementing effective civic engagement on their campuses. The aim of this study was to provide an understanding of factors that contribute to successful civic engagement, specifically focusing on the affect of presidential leadership. The study used a limited sample of two groups to provide comparative analysis and offer much needed statistical research for civic engagement. Institutions were identified through the organization Campus Compact and the Carnegie Foundation's elective Community Engagement classification. Institutions that had joined Campus …

Latino Educators Of Tomorrow: Culture-Specific Mentoring For The College Transition, Anna Trevino

Theses and Dissertations

The population of Latino students is growing faster than any other ethnic group in U.S. public schools today; however, the number of Latino teachers throughout the nation has remained low. The Latino Educators of Tomorrow is a new and ambitious Latino educational career program designed to increase the number of Latino students entering teaching as a profession. This research addressed the following questions: 1) What do participants identify as influential in their trajectory towards becoming an educator, and why?; 2) How do LET instructors, acting in the role of mentors, influence participants' desires and plans to become educators, and why?; …

Assessing Transfer Student Performance, Hyderhusain Shakir Abadin

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Higher educational institutions place a high priority on the retention and timely graduation of students. Previous literature and research studies have identified transfer students to have a vital role in the success of four year universities. The university in the study enrolls a high percentage of transfer students, primarily from two year community colleges within the state of Minnesota. To understand transfer students performance, the study used multiple measures of transfer student success, including (1) cumulative GPA, (2) one year retention rate, and (3) one year graduation rate. The comparison of transfer students and native students is examined, showing that …

Perceptions Of Social Mobility In Community College Scholars At Bucknell University, Nadir Sharif

Master’s Theses

While national leaders have joined the discussion more recently, scholars in the fields of education, psychology, and sociology, have been exploring the ways in which students? socioeconomic background affects the outcomes they experience as a result of their education (Lareau, Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life, 2003).Furthermore, the role played by the education system in creating or diminishing socioeconomic disparity has also been studied in depth (Bourdieu, 1977; Boudon, 1977). However, the journeys of students from low-income families that begin their education at community colleges and continue it, through careful planning or chance, at elite four-year institutions, has not …

Are Mbas And Master's Degrees Worth It? A Discussion Of Wages, Job Security And Business Cycles, Claire Foley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since the 1970s, recessions have become more frequent and severe, causing major changes to the labor market and the importance of education. This study focuses on the problems for employees with master's degrees and MBAs, and asks three questions: 1) Do employees with graduate degrees have higher earnings than bachelor's degree recipients, 2) Do they experience greater job security as a result of their additional education, and 3) Is graduate school a way to avoid unemployment during a recession? Ordinal logistic regression analysis is conducted and finds that master's degrees and MBAs experience very different outcomes, with much higher returns …

Choque Cultural In Higher Education: The Lived Experiences Of Two Transnational Doctoral Students On The U.S. Mexico Border, Lyn Mckinley

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study seeks to develop a deeper understanding of the experience of transnational students in higher education in a U.S. public university. The setting for the study is the U.S.-Mexico border between Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, and El Paso, Texas. While numerous studies examine the experience of transnational K-12 populations in U.S. schools, there is limited research on students in advanced levels of higher education in this context.

The purpose of this study is to provide an in-depth perspective of the experiences of two transnational doctoral students enrolled at the doctoral level at a U.S. university on the U.S.-Mexico border. The …

The African American Women's Summit: A Case Study Of A Professional Development Program Developed By And For African American Women Student Affairs Professionals, Nicole Mary-Ella West

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

While African American women have been participating in American higher education for more than a century, they remain significantly underrepresented among college and university administrators. Researchers have noted that when these women are able to secure administrative positions, many of them contend with intense isolation and marginalization, which compromises their personal well-being and jeopardizes their professional success. Black feminist scholars have suggested that African American women may be assisted by involving themselves in supportive networks that provide them the opportunity to connect with other African American women. Further, these scholars contend that these activities should be facilitated by African American …

Exploring Instructional Strategies And Learning Goals In Undergraduate Leadership Education, Daniel Jenkins

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Leadership education has been integral to the undergraduate curriculum since the early 1990's. Today, more than 1,000 colleges and universities in the United States offer undergraduate courses in leadership studies and many offer academic credit in the form of a bachelor's degree, academic minor, or certificate. Yet, little is known about those who teach leadership studies courses to undergraduates, the instructional strategies they employ, or the learning goals they set. The purpose of this study was to identify the instructional strategies that are most frequently used by instructors when they teach academic credit-bearing undergraduate leadership studies courses, identify signature pedagogies …

Implications Of Branding Initiatives In Higher Education Among Trademarked Institutions In California, Joy Victoria Lamboy

Doctoral Dissertations

Many educational institutions across the world create an image to attract students; this process is called branding. Branding began as a channel of choice for consumers and has grown to include what an organziation respresents in worth and values. Corporations commonly implement branding initiatives through trademark-licensing programs due to competition and infringements that mocked their services or marks. Specifically, corporations across the world wanted to be unique from others that might have similar offerings. Likewise, many college institutions such as Harvard, University of California Los Angeles, and the University of Southern California have branded their identity through the use of …