Higher Education Commons^™

The Monroe Method: A Methodology On Navigating Race, Oppression, And Equity In Medical Education Through Physician Cultural Responsibility, Christen D. Johnson

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

Many forms of oppression create barriers for health care, further health disparities, and impact the wellness of physicians. As health disparities, caused by the social determinants of health, complicate the practice of medicine, physicians’ risk of burnout increases. The practice of Physician Cultural Responsibility provides a means to overcome health disparities and support physicians while embracing the intersectionality of the populations they serve. Incorporation of Physician Cultural Responsibility into physician professional identity is essential for the practice to be life-long. As there is no standardized curriculum to address teaching the practice of Physician Cultural Responsibility, this study aims to evaluate …

Once More, With Feeling: Partnering With Learners To Re-See The College Experience Through Metaphor And Sensory Language, Taran Cardone

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

This study focuses on better understanding students and their internal worlds through conceptual metaphor theory and sensory language. Using a phenomenological and arts-based approach, I examined students’ metaphorical constructions of their college experiences and the sensory language and information informing those constructions. By engaging participants in a multimodal process to re-see their experience through connoisseurship and criticism, I explored the following research questions: How do students metaphorically structure their college experience? What sensory language do college students use to describe the metaphorical dimensions of their college experience? How does sensory information shape the metaphorical structuring of their college experience? Through …

Eating Change: A Critical Autoethnography Of Community Gardening And Social Identity, Jessica Gerrior

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

Community gardening efforts often carry a social purpose, such as building climate resilience, alleviating hunger, or promoting food justice. Meanwhile, the identities and motivations of community gardeners reflect both personal stories and broader social narratives. The involvement of universities in community gardening projects introduces an additional dimension of power and privilege that is underexplored in scholarly literature. This research uses critical autoethnography to explore the relationship of community gardening and social identity. Guided by Chang (2008) and Anderson and Glass-Coffin (2013), a systematic, reflexive process of meaning-making was used to compose three autoethnographic accounts. Each autoethnography draws on the author’s …

A Narrative Inquiry Of Latinx Undergraduates' Participation In High-Impact Educational Practices, Sarah R. Villarreal

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

There are systematic barriers to educational equity in the U.S. higher education system, and the system overwhelmingly fails Latinx undergraduates more often than other students. It is crucial that evidence-based methods be used to reduce the existing postsecondary student success inequities. Scholars have linked specific educational practices to positive learning effects. A growing body of evidence has suggested these educational practices, coined high-impact practices (HIPs), provide amplified benefits to historically underserved students (HUS) and may be an effective tool for advancing equity and closing achievement gaps. The extant literature has neither adequately explained the reason(s) that HIPs provide an academic …

Exploring Supervisory Needs Of First-Generation Professionals Working In Higher Education, Angela R. Wellman

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

As first-generation students enter the workforce and traverse through their careers, their work supervisors are solidly positioned to positively influence their experiences. There is very little literature to be found that addresses the professional experiences of first-generation professionals in relation to their supervisors. The purpose of this exploratory study was to learn, directly from first-generation professionals working in higher education, what they believe they need from their supervisors to support their well-being and success. This research also sought to discover how important participants thought that each need statement was, as well to gain insight to what extent the identified needs …

Thriving Through Experience: A Phenomenological Inquiry Of Community-Engaged Learning, Katharine O'Connor

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

Community-engaged learning is a high impact educational practice that has been proven to aid in retention rates and overall student success (Kuh, 2008). As an educator, I have had many students tell me that their community-engaged learning experiences helped them develop leadership skills. And while there have been many quantitative studies considering the grade point averages and retention rates, there is a need for research that focuses on the lived experience of people who participate in community-engaged learning. This dissertation focused on young adult women who have emerged as leaders through their community-engaged learning experiences. Through the use of interpretive …

Exploring The Potential Of Online Education And College Students' Connection To Nature, Michael Weinstein

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

There is limited research examining the efficacy of online delivery for experiential, field-based, interdisciplinary coursework in environmental education geared towards undergraduate students, and how connection to nature can be understood through the theory of emerging adulthood. This research employed a convergent mixed methods approach to explore the experiences of 11 undergraduate students enrolled in an online, introductory ecology course, and how their experience of connection to nature was influenced through the course, technology-mediated nature embedded within the course, and how their identities as emerging adults were impacted by their connection to nature. Quantitative methods employed included pre/post surveys, while qualitative …

Attachment And Creativity Focused Counseling Intervention For Parents And Adolescents Presenting With A Trauma History, Leah Merle Batty-Hibbs

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

The central research question that informed this study asks: How do attachment and creativity focused counseling interventions encourage connection between an adolescent and their parent or caregiver? The research study centered on two mother and son dyads that participated in six weeks of a therapeutic intervention. The modality utilized an attachment and creativity focused approach created by the author. Data was collected through a post intervention semi-structured interview with the parent (adult). Data was transcribed and evaluated with an interpretive phenomenological approach. Six themes were identified by a team of researchers. The findings have implications for clinical practice with parents …

The Impact Of Creative Arts On Meaning Reconstruction And Loss Adaptation In Widowed Adults, Dani Baker-Cole

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

In counseling, helping grieving clients find meaning after significant loss is a unique, multidimensional, and lengthy process. This is particularly true in Western societies, where antithetical linear grief models, supported by hegemonic expectations to move on after loss, add exhausting pressure to speed up an individual’s natural grieving process. For that reason, this study examined how creative arts interventions such as using traditional art media and expressive writing, combined with postmodern, nonlinear, culturally sensitive bereavement models, help individuals explore their loss narrative to make meaning and adapt to loss. Specifically, this study examined the impact of a switch from traditional …

Educating For Global Competence: Co-Constructing Outcomes In The Field: An Action Research Project, Kristina A. Van Winkle

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

Capacity building for globally competent educators is a 21st Century imperative to address contemporary complex and constantly changing challenges. This action research project is grounded in positive psychology, positive organizational scholarship, relational cultural theory, and relational leadership practices. It sought to identify adaptive challenges educators face as they try to integrate globally competent teaching practices into their curricula, demonstrate learning and growth experienced by the educators in this project, and provide guidance and solutions to the challenges globally competent educators face. Six educators participated in this three-phase project, which included focus groups, reflective journal entries, and an exit interview. Data …

Higher Education's Immunity To Change: Understanding How Leaders Make Meaning Of Their Student Success Landscape, Brittany Motley

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

Closing equity gaps in the higher education sector is a long-standing issue. This issue has become exacerbated with the impact of COVID-19 and racial injustices happening across America. Now more than ever it has become imperative to use participatory action research to understand how leaders make meaning of their student success landscape and use that meaning to influence their strategic action for equity. I engaged two student success stakeholders from one university as co-researchers to help identify a problem in practice as it relates to equity gaps in student success. We used a modified approach to immunity to change (ITC) …

Latinx Diversity Officers In Higher Education: Capacitating Cultural Values As Champions Of Equity, Diversity, And Inclusion, Maria Teresa Chavez-Haroldson

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this research study is to share scholarly data that may assist in the recognition and cultural understanding of LatinX Chief DOs in higher education institutions. This multi-phase, qualitative study critically considers the participants’ sociopolitical, psychological, and, cultural situated-ness as equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) leaders in higher education institutions (HEIs). Despite the psychological stressors, the participants described how and why they are energized by their commitment to creating change as social justice campeonas (champions). This study explains why LatinX DOs leading EDI institutional change in the 21st century, places them in precarious sociopolitical circumstances. Cultural values are …

Emergence: Developing Worldview In The Environmental Humanities, Rhonda D. Davis

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

While the environment has long played a role in humanistic expressions and investigations, the need for a more integrated look at the human-environment relationship has become ever more pressing. More than ever, humanities scholars are recognizing their ability to mobilize critical and creative action to address pressing socioeconomic, sociopolitical, and socioenvironmental problems. Teaching and engaging students through interdisciplinary methods, connecting students and communities, developing a sense of agency and responsibility for planetary sustainability has become a visible focus in higher education. My study aimed to understand how an environmental humanities class affects, if at all, the way students construct worldview. …

Servant Leadership Characteristics And Empathic Care: Developing A Culture Of Empathy In The Healthcare Setting, Mark Anthony Martin

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this study was to assess the degree to which servant leadership characteristics are exhibited in medical group practices, and the degree to which servant leadership characteristics correlated with measures of empathic care. This study featured an explanatory mixed methods research design embedded in appreciative inquiry. A total of 189 mid-level practitioners consisting of nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and practice mangers responded to a 32-item scale survey that featured a six-point Likert scale to measure servant leadership items and a 10-point continuous scale to assess measures of empathic care. The servant leadership items were based on the seven …

Intercultural Competence Development Through Civic Engagement, Ruta Shah-Gordon

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

Today, the field of intercultural communication is becoming even more important.People are increasingly interacting more with others from around the globe, whether for work or recreation.Globalization is creating an increased interdependency between nations; it is critical that institutions of higher education develop leaders who are competent in cross-cultural awareness and practice, have a solid understanding of cultural differences and their effects on leadership performance, and are culturally sensitive to different perspectives (Northouse, 2010).Since many studies of intercultural competence development focus on study abroad experiences, this dissertation focuses on developing intercultural competence in college-aged students through civic engagement experiences.Through a mixed …

A Method To My Quietness: A Grounded Theory Study Of Living And Leading With Introversion, Leatrice Oram

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

Leadership scholar-practitioners must create a more sustainable, diverse, and equitable future, fostering emergence and development of resilient, competent leaders, including those who may have been previously overlooked.Leadership studies, particularly those situated in early trait and behavior paradigms, have long privileged extraverted leaders as ideal.The scholarly conversation is limited on introverted leaders; moreover, most of that literature depicts introversion as either a pathological construct associated with shyness and social anxiety, or includes introversion only by omission, as a state of deficit-of-extraversion.This study instead began with positive inquiry, framing introversion as a positive individual difference, and explored the lived experiences of introverted …

Smart Partnerships: How Higher Education Institutions Can Enhance The Capacity Of The Un To Govern The Global Commons, Melissa Goodall

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

This dissertation explores how partnerships between UN agencies and higher education institutions (HEIs) can enhance governance of the global commons. Unique attributes that HEIs have to offer in this regard include collaboration on development and dissemination of knowledge, the ability to design and test new technologies and systems, and the capacity to develop analytically rigorous research and evaluation. Many HEIs also explore issues across scales, sectors, and disciplines, and can act as neutral fora to promote dialogue. And all are educating future citizens and leaders. With the aim of highlighting the mutual value of partnerships between the UN and HEIs …

Adapting To A Virtual Learning Environment, Winston H. Maddox

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

This participatory action research (PAR) dissertation examines the experiences of five experienced faculty transitioning from teaching in a traditional classroom to a virtual learning environment. The research participants used technology to deliver course material and reflected on the changes in their pedagogical practice. Data were collected using four phased sessions, including the completion of interview questions, individual interview video sessions, and group video sessions and the review of participant video validation postings. Research participants used journaling to reflect on their values, beliefs, assumptions, and experiences associated with teaching and learning. Research participants teaching in virtual learning environments were provided an …

Toward Transforming Health Systems: A Practice Study Of Organizing And Practical Inquiry In Academic Medicine, Thomas A. Ellison

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

Transformation of health care systems will be grounded in new professional relations and collective, cross-disciplinary actions to impact care delivery. Organizing such relations and actions involves practical inquiry rather than applying professional knowledge. This dissertation presents an exploratory, performative study of the initial organizing of the Health Systems Innovation and Research (HSIR) Program in Health Sciences at the University of Utah. The HSIR program was conceived principally to catalyze cross-disciplinary innovation and health services research and enhance care delivery changes by documenting care improvements and publishing research. This study includes a composite narrative of the organizing and practical inquiry work …

21st-Century U.S. Safety Professional Educational Standards: Establishing Minimum Baccalaureate Graduate Learning Outcomes For Emerging Occupational Health And Safety Professionals, Wayne Edward Hartz

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

How can the public be assured of competency in those professing to protect its occupational health and safety (OSH)? Currently, in the U.S. there are 193 higher education OSH programs, 186 with baccalaureate degrees with over 55 different degree titles. This research seeks to define minimum OSH baccalaureate graduate core competencies across all programs by asking: What would employers look for in a portfolio to demonstrate competence in a new OSH graduate? Professional members of the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) participated as subject matter experts in an anonymous online survey to provide framing data. The ASSE Educational Standards …

The Relationship Of Teacher, Student, And Content In The Clinical Psychology Classroom, Hannah Lord

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

The field of clinical psychology is in the midst of redefining graduate school education with a push for competency-based approaches and measurable learning outcomes. This dissertation explores the best-practice knowledge regarding the education of professional clinical psychology graduate students and uses cooperative inquiry to richly detail the educational approach of a thus far “silent stakeholder,” Dr. Colborn W. Smith, a long-time teacher and training director. This inquiry is intended to help me [Hannah Lord] understand an important personal educational experience, to explore the tangible art of teaching that made such an experience possible, and to contribute to the evolving discourse …

I'Ll Choose Which Hill I'M Going To Die On: African American Women Scholar-Activists In The White Academy, Muriel Elizabeth Shockley

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

This study explored the complexities of African American women scholar-activists' lived experiences in predominately white institutions of higher education. Existing scholarship on African American women's experiences in the academy locates these academicians in predominately white research universities and liberal arts colleges (PWI's) as well as historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU's) and focuses on the tenure process, recruitment and retention, evaluation, student relationships, career satisfaction, mentoring, survival strategies, and administrative leadership. Overwhelmingly the foci of the research are the challenges African American women scholars face and the concomitant strategies employed to militate the consequences. Less apparent are the ways African …

Applying A Leadership Framework To Historically Black Colleges And Universities (Hbcus) Post Fordice, Armenta Hinton

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have a list of outstanding accomplishments that span over a century; however, this segment of higher education continues to be underfunded and remains in a position of justifying its existence in a postracial America. The issues facing HBCUs are significant. Race-based legislation has created a dual system of American higher education that adversely affects these minority serving institutions, impacting the quality of education they dispense and producing potentially negative effects on vulnerable and under-served collegians. Supreme Court Justice Thomas’s opinion in the U.S. v. Fordice (1992) case opposed the creation of HBCUs as “enclaves …

Restoring Relationships: Indigenous Ways Of Knowing Meet Undergraduate Environmental Studies And Science, Nancy Leigh Rich

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

As places to engage with changing and complex ideas, institutions of higher education offer a logical site for bringing Indigenous ways of knowing together with environmental studies and science. However, profound differences between Indigenous and Western knowledges, as well as ongoing colonialism, cultural biases of science, and the nature of mainstream academia, have discouraged this endeavor. Recent developments in undergraduate pedagogy now point the way.

Using critical inquiry and qualitative methodology, this comparative study developed recommendations for practice based on current undergraduate teaching practices that bring Indigenous ways of knowing together with environmental studies and science across a diversity of …

Evolving Learning: Educators’ Inner Experiences Of Engaging In Service-Learning With Undergraduates, Cara Meixner

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

Evolving Learning: Educators’ Inner Experiences of Engaging in Service-Learning with Undergraduates is an exploratory, qualitative study of faculty members’ learning, growth, and development in service-learning contexts. Through two, interwoven forms of constructivist grounded theory – situational mapping and dimensional analysis – this dissertation brought voice to a once ‘private’ perspective, making explicit what all is happening as participants make meaning of their experiences engaging in service-learning with college students. A three-phased series of recursive, comparative interviews and concurrent analysis resulted in the development of a grounded theory best captured by a core, organizing perspective – evolving learning. This perspective is …

Activist Training In The Academy: Developing A Master's Program In Environmental Advocacy And Organizing At Antioch New England Graduate School, Steve Chase

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

This curriculum action research study begins by raising the question of whether environmental studies programs within higher education should launch activist training programs for public interest advocates and grassroots organizers working for nonprofit organizations focused on environmental protection, corporate accountability, and social justice. Answering that question in the affirmative, the study then focuses on the theoretical issues underlying the creation of activist training programs within the academy, specifically within environmental studies programs, and reports on a case study of the successful development of a master’s program in Environmental Advocacy and Organizing. The first section on theoretical issues focuses first on …