Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Qualitative Study Of Understanding Female Navy Veterans’ Experiences With Representation And Inclusion In The U.S. Military, Antwanisha K. Williamson

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Research about women in the military helps to address the ongoing concerns about the lack of inclusion of female perspectives, which contributes to oppressive power dynamics and lack of women’s representation in practice, policy, and procedures. The problem this dissertation addressed is the lack of representation and inclusion of female perspectives regarding power and privilege that affect military practices, policies, and procedures. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand female Navy veterans’ experiences with representation and inclusion in military practices, policies, and procedures. Applying a larger conceptual framing using radical feminism, liberal feminism, and critical theory helped to …

Representation Counts: Intern Teachers Of Color And Their Perspectives Of Teaching In A California County, Girlie M. Hale

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Intern teachers are more likely to be placed in hard-to-fill content areas, such as math, science, and special education, which exacerbates their initial teaching experiences as teachers of record. For new teachers in their intern credential program, these factors compound the stress of attending coursework while managing their experience as a novice in the classroom. Without proper mentoring and support in these placements, teachers of color may perceive themselves as feeling less successful in the classroom. In this mixed methods study, the researcher investigated the types of support intern teachers of color need in successfully completing their teacher preparation program. …

The African American And The California Basic Skills Requirement For Teaching, Willie C. Thomas Ii

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This study examines why the passing rates of African Americans on the CBEST are the lowest in California at 60%. Madkins (2011) identified licensure testing as a significant reason why African Americans cannot enter the teaching progression. According to Darling-Hammond et al. (2016), California has an ongoing credentialed teacher shortage. An even more significant need is for teachers of color. According to the California Department of Education (2021), 60% of the state’s educator workforce is White, while the state student body, multicultural and multilingual, is only slightly more than 22% White. While licensure testing for teachers is required in all …

Where Are All The African-American Women Superintendents In California, Oregon, And Washington State?, Toniesha D. Webb

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

There are many African American women in leadership positions such as Assistant Superintendents, Network Superintendents, Directors, Principals, Assistant Principals, and Coaches. There is a disconnect for African American women in leadership and the highest position of authority in a school district. This leads to the question, what are the barriers, if any, that are limiting the amount of African American Women in the far western states to transition into Superintendent positions? In the reverse, what supports did the women who are superintendents have in their leadership ascension? Finally, what structures need to be developed and formalized in order to facilitate …

Disappearing Acts: The Declining Numbers Of African American Teachers In Public School Settings, Catherine F. Lewis-Brownfield

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

African American teachers are slowly leaving the classroom, causing an imbalance in the student/teacher ratio (NCES, 2019). According to the National Center for Education Statistics, African American teachers make up 3% in California and 7% nationally. This study sought to understand the reasons for the decline in the number of African American teachers in public school settings. Due to the decline in their numbers, African American students have suffered high dropout rates, low standardized test scores, and low college attendance (Gershenson, Hart, Hyman, Lindsey, & Papageorge, 2017). This qualitative study examined the obstacles current African American teachers face and the …

A Qualitative Study Of The Lao American College Experience, Jerry Sithiphone

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The majority of the Lao American population arrived in the United States after the end of the “American War in Southeast Asia” in 1975 as political refugees. Nevertheless, as Asian Americans, Lao Americans are also stereotyped to be the “model minority” and therefore do not face the same educational and socioeconomical challenges like other communities of color. However, Lao Americans are not the model minority and face numerous obstacles as the community is overlooked and history is forgotten by mainstream America. The lack of scholarly literature on Lao Americans highlights not only the general misunderstanding of the community, but also …

Higher Education And The Dei Climate: Exploring And Understanding The Role Of Social Media, Self Esteem, And Intercultural Communication In Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion Initiatives On The College Campus, Christian T. Cardona

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This study seeks to understand the effects and levels of impact that a university student’s intercultural communication competence, social media usage, and self-esteem have on the students’ attitudes towards diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts implemented by institutions of higher education. By studying these three independent variables, this research seeks to improve the understanding of the university students’ attitudes on DEI efforts for leaders and change agents in higher education, providing an inspiration for leaders, administrators, and change agents of higher education to continue collaborating to innovate methods and avenues towards creating a diverse, equitable, and inclusive campus climate, as …

Human Capital Formation And Return Migration Within Mong Communities In Rural/Semi-Rural Northern California, Chong Yang

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This research uses computational grounded theory to explore the human capital formation and stay/return migration experiences of well-educated Mong adults living in various rural/semi-rural Northern California localities within Butte, Yuba, and Sutter Counties. Rural vitality is dependent on the return of these well-educated rural-raised adults. Out-migration of rurality’s best and brightest contributes towards a brain drain and the hallowing out of rurality’s human capital. Findings of this research is conveyed using two research articles examining two different points on the continuum of rural vitality. The first article examines 19 Mong adults’ educational experiences within their rural communities and college education. …

Where Am I?: The Absence Of The Black Male From The E-Suite, Brian Bedford

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

According to current U.S. labor statistics, Black male executives are underrepresented in every major industry in the United States. Common impediments preventing Black males from occupying executive positions include workplace white supremacy, biculturalism, repressive structures, and disparate career development. Using critical race theory as a framework, this basic qualitative study investigated the experiences of eight male executives, five Black and three white, from various industries to understand their perceptions and perspectives on race and racism, and examined their workplace lived experiences to study why there are not more Black males in the e-suite. Moreover, strategies to increase Black male representation …

Exploring The Third Culture Building Approach For Effective Cross-Cultural Interaction For Black American Professionals In Predominantly White Institutions, Tessa R. Sutton

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Professional interactions that are both functional and mutually beneficial are rare. The purpose of this study is to explore an application of a Third Culture Building (TCB) approach, a mutually constructed interpersonal process between two individuals, for Black American professionals (with advanced knowledge acquired from institutions of higher learning), to generate a new space in Predominantly White Institutions (PWis). These institutions include settings where the racial composition is becoming consistently more diverse (through past desegregation efforts). Although the U.S. has moved beyond integration and the monumental Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, racism and intercultural barriers that prevent functional cross-cultural …

Slavery And Stratification, Lee Andrew Irving

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

My own experience as an American have led to questions concerning stratification of Negroes by Whites and Negroes by Negroes. What, if any, is the history behind these social distinctions, based primarily on variables such as race and skin-color gradations?

Evidence as to achievements by people representing all races and skin-color gradations is more available today than say, during slavery, because of better opportunities for all citizens of this country to become informed vis the mass media. What is there in history that lends basis to these ridiculous myths based on race and skin-color gradations? Could the institution of slavery …

Mexican-American Children In The Process In Acculturation, Elizabeth Ford Stone O'Neill

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The web of Mexican-American life is complex in its origins, its manifestations, and its degree of identification with or alienation from the dominant culture. A thesis of the length of this one can deal with all this complexity only in a superficial way. However, by a rather narrowly defined examination of a few children certain insights may be gained which could be used as a basis for generalization about other children of similar background, and perhaps even for some tentative generalizations about the problems of the Mexican-American community as a whole.

With this purpose in mind -- to inquire intensively …

Employment Of Certificated Personnel Of Ethnic Minority Groups In Stockton Unified School District, 1947 To 1962, Stanley Earl Sandelius

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The two main purposes of this study were to document the events leading to the establishment of the nondiscriminatory employment policy for certificated personnel from ethnic minority groups in the Stockton Unified School District and the subsequent practices which have developed since the adoption of the policy in 1947.

The Class Structure Of A Minority Group In A Valley City, Marcus Asie Williams

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

There is an accepted principle amongst sociologists that all communities have some pattern of stratification. Since the Valley City Negroes, the minority group selected for this research. represent a community structure, some pattern of stratification is present. At the time of this study the specific nature of the class structure tor this community had not been identified.

Statement of the problem. It was the purpose of this study (l) to delineate the social class structure of the Negro community of the Valley City metropolitan area in the year 1950~1951; (2) to show the relationships of membership in associations to class …

An Analysis Of Attitudes Of Members Of The Church Of The Brethren In The Pacific Coast Region, Merlin Leroy Clark

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The hypothesis of this study is that there is a relationship between race attitudes and "denominocentrism, " and with certain social categories, e.g., age, social class, income, education, etc., in the Church of the Brethren in the Pacific Coast Region. If a relationship can be identified and analyzed, the results will be of value as tools in helping to understand, predict, and change human behavior. It might be further suggested that if there is a strong relationship between attitudes and certain social categories in the church, attitudes of the Brethren on these issues, and perhaps on many more, are, to …

The Negro In California Before 1890, A. Odell Thurman

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Because so little has been written concerning the Negro in California and because the dynamic and romantic sequences in the development of this country have always interested me, I have become interested in knowing what part the Negro, free and slave, played in this panorama of events. Were there Negroes with early expeditions? To what extent did they migrate to the West when "gold fever" had become a nation-wide epidemic? Did they find gold? Where did they settle? What did they do? What difficulty did they encounter politically, socially, and economically? These are questions that have filled my mind, and …