Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Navigating College While Homeless: A Phenomenological Inquiry Of The Young Adult Experience, Bertha Fountain

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Purpose: The study aimed to understand the perspectives of students in college who were homeless. The research question guiding this inquiry was: How do young adults describe their experience of being homeless while in college?

Method: Qualitative research using a phenomenological approach guided this descriptive inquiry. Interviews were held with 10 students from three CUNY Community Colleges and the data was analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Resilience theory helped to understand the barriers along with the strengths and adaptive responses of the students.

Results: Students experienced unstable and inadequate sleeping arrangements and food insecurity along with their academic responsibilities. Homelessness …

A Student Conduct Administrator’S Journey To Wellness, Corie Amanda Marie Mccallum

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation research chronicles my experiences with emotions and learning as a student conduct administrator throughout the arduous process of investigating, becoming, and transforming by engaging sociocultural theory. Grounded in Authentic Inquiry (Tobin, 2006), this research centers my lived-experience and nuances the role of emotions in student affairs and especially student conduct practices. Throughout this dissertation I address themes surrounding reflexivity (Bourdieu, 1992), emotions (Turner, 2002) (Collins, 2004), and self-care. Each chapter is interpretive and impressionistic and represents my thinking as a researcher and conduct administrator. Throughout the chapters I narrate salient events and experiences in my student conduct practice …

A Lasting Impression: Higher Education’S Effects On Mass Polarization In The Us, Bradley Highfield

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Political polarization has been growing exponentially over the past few decades, not only with political elites and party activists, but also in the mass public. During the same period of time, the United States has also seen an exponential increase in higher education attainment. This paper examines the possible relationship higher education and elite political polarization may have in regards to the increasing polarization within the American electorate. Additionally, I aim to extrapolate how collegiate institutions create an increase in ideological polarization, as well as affective partisanship, while synthesizing Political Science studies on the effects of college education towards political …

Refugee Higher Education And Participatory Action Research Methods: Lessons Learned From The Field, Hadas Yanay

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Refugee access to higher education is devastatingly low. Recognizing the complex barriers facing refugee learners, global educational initiatives are innovating flexible learning models which promote blended online and in-person learning modalities. This article describes the implementation of a five month, online-based internship pilot offered to 21 refugee participants in qualitative and quantitative research methods, through a participatory action research (PAR) framework in five different countries -- Malawi, Kenya, South Africa, Rwanda, and Lebanon. The internship is part of the Global Education Movement (GEM), which brings refugees accredited online college degree and career development opportunities. Through direct engagement, observation of the …

Economics Of Higher Education Productivity, Uchenna K. Oparah

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

How does spending affect academic outcomes in higher education institutions? Postsecondary schools incur costs to provide services to its student body. In this study, I introduce multiple outcome variables, a two-stage production function, and current-year expenditures on core services to evaluate how school spending affects academic outcomes.

The empirical analysis includes 28 group sample parameter estimates from four outcome variables, the pooled sample, and group samples for each of six sectors. The fixed effects/instrumental variable (FE-IV) instructional expenditure parameter estimates were positive for 20 of the 28 group samples. The sign and size of the estimated academic output effects varied …

School Optimism: Fast Life And Slow Debt In The Financialized University, Mark Alan Porter Webb

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Over the past two decades, educational debt has quickly transformed US colleges and universities into spaces of cruel optimism: the higher education that students desire is all too often an obstacle to their flourishing. This study maps the contours of the white, middle-class attachment to the college dream, paying particular attention to the moments when the optimism surrounding higher education turns cruel. As this optimism wanes in the face of mounting educational debt, students deploy a myriad of fast life strategies—a flurry of actions that include work, activism, protest, leaving school and/or satirical critique—with the hope of mitigating the impact …

Kang Teaches The Political Economics Of The Far East, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

“All my life North and South Korea have been a divided country. Almost all young people in South Korea have to serve in the military. I felt that I needed to understand what is going on in the world—not only international relations, but political economy and social relations. I tried to figure it out, and that was the motivation. Another thing was my ignorance of international relations, especially political economy.”

That’s how Dr. Myung-koo Kang explains why he became the political economist he is today. After studying international relations at Seoul National University, he received a master’s and a doctoral …

Seid Studies Issues Of Chinese Culture And Gender, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

“I am a child of an immigrant from Hong Kong. My grandparents were also Chinese immigrants to the U.S. It is common for the second or third generation to return to the culture, to study the language. I wanted to understand Chinese immigration to the US, and that has always been a very important topic to me as a scholar. Later, I found that I could study literature and media and look at Asian- American representation and at the history of how the Chinese immigrated to the U.S.” That is how Dr. Danielle Seid explains why she has such a …

Gander Thinks We Need More Civility In Public Discourse, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

“I became a professor of communication studies because I like talking about public arguments.” That’s how Dr. Eric Gander explains why he is what he is today. And in this era of public discussions of free speech and the First Amendment, his interests seem more relevant than ever.

Gander is a native of Tallahassee, Florida. He received a bachelor’s in economics a master’s in communication from the University of Virginia, and a doctorate in communication studies from Northwestern University. Today he is an associate professor in the Department of Communication Studies of the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences at …

Language Attitudes In Algeria, Kamal Belmihoub

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Watts Teaches About Social Responsibility And Leadership, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

“When I was an undergraduate, I kept ip- opping back and forth between being a business major and being a psychology major. Then I took a class on giving people psychological assessments to help them identify what their strengths are and what careers they might be a good fit for. It was in that class that I first heard of industrial/organizational psychology.” This is how Dr. Logan Watts explains how he chose to become a psychologist.

A native of Georgetown, Texas, he obtained his doctorate in industrial/organizational psychology from the University of Oklahoma, and today he is an assistant professor …

Hahn Teaches, Studies The Ways People Communicate, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

“When I was in middle school, I joined the policy debate team, and I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed the research process, but I also enjoyed the ways we were taught to examine multiple opinions and to use what’s called ‘dissoi logoi,’ or the ability to examine standpoints that you don’t understand and to defend them so that you understand your own standpoint much better.”

That is how Dr. Allison Hahn, an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies of the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences at Baruch College, explains how she became interested in communication studies. This …

Beeman Studies Racism In Today’S America, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

“When I went to college at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, I became interested in sociology because it addressed issues of family and class dynamics and the issues that low-income working-class families struggle with. I avoided the racial element of it at first because my family and I had always been targeted as being among the few people of color in that community, and there is a kind of shame involved with that.”

This is how Dr. Angie Beeman explains how she came to be a sociologist. A native of Somerset, Pennsylvania, she went on to obtain a doctorate at the …

Essays On Economics Of Inequality, Aboozar Hadavand

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation consists of three chapters all around the subject of inequality. The first chapter provides a novel analysis of the trend in income inequality in the United States between 1979--2013. There are two ways in which this chapter contributes to the literature. First, I analyze how much of the existing inequality in the U.S. is due to the demographic changes that happened over this period. Using microdata from Luxembourg Income Study and after decomposing inequality into within- and between-age group components, I find that the within-group share of overall inequality in the U.S. is high and steady compared to …

Goodman Teaches How Corporations Should Communicate, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

Michael Goodman never thought he would become an expert in corporate communication. In fact, his degrees are all in English, from his bachelor’s at the University of Texas in Austin to his master’s and doctorate in literature from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook. “I like to tell people that anyone who can read and understand, interpret, analyze and then comment on Moby Dick and the novels of Mark Twain and Faulkner should be able to figure out annual reports and memos and things like that,” he says.

Before he obtained his doctorate, Goodman did some …

Scherbaum Studies The World Of Work, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

“My interest in psychology has evolved over time. My parents owned a small business when we were young, and we saw firsthand some of the challenges and issues of managing organizations, managing the people in the organizations, hiring, ring; and it always got me curious.” That is how Dr. Charles Scherbaum, a native of Anchorage, Alaska, explains how he became interested in psychology as a career.

After growing up in Seattle, where he obtained his bachelor’s in psychology from the University of Washington, he completed his master’s and doctorate, also in psychology, at Ohio University and became an assistant professor …

Medved Studies Communication At Home And At Work., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

“Through language, through communication, we create our world. We come to understand who we are through relationships. How you come to understand who you are, it all happens through language and through communication.” That is how Dr. Caryn Medved answers when asked why she chose communications as an academic field.

Medved, a native of Toledo, Ohio, has had an interest in communications since she was young. She decided to pursue a bachelor’s degree in the subject at Michigan State University and later a master’s in labor-industrial relations at the same institution, not a bad choice since the university has one …

Albright Uses Avatars, Horses To Improve Mental Health., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

“When I was a college student, I was struggling in an intimate relationship I was forming, and it got to the point where I had to do something about it. So I went into the counseling center, and that’s what really turned me on—noticing the change within myself and the impact of counseling on the way we view our lives.”

That is the way Dr. Glenn Albright explains how he became interested in psychology in general and in counseling in particular. A native of Albany, New York, Albright received his bachelor’s in biology from Parson College in Iowa, his MS …

Cohen Looks At The Influence Of Politics On Art, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

“I’m a professor of politics and I’ve been politically concerned since I was a teenager, and music has always been of great interest to me, along with the tensions between what is created artistically and what political ideas are embedded or may be embedded— sometimes consciously, sometimes not so consciously—in various types of artworks.”

This opening statement may surprise many, but it shows how professors like Dr. Mitchell Cohen cross disciplinary boundaries to explain how the world works.

Gabor Teaches, Practices Reporting The Truth., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

In these days when Watergate is being discussed anew, some journalism professors remember that time as an inspiration for their profession. “I grew up on stories about journalism and civil rights and became fascinated. That was also the Watergate era, which influenced many journalists of my generation, so I was very interested in journalism, although my family, like many families, tried to discourage me. But that’s where the roots of my interest really took hold.”

That is how Professor Andrea Gabor explains how she became interested in journalism. This Chicago native went on to obtain a master’s in journalism from …

Patrick Teaches Communication With A Critical Edge., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

“I think I started because I love to dance, and I really started moving into the area of communication when I started dancing. I danced, I acted, I sang.” That’s how Professor Denise Patrick explains how she became a college faculty member in the area of communication studies.

A native New Yorker, Patrick received a bachelor’s degree in corporate communication from Baruch College and a master’s in Rhetoric and Communication from Temple University in Philadelphia. She would later return home to become a lecturer in the Department of Communication Studies at the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences in Baruch …

Naidoo Explores The Psychology Of Leaders And Their Followers., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

“I started out being very interested from a very young age in biology. I loved animals, birds and wildlife, and spent much of my time running around the woods in Canada identifying different species and such,” says Loren Naidoo. Yet this native of Montreal decided to make a career in psychology.

“In high school I had a close friend who was somebody everyone liked and looked up to and wanted as a friend. At a certain point, he attempted suicide and that really floored me and really made me wonder how is it that this person that everyone really looks …

Mcmanus Studies, Teaches International Conflicts., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

Sometimes people in academia get their inspiration from unsuspected sources. That is the case with political scientists such as Dr. Roseanne McManus. “While in middle school I started reading novels by Tom Clancy and Clive Cussler. Reading about the strategic interaction of countries in these books made me interested to learn more both about the former Soviet Union and about how countries interact with each other and how they choose their strategies to get what they want,” she says.

This native of Towson, Maryland, went on to obtain a master’s degree in government and politics at the University of Maryland …

Jones Studies The Condition Of American Politics., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

There are many reasons why people decide upon a career. Some follow family tradition, others seek careers with the potential for a big paycheck, still others are inspired by a particular professor in college. But in certain cases, something more mundane explains how a person arrives at such a momentous decision.

“I grew up in a family where, every morning as I was eating my cereal before going to school, the radio was on with the news,” says Dr. David Jones, a professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences in …

Mangels Analyzes And Teaches Human Behavior., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

“I didn’t always want to become a psychologist.” That is the way Dr. Jennifer Mangels began her interview. For someone who was not sure what career path to follow while in college, she has not done badly at all.

A native of Morristown, New Jersey, she obtained her bachelor’s degree from the University of Delaware and a doctorate in psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. Today she is a professor and chair in the Department of Psychology of the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences at Baruch College.

Griffiths Looks At The Way Movies Portray People., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

Movies are in one way or another works of fiction even when they try to narrate reality. Yet movies can help us understand how society looks at people, places, and times, opening windows onto other worlds.

Dr. Alison Griffiths studies the ways that cinema forms those windows. A professor in the Department of Communication Studies in the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences at Baruch College of the City University of New York, she has spent her entire professional career analyzing how movies represent realities.

De Graauw Studies The Role Of Nonprofits On Immigration., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

Immigration is, and always has been, a hot issue. And it’s gotten even hotter in the last few years, both in Europe and in the U.S. More times than not, this topic seems to be discussed in emotional rather than rational terms. That is why we need scholars who look closely at the facts and tell us what we really need to know.

One of those scholars is Dr. Els de Graauw. An assistant professor in the Department of Political Science in the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences at Baruch College, de Graauw has an interesting personal sto- ry …

Eversley Studies Racial And Sexual Identities., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

Sexuality and race are topics that many don’t feel comfortable talking about. Yet they form part of our daily lives, and trying to ignore them will not help us in dealing with these touchy and sometimes divisive issues in our society. For that very reason, we need more scholarship on them, so we can understand them better and try to untangle their complexities.

One scholar who has spent her professional career researching the issues of sexuality and race is Dr. Shelly Eversley. “Sexuality and race inform perspective,” explains Eversley.

Alien, Illegal, Undocumented: Labeling, Context, And Worldview In The Immigration Debate And In The Lives Of Undocumented Youth, David A. Caicedo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

A key element of investigating attitudes towards unauthorized immigrants in the United States has been political orientation, yet few studies have examined the influence of such orientation on labels relevant to the immigration debate. The current dissertation project examined these attitudes among young adults using survey, focus group, and interview methodologies. Level of agreement on various statements regarding unauthorized immigrants was examined in Study I, definitions given for the labels ‘illegal’ and ‘undocumented’ were explored in Study II, and the lived experience of undocumented youth in two community colleges was investigated in Study III. It was hypothesized that: I) attitudes …

Apps In Higher Education: Criteria And Evaluation, Rebecca Arzola, Stefanie Havelka

Publications and Research

In this article, the authors will consider different evaluation methods for mobile applications. A closer look is taken at app criteria and benchmarks by librarians, by topic, accessibility, and rubrics.