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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

2018

Higher Education

Articles 1 - 9 of 9

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

A Support Program For College Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Functioning Of Participants Versus Non-Participants And The Role Of Program-Sponsored Mentoring, Ayla Raven Mapes Dec 2018

A Support Program For College Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Functioning Of Participants Versus Non-Participants And The Role Of Program-Sponsored Mentoring, Ayla Raven Mapes

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Increasingly more students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are attending college. In response, many colleges are now offering these students the extra support of an Autism Support Program (ASP), many of which include a mentoring component. This study is one of only a handful of attempts to examine these programs empirically. Using a small sample of college students who identified as having ASD, I compared participants and non-participants of a university ASP. An online survey was used to assess demographic characteristics and pre-college academic performance, as well as students’ functioning across the following domains: social, adaptive, academic, emotional, and having …

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Mindset, Mentor, And Money: How Each Influences College Success, Malachi Nichols Dec 2018

Mindset, Mentor, And Money: How Each Influences College Success, Malachi Nichols

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Across society, the consistent influx of students enrolling in higher education institutions without a comparable increase in degree attainment has produced a heightened awareness and a desire to identify the factors related to influencing college success. This dissertation aims to develop a greater understanding of three potentially relevant factors and their respective influences in facilitating college success at the University of Arkansas. First, I evaluate the Student Talent Enrichment Program (STEP) Grant program, designed to fulfill low-income first-year students’ financial needs and encourage their persistence on to their second year of college. Second, I study the effectiveness of the BounceBack …

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The Influence Of Family Cohesion And Relationship Maintenance Strategies On Stress During Students’ Adjustment To College, Claire C. Strutzenberg Aug 2018

The Influence Of Family Cohesion And Relationship Maintenance Strategies On Stress During Students’ Adjustment To College, Claire C. Strutzenberg

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the effects of family cohesion and relationship maintenance behaviors on students’ experience of stress during the adjustment to college. One hundred and ninety-eight first-year college students completed measures assessing family cohesion; relationship maintenance behaviors expressed within their family systems; and academic, social, and personal-emotional stress. Results indicated that family cohesion is significantly and negatively related to students’ experiences of academic, social, and personal-emotional stress. Further, hierarchical regression and structural equation modeling provided insight to the additive influence of relationship maintenance behaviors on student stress. Analyses provided limited support for a mediation model, however, results demonstrated the importance …

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Assessing A Peer Mentor Program In An Honors College Of Agriculture, Isabel Whitehead Aug 2018

Assessing A Peer Mentor Program In An Honors College Of Agriculture, Isabel Whitehead

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to assess mentees’ experiences in a peer mentor program in an honors college of agriculture and to determine which factors impact mentees’ ability to relate to their peer mentor based on the theory of homophily and interpersonal attraction. Colleges of agriculture are encouraged to examine which determinants impact students’ decisions to enter agri-science programs, what draws students to postsecondary agricultural programs, and to try recruiting underserved individuals into higher education to fulfill open employment opportunities for diverse, skilled, and globally competent individuals (Goeker, et al., 2015; Stripling & Ricketts, 2017). Peer mentoring is often …

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The El Dorado Promise: Impacts On Postsecondary Enrollment And Completion, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter Jun 2018

The El Dorado Promise: Impacts On Postsecondary Enrollment And Completion, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

The El Dorado Promise has offered scholarships to almost 3,000 students since its creation in 2007. In this brief, we examine the impact of the placebased scholarship on postsecondary enrollment and completion for all students and for certain subgroups. Our results indicate that the Promise has significantly increased overall postsecondary enrollment and BA completion.

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Transformational Leadership In Club Sports: An Instrument For Evaluation And Assessment, Nathan Shelby Hutchens May 2018

Transformational Leadership In Club Sports: An Instrument For Evaluation And Assessment, Nathan Shelby Hutchens

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Campus Recreation and its programs can be used as a way to combat the national trends of decreasing enrollment and retention (Weaver, Forte, & McFadden, 2017; Kampf & Teske, 2013). In fact, 62% of students indicate that Campus Recreation programs are a factor when choosing an institution and 67% indicate that recreation programs were a factor when deciding to stay at a particular institution (Forrester, 2014). As a program within Campus Recreation, Club Sports specifically is perceived to have the greatest health and wellbeing benefits out of all Campus Recreation programming (Lower, Turner, & Petersen, 2013). Due to the voluntary …

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Evaluating An Academic Bridge Program Using A Mixed Methods Approach, Leslie May Yingling May 2018

Evaluating An Academic Bridge Program Using A Mixed Methods Approach, Leslie May Yingling

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As the demand for college degrees has increased, college enrollment has grown significantly, and economic forces have applied greater pressure on the higher education environment to produce more degrees and better post-graduation outcomes. Many public colleges and universities have felt these pressures distinctly because of their state funding environments and the specific expectations that exist within them. While college aspirations and attendance have broadly improved, achievement gaps persist along cultural, generational, and socioeconomic lines. In an effort to navigate and negotiate institutional goals, public expectations, economic needs, and educational ideals, institutions engage in diverse approaches to recruitment and retention. Academic …

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How College Campuses Are Using Social Media During Severe Weather Events, Emmale Davis May 2018

How College Campuses Are Using Social Media During Severe Weather Events, Emmale Davis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explores how college campuses are using social media during severe weather events. This topic surfaced after a tornado devastated Moore, Oklahoma in May 2013 and those displaced flocked to the University of Oklahoma campus after a post made on Twitter went viral prior to an official message being sent out by the university. In order to further explore this topic, a qualitative phenomenological case study was conducted at the following sites: University of Alabama, Missouri Southern State University, University of Oklahoma, and Florida State University. This study included observations of social media posts on Facebook and Twitter on …

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Exploring School Counselors’ Narratives Of Cacrep Accredited Online Education Programs, Rebecca Van Der Hagen Jan 2018

Exploring School Counselors’ Narratives Of Cacrep Accredited Online Education Programs, Rebecca Van Der Hagen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Online education is a growing part of academia. The number of online school-counseling programs is also increasing and beginning to include face-to-face and online programs. Little research describes online education and even less discusses online school-counseling programs. The purpose of this study was to examine and interpret participants’ experiences of being trained and graduating from a CACREP online school-counseling master’s program, as well as how their training prepared them for their current role as a school counselor. A qualitative inquiry was conducted to understand online school-counseling programs and reported how six professional school counselors perceived their online program with a …

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