Digital Commons Network^™

How Do First-Generation Latinx Students At An Hsi Community College Navigate Financial Aid Barriers?, Gema M. Mariscal

Dissertations of Practice

ABSTRACT

HOW DO FIRST-GENERATION LATINX STUDENTS AT AN HIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE NAVIGATE FINANCIAL AID BARRIERS?

Gema M. Mariscal, Ed.D.

Department of Counseling and Higher Education

Northern Illinois University, 2025

Gudrun Nyunt, Director

This dissertation looks at how first-generation Latinx students at a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) community college navigate financial aid barriers. While there has been plenty of research on HSIs around enrollment and persistence, much less has been said about the daily struggles students face with financial aid; the forms, the systems, and the policies that often feel overwhelming. Guided by critical race theory (CRT), Latino critical theory (LatCrit), and …

Internal And External Motivational Factors Affecting High School Students' Career And Technical Education Course Selection, Joseph Bruno

Dissertations of Practice

The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the roles self-efficacy, expected outcomes, personal goals, and social influences play in high school students’ career and technical education (CTE) course selection. Grounded in social cognitive career theory, this dissertation explored how self-efficacy beliefs, outcome expectations, personal goals, and social influences shaped students' decisions to enroll in specific CTE courses. The dissertation was completed in three parts. Following an introduction, Part 1 is an in-depth literature review on what CTE is and its history, a background on social cognitive theory, social influences, self-efficacy beliefs, and expected outcomes and personal goals. Part 2 …

"I’Ll Wait Zero Seconds": Faculty Perspectives On Serials Access, Sharing, And Immediacy, Rachel Elizabeth Scott, Anne Shelley, Chad E. Buckley, Cassie Thayer-Styes, Julie A. Murphy

Faculty and Staff Publications – Milner Library

This study explores how faculty across disciplines access and share scholarly serial content and what expectations they have for immediacy. The authors conducted twenty-five in-depth, semi-structured interviews with faculty of various ranks representing all Illinois State University (ISU) colleges. The findings, presented in the words of participants and triangulated with data from local sources, suggest that faculty use a variety of context-specific mechanisms to access and share serial literature. Participants discuss how they use library services such as databases, subscriptions, interlibrary loan, and document delivery, coupled with academic social networks, disciplinary repositories, author websites, and other publicly available sources to …

Unseen Journeying: Latinx Mothers’ Experiences And Navigation Of Pre-Referral Home-School Collaboration, Yoné Rodríguez

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Research has documented various home-school collaboration obstacles faced by Latinx mothers whose children receive special education services. However, minimal attention has focused on Latinx mothers of students in the pre-referral stage—the time when students facing significant academic difficulties may be struggling in the classroom but have not yet been referred to special education evaluation. Responding to this gap in the literature, this qualitative study investigated how Latinx mothers experienced and navigated pre-referral home-school collaboration, which was conceptualized as the dynamic process occurring between family members and school personnel working towards common goals related to student growth. In alignment with Chicana …

City Tech Openlab Oer Checklist With Help Links, Andrew Mckinney, Bree Zuckerman, Cailean Cooney

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Fostering Holistic Transitions: The Role Of Social Capital And Catholic Values In A College Orientation Program, Amir Aligan Austria

Journal of Catholic Education

This study examines how De La Salle University’s college orientation fosters holistic student transition by cultivating social capital, shaping habitus, and embedding Catholic values. Drawing on focus groups with eleven sophomores and juniors, we analyze peer networks, mentoring sessions, peer interactions, and communal rituals through Bourdieu’s habitus and Stanton-Salazar’s institutional agents frameworks, situated within Ex Corde Ecclesiae and Evangelii Gaudium. Findings reveal that structured mentoring and block activities strengthen relational ties; guided reflections function as “habitus exercises”; and liturgies and faith reflections operationalize solidarity, preferential option for the marginalized, and communion. Together, these practices deepen students’ spiritual purpose, moral …

Collaboration: Skill Development Framework. 2nd Edition, Claire Scoular, Daniel Duckworth, Jonathan Heard, Dara Ramalingam

Assessment and Reporting

ACER's skill development framework addresses the challenges associated with teaching and assessing collaboration. It is designed to synthesise and harmonise existing theory and research on collaboration to provide a holistic perspective. It outlines collaboration processes along prescribed strands and aspects that are informed by a sound evidence base. It is based on three strands: Building shared understanding; Collectively contributing; and Regulating the group.

The Predictors Of Self-Censorship On College Campuses, Henry I. Long

CMC Senior Theses

Across U.S. colleges, speech climates are poor. Self-censorship and discomfort expressing views are common. At the same time, we find wide variation in speech climates across different institutions. This study is the first to identify factors that predict variation in speech climates. Drawing on data from multiple sources, including a survey of 58,807 undergraduates across 257 colleges and universities from the Foundation from Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), this study constructs a first-of-its-kind dataset to test three core theories of self-censorship found in the literature—student-centric theories, faculty-centric theories, and administrator-centric theories. We find moderate evidence to support each theory. Overall, …

Equity In Education: How High School Attributes Determine An Admission Into Elite Colleges, Alexia Y. Ortiz

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis seeks to answer the question “Does the type of high school and location affect one’s admission to the three elite colleges: Claremont McKenna College (CMC), Pomona College (Pomona), and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)?” I used a dataset of high schools from five counties in Southern California, San Diego, Imperial, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange, and Los Angeles, to create a regression model that determines whether students from charter, magnet, private, or public schools, and where one’s high school is located neighborhood’s income levels have different rates of admission.

This study found that attending public high school negatively …

Leadership And Management In Action Program (L-Map) Supplement: Case Studies For Humanities And Social Sciences, Giovanna Bonadonna Ph.D., Kevin Kadowaki Ph.D., A. Patricia Mendoza Ph.D., Matthew Thompson Ph.D., Shirl Yang Ph.D.

Office of Postdoctoral Affairs

The Leadership and Management in Action Program (L-MAP) Workbook and Facilitator Guide are authored by Erin Heckler, Ph.D., Jessica A. Hutchins, Ph.D., Molly Grisham, M.A., and Elizabeth Luckman, Ph.D., M.B.A. The L-MAP Project was supported by a Burroughs Wellcome Fund (BWF) Career Guidance for Trainees grant to Washington University in St. Louis, 2019-2021 (co-principal investigators: Erin Heckler, Ph.D., and Jessica Hutchins, Ph.D.).

This Supplement does not (nor does it intend to) replace the L-MAP curriculum. The case studies in this document are designed to accompany the theory in the L-MAP curriculum applying it to discipline-specific situations in the humanities and …

Perceived Obligations Of Older Partners In Living-Apart-Together Relationships, Allison M. Martin, Timothy S. Killian

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Older and middle-aged adults are increasingly in Living-Apart-Together (LAT) relationships characterized by committed romantic relationships without marriage and cohabitation. Because of assumptions that older adults will receive family caregiving as they grow older and need caregiving, it is not clear how people are likely to perceive obligations to provide caregiving assistance. As adults move into old age and incidence rates of Alzheimer’s Disease or Related Dementia (ADRD) increase, questions about the availability of family members to provide needed assistance are complicated by LAT relationships. The purpose of this study was to examine perceived obligations to provide assistance to older adults …

Fact Book, Academic Year 2024, Systems Intelligence And Data Analytics, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Fact Book

The Fact Book presents important campus information in data tables and charts. Included are details regarding students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Generally, data are broken out by college, rank, level, gender, age and ethnicity for both spring and fall semesters, past to present. There are a few academic year tables that include information on tuition & fees, student credit hours by program, and degrees conferred. We wish to thank the many individuals and departments at the University for their contributions to the Fact Book.

Extramural Absolutism, Deepa Das Acevedo

Faculty Articles

As battles over academia escalate, an area of intensifying concern is the speech faculty engage in outside their professional functions—what is often called “extramural” speech. Professors have been criticized, disciplined, pressured to resign, and even terminated for extramural speech that is deemed offensive by individuals inside and outside university communities. And yet, academics generally remain committed to a principle that this Article identifies as extramural absolutism.

The Article explains extramural absolutism’s unpopularity outside academia as a reasonable consequence of the way supporters have presented and justified it. Contrary to widespread scholarly portrayal, extramural absolutism is not a moderate concession justified …

Healing Communities With Police Divestment: Seeking Abolition Through Transformative Reform And Community-Government Collaboration, Jessica E. Gillson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Concerns about the efficacy and sustainability of the U.S. carceral system have persisted throughout the country’s history, recently fueling renewed activism and bipartisan calls for reform. However, proposed solutions remain divisive. This thesis first defines the current status of our prison systems, then explores collaborative alternatives to incarceration and policing that support communities and break cycles of incarceration.

Focusing on partnerships among local governments, community organizations, justice-involved individuals, and law enforcement, this study examines holistic approaches to crime prevention, reentry, and reintegration. Using an interdisciplinary framework incorporating restorative justice, community resilience, and systems theory, it investigates how community-based strategies can …

Truth, Reconciliation, And Neoliberalism: Remembering And Forgetting Pinochet’S Chile, Aimee Leigh Gallagher

History - Master of Arts in Teaching

I. Synthesis Essay………………..................4

III. Primary Documents and Headnotes.....26

IV. Textbook Critique……………….............36

V. Textbook Entry…………………………....42

Survival Mode: Navigating The First Five Years Of Teaching Performing Arts In Neoliberal Education Assemblages, Kirsten Lambert, Christina Gray

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This paper shares data from a longitudinal study into secondary performing arts teachers’ perceptions of their first five years of teaching. Utilising Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of rhizomatic becomings and Braidotti’s posthuman knowing subject, our research explores the embodied, relational, and fluid identities of early career teachers. This is important when exploring nascent teacher becomings because it takes into consideration the configuration of bodies and hyper-performative expectations in neoliberal educational assemblages. Our longitudinal qualitative research in Western Australia revealed that early career teachers (ECTs) experienced concerning levels of mental ill-health in response to insecure employment, high stress, long hours, performative …

The Effect Of Need For Closure, Gender Essentialism, And Contact On Transphobia, Jacob E. Vargas

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Using a motivated social cognition framework, this study explores whether there is an indirect effect of need for closure on transphobia via gender essentialism and whether this relationship is moderated by transgender contact. Data were collected from an undergraduate sample of 405 cisgender participants (n_men = 159, n_women = 246). A simple mediation and a moderated mediation were used to examine the hypothesized relationships, controlling for participant gender. Results reinforced the positive correlation between gender essentialism and transphobia and the negative correlation between transgender contact and transphobia. However, the mediation and moderation hypotheses were not supported. Need …

Boston Scientific Strategic Audit, John Trilling, Carly Gorter, Anna Coffey, Leo Ray

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Boston Scientific had a strong 2023, achieving 13.6% organic growth, $1.208 billion in profit, and maintaining a focus on employee satisfaction and sustainability. Recognized as a top workplace and leading innovator, the company is well-positioned for continued success. Its competitive edge stems from four key strengths. First, its top-tier innovation, driven by strong R&D investment, reinforces its credibility and specialization. Second, its skilled workforce accelerates product development. Third, its deep product lines foster extensive industry knowledge and creativity. Lastly, its logistical capabilities and strategic acquisitions have built a specialized, dominant portfolio. With a focused differentiation strategy, Boston Scientific competes with …

The Role Of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners: Addressing The Shortage And Its Implications For Healthcare, Isabel Mary Mccarthy

Nursing | Student Research Posters

The increasing prevalence of sexual assault cases has highlighted the crucial need for trained healthcare professionals who can effectively provide sensitive care for survivors. Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE) are registered nurses specifically trained to perform forensic examinations and provide medical and emotional support to sexual assault victims. However, many nursing programs lack formal education on SANE practices, which can hinder students' preparedness to address such cases in their future careers. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a specialized Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) training module integrated into an undergraduate nursing curriculum at Dominican University of California. By …

The Impact Of Class Size On Students’ Learning Outcome And Educational Experience: A Comprehensive Examination Of Students At Msu, Mankato, Yakubu Ali

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The topic of class size and its relationship to students' learning outcomes and educational experiences has been extensively examined in the field of education. While prior research has explored associations between class size and academic performance, less is known about how class size shapes professor-student and student-peer interactions and how these interactions relate to students' perceived learning outcomes and overall educational experiences. Using a mixed-methods approach, this study conducted a comprehensive examination of undergraduate students at MSU, Mankato, combining quantitative survey responses with qualitative reflections. Findings suggest that class size is closely tied to patterns of engagement, with smaller classes …

Community Engagement Newsletter, January 2025, University Of Northern Iowa. Office Of Community Engagement.

Community Engagement Newsletter

Contents:

--- Happy New Year
--- Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement
--- Cedar Valley Young Professionals
--- Service-Learning Course Designation
--- Engaged Department Institute: Save the Date, May 27-28
--- Spring Syllabus Consideration
--- Nonprofit Explore-A-Ganza
--- Certified Nonprofit Professional Credential
--- Community Engagement Celebration Day
--- UNI Engaged Podcast

Cognate Facilitation And Processing In English-Speaking Learners Of German, Kaitlin L. Young

Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics

Within the field of second language acquisition, research finds that increased exposure to input results in improved proficiency, especially when those activities are challenging yet manageable for the language learner’s current level. Because of this, listening exercises and speech processing are considered integral to language acquisition, even leading to recommendations of frequent, authentic use of the target language (TL). Instructors’ TL authenticity is, however, sometimes stunted by the demand for comprehensible input and facilitation of classroom activities; they make use of simpler syntax, stronger enunciation, and more cognates (words sharing origins, meanings, and form across languages) than in casual speech. …

Exploring Belongingness, Loneliness, And Distinctiveness On A College Of Agriculture Campus, Sophia Jaramillo-Vasconez

Theses and Dissertations--Community & Leadership Development

The purpose of this study was to explore how sense of belonging, loneliness, and distinctiveness affect students in the Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment (M-G CAFE). By examining the intersection of student demographics and their experiences, this research aimed to provide a deeper understanding of the dynamics that shape students’ agricultural experiences at the postsecondary level. This study investigates the relationship between student characteristics and their reported levels of belonging and loneliness, and how these factors influence perceptions of their representation and distinctiveness within the M-G CAFE program. An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was employed, beginning with …

Ai And Positionality:A Guide For Learning Communities, Emese Ilyés

Open Educational Resources

This practical guide helps educators thoughtfully integrate AI tools while preserving what matters most—student voice and agency. Drawing on research with students navigating AI in higher education, it offers concrete activities and frameworks that position technology as an assistant rather than a replacement for authentic expression. Through adaptable classroom strategies and qualitative approaches, educators across disciplines will discover how to create learning environments where students recognize the value of their unique perspectives in an age of artificial intelligence.

Using The College Choice Model To Examine Why Hbcu Graduates Choose To Attend Pwis For Advanced Studies, Kendall Forde

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine why African American students choose to attend Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) for undergraduate and Predominately White Institutions (PWI) for graduate studies. Many college students have extenuating circumstances that influence their decision to seek higher education, specifically, HBCU’s. The study will investigate student influences and objectives of the college decision. Also, understanding institutions influences recruitment, retention, and college choice. The study will explore comprehensive and understanding of African American students of various backgrounds, also, understanding the experience for African American students excelling in their academic, social, and personal lives during their …

Why Do Schools Continue To Use Between-Class Ability Grouping?, Olivia Johnston, Nerida Spina, Suzanne Macqueen, Rebecca Spooner-Lane

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Allocating students into separate classes within a school depending on their “ability” is common in many countries. This paper presents a theoretical discussion of the practice, considering why it persists despite a long history of research emphasizing consequential problems. Our discussion identifies and critiques four possible reasons that between-class ability grouping is being used in schools again today, despite research advising against the practice. These reasons are: 1) educators’ perspectives that it facilitates differentiation and assists in managing the intensification of teaching; 2) advantages for students in “high ability” and “low ability” classes; 3) cultural acceptability; and 4) historical entrenchment, …

What Is Informal Sport? Negotiating Contemporary Sporting Forms, Justen O’Connor, Ruth Jeanes, Jonathan Magee, Ramón Spaaij, Dawn Penney, Satoshi Miyashita

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

As traditional sport participation stagnates or declines, flexible informal sporting forms are increasingly a focus for those with a vested interest in maximising participation in sport and physical activity. This study critiques existing definitions of informal sport as overly binary, largely unhelpful, and conceptually diffuse. We propose a more nuanced understanding of informal sport that explores participant proximity to the negotiation of practices that come to shape the sporting experience and therefore levels of (in)formality. Drawing on qualitative data from three Australian case studies, we examine how participants negotiate key features of their sporting experience, such as affiliation, environment, scheduling, …

A Hopeful Or Hopeless Future? Perspectives On The Challenges And Opportunities In Catholic Education, Christine Robinson, Linda Cranley

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The research presented in this paper offers a significant contribution to existing discourse that explores the challenges and opportunities within Catholic education. In an increasingly secularised world, Catholic education continues its mission to form and inform young people in the faith. The Church acknowledges that the Catholic school enacts the mission of the Church in society and does so despite a detraditionalised cultural context. The Global Researchers Advancing Catholic Education, known as G.R.A.C.E, was formed to act as a global network of Catholic educators to respond to the ‘signs of the times’ in an innovative and integrated way. This paper …

A Researcher’S Journey To The Use Of Ai For Qualitative Data Analysis: Findings From A Test Case With Chatgpt, Catherine Ferguson

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in higher education has mostly focused on issues associated with teaching and assessment. In this paper I used AI to support the analysis of data which consisted of public comments on a newspaper article. This small, low risk research was chosen to demonstrate the potential use of AI and how it may support qualitative data analysis. I present my journey from a naïve user of AI to a position whereby I would consider using it as a support for future data analysis. My article touches on some of the ethical and accountability issues for …

Finding Their Place: How Teachers Can Become Part Of Their Rural Communities, Mary-Anne Macdonald, Sarah Booth, Kirsten Lambert, Christina Gray, Terry Ngarritjan Kessaris, Takeia Beard

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The tyranny of distance is often perceived as the greatest challenge for teacher retention in rural and remote schools in Australia. Perhaps more accurately, it is the tyranny of placelessness. In this paper, we explore the role of place-connectedness and racial literacy in shaping the interactions of 21 primary and secondary teachers with the social space and place of one Western Australian remote town. Data were collected through interviews and focus groups and analysed with an emergent approach. We propose three levels of place-consciousness to describe the depth of awareness, skill and integration with which a teacher might connect to …