Digital Commons Network^™

Gaining Understanding Of Capital Disparity In The Community College Classroom From A Faculty Perspective Through Action Research, David J. Heflin

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

Positioned between the engagement rich secondary school and the highly social four-year institution, the community college has limited opportunities to connect with students. If community colleges are to meet challenges of providing access to education for students who have traditionally been underserved by higher education, and hold up to new measures of accountability in graduating students, two-year institutions must recognize that faculty-student engagements occurring in the classroom are crucial. Perception and appreciation of student’s capital by faculty through purposeful engagements grounded in theory provide opportunity for understanding capital disparity that exists in the community college classroom.

Active participation of experienced …

Exploring Sense Of Community In A First-Year Experience Course And How Sense Of Community Impacts Students’ Perceptions Of Transition And Persistence In College, Karen L. Mayo

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

This study examines how community was created in a community college FYE 105 Achieving Academic Success course and the impact of classroom community on students’ perceptions of transition and persistence. Community colleges increasingly are focusing on student success as measured by persistence and goal completion such as transfer or attainment of credentials. The classroom learning environment is critical to student success but is a neglected area in retention research. Therefore, it is important to expand the research on initiatives that support students in their quest for success and educational goal completion.

This research focused on one course section of FYE …

Exploring The Significance Of Social Influences On Epistemic Beliefs, David D. Gatsos

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

This document proceeds from an interest in applying theories of student development to higher education policy. The process sobered me from idealistic expectations of profundity to focus on adding relevant building blocks to the established foundation of epistemological development. Progress was found in moving toward clarifying what happens during the change process as a student moves from naïve to mature beliefs. Lead forth out of this ambiguity, unearthing the nature of social influences as a player in the developmental process became a target of this work.

Moving toward a deeper understanding of how concepts of attachment, naiveté, authority, and potential …

Rise Of The Administrator In Higher Education: Focus On Professionalization Of The Registrar At The University Of Kentucky From 1910 To 1937, Nancy D. Taylor

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

The decades following the Civil War saw a tremendous growth in the number of colleges and universities, both public and private, due in large part to funds provided by federal legislation under the Morrill Act of 1862 and a surge in philanthropy on the part of wealthy industrialists. In the early colleges and universities, administrations were typically run by the president alone. With increased enrollment and the demand for expanded services, one man could no longer handle all the administrative functions, and thus was born the administrative professional in higher education. Due to the increased demand for record-keeping, one of …

Gender Discrimination And Title Ix Implementation: Lessons From The Office For Civil Rights Resolution Letters 1997-2011, Laura S. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

Gender discrimination, such as sexual harassment, sexual assault and inequitable treatment has long been considered a prominent issue on higher education campuses and is regulated under the Patsy Takemoto Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act, commonly known as Title IX. Title IX is enforced by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) who responds to gender discrimination complaints on campus through investigations resulting in what are called OCR Resolution Letters. These letters define numerous policies and procedures Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) must put in place pertaining to the prevention of gender discrimination. This qualitative study looks specifically …

Good Leavers And Bad Stayers: Exploring The Influence Of Defining Student Success Outcomes With A Composite Measure Of Performance And Persistence, Curtis T. Sandberg

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

Not all college “stayers” and “leavers” stay or leave for the same reason or with the same experience. However, traditional measures and studies of academic success have limited their scope to either performance or persistence as individual variables. This study explored whether a more nuanced definition of success as a composite of both performance and persistence (GPA and retention) produced different results than when using the variables separately. The influence of academic self-efficacy on student success served as the context for this exploration. The study used an existing incoming student survey dataset from a small private liberal arts college. Subjects …

Influence Of Student Engagement On The Career Transition Of Division I Football Student-Athletes, Ronnie Riley

Theses and Dissertations--Kinesiology and Health Promotion

College’s revenue sports, football and men’s basketball, fuel the billion dollar intercollegiate athletics industry. Historically, those same two sports have maintained the lowest grade point average among all student-athletes. This inverse relationship begs the question, “what academic sacrifices are being made at the expense of college’s revenue sports?”

Student engagement into educationally purposeful activities has been widely acknowledged as having influence on desirable college outcomes. The full extent of student engagement’s effect has yet to be determined. The purpose of this study was to conduct exploratory, qualitative research into the role of student engagement in educationally purposeful activities on the …

Concept Mapping: Effects On Content Knowledge And Engagement With Content In Elementary Students’ Persuasive Writing, Melissa E. Gardner

Theses and Dissertations--Curriculum and Instruction

This comparative pre-test/post-test quantitative study investigated the effect of an instructional strategy using concept mapping as a graphic organizer on the quality of persuasive writing compositions produced by fourth grade elementary school students. Six fourth grade classes were assigned as intact groups to three conditions: concept mapping treatment, four square treatment, and control. Participants wrote a pre-test essay prior to treatment. Treatment consisted of an instructional unit collaboratively developed by the researcher and classroom teachers on persuasive writing. Instruction for the three treatment groups was the same except for type of graphic organizer used (Concept Map, Four Square, or none). …

The Use Of Contrastive Analysis In Code-Switching From Appalachian English Dialect To Standard English Dialect, Shayla D. Mettille

Theses and Dissertations--Curriculum and Instruction

This study examined the use of an intervention, Contrastive Analysis (CA), with fourth-graders’ writing in a Central Appalachian elementary school. The purpose was to improve the use of Standard English in students’ writing in Appalachia by decreasing the number of vernacular features typically used in the writing. The researcher collected data through Consent and Assent Forms, interviews with the fourth-grade teacher, classroom observations and an accompanying CA observation evaluation rubric, pre- and post-writing prompts, selected writings and Writer Self-Perception Scale (WSPS), as well as communication data. Data analysis was accomplished for both the prompts, writing pieces and the WSPS scores. …

Effect Of Load Carriage On Tactical Performance, Justin M. Thomas

Theses and Dissertations--Kinesiology and Health Promotion

Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) operators are specially trained personnel that are required to carry equipment to perform high risk tasks. Given the need to carry this equipment, it is important to understand the potentially deleterious effect that the additional load may have on tactical performance. Furthermore, it is important to identify physical fitness characteristics that are associated with the potential decrement in performance. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of load carriage on tactical performance and identify fitness characteristics associated with any decrement in performance. Twelve male operators performed a simulated tactical test (STT) …

The Effect Of Fluid Periodization On Athletic Performance Outcomes In American Football Players, Christopher W. Morris

Theses and Dissertations--Kinesiology and Health Promotion

For decades strength and conditioning professionals have been seeking optimal training volumes and intensities to yield maximum performance outcomes without the onset of injury. Unfortunately, current studies apply experimental training techniques without considering the individuals’ response to the imposed training load. Due to the vast genetic variability and extraneous environmental factors that affect one’s ability to recover, results from such studies are controversial and inconclusive. Athlete monitoring systems offer an objective assessment that is purported to evaluate an individual’s physiological readiness to adapt to an overload stimulus and thus allow for daily manipulations in training loads (i.e., fluid periodization). However, …

Parentage Prenups And Midnups, Jeffrey A. Parness

Faculty Articles, Papers, and Other Scholarship

In July 2012, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws recommended for enactment in all American states the Uniform Premarital and Marital Agreements Act. Unlike its predecessor, the Act treats “premarital agreements and marital agreements under the same set of principles and requirements.” Like its predecessor, it speaks largely to agreements on property, including money. Unlike its predecessor, it expressly recognizes there may be agreements on “custodial responsibility.” Custodial agreements are not “binding” on the courts under the Act because parents and prospective parents do not have the power to waive the rights of third parties (their current …

Troxel Revisited: A New Approach To Third Party Childcare, Jeffrey A. Parness

Faculty Articles, Papers, and Other Scholarship

In 2000 in Troxel v. Granville, four United States Supreme Court justices determined that the “liberty interests of parents in the care, custody, and control of their children” generally foreclose states from compelling requested grandparent childcare over current parental objections. Yet, these four justices recognized that “special factors” might justify judicial interference as long as the contrary contemporary wishes of parents were accorded “at least some special weight.” The plurality, and one concurring justice, reserved the question of whether any “nonparental” visitation, presumedly also encompassing stepparents, siblings and others, must “include a showing of harm or potential harm to the …

Stress, Anxiety Symptomology, And The Need For Student Support Services For University Freshmen Of First-Generation Status, Low-Ses Backgrounds, And Those Registered With Disabilities, Kelly Dale Allison

LSU Master's Theses

Three populations of concern for professional social workers in higher educational settings include first-generation college students (FGCSs), students from low socio-economic (low-SES) backgrounds, and students with disabilities. As the national demand for degrees in higher education rises both socially and economically, the push for young adults’ postsecondary success becomes increasingly crucial. In college and university settings, a significant portion of students may be classified as FGCSs, low-SES, or may be registered with a disability. Examining these vulnerable populations within higher education settings, particularly regarding stress and anxiety symptomology, can help social workers recognize the social, developmental, and academic inhibitions that …

The False Idealization Of Heteronormativity And The Repression Of Queerness, Catherine Lynn Thurmond

LSU Master's Theses

In this thesis, entitled “The False Idealization of Heteronormativity and the Repression of Queerness,” I examine heteronormativity as a social structure that is idealized over, and against, queerness. In the first chapter, I define heteronormativity and queerness. “Heteronormativity,” here, is simply a set of standards that dictate what one must do with their gender and sexuality, such as having sexual relations with the opposite sex, getting married, or having children. Heteronormativity is visible, validated, and normalized in society. Conversely, “queerness” refers to the social structures that dictate what one must not do with their gender and sexuality. Thus, queerness is …

Griggs At Midlife, Deborah A. Widiss

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Griggs v. Duke Power, the Supreme Court case that held that policies that disproportionately harm minority employees can violate federal employment discrimination law even without evidence of “intentional” discrimination, recently turned forty. Griggs is generally celebrated as a landmark decision, but disparate impact’s current relevance (and its constitutionality) is hotly debated. Robert Belton’s The Crusade for Equality in the Workplace offers a rich and detailed history of the strategic choices that led to the plaintiffs’ victory in Griggs. This Review uses Belton’s history as a jumping off point to consider the contemporary importance of disparate impact in efforts to challenge …

Book Review. Reviving Fiscal Citizenship, Ajay K. Mehrotra

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In recent years, numerous lawmakers, policy analysts, and scholars have been decrying the many defects of the present U.S. income tax system. Few have attempted to defend our return-based mass income tax. This essay reviews Learning to Love Form 1040, Lawrence Zelenak’s stirring and persuasive defense of a simplified version of our present federal income tax system. In contrast to the conventional economic critiques, Zelenak explores the underappreciated social, cultural, and political benefits of a return-based, mass income tax. Chief among these, he argues, is the existing regime’s potential to raise the tax consciousness of the average citizen and to …

The Effects Of Post-Exercise Consumption Of A Kefir Beverage On Performance And Recovery During Intensive Endurance Training, Keely Virginia O'Brien

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study was designed to determine whether kefir accentuates the positive health benefits assessed by measures in fitness and/or body composition, as a measure of cardiovascular disease risk as well as the biomarker c-reactive protein. Sixty-seven adult males and females aged 18-35 years were assigned to one of four groups: 1) endurance training + control beverage, 2) endurance training + kefir beverage, 3) active control + control beverage or 4) active control + kefir beverage. The exercise groups completed 15 weeks of structured endurance training while the active control groups maintained their usual exercise routine. Baseline physiological and exercise measurements …

From With–In The Black Diamond: The Intersections Of Masculinity, Ethnicity, And Identity–An Epistolary Autoethnographic Exploration Into The Lived Experiences Of A Black Male Graduate Student, Vincent Tarrell Harris

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

From With-In The Black Diamond: (Black Diamond) autoethnographically explores the lived experiences of a Black male who navigates his way through a predominately white higher education institutions while existing within marginalized spaces related to his gender, ethnicity, and identity. Black Diamond uses epistolary writing techniques to explore question research question: 1. How has a Black Gay male graduate student studying Higher Education negotiated his way to and through predominately white higher education institutions? In order to support the answering of this question I will argue that the most influential reasons higher education literature rarely addresses controversial topics related to GLBTQ …

Communicating Sustainability With Visuals: Issue Perception And Issue Engagement, Zeynep Melis Altinay

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Today the list of environmental disasters threatening lives and natural resources has expanded to include many causes. Even though sustainable solutions have never been so urgent, public still issues low priority to many of these serious threats. Many impacts of environmental deprivation, such as coastal land loss, are invisible to the untrained eye, causing individuals to distance themselves psychologically from the risks. The slow pace of environmental degradation constitutes one of the biggest challenges in sustainability communication. The success of sustainable development will require the public to undergo a significant shift in thinking about environmental issues. This dissertation systemically investigates …

#Becoming: Emergent Identity Of College Students In The Digital Age Examined Through Complexivist Epistemologies, Paul William Eaton

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores the possibilities and limitations of conducting research on college student identity in the digital age. Utilizing philosophical theories from complexity theory, post-qualitative research, and new materialisms, I interrogate, question, disrupt, and challenge current theories and models of college student identity, largely developed from a positivist, modernist, empiricist perspective. Conducting research on college student identity in the twenty-first century may benefit from discarding the old ‘developmental’ language of the twentieth century, replacing this discourse and understanding with a language drawn from complexity theory. In this regard, I believe educators, researchers, and practitioners should begin talking about identity emergence …

Student-Athlete Academic And Athletic Identity And Self-Efficacy, Bailey Ann Macnab

LSU Master's Theses

The present study was designed to gain insight into student-athlete identity and self-efficacy. The study will discuss findings from a confirmatory analysis of the internal consistency reliability and validity of two scales found by using Cronbach’s alpha and confirmatory factor analysis. This is discussed in the instruments area of the Methods section. The main part of the study seeks to gain insight into the academic and athletic identity of student athletes and if and how that identity relates to student’s academic and athletic self-efficacy. A sample of 108 current Division I Student-Athletes at a large southeastern university were administered a …

L'Essentiel Ou Lagniappe: The Ideology Of French Revitalization In Louisiana, Albert Camp

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Louisiana’s French revitalization movement has received millions of dollars in taxpayer funding through its various initiatives such as music and cultural festivals, public school French immersion programs, and academic exchange programs, among others. Over forty years ago, the state of Louisiana created CODOFIL, a government agency dedicated to the promotion of Francophone language and culture in Louisiana, yet the number of Francophones in the state has continued to decline at an alarming rate according to the most reliable data available. My study investigates the ideology and demographics of those involved in French education programs in Louisiana’s public schools. Who decides …

Forfeiture Of Confrontation Rights And The Complicated Dynamics Of Domestic Violence: Some Thoughts Inspired By Myrna Raeder, Aviva A. Orenstein

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In this essay and memorial to my friend and colleague, Myrna Raeder, I examine forfeiting the right of confrontation in the context of domestic violence cases. In 2004, Crawford v. Washington the United States Supreme Court reinterpreted the Sixth Amendment, requiring that for “testimonial statements” to be offered against the accused, the speaker must appear in court, or, if unavailable, must have been subject to cross-examination previously. The practical effect of Crawford was to exclude many out-of-court statements that had previously been admissible. Nowhere was the effect of Crawford more striking than in domestic violence cases, where victims often make …

"The Lonely Romantic": Nature, Education, And Cultural Pessimism In The Early Works Of Hermann Hesse, Erik Paul Wagner

LSU Master's Theses

This study examines the early works of Hermann Hesse in the historical context of early twentieth-century Germany. While Hesse’s literary career spans over six decades, most scholarship focuses only on a brief period. Historians study his Weimar novels, as psychologically penetrating pieces that offer insights into this fascinating and chaotic era of German history. Yet, Hesse’s early works have not received due attention in historical scholarship. This situation is unfortunate because Hesse’s prewar writings provide interesting and relevant commentary on life in fin de siècle Germany. Hesse’s early writings offer unique insights into aspects of German culture and society, specifically …

Insights From Complexity: A Study Of The Implementation Of A District-Wide Literacy Initiative Through The Lens Of Complex Systems Theory, Mary Kathryn Hudson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Complexity Theory provides unique insights into the implementation and operations of a district literacy initiative. The successful and unsuccessful structures of the literacy initiative are examined through a complexity lens in order to gain insight into the relationships between elements of a complex system and its processes operating within a “top-down” educational directive and the resulting “bottom-up” resistance. This qualitative study uses a phenomenological approach to advance complex systems theory. This allows a multi-dimensional exploration of the fundamental attributes of the district initiative, its processes and the relationships within those processes. The literacy initiative in a large urban school district …

Social Functioning In Schizotypy: An Exploration Of Communicative Effectiveness Through Speech Analysis And Observer Rated Performance In A Socially Demanding Task, Tracey Lauren Auster

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Individuals with schizotypal traits have demonstrated sub-clinical symptoms of psychosis (e.g. perceptual disturbances, self-reported social functioning impairment, self-reported memory problems, and delusions). However, the evidence has been mixed regarding what impairments exist, particularly with regards to social functioning domains. As schizotypy is posited to reflect an underlying vulnerability for development of clinical levels of psychosis/risk conversion, individuals with these traits are an important group to study in order to identify these vulnerabilities. Research has indicated that current measures of social functioning (whether they are localized objective measures of verbal and non-verbal communication or global self-report of functioning) are missing some …

People’S Perception Of Free Trade And Economic Sophistication, Igor Kuznetsov

LSU Master's Theses

The question of which factors form people’s attitudes toward free trade has occupied scholars’ minds for no less than two decades. Many theories were suggested in an attempt to explain why some individuals strongly support protectionist policies while others prefer trade liberalization. These explanations range from classical economic models of factors of production to nationalism, the fear of foreign cultures, and gender differences. The contribution of this paper is that I combine economic and non-economic approaches, introducing the possibility that individuals may think from an economic perspective or draw on other considerations depending on what they know about economics. That …

Examining The Supervisor-Similarity And Work-Family Conflict Relationship: Is Family-Supportive Supervision A Mediator?, Chela M. White-Ramsey

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

To say that interest in work-family conflict has increased is an understatement. With the number of dual-earner households increasing, the diversification of the workforce, and women quickly moving into industries that were once primarily male-dominated, the work-family literature is filled with various intonations of the concept. Drawing on insights from social identity and self-categorization theories, this dissertation examined how supervisor-subordinate demographic similarity might relate to the provision of family-supportive supervision and work-family conflict. 102 members of a professional organization dedicated to women who work in technology were surveyed to evaluate whether or not supervisor-subordinate racial and gender similarity would predict …

Evaluating The Interspersal Procedure Using Free Access To A Competing Reinforcer, Catherine Rose Lark

LSU Master's Theses

Previous research has shown that interspersing additional easy problems among difficult target problems increases target problem fluency and student preference for an assignment. Nonetheless, there have been some contradictory findings concerning the efficacy of the interspersal procedure, so more research is needed to determine whether teachers should use this procedure for academic assignments. The current study attempted to replicate and extend the research on this procedure by using access to a competing reinforcer (an iPad) and a homework analogue. Fourth-grade students were given access to an iPad, but were told to work first for 10 minutes each on a control …