Digital Commons Network^™

Navigating Institutional Logics: How University Leaders Align Mission And Market In Tuition-Driven Academic Programs, Iselgis Garcia

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Universities face mounting fiscal pressures from declining state appropriations, enrollment volatility, and growing competition. In response, many have turned to tuition-driven revenue programs to sustain operations, revealing enduring tensions between academic and market logics - the competing value systems that shape legitimacy, financial sustainability, and mission fulfillment. While institutional theory has examined these dynamics at macro levels, less is known about how leaders interpret and reconcile them in practice.

This qualitative study, grounded in the institutional logics perspective, explores how higher education administrators navigate academic and market logics when developing and managing tuition-driven academic programs. Using a grounded theory design, …

The Effects Of Academic, Extracurricular, And Co-Curricular Engagement On Undergraduate Employability And Compensation, Jack Gault, Steve Bok, Evan Leach, Marc Duey

Marketing Faculty Publications

Employers worldwide are increasingly seeking undergraduates who combine strong academic performance  with professional competencies developed through extracurricular and co-curricular activities. This  empirical investigation surveyed 651 U.S. and multinational hiring managers (HMs) to assess how these  factors influenced their internship and entry-level hiring decisions. Results indicate that while superior  academic performance (AP) remains paramount, HMs assigned well-rounded students engaged in relevant  ECAs and CCAs, higher perceived employability and compensation premiums (CPs). Candidates holding  leadership roles in activities directly related to their position of interest commanded the highest CPs.  Implications include early-career guidance for students, counselors, recruiters, and other higher education  institution …

Faculty Touchpoint Survey 2025: Key Findings And Recommendations, Lisa A. Marchiondo, Naila V. Decruz-Dixon, Julia Fulghum

ADVANCE Reports

A Spring 2025 climate survey finds that UNM faculty remain committed to their teaching, scholarship, and collegial relationships, despite concerns about research funding, academic freedom, and graduate student recruitment and well-being. The survey also found that faculty have higher levels of stress than in a previous ADVANCE survey, worse psychological well-being, more difficulty concentrating, and more concern about tenure and promotion. A set of recommendations for academic leaders are provided.

General Practice Training In Australia National Report On The 2025 National Registrar Survey, Rebecca Taylor, Leyna Clarke, Michelle Hsien

Higher education research

The General Practice National Registrar Survey (GP NRS) is an annual, national survey of GP registrars training in Commonwealth funded training programs. This includes the Australian General Practice Training (AGPT) program, the Remote Vocational Training Scheme (RVTS) and Rural Generalist Training Scheme (RGTS). This survey is part of the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing’s (the Department) monitoring and quality improvement activities. The information collected in the GP NRS can be used to assure the quality of training provision in the program, enables continuous improvement and allows responses to be benchmarked nationally. From July 7 to August 18, 2025, the …

Integrating Goal-Setting Into An Urban Community College Developmental Mathematics Course: A Multi-Perspective Learning Experience, Tamie S. Dickson

Education Doctorate Dissertations

Developmental mathematics (DM) students often encounter systemic and contextual obstacles in higher education. Low self-efficacy, math anxiety, multiple external demands, and pervasive gaps in prerequisite knowledge can all undermine the strategic behaviors needed to manage the academic environment independently. Although DM reforms are widely researched, the literature lacks a firsthand perspective on the daily processes students apply as they assume control over their learning. This qualitative action research study investigated the integration of intentional goal-setting into a recently redesigned one-level pilot DM course at an open-access, urban community college. The practitioner-researcher created the PATHway framework—rooted in Zimmerman’s (2000) three-phase Self-Regulated …

Leading Beyond The Lecture: A Case Study Exploring How Community College Students Experience Their Instructors’ Positive Leadership Strategies, Mandy Morrison

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Positive leadership, an approach to leading individuals to the point of flourishing, has been studied in corporate contexts. While the student-to-instructor relationships only distantly compare to the employee-to-supervisor dynamics, the relationships and power differential have similarities, making the pillars of positive leadership relevant in the context of higher education. Given the critical nature of student success to stakeholders in higher education and the students themselves, discovering instructor strategies that enhance student success can demonstrate an upward spiral of positivity that extends from the student, to the instructor, to the college, and ultimately to the community. Framed by leader-member exchange (LMX) …

Breaking Barriers: Mentorship Pathways For Hispanic Women In Leadership Roles, Ana Paola Gonzalez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to understand the unique lived experiences of 10 Hispanic Latinas serving in leadership roles in 2-year community colleges in Texas. As the graduation rate of Hispanic women increases, institutions must identify mentorship programs that motivate women who continue to graduate to seek leadership positions within their institutions. Through life stories and lived experiences, the study's findings illustrate that mentorship is essential to creating, but that self-determination and self-advocacy also make it possible to find paths to leadership. Through thematic analysis, three themes emerged from the data: identity and representation, mentorship and support structures, and resilience and advocacy. …

The Ai-Powered Learning Loop In Higher Education, Oualid Abidi, Vladimir Dzenopoljac, Aleksandra Dzenopoljac

All Works

Purpose – This study examines how generative AI tools affect business students’ academic performance by investigating whether flexible AI policies promote deeper learning, enhance self-efficacy and facilitate tacit knowledge acquisition in a Middle Eastern context, while ensuring efficiency and academic integrity. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative, exploratory study observed 20 final-year business students in Kuwait during five in-class activities using generative AI tools. Semi-structured interviews complemented the researcher’s observations. Thematic analysis revealed patterns in benefits, challenges and learning processes, leading to the development of the AI-powered learning loop framework to explain academic performance outcomes. Findings – The study indicates that generative …

Guerrillera Blesson Interlude Vii, María L. Arroyo Cruzado, Julie G. Fogden

Gatherings

Interlude VII is the last of seven reflective pieces interwoven throughout the journal. Each interlude represents a collaborative fusion of María Luisa Arroyo Cruzado’s narrative and Julie Fogden’s visual art, capturing the transformative experience of attending The State of Women of Color in New Higher Education symposium. These interludes draw inspiration from the symposium’s presentations, including thematic content, visual motifs, and the symbolic patterns found in the attire of the presenters. They honor the dedication and labor that women of color invest in both professional and personal spheres, acknowledging the emotional and physical toll of these responsibilities while celebrating the …

A Psalm Of Love For Our Goddesses, Lillian Evans

Gatherings

“A Psalm for Love of our Goddesses” draws us through the power of social justice consciousness in the metric of a psalm.

Guerrillera Blesson Interlude Vi, María L. Arroyo Cruzado, Julie G. Fogden

Gatherings

Interlude VI is the sixth of seven reflective pieces interwoven throughout the journal. Each interlude represents a collaborative fusion of María Luisa Arroyo Cruzado’s narrative and Julie Fogden’s visual art, capturing the transformative experience of attending The State of Women of Color in New Higher Education symposium. These interludes draw inspiration from the symposium’s presentations, including thematic content, visual motifs, and the symbolic patterns found in the attire of the presenters. They honor the dedication and labor that women of color invest in both professional and personal spheres, acknowledging the emotional and physical toll of these responsibilities while celebrating the …

The Paradox Of The Broker: Why Educators Of Color Must Be Supported, Not Just Celebrated, Tatiana C. Parker

Gatherings

In this article, Dr. Tatiana C. Parker examines the transformative potential of social capital brokering within the higher education system, particularly for communities that have been systematically excluded through opportunity hoarding and network closures both historically and presently. Institutions of learning have long served as sites for the transmission of instrumental (tangible) and expressive (emotional) social capital returns. Yet, the same system that has supported mobility is now under attack through the divestment of education, ideological resistance, and the longstanding disenfranchisement of educators of color.

Drawing on her research regarding Black women and upward mobility, she asserts that when educators, …

Guerrillera Blesson Interlude V, María L. Arroyo Cruzado, Julie G. Fogden

Gatherings

Interlude V is the fifth of seven reflective pieces interwoven throughout the journal. Each interlude represents a collaborative fusion of María Luisa Arroyo Cruzado’s narrative and Julie Fogden’s visual art, capturing the transformative experience of attending The State of Women of Color in New Higher Education symposium. These interludes draw inspiration from the symposium’s presentations, including thematic content, visual motifs, and the symbolic patterns found in the attire of the presenters. They honor the dedication and labor that women of color invest in both professional and personal spheres, acknowledging the emotional and physical toll of these responsibilities while celebrating the …

Guerrillera Blesson Interlude Iv, María L. Arroyo Cruzado, Julie G. Fogden

Gatherings

Interlude IV is the fourth of seven reflective pieces interwoven throughout the journal. Each interlude represents a collaborative fusion of María Luisa Arroyo Cruzado’s narrative and Julie Fogden’s visual art, capturing the transformative experience of attending The State of Women of Color in New Higher Education symposium. These interludes draw inspiration from the symposium’s presentations, including thematic content, visual motifs, and the symbolic patterns found in the attire of the presenters. They honor the dedication and labor that women of color invest in both professional and personal spheres, acknowledging the emotional and physical toll of these responsibilities while celebrating the …

Arriving In A New Language Of Race, Chidinma F. Chikwe

Gatherings

This essay explores the layered experience of navigating race and belonging as an African woman and international graduate student within U.S. higher education. Written in reflection on The State of Women of Color in New York Higher Education symposium, the piece blends personal narrative with critical inquiry to examine how code-switching, silence, emotional labor, and cultural translation shape the academic journey. Engaging with concepts such as femtoring, rest as resistance, and radical care, the essay foregrounds how identity is continuously negotiated across transnational contexts. By drawing on lived experiences in Nigeria, Europe, and the United States, it calls for a …

Guerrillera Blesson Interlude Iii, María L. Arroyo Cruzado, Julie G. Fogden

Gatherings

Interlude II is the third of seven reflective pieces interwoven throughout the journal. Each interlude represents a collaborative fusion of María Luisa Arroyo Cruzado’s narrative and Julie Fogden’s visual art, capturing the transformative experience of attending The State of Women of Color in New Higher Education symposium. These interludes draw inspiration from the symposium’s presentations, including thematic content, visual motifs, and the symbolic patterns found in the attire of the presenters. They honor the dedication and labor that women of color invest in both professional and personal spheres, acknowledging the emotional and physical toll of these responsibilities while celebrating the …

Guerrillera Blesson Interlude Ii, María L. Arroyo Cruzado, Julie G. Fogden

Gatherings

Interlude II is the second of seven reflective pieces interwoven throughout the journal. Each interlude represents a collaborative fusion of María Luisa Arroyo Cruzado’s narrative and Julie Fogden’s visual art, capturing the transformative experience of attending The State of Women of Color in New Higher Education symposium. These interludes draw inspiration from the symposium’s presentations, including thematic content, visual motifs, and the symbolic patterns found in the attire of the presenters. They honor the dedication and labor that women of color invest in both professional and personal spheres, acknowledging the emotional and physical toll of these responsibilities while celebrating the …

Guerrillera Blesson Interlude I, María L. Arroyo Cruzado, Julie G. Fogden

Gatherings

Interlude I is the first of seven reflective pieces interwoven throughout the journal. Each interlude represents a collaborative fusion of María Luisa Arroyo Cruzado’s narrative and Julie Fogden’s visual art, capturing the transformative experience of attending The State of Women of Color in New Higher Education symposium. These interludes draw inspiration from the symposium’s presentations, including thematic content, visual motifs, and the symbolic patterns found in the attire of the presenters. They honor the dedication and labor that women of color invest in both professional and personal spheres, acknowledging the emotional and physical toll of these responsibilities while celebrating the …

Introduction: Building Space For Gathering In Hostile Times, Roberta Hurtado

Gatherings

This introduction serves as a means to share with you, the reader, about an upstate New York symposium that occurred in March of 2025. The event aimed to create a space where we could explore the trials, tribulations, and jubilations that women of color in New York higher education experience. Speakers and attendees gathered from all over the state—and, indeed, country—on a cold wintery day in a spirit of togetherness and awareness of where we find ourselves in this moment. We were there to learn and grow, and to find community.

Gatherings 2.1 Acknowledgement, Table Of Contents And Editors, Roberta Hurtado

Gatherings

Roberta Hurtado, "Acknowledgement" -- Table of Contents -- Editorial Board.

Our Experiences, Julie G. Fogden

Gatherings

This art piece was inspired by presentation topics and visuals, themes, and patterns on clothing worn by the presenters. Our Experiences reflects the time and effort women of color put into our careers and personal lives. It represents the hardship and heartbreak that can come from our responsibilities, and the beauty of strength, resilience and community.

Mixed media: cut paper, acrylic marker, gold ink.

Gatherings 2.1 (Complete Volume), Roberta Hurtado

Gatherings

Proceedings from The State of Women of Color in New York Higher Education.

Roberta Hurtado, "Acknowledgement" -- Table of Contents -- p. vi: Editorial Board.

Journal contents follow: p. 1: Roberta Hurtado (Ed.), "Introduction" -- p. 7: Liz Gil, "Community, Reflection, Wisdom" -- p. 9: Luisa Arroyo Cruzado (narrative) and Julie Fogden (image), "Guerrillera Blesson Interlude I" -- p. 11: Heather Hathaway Miranda, "Round Tables" -- p. 13: Estela López, "Guerrilleras: Speaking Truths and Strategizing Futures" -- p. 17: María Luisa Arroyo Cruzado (narrative) and Julie Fogden (image), "Guerrillera Blesson Interlude II" -- p. 19: Jeanine Irons, "No More Hester …

The Benefit Of Qualified English Language Teachers In Non-English-Speaking Countries, Tina M. Allen-Abulhassan

Journal of English Learner Education

Abstract

This study explores the impact of qualified English language teachers on English Language Learners (ELLs) in their home countries, assessing how English language instruction can enhance their preparedness for higher education in Western universities. The need for effective English language education is underscored by the scarcity of qualified ESL instructors, which leaves L2 learning ill-equipped for academic success. Utilizing Vygotsky’s social development theory, particularly the Zone of Proximal Development, this research examines the role of social interactions with qualified native speakers in fostering language proficiency and academic achievement. The literature review highlights significant barriers ELLs face, including inadequate teaching …

New Mexico Snap-Ed College Food Insecurity Report, Belinda E. Vicuña, Yvonnie V. Baik, Elena E. Martinez, Mahtab Soleimani, Camille R. Velarde, Theresa H. Cruz

Reports & Documents

In New Mexico, 58% of college students experience some form of food insecurity. The College Food Insecurity Project—conducted by the University of New Mexico’s Division of Prevention and Population Sciences with support from the New Mexico Health Care Authority and USDA SNAP-Ed—examined how campus food pantries address student food needs across the state. Using a mixed-methods design, the study included semi-structured interviews with food pantry coordinators and staff at 13 institutions of higher education, on-site assessments using the Nutrition Environment Food Pantry Assessment Tool Plus (NEFPAT+), and content analysis of 15 college food pantry websites.

Findings revealed that campus …

Higher Education Cybersecurity: A Vulnerability Assessment Of The U.S. South’S Institutional Websites, Zachary W. Taylor, Vivi Vo

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

As technology continues to advance, it is critical to understand how higher education institutions protect digital information of their stakeholders including students, faculty, and staff through cybersecurity measures. Although conceptual research has articulated various aspects of cybersecurity, no empirical research has explored the cybersecurity of higher education (.edu) websites through a vulnerability scan of these websites via an open PortScan and analysis. To fill a critical gap in the literature, this study conducted a vulnerability scan and open PortScan and analysis of all higher education websites in three of the lowest-income states in the United States: Louisiana (n=112), Mississippi (n=52), …

Power Of Meaningful Learning Moments: Relationships In Academia, Jillian Bollinger, Ots, Rebecca Loughran, Ots, Alexandria Krasin, Otd, Otr/L, Madison Via, Bs, Audrey L. Zapletal, Otd, Otr/L, Cla, Chse

Department of Occupational Therapy Posters and Presentations

Background

• The demanding nature of graduate-level coursework creates rigorous academic environments that can strain student-faculty relationships.¹⁻⁶
• Graduate students often come from diverse backgrounds, which shape their approaches to coursework, classroom engagement, comfort in accessing resources, and relationship-building with faculty.⁴
• In such settings, faculty may question students' academic integrity, potentially undermining mutual trust and camaraderie.¹
• However, fostering a culture of expressed gratitude in academia can help students acknowledge the meaningful contributions faculty make to their education while enhancing their learning and behavior. This, in turn, enhances faculty motivation and may reduce burnout.2,³,⁶
• By encouraging gratitude in academic environments, institutions can strengthen …

Leadership And Institutional Change And Their Impact On The Curriculum, Andi Koci, Alma Lama, Denis Celcima

UBT International Conference

Educational institutions need visionary leaders who can handle complex institutional changes because global educational systems keep evolving. The research investigates how leadership methods affect educational program development and institutional transformation through their influence on educational program structure and direction and their ability to maintain program relevance in the twenty-first century. Academic institutions face rapid changes in their environment because of technological progress and global trends and student requirements so leadership stands as the essential power for creating lasting educational transformations and updated curricula. The research bases its understanding of institutional change through transformational and distributed leadership theories which show that …

Motivation For English Language Learning Among Macedonian Academic Staff: Analyzing Key Motivational Drivers, Vesna Prodanovska Poposka

UBT International Conference

In a world where academia is more connected than ever, English proficiency has become the master key for Macedonian scholars seeking to unlock international opportunities. This study investigates the motivation for English language learning among academic staff in North Macedonia, focusing on the identification of the most and least influential motivational drivers. Based on the data collected from 72 respondents across public and private universities, an adapted Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) was used to measure both instrumental and integrative motivation. The results indicate a clear hierarchy of drivers i.e. the highest scores for international career advancement ("useful in getting better …

Navigating The Transition: A Study Of Faculty Experiences With Institutional And Collegial Support, Lorri S. Mcmeel, Felicia Murray

Social Work Department Faculty Conferences

Faculty in higher education, especially in applied disciplines like social work, are expected to excel in teaching, research, service, and collegiality. Despite these demands, formal preparation for new faculty is often limited. This qualitative study explored the experiences of 36 full-time faculty members in social work and related disciplines regarding their preparedness for academic roles. Using an exploratory approach and thematic analysis, four themes emerged: (1) Mentorship and Professional Support, (2) Institutional Training and Resources, (3) Self-Directed Learning and Adaptation, and (4) Challenges and Barriers to Preparation. Findings revealed inconsistent onboarding, limited mentorship, and a reliance on self-navigation, with disparities …

Professional Development Program: Sexual And Gender Minorities Education And Training, Aiden Echols, Bs, Madison Via, Bs, Audrey L. Zapletal, Otd, Ms, Otr/L, Cla, Chse, Karla A. Bell, Pt, Dpt, Phd, Fnap

Department of Occupational Therapy Posters and Presentations

Background

LGBTQ+ communities experience health care and health disparities; some reasons include:

• barriers in care
• negative attitudes
• lack of awareness by healthcare providers.

Studies have found healthcare professionals are not adequately trained in LGBTQ+ care

Educators benefit from professional development related to LGBTQ+ inclusivity in higher education.