Education Commons^™

Everything Changed: Experiences Of International Students Affected By A Home Country Crisis, Caitlin J. Mcvay

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The population of international students studying in the United States continues to break record enrollments each year, growing to 886,052 students in 2014 according to Institute of International Education (IIE) data (IIE, 2014b). As these numbers increase, so too do the numbers of students affected by crises in their home countries. These students face a number of adjustment issues unique to their situations, and may require additional support from administrators and others at their institutions. This qualitative, phenomenological study explores the experiences of five international students who studied at two public universities in the western United States while large-scale crises …

Nice White Men Or Social Justice Allies?: Using Critical Race Theory To Examine How White Male Faculty And Administrators Engage In Ally Work, Lori D. Patton, Stephanie Bondi

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

Numerous scholars have offered definitions and perspectives for White people to be or become social justice allies. The purpose of this study was to examine the complicated realities that social justice allies in higher education face when working on campus. Using a critical interpretivist approach grounded in critical race theory, the authors interpret participants constructions of allies and ally work and draw larger implications for these constructions and their capacity to disrupt and uphold systems of oppression and injustice. In examining the experiences of White male faculty and administrators who shared how they constructed and made meaning of the complexities …

The Impact Of Academic Advising On The Retention Of First-Year Students In A Gulf-Arab University, Selma Hagahmed

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

This study investigated academic advising and retention in a Gulf-Arab university. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered in order to understand how academic advising could have potentially contributed to the improvement of student retention. The focus of the study was on first-year students in the College of Business and Economics and the College of Law in a Gulf-Arab national four-year institution. The study compared the Grade Point Average (GPA) and the number of credit hours in two groups of first-year students: 1) a treatment group of students who utilized academic advising services and (2) the control group of students who …

A Phenomenological Study Of The Lived Experiences Of Undocumented Latino Students To Enroll In And Persist At A Four-Year Public Hispanic-Serving Institution In Texas, Angela C. Stuart-Carruthers

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Undocumented students in the United States are trapped in a myriad of completing federal, state, and local laws that impact their lives daily. While approximately 60,000 undocumented students graduate from high school each year, the college going rate for this population is substantially lower than their documented peers. Since President Obama signed the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals executive order, undocumented students have gained national attention. Despite this new focus on undocumented students few studies have been conducted to gain a deeper understanding of the live experiences of these students.

Framed by Tinto’s (1993) Theory of Student Departure and Latino …

Naspa’S New Professionals Institute: Exploring The Personal And Professional Impact Of A Two-Day, Intensive Professional Development Experience, Ashley Stone

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Professional development experiences, like professional development literature, are vast. While existing professional development literature discussed the needs for and barriers toward professional development as well as the benefits and types of professional development experiences, no research existed about NASPA Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education’s (NASPA) New Professionals Institute (NPI), an intensive, two-day leading professional development experience for student affairs professionals who have been in the field for less than five years. Therefore, I conducted a phenomenological qualitative study, which explored the meanings NASPA’s Region IV-West NPI participants made of their two-day professional development experience as well as the personal …

Peer Collaboration: Improving Teaching Through Comprehensive Peer Review, Shelley L. Smith

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This article includes a brief rationale and review of the literature on peer review of teaching (PRT). Based on that literature review, it offers a proposal for an optimal formative review process that results in a teaching portfolio that would reflect a faculty member’s efforts and successes in a critically reflective PRT process, and contributes to ongoing teaching improvement. It then looks at potential areas of faculty resistance and concern and offers a discussion of potential strategies to overcome those concerns.

Increasing Access To Post-Secondary Education: A Mixed Methods Study Of The Charleston Clemente Program, Mariane A. Doyle

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

There is an economic gap that favors adults who have higher levels of educational attainment (United States Department of Labor, 2010). With more than 9.3 million Americans over the age of 25 facing unemployment as of June 2012 and over 79% or 7.4 million of those unemployed Americans having attained less than a Bachelor’s degree (U.S. Department of Labor, 2012), the current need for college access measures and programs that address the adult population is an imperative one.

The Charleston Clemente Program provides a tuition-free course in the Humanities to economically-disadvantaged adult students for a total of two-semesters. Along with …

How College/University Administrators Handle The Disgruntled Parent, Loreal E. Robertson

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This qualitative study explored how student affairs and academic affairs professionals communicate with parents of undergraduate students who attend MidPointe University (MPU). The literature review indicates that there has been little research conducted on the nature of the interaction between college and university administrators and parents. Available research studies indicate that administrators communicate with parents with more frequency than expected, considering the past findings. Millennial students are sheltered, pressured, unique, and are overly involved (Howe & Strauss, 2007; Elam, Stratton & Gibson, 2007). Parents of today’s students are making an extra effort to be involved in the lives of their …

Who You Know And How To Go: The Impact Of Social Capital On Higher Education Access For Black Males, Morgan E. St. John

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This qualitative case study explores the relationship between social capital, or the social networks in a young man’s life, and access into and persistence in higher education for a group of six Black, male, upperclassmen students at Heartland University. Heartland University is a predominantly White, four-year institution in the Midwest region of the United States. The literature review discusses reasons for the steadily declining rate of males choosing to pursue a college education, particularly young Black men, whom have been referred to as an “endangered species” in society (Johnson, Farrell, & Stoloff, 2000). Providing a framework of social capital theory, …

Senior-Level Administrators’ Leadership In Internationalizing A Public Research University In The Midwest: A Case Study, Sylvia S. Jons

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The importance of the internationalization of higher education is well documented, however there is little research that focuses on senior level administrators and their pursuit in developing an internationalization strategy. Internationalization as defined by Knight (2004) is “the process of integrating an international, intercultural or global dimension into the purpose, functions or delivery of post-secondary education”. This case study addressed this pursuit and examined the process that university top-level administrators use in internationalizing a public research university in the Midwest. A case study is the appropriate qualitative research method because it explored senior-level administrators pursuit of internationalization within a bounded …

Does Being Rural Matter?: The Roles Of Rurality, Social Support, And Social Self-Efficacy In First-Year College Student Adjustment, Allison L. Bitz Phd

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

One out of every three first-year college students will not return for a second year of college (Postsecondary Education Opportunity, 2010). Due to a variety of factors, minority students are at an even higher risk of dropping out of college. Rural youth, comprising approximately 22% of the nation’s total youth, form a significant minority population; yet the rural student experience in college has not yet been widely considered in research. The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore college adjustment and its predictors among first-year students, with an emphasis on the role of rurality in college adjustment. Social self-efficacy, …

A Quality Scorecard For The Administration Of Online Education Programs: A Delphi Study, Kaye Shelton

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

As the demands for public accountability increase for the higher education industry, institutions are seeking methods for continuous improvement in order to demonstrate quality within programs and processes, including those provided through online education. Because of the rapid growth of online education programs, institutions are further called upon to demonstrate that quality education is being delivered to students at a distance. This study sought to create such a method to provide institutions offering online education an instrument for assessing quality within their programs: a quality scorecard for the administration of online education programs. A six round Delphi study was undertaken …