Education Commons^™

A Descriptive Phenomenological Study Of College Student Belonging Experiences With Peers In The First Semester, John Knapp

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated how first-year college students described belonging experiences with college peers in the first semester, specifically conceptualizing these relationships as bidirectional, where college students both receive and provide support to one another in a mutual way. A descriptive phenomenological research design was employed to identify invariant structures of this phenomenon utilizing data collected from semi-structured interviews with 10 first-time, full-time undergraduate college students in their first semester enrolled at a private, religiously affiliated, four-year university in the midwestern United States. This study found that the invariant structures of belonging in college peer relationships in the first semester were …

From Antiracism To Abolition: The Role Of University Culture Centers In Black Students' Academic Identities And Language, Kristin Demint Bailey

Theses and Dissertations

Drawing on focus group, interview, and participant-observer data collected as part of this IRB-approved [19.177] qualitative research project, this dissertation provides insights about how Black American students develop academic identities through coursework and extracurricular involvement in a Black culture center on the campus of a historically white institution (HWI). I apply the lens of “abolitionist education” (Love) to explore the languaging that students and faculty in the Black culture center do to create community and racial uplift in a type of institution where racial identity historically has been marginalized and obscured—and where, the collected data indicate, such occlusion continues despite …

Mobilizing Resources: Towards A Transnational Orientation In The Composition Classroom, Gitte Frandsen

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I present two studies on transnational, multilingual undergraduate students which focus on students’ rich, complex communication patterns across contexts. First, I examine the linguistic, literate, rhetorical, and cultural resources they deploy to make meaning across non-academic contexts as they take care of everyday tasks, navigate different linguistic and cultural landscapes, build relationships, and broker meaning for others. Next, I explore how the students mobilize their multiple resources and strategies to learn, write, and co-construct meaning with others in academic contexts. I discuss how these strategies are often constrained by English Only discourses and policies in the classroom …

Toward A Cultural Rhetorics Praxis Of Care For Digital Storytelling Projects About Reproductive Justice, Danielle Marie Koepke

Theses and Dissertations

Recent events have drawn national attention to the fight for reproductive rights. However, Black women, Indigenous women, Women of Color, and LGBTQ+ people have long been fighting for reproductive justice, which connects reproductive rights to issues like immigration rights, fair wages, housing, quality education, and safe neighborhoods. There has also been a shift towards reproductive justice scholarship in rhetoric and writing studies. This dissertation focuses on the efforts and experiences of the Promotores de Salud, Latinx health promoters working for reproductive justice in Wisconsin. By constellating rhetorics of reproductive justice, cultural rhetorics, and queer and feminist scholarship, this dissertation builds …

New Engineers’ Perceptions Of Their Transition To Practice, Todd Southern

Theses and Dissertations

The transition from student to engineering practice is complex, ambiguous, and critical for new engineers. New engineers are typically moving from a highly structured curriculum into a highly unstructured work environment, making it essential to understand new engineers’ perceptions and experiences throughout the transition to practice. This understanding can help improve the development of new engineers and the organizations that will benefit by supporting them. Given the relatively incomplete understanding of new engineers’ transition to practice experiences, the goal of this study was to explore how new engineers perceived their transition to practice throughout their first two years as professional …

Hybridized Internships And Service-Learning: An Inquiry Into Student, Community, And Higher Education Partner Experiences In A Community-Based Internship Program, Ben Trager

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores a community-based internship (CBI) program, a hybridization of internship and service-learning practices. CBIs are becoming more common in higher education, but literature on the practice of integrating internships and service-learning is scarce. The purpose of this study is to develop an understanding of a CBI through an investigation of student, community partner, and university staff experiences and perceived outcomes of the program. Using participatory action research approaches and a thematic analysis of interviews and student course work, this qualitative study occurred in two phases and included 31 participants. The analysis employs frames of private vs public in …

A Mixed Methods Evaluation Of An Intersectional Bystander Program Against Sexual Violence Using The Integrated Model Of Behavioral Prediction Within A Cluster Randomized Control Trial, Rose Hennessy

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Sexual violence is a critical public health problem that is particularly salient on college campuses. Bystander intervention is a prevention approach that teaches students who are not directly affected by a situation to take action to help others. Research is needed to understand the relationship between bystander training and changes in behavior to intervene against sexual violence, racism, and unhealthy alcohol outcomes.

Methods: A cluster randomized waitlist control trial was used to evaluate the bystander program Our School TAKES ACTION. Upper-level undergraduate students were randomized by housing floor from buildings of a private, midwestern university. Data was collected in …

Trans In Higher Ed: Understanding The Experiences Of Transgender And Nonbinary College Students, Katherine Cochran

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study sought to further explore the lived experiences of trans and nonbinary college students, in attempts to address the empirical gap contributed to by conflation of sexual and gender minorities’ experiences in research. The focus is on the lived experiences of trans and nonbinary college students to explore identity development, their experiences on campus and with mental health services, the nature of help-seeking behaviors, and their recommendations for mental health professionals, allies, and college staff. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews addressing the following research questions: (1) What are the lived experiences of trans and nonbinary college students; …

Mobile Technology Use As A Moderator For Understanding The Relationship Between Intrinsic Motivation And Grades, David Seckman

Theses and Dissertations

Mobile technology is a tool learners rely on. The purpose of this study was to determine if mobile technology use moderates the relationship between intrinsic motivation and grades. Findings show that students with higher intrinsic motivation will have higher grades regardless of whether or not they use technology frequently for their course and regardless of whether or not they perceive mobile technology as valuable for learning in their course. There were positive correlations between students’ intrinsic motivation, and multiple facets of their intrinsic motivation, with their current and expected grades. Furthermore, frequency and value of mobile technology use, individually, were …

A Preliminary Evaluation Of An Academic Support Program, James Colin Bumby

Theses and Dissertations

The responsibility for graduating students is a school responsibility. A large urban Midwestern research university created the Nursing Endeavor Program (NEP) to ensure that students from underserved minorities, first generation, and/or low income are enabled to graduate successfully. There is a 100% retention rate for the period from admission to the nursing major in the junior year; however, in the pre-nursing years, the retention rate is only 50%. The role transition from pre-nursing student to student nurse can be challenging and stressful. A qualitative phenomenographic research approach was utilized to identify the factors facilitating and the factors hindering this transition. …

Arab Americans’ Perceptions Of Their Experiences With Police Post 9/11 In Metropolitan Milwaukee, Ayman Khatib

Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks had a serious impact on local police relations and their local minority groups. September 11, 2001, negatively shaped the treatment of Arab Americans at the hands of local police and many arms of the federal government. This was due to the increased role of local police in intelligence gathering and immigration law enforcement.

Many urban police departments shifted their policing strategies from community policing to traditional crime fighting and intelligence gathering after September 11, 2001. Arab Americans as a local minority community suffered the brunt of such strategies where police routinely disregarded many …

Fourth Wave Student Development: Constructing Student Affairs-Driven Spaces That Deliver Knowledge And Tools For Effecting Social Change, Peter Burress

Theses and Dissertations

The following thesis explores how historical patterns of discrimination continue to pervade colleges and universities in ways that reinforce social inequity, lifting up work being done in divisions of student affairs as an opportunity to disrupt these patterns. After introducing a brief history of structural inequities in higher education, I turn to student affairs’ growing emphasis on programs that promote equity and social justice. I argue that because student affairs is positioned within colleges and universities, yet separate from some hierarchical power structures typical of academic affairs, it is uniquely able to provide co-curricular educational opportunities that convey the importance …

Undergraduate Researchers' Attainment Of Graduate Degrees, Sarah E. Aragon

Theses and Dissertations

The existing literature suggests that faculty-student interactions have a positive effect on students’ pursuits to attain undergraduate and graduate degrees. However, some scholars argue that the type of interactions and the extent to which students benefit vary between student sub-populations. Understanding who engages in undergraduate research at urban research universities and who goes on to attain graduate degrees are essential to expanding the knowledgebase and policy-making at the institutional level. Investigating the efficacy of undergraduate research programs at urban institutions that have access to diverse populations will allow for analyses with different samples. The goal of this research was to …

From High School To A Four-Year Urban University: Understanding The Transition Experiences Of Latina, Black, And White Female Working-Class Students, Rebecca Marie Freer

Theses and Dissertations

Working-class students’ success in higher education is a growing concern for policymakers and administrators. Previous research has shown that working-class students experience less success in college than students who are of higher social classes (Lauff & Ingels, 2015; Walpole, 2007). This qualitative case study explored how the university environment and students’ cultural wealth influenced success of Latina, Black, and White female working-class students during their transitions to college. Specifically, this study followed 12 students at a large urban public four-year university. Participants engaged in semi-structured interviews three times before and during their first semester of college. The study is framed …

Counted Out, But Counted On: The Hidden Academic Journey Of Millennial Black Women In Majority White Urban Universities, Danielle Lorraine Apugo

Theses and Dissertations

Eighty percent of Black women (BW) enrolled in colleges and universities attend majority white institutions (Hill, 2009). Though seemingly highly represented in higher education, research studies cite BW as having a graduate degree completion rate of less than 30% (Aston & Oseguera, 2004). A phenomenological study involving 15 graduate (master’s degree candidates) millennial Black women aspiring and/or acting leaders (MBWALs) was conducted to explore the types of peer relationships--A mutual relationship of similar hierarchical status--in terms of educational level or age group--where both parties perceive themselves as equals--(McDougall & Beattie, 1997) MBWALs experience. The study also sought to understand how …

Old Ideas In New Skins: Examining Discourses Of Diversity On The Websites Of 10 Urban-Serving Universities, Simone Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Deficit discourse, the idea that minorities "lack" intellectually, runs through current ideas about diversity in higher education. Diversity is viewed as a policy that helps the deficient. Recent litigation about diversity, Fisher v. University of Texas (2013), embodied the alignment of deficit and diversity. This study examined portrayals, visual and textual, of diversity on the websites of ten urban-serving universities, using a method of critical discourse analysis and a lens of critical race theory, to uncover the ways they defined diversity and if notions of deficit were attached. This study also addressed the ways these universities, a part of the …

(Re)Envisioning Placement For 21st Century Writing Programs, Jessica Nastal-Dema

Theses and Dissertations

Writing assessment has continued to gain prominence within educational settings and public discourse in the United States throughout the past century. Placement into First-Year Writing, however, is consistently ignored in the scholarly literature, despite its central role within writing assessment and the university. This dissertation argues that placement is central to all students' university experiences, and deserves more attention. Placement is at the heart of composition: it affects each student, each instructor, each writing program, each institution. It significantly influences retention, instruction, budget, and even national reputation, since student retention and graduation rates are key factors in national rankings such …

An Examination Of The Psychological Contracts Of Contingent Faculty Teaching At Urban, Proprietary Colleges, Ann Marie Marlier

Theses and Dissertations

Even though proprietary colleges and universities continue to gain market share in the higher education landscape, negative perceptions about proprietary institutions remain including reliance on contingent faculty to meet fluctuating student enrollments. Little research about the experiences of contingent faculty teaching in proprietary settings exists, and even less research exists about the unwritten expectations, or psychological contracts, contingent faculty bring with them to the employment relationship with an institution. As heavy use of contingent faculty continues, campus administrators need a more comprehensive understanding of how to best manage the expectations, benefits, challenges, and resources of this type of employment relationship. …

Student's Perception Of Teacher Immediacy Behaviors On Student Success And Retention, Rebecca Rae Mullane

Theses and Dissertations

This investigation tested the relationship and the fit for a causal model between both verbal and nonverbal teacher immediacy behaviors in the classroom and affective learning, cognitive learning, and student success and retention. Data was collected from two distinct populations, a large Midwestern university and a Midwestern community college. Results indicate that both verbal and nonverbal teacher immediacy behaviors independently predict or cause a level of affective learning and cognitive learning, and affective learning predicts or causes cognitive learning, further supporting that path model. Practical implications of these findings are discussed and recommendations for areas of future research development are …

Reading Comprehension And Nursing Education: A Missing Variable Associated With Nursing Student Attrition?, Debra L. Lajoie

Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

READING COMPREHENSION AND NURSING EDUCATION:

A MISSING VARIABLE ASSOCIATED WITH

STUDENT ATTRITION?

by

Debra L. Lajoie, MSN

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

December, 2013

Under the Supervision of Susan Dean-Baar, PhD, RN, FAAN

The goals of nursing faculty and administrators are to select students most capable of completing the nursing program and to provide academic support needed for program completion. However, despite stronger entrance requirements, educators are still baffled by the persistent attrition from nursing education programs. The purpose of this study was to describe and compare the level of reading comprehension of two groups of students, a pre-nursing student …