Education Commons^™

Academic Support Staff As Servant Leaders And The Relationship To Student Satisfaction, Joan M. Arrington

Dissertations

This study examined servant leadership practiced by academic support staff of academic departments within four-year, post-secondary institutions. These support staff include employees within academic departments such as secretaries, administrative assistants, and coordinators that do not have managerial responsibilities and are not instructional faculty. The target population for this study was all full-time and part-time students, both undergraduate and graduate, eighteen years of age or older, and enrolled at post-secondary four-year higher education institutions in Mississippi. Results based on the data collected suggested a majority of academic support staff rated at four of the seven institutions exhibited the characteristics of servant …

Should I Stay Or Should I Go?: Factors Impacting The Decision To Study Abroad Among Students Who Have Expressed Intent, April H. Stroud

Doctoral Dissertations

Study abroad is recognized as a valuable and increasingly essential aspect of higher education in America. Yet, for all the positive attention and high-profile initiatives aimed at expanding participation, the percentage of U.S. undergraduate who studies abroad remains small. Developing a better understanding of the factors that contribute to or hinder study abroad participation is critical to expanding participation. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine factors that influence participation among students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who have expressed formal intent to study abroad. Specifically, this dissertation investigates who is more likely to study abroad and who …

A Narrative Study Of Latinas' Experiences With The Leadership Pipeline In Higher Education, Ana Cecilia Marrero-Lopez

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this qualitative narrative study was to report the stories of Latina’s experiences with the leadership pipeline in higher education, and determine what venues within that pipeline facilitate or impede access to executive level administrative positions. The practical significance of this study would include expanding the quantity of academic research on Latinas’ interest and inclusion in obtaining executive leadership positions in higher education, where little has been recorded of their presence or successes (Lopez-Mulnix, Wolverton & Zaki, 2011). In addition, though many studies have been conducted on racial and ethnic minority faculty (Eddy, 2009; Moses, 2009; Green & …

Developmental Education At The Community College: An Exploration Of Instructional Best Practices And The Relationship Between Integration, Student Involvement And Rates Of Completion, Beverly Gayle Strickland Lewis

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the developmental education process within the community college system in Mississippi. Tinto’s (1993) Integration Theory and Astin’s (1993) Theory of Student Involvement were employed as a framework to assess and understand the relationship between academic integration, social integration, student involvement, and rates of completion.

This concurrent mixed method study identified best practices related to the successful completion of developmental education courses from the vantage point of the faulty and administration at the community college. A total of ten faculty and administrators from five of the community colleges in Mississippi were given a …

Examining Factors Influencing Ncaa Division-I Conference Realignment, Ginikachi O. Nwosu

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The landscape of intercollegiate athletics continues to evolve and become

more dynamic. One of the most visible aspects of these changes is athletic conference realignment. During the period from 2010 to 2014 alone, over 30 institutions across the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) changed or announced imminent plans to change athletic conference affiliation (Mandel, 2012). Conference realignment is described as institutional changes in athletic conference affiliation (Covell & Barr, 2010; Groza, 2010; Sweitzer, 2009). Various literature has identified variables which influence NCAA Division-I institutions’ decisions in regard to conference realignment, yet no comprehensive study has examined …

Communicating Value: Understanding Adjunct Typology, Job Satisfaction Levels, And Professional Development Interests, Lisa P. Davidson

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Higher education institutions are navigating budget cuts, changing enrollment, and the need to differentiate from the competition. Reductions in government funding and budgetary constraints are prompting universities to reduce the number of full-time, tenure-track faculty and rely more heavily on adjunct faculty to meet their demand for instructors. Therefore it is important to determine the distinct needs and satisfaction levels of this faculty group in order to provide appropriate resources and development opportunities for them. This study sought to determine if adjunct faculty job satisfaction levels differ based on adjunct typology (Gappa & Leslie, 1993) or institutional affiliation, and to …

Conditionalities Of The Knowledge Banks And The Financing Of Higher Education In West Africa: A Focus On Ghana, Nigeria, And Sierra Leone, Innocent Chima Ugwoke

Master's Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to understand how the loan conditionalities of the knowledge banks—the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) are affecting the funding of higher education in West Africa generally by particularly comparing Ghana, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. The role of higher education has been linked with development, and development has remained a concerned issue in Africa. The commitment of the states in funding higher education in order to achieve the desired goal of development is continuously met with difficulty. The reliance of these countries on the loans of the knowledge banks, which are associated with …

The Construction And Validation Of An M-Learning Framework For Online And Blended Learning Environments, Dick T. Hamann

CCE Theses and Dissertations

With the wide adoption of mobile technologies, new opportunities exist with regard to how these technologies can be used to support teaching and learning. However, there is limited empirical evidence on the use of mobile learning (m-learning) frameworks that support adult students in online and blended learning environments and consider ways to support administrators, faculty, and students in the adoption of mobile technologies for teaching and learning.

The goal was to develop and validate an m-learning framework capturing the administrative, communication, and instructional elements that must be considered when integrating m-learning technologies to support adult community college students. Using design …

Perceived Academic Needs Of Military Veterans Within A For-Profit, Yvonne Rose Ross

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The number of recent U.S. military veterans attending college has increased due to the Veterans Education Assistance Act; however, retention and graduation rates for this population have declined. The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify the experiences and academic needs of recent military veterans as they transition from the military to academic life at a for-profit, proprietary college. In addition, this study identified differences in the problems faced by male and female veterans and explored whether veterans understood the resources available to them as they enrolled in higher education. Schlossberg's transitional theory was the conceptual framework used in …

An Examination Of The Differential Impact Of University/College Research Emphasis On Levels Of Counselors' Resilience, Erica Ann Handon

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Counselor resilience is the ability to transform adversity into growth opportunities that become part of the professional's identity and the core values of a counselor. However, researchers have yet to identify why some counselors exhibit higher levels of resilience while others exhibit less. Counselor resilience can be learned and nurtured at any point of an individual's development. The purpose of this study was to examine how differences within the foundational edification of a research-embedded curriculum impact a counselor's level of resilience. Participants included practicing counselors who received their counseling degrees from a 2014 U.S News and World Report (USNWR) Nationally …

A Study Of Retention Rates Among Non-Resident Students Enrolled In Freshman Retention Programs, Chelsea Welch Bennett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract: this mixed methods, relational design involved a Qual-Quan sequential exploratory design to determine the relationship between two freshman retention programs, cohort-based and non-cohort based freshman year experience (fye) courses, and the retention of academically less-prepared, non-resident students at a Southern University (SU). Structured interviews with open-ended questions were conducted for the qualitative purposes of this study. Qualitative data was obtained from 31 non-resident, first-year students at SU enrolled in either the non-cohort fye course (n=22) or the cohort-based fye course (n=9). Of the 31 participants, 14 were male, and 17 were female and, at the time of interview, all …

Why Latino American Community College Students Drop Out After One Semester, Rosa Delia Smith

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate why many Latino America students at an urban community college in the state of Maryland who were enrolled at least part-time and were U.S. citizens or permanent residents did not continue their education into the second semester. Guided by Tinto's model of student integration and student persistence, this study explored the reasons these students dropped-out using the students' words to describe barriers to success, factors that influenced their decisions not to return for their second semester, and what they believed could have made a difference in their decisions. Five Latino …

Generational Differences In Transfer Student Capital Among Community College Students, Michael J. Rosenberg

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

“Transfer student capital” refers to the learned ability of a student to successfully navigate the process of transferring from a community college to a four-year school. Transfer student capital is accumulated by gathering information about potential destination schools and programs, gaining an understanding of requisite academic skills, campus engagement, and weighing personal concerns surrounding eventual transfer. The more transfer student capital an individual accumulates, the more likely they are to be academically successful and persist to graduation.

This quantitative study examines whether a student’s age cohort may affect the transfer process from community college to a four-year school. The study …