Higher Education Administration Commons^™

The Relationship Between Participation In A Student Success Course And The Retention Rate And Academic Success Of First-Year Freshmen At A Historically Black University, Madeline Martinez

Dissertations

Problem

Amongst the highest at-risk student populations are minority students (students of color), first-generation college students, students from low-socioeconomic status, students experiencing financial challenges, and those who enter college academically underprepared. Furthermore, studies have found a significant gap in the educational achievement of African Americans in comparison to other peer groups. Closing this achievement gap requires educators to take a closer look at the complex concept of student retention and understand the variables and factors associated with students’ successful outcomes from both an individual and institutional perspective. An in-depth examination of the effectiveness of strategies specifically designed for the retention …

An Examination Of The Predictors Of Vocational Calling In First-Generation College Students, Rodney Palmer

Dissertations

Problem

Several studies have examined the prediction of calling in college students, but no known study has focused primarily on the development of vocational calling among the vulnerable population of first-generation college students who have a higher drop-out rate than their peers. Examining the composition of vocational calling in first-generation college students, will assist faculty and student development personnel in better understanding the factors that predict a sense of calling for these students, which will improve their overall performance. This study will examine to what extent a sense of vocational calling is predicted by student mentoring, social support, faith/spirituality, civic …

Centering The Margins: Elevating The Voices Of Women Of Color To Critically Examine College Student Leadership, Natasha T. Turman

Dissertations

The leadership viewpoints of Women of Color (WOC), in general, and WOC collegians specifically, are not widely available or recognized. This exclusion and oversight is a disservice to all. The inadequate inclusion of WOC's perspective in leadership literature is due to the assumptions of race and gender neutrality in leadership studies. Viewing leadership as a set of universal constructs, garnered from a select few and generalized to a great many, is not adequate to understanding the leadership experiences of WOC within dominant-culture environments. To address these deficits, critical leadership scholars have proposed that leadership be (re)conceptualized from a multicultural perspective, …