Higher Education Commons^™

A Holistic Christian Perspective On Wellness For College Students - A Qualitative Analysis, Shari L. Jurgens, Deb Majewski, Jessica Clevering

Movement and Being: The Journal of the Christian Society for Kinesiology, Leisure and Sports Studies

Aim: This study sought to explore the impact of a Christ-centered, holistic wellness course on college-aged students’ understanding of key wellness principles. The goal was to gain insight into how students comprehend and apply these principles considering their spiritual and personal development.

Background: Wellness education for undergraduate students is both timely and essential, especially within Christian higher education, where nurturing the whole person is a core value. A common misconception is that wellness pertains only to physical and mental health. However, Scripture affirms that human flourishing involves a harmony of body, mind, and spirit. A holistic, biblically informed approach to …

A Word From The Writing Team (July 2026), Pam Walter, Mfa, Laura Deloretta, Phd

A Word From the Writing Team (Newsletter)

No abstract provided.

Nsu Library Link - Summer 2026, Nova Southeastern University

NSU Florida Link Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Professional Dispositions In Coaching Education: Icf-Credentialed Coaches’ Perspectives On Development And Assessment, Michelle Renee Thompson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative phenomenological study examined how professional dispositions were defined, experienced, and assessed in coaching education within the rapidly expanding field of professional coaching. The problem addressed was the lack of a clear understanding of professional dispositions in coaching and the absence of a systematic dispositional assessment comparable to that in counselor education. The researcher’s purpose was to explore how credentialed professional-level coaches defined and identified professional dispositions for effective coaching engagements and how these dispositions aligned with constructs in other helping professions. The researcher collected data through semistructured videoconference interviews. Purposeful and snowball sampling yielded 16 U.S.-based coaches who …

From Rural Communities To Urban Universities: Lived Experiences Of Rural-Origin Students In Selected Zambian Private Higher Education Institutions, Viliza Silwamba, Tommie Njobvu, Ferdinand Chipindi, Munukayumbwa Mundiya

Southern African Journal of Policy and Development

The expansion of private higher education in Zambia has increased opportunities for rural students to access university education. However, little research has examined how these students experience and navigate the transition into urban-based Private Higher Education Institutions (PHEIs). This study explored rural students' lived experiences as they adjusted to the academic, social, technological, and developmental demands of university life. Guided by Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis and informed by Chickering and Reisser's Seven Vectors of Student Development and Perry's Cognitive-Structural Theory, the study adopted a qualitative phenomenological design, with data collected through semi-structured interviews, observations, and document review involving sixteen rural-origin students …

“We Have The Right To Education”: Exploring Student Experiences, Disability Policy, And The Need For Culturally Refined Awareness Raising On Inclusive Higher Education Within The English-Speaking Caribbean, Kadesha Treco

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Within the English-speaking Caribbean, research at the intersection of inclusive education policy and higher education (HIED) remains limited. Despite the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006) by countries across the region, the establishment of the CARICOM Special Rapporteur on Disabilities, and the creation of several pieces of national disability legislation, there is little evidence regarding the effectiveness of these initiatives at improving access to HIED. Therefore, this dissertation contributes to regional scholarship on inclusive education by examining how access to, and experiences within HIED institutions are shaped for students with disabilities. This …

2026 July, Morehead State University. Office Of Communications & Marketing.

Morehead State Press Release Archive, 1961 to the Present

Press releases for July of 2026.

The Unintended Consequences Of International Student Shortage: Evidence From South Korea, Chung-Yoon Choi, Syngjoo Choi, Seonghoon Kim, Jongkwan Lee

Research Collection School Of Economics

We study the role of international students in the higher education sector and the local economy by exploiting a policy reform in South Korea that restricted the admission of foreign students to local universities. By comparing the pre- and post-reform differences across universities with different pre-reform shares of international student enrollment, we show that an international student shortage resulting from this policy reform significantly worsened the financial outcomes of universities and consequently led to reduced investment in their students. We also document that a reduction in the number of international students in local areas decreased native employment, mainly in low-skilled …

Chi Meta-Project Ecosystem Overview - Spring 2026, David B. Smith

Publications and Research

This paper offers a high-level account of the Center for Holistic Integration’s (CHI) meta-project ecosystem as visualized in the included system map. CHI provides an organizational structure framed around persistent meta-projects that support and extend individual initiatives across curriculum, scholarly and applied research, infrastructure, artistic production, AI development, cultural inquiry, and external partnerships. Rather than presenting the map as a static inventory of projects, the paper examines how its core domains function as living systems through which knowledge, tools, documentation, participants, and collaborations can accumulate over time. It also considers how CHI-mediated connectivity, institutional integration, and external funding allow the …

Protecting Graduate Students From Burnout With Self-Compassion And Authenticity, Michael S. Leeman, Joshua J. Castleberry, Anna A. Ellenson, Morgan Wallbrown

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

This study investigated whether practicing self-compassion and embracing one's authentic self could protect graduate students from burnout. Researchers also empirically examined the mediating effect of authenticity in the relationship between self-compassion and burnout. A total of 318 master's degree students in a helping profession completed surveys assessing their levels of self-compassion, authenticity, and burnout. Results found that graduate students with higher levels of self-compassion and authenticity tended to have lower levels of burnout. Additionally, authenticity mediated the relationship between self-compassion and burnout. The findings suggest that practicing self-compassion and embracing one's authentic self may lead to lower levels of burnout …

Bearcat Advantage: Year Two Evaluation Report, Michelle Miller-Adams, Kyle Huisman, Bridget Timmeney, Kevin Hollenbeck

Reports

No abstract provided.

Interview With Orca Award Winner Ross Thompson, Unl Psychology; Childhood Emotional Development, Mark Griep, Ross Thompson

UNL ORCA Interview Series

Ross Thompson was awarded the ORCA in 2000. He was born in 1954 in Madison, Wisconsin. He traveled nearly 2000 miles west to earn a bachelor’s in psychology magna cum laude from Occidental College in Los Angeles. Then, he traveled east over 2200 miles to earn a master’s and doctorate in psychology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. In 1981, he joined the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as an assistant professor of psychology and rose quickly through the ranks while studying childhood emotional development. In 2003, three years after earning the ORCA, Ross left UNL to join the psychology …

Ethical Pedagogy In Marketing: Faculty Perspectives On Generative Artificial Intelligence Using Thematic Analysis, Maria Naureen Shahid, Oscar Robayo-Pinzon, Sandra Rojas-Berrio, Sana Irfan

The Qualitative Report

Because of the potential misuse of ChatGPT for coursework and student learning, marketing educators must investigate how to protect students' honesty and integrity. Additionally, it is crucial to examine whether marketing professors are modifying their pedagogy to promote learner autonomy rather than dependence on Artificial Intelligence (AI). This study addresses two central questions: How do marketing educators preserve students' honesty and integrity amidst the potential misuse of ChatGPT for coursework and learning? How are marketing professors adjusting their pedagogy to ensure learner autonomy rather than dependency on AI tools like ChatGPT? To explore these issues, semi-structured interviews were conducted with …

Exploring Psychological Traits And Feedback Strategies In Physical Therapy Providers Learning Acceptance And Commitment Therapy, Dustin Cox

Journal of Applied Disciplines

Providing treatment interventions to clients with chronic pain is a complex task for any professional. Research suggests that clients with chronic pain experience declines in physical, emotional, and psychological quality of life. Client’s that have chronic pain have complex effects from dealing with this condition in their lives. Clients with chronic pain (i.e., pain lasting > three months) process pain through the emotional and reward circuitry in the brain which is different than client with acute pain. The literature base provides evidence that clients with chronic pain who receive psychologically based interventions along with physical rehabilitation have better outcomes than individuals …

From Pathology To Ecology: Rethinking Student Well-Being Through Consciousness-Centered Education, Molly Beauregard

Journal of Conscious Evolution

This article revisits a five-year mixed-methods study conducted from 2012 to 2018, involving 207 student participants (n = 207), of an undergraduate sociology course—Consciousness, Creativity, and Identity—that integrated group meditation and mindfulness into a standard curriculum. Earlier analyses interpreted positive outcomes primarily as reductions in stress and improvements in attention among students. This paper reconsiders that interpretation, arguing that such a framing risks locating dysfunction within students rather than the social and cultural environments they inhabit.

Drawing on an ecological perspective, the study reexamines survey, reflection, and interview data documenting changes, not only in affect and attention, …

The Problem With People: Signed Language Interpreter Disposition Match And Attrition, Dawn M. Wessling

Journal of Interpretation

In the United States, communication access is a legislated right for Deaf people in many settings; however, recent data suggest that the number of signed language interpreters does not meet current service demand. This multiple‑case study contributes to understanding interpreter attrition by examining how disposition mismatches between novice interpreters and more experienced co‑interpreters influence early exit from the field. Attrition among novice interpreters may exacerbate demand–supply imbalances and contribute to persistent shortages in interpreting services.

This study draws on applied and organizational psychology frameworks, specifically attraction, selection, and attrition (ASA) theory and person–organization fit (P–O fit). Using these theoretical lenses, …

Degrees And Certificates Awarded To Native American Students In Nevada, 2010-2022, Devin Streuter, Kevin Yang, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Higher Education

This fact sheet presents data on certificates and degrees awarded to Native Americans from the Nevada System of Higher Education’s (NSHE) teaching institutions —College of Southern Nevada (CSN), Great Basin College (GBC), Nevada State University (NSU), Truckee Meadows Community College (TMCC), University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), and Western Nevada College (WNC)— from 2010 to 2022. Additionally, the fact sheet reports data on degree type, gender, and the most common majors pursued by Native American certificate and degree earners in Nevada. The data are derived from the Nevada P-20 Workforce Research (NPWR) Data System.

Printing Press Renewal, Ashley Mcguire, Margaret Wood Balch, Anna Kaetz, Timothy M. Wick

Libraries Professional Work

The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Libraries are home to a Chandler & Price printing press, originally built in 1885. Unfortunately, this press was not whole or fully operational when it was acquired by the UAB Libraries in the 1970s. Among its defects, the press lacked the treadle, Pittman arm, and crankshaft to power the press, a functioning rotating ink plate, a chase for holding the type in place, and the pin that keeps the large wheel turning in time with the gears that lead the machine to function. Members from the UAB Libraries Historical Collections and Reference and …

Toward A Metric For Disciplinary Learning In The Age Of Ai: The Unblooms™ Metacognitive Awareness Scale And Discernment Rate In Ai-Mediated Learning, Tina R. Austin

International Journal of Emerging and Disruptive Innovation in Education : VISIONARIUM

Telling students to “reflect on their own thinking” has become insufficient in AI-mediated learning environments. When students are rewarded for polished outputs, cognitive offloading to AI tools becomes rational, and traditional snapshot assessments (single-moment evaluations of task completion) produce false signals about whether durable learning has occurred. This problem is sharpened by the broader shift in AI learning tools toward Socratic tutors, study modes, Khan Academy's Khanmigo, and agentic systems that can shape the learner’s process over time. Lodge and Loble (2026) distinguish beneficial cognitive offloading, which frees working memory for intrinsic learning, from detrimental outsourcing, which bypasses the cognitive …

Interview With Orca Winner John Hibbing, Political Science; How Political Attitudes Correlate With Physiological Traits, Mark A. Griep, John Hibbing

UNL ORCA Interview Series

Dr. John Hibbing was awarded the ORCA in 1993. John was born in 1953 in Paullina, Iowa. He earned a bachelor's in secondary education from Dana College in Blair, Nebraska, but then realized that teaching high school wasn't for him. Instead, he attended the University of Iowa, where he earned a master's and doctorate in political science. In 1981, he joined the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as an assistant professor of political science and rose quickly through the ranks. Initially, he studied the reasons that members of the U.S. Congress retire. This led to a longer-term collaboration with Kevin Smith and …

Barriers And Beliefs: Narratives Of Mental Health Help-Seeking Among First-Generation Latino/Hispanic College Students, Karina L. Alba Lockhart

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Mental health challenges among college students in the United States have increased in recent years, yet first-generation Latino/Hispanic college students continue to underutilize available services while facing unique cultural and structural barriers to care. This qualitative narrative study explored how first-generation Latino/Hispanic college students made meaning of mental health help-seeking in relation to perceived barriers, perceived benefits, and cultural values such as familismo and stigma. Guided by the health belief model and cross-cultural psychology, this study recruited 15 participants from four-year institutions in the United States and collected data through an online asynchronous questionnaire. Thematic and narrative analysis revealed that …

“Cool People Doing Good Work”: A Rights-Based, Relational Model For Research, Teaching, And Outreach Rooted In Urban Settings, Saúl López, Gabriel Velez, Melissa Gibson, Robert Smith

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

Urban Catholic institutions of higher education are being challenged to do more when it comes to working with communities that surround them at the same time as they face multiple external pressure and must clearly define the value of their mission. In this article, we present a model for community-engaged practices that emerge from the ground up to move these institutions more in line with Catholic Social Teaching. “Cool People Doing Good Work” is an adaptable model centered around relationship building and authentic engagement with local experts, stakeholders, and community members that then builds to institutional change. This model places …

Faculty And Staff Formation In Jesuit Higher Education: The Scholarship And Art Of Accompaniment, Belle Liang, Maria Gregoire, Elisa Liang

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

This study examines the formative impact of selected faculty and staff formation initiatives offered at Boston College, with particular attention to those shaped by Ignatian spirituality. Drawing on qualitative survey data from 134 participants, the analysis identifies interrelated conditions through which formation is experienced as a coherent process rather than a set of discrete programs. Across initiatives, renewal and vocational clarity were most often described through four conditions: People, Pause, Place, and Purpose, understood here as the alignment of values, commitments, and lived practice. Presence emerged as the relational medium through which People, Pause, Place, and Purpose became formative. Presence …

Beyond The Classroom: Leveraging Community Engaged Learning To Teach Corporate Social Responsibility In Sport Management, Amanda Greene Dr., Charles Jones, Natalie Smith

The COSMA Journal

This manuscript presents a case study exploring the use of community engaged learning (CEL) to teach corporate social responsibility (CSR) in an upper-level sport management course. The purpose of this study is to examine how participation in a semester long community engaged learning experience influences student understanding of corporate social responsibility, civic identity, and theory-to-practice application. Students partnered with a local nonprofit affiliated with a professional sport organization to design and execute a donor engagement event addressing youth needs in the community. Guided by experiential learning theory, the course emphasized out-of-classroom learning, industry mentorship, and reflective practice. A longitudinal qualitative …

Bridging Interprofessional Gaps: A Pilot Study On Aac And Asl Training For Allied Health Profession Students, Angela M. Riccelli, Danielle Osmelak, Leslie Guca, Keith Werosh, Valerie Coolman, Rebecca Kvasnicka

Journal of Applied Disciplines

Interprofessional education (IPE) is recognized as a critical component of health professions training, equipping future clinicians with the skills necessary for collaborative practice and patient-centered care. However, students in speech-language pathology, occupational therapy, and physical therapy programs often have limited exposure to individuals who rely on Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) or American Sign Language (ASL). This study evaluated the impact of a grant-funded, AAC- and ASL-focused IPE event at Governors State University on students’ self-reported interprofessional competencies. Using the Interprofessional Collaborative Competencies Attainment Survey (ICCAS-R) developed by Archibald, D., Trumpower, D., and MacDonald, C.J., in 2009 and revised in …

Big Fish Or Little Pond? National Evidence On The Relationship Between Transferring And Athletic Performance Within Division I Men's College Basketball, Kendall Cole, Francis A. Pearman Ii, Saurabh Khanna

Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics

Beginning with the introduction of the transfer portal in 2018, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has made several policy changes that have made transferring both easier and more desirable among student athletes, particularly in Division I (DI) revenue-generating sports. Yet, little is known about the relationship between transferring and student athletes’ athletic performance. Using individual- and team-level data on all DI men’s college basketball student athletes from the 2018-19 season through the 2023-24 season, we examine the relationship between transferring and athletic performance, specifically one’s points per game, minutes per game, and number of games started per season. Results …

Higher Education Institutions In U.S. Blockchain Innovation Governance Documents, Clarissa Terracciano

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Blockchain technologies have attracted growing attention as an evolution of digital recordkeeping, prompting interest in higher education governance, credentialing, and data management. Yet, no systematic analysis exists on how U.S. government blockchain documents define institutional roles and governance authority within higher education institutions. As the national blockchain innovation system expands through governance infrastructure, the inclusion of higher education institutions as governing actors is imperative for coherent and equitable deployment. This qualitative study examines what roles the U.S. government blockchain documents assign to higher education institutions within the national blockchain innovation system.

Using innovation systems theory, particularly the triple-helix model of …

Chicago Southland Regional Model Pathways, Education Systems Center

Practitioner Toolkits and Resources

These models from Prairie State College and South Suburban College are aligned to the State of Illinois College and Career Pathway Endorsement framework and include dual credit coursework pre-approved by the colleges for inclusion by regional high schools.

Evolving Roles And Realities In Canadian Academic Law Libraries, Yemisi Dina, Sharon Wang, Sooin Kim, Alexia Loumankis

Librarian Publications & Presentations

Canadian academic law libraries are undergoing profound transformation, shaped by shifting university funding models, restructured institutional reporting lines, and the accelerating move toward digital legal information. This plenary session will explore how law libraries across Canada are responding to these pressures while continuing to support legal education, research, and access to justice.

The Use Of Surveys In Soliciting Patron Feedback: Effective Strategies For Creating, Promoting, And Applying Them, David J. Fuller

The Christian Librarian

This literature review examines recent sources that explore ways to optimize the helpfulness of surveys in different information organization management contexts. In the landscape of the scholarly literature on using surveys in information organizations, three significant sub-topics for discussion emerge: strategies for incentivizing participation and completion, using surveys in combination with other assessment measures, and formulating action steps from survey results. These three sub-topics are discussed with a focus on common themes, contradictions, and gaps in existing research.