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Diseño E Implementación De Un Sistema De Pruebas De Admisión Para La Universidad Católica Nordestana, Andrés E. Linares

Theses and Dissertations

Esta disertación aplicada se focalizó en la carencia de mecanismos de identificación de las habilidades y conocimientos básicos necesarios de los ingresantes, para cursar estudios superiores en la Universidad Católica Nordestana (UCNE). El propósito de la intervención fue dotar al Departamento de Admisiones de la UCNE de un sistema de pruebas de admisión reglamentado y procedimental que permitiera conocer las debilidades académicas de los candidatos a nuevo ingreso y facilitara la selección de los mismos a los diferentes programas de estudio que se imparten en la institución.

Se plantearon las siguientes preguntas de investigación: (a) ¿cuáles criterios deberán tomarse en …

Evaluating The Effects Of A Trust-Building Intervention On Employee Trust, Travis O. Davidson

Theses and Dissertations

This quasiexperimental study investigated the effects a trust-building intervention had on employee trust specifically in such areas as transparency, responsiveness, understanding and caring, sincerity, and trustworthiness. Specifically, this study addressed the research questions about whether a trust-building intervention with supervisors led to improved working relationships with nonmanagement employees and whether improvements in the working relationships persisted and remained detectable for 6 weeks following the intervention.

Preintervention and postintervention questionnaires were administered to nonmanagement experimental and control groups to measure the dimensions of transparency, responsiveness, understanding and caring, sincerity, and trustworthiness. The results indicated that the trust-building intervention had a positive …

The Effect Of Major Organizational Policy On Employee Attitudes Toward Graduate Degrees, Frank R. Hughes

Theses and Dissertations

Leaders initiate policies not only to improve the success of their organizations, but to influence employee performance, whereby employee attitudes toward a policy objective can influence their resulting behaviors. One group of employees, Air Force officers, experienced a policy change in 2005 that discontinued the use of academic degrees as criteria for officer promotions. With this change, there is a concern that the number of Air Force officers with graduate degrees might decrease. In particular, senior leaders in the Civil Engineer (CE) officer career field are concerned that this policy change might reduce the number of officers available to fill …

Evaluating Support Services For African American Females At A Historically Black College, Sabrina Ferguson Edwards

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the effectiveness of the Women’s Resources Assistance Program (WRAP), a support service for African American females attending a historically black college or university (HBCU). The study included 230 participants. The purpose of the study was to gauge, through the use of surveys, each participant’s knowledge and level of participation in the WRAP.

The participants were issued questionnaires and interview forms to complete during the study. The questionnaires contained 11 closed-ended questions that were designed to determine the participating students’ attitude towards WRAP as well as their level of participation. Similarly, oral interviews were conducted to ascertain the …

The Analysis Of Air Force Institute Of Technology Theses Related To Contracting, Thomas M. Clohessy

Theses and Dissertations

At the end of March 2005, the final students will graduate from the Air Force Institute of Technology's (AFIT) contracting graduate degree curricula -- consisting at various times of both contract management and strategic purchasing course sequences -- which have been relocated to the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS). With the end of the contracting graduate programs at AFIT, it is appropriate to ask what contributions AFIT theses have made to the contracting community. Scholars (e.g., Das and Hanfield, 1997) have argued that thesis and dissertation research is one useful method of determining contributions to the field. The author conducted a …

Analysis Of The Learning-Style Preferences Of Entry-Level, Upper-Division Undergraduate/Graduate Students In Allied Health Identified With Analytic And Global Format Learning-Style Assessments, Dawn Marie Morton-Rias

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this researcher was to identify learning styles of undergraduate and graduate students in allied health and to examine correlations among identified learning-style scores and students’ gender, ethnicity, and age. The goals were to compare learning-style preferences and provide students, faculty, staff, and administrators with empirical information on student learning. One hundred and fifty-four ethnically diverse students participated in the study. The Productivity Environmental Preference Survey (PEPS) (Dunn & Dunn, & Price, 1996) and Building Excellence (BE) (Rundle & Dunn, 2000) were completed by a sample of 87 students. Correlation analyses confirmed relationships between student learning-styles identified with …

The Predictive Validity Of The Afit Graduate Management Program Admission Requirements: A Reassessment And Extension, Sarah E. Woods

Theses and Dissertations

This research is based on the Air Force and AFIT balancing mission requirements of personnel needed for duty and training airmen in advanced studies. Currently, over 50% of AFIT students do not meet AFIT entrance requirements. The purpose of this research was to examine criteria to determine its predictability of graduate success, as measured by graduate GPA, as well as determine whether performance is different for students who require criteria to be waived. Current AFIT eligibility criteria include undergraduate GPA, GRE test scores, or GMAT test scores. Other variables examined in this study include: GRE-Analytical test scores; rank/grade; prior enlistment; …

The Development Of A Service-Learning Curriculum At The University Of North Carolina At Greensboro, Donna Jeffers Brown

Theses and Dissertations

The purposes of this study were to (a) successfully create a required service component in an undergraduate course that specifically addresses service learning and (b) develop recommendations for implementation of community service experiences in an existing academic department curriculum. Students, faculty, higher education institutions, and professional organizations contributed numerous suggestions for successful institutionalization of service learning. Relating course content to meaningful service, developing partnerships with community agencies, and providing faculty with recognition for service courses contributed to successful service-learning programs. The results revealed barriers to participation in service-learning activities, such as student and faculty apathy, lack of administrative support, and …

An Exploratory Investigation Of The Value Selected Academics Place On Faculty Internship Programs, James M. Summers

Theses and Dissertations

The purposes of this exploratory investigation were to (a) ascertain the level of importance or value Rowan University Engineering and Business faculty members (n = 51) place on faculty internships and (b) determine the preference these faculty members have toward faculty internships or traditional sabbaticals. A t-test for Equal Means indicated the two groups held similar views with respect to the perceived value faculty internships have on professional growth and improved scholarship and teaching. One exception was the effect faculty internships have on career requirements. While both groups generally understood the value of faculty internships, participants would opt for a …

Island Of Tranquility: Rhetoric And Identification At Brigham Young University During The Vietnam Era, Brian D. Jackson

Theses and Dissertations

The author argues that beyond religious beliefs and conservative politics, rhetorical identification played an important role in the relative calmness of the BYU campus during the turbulent Sixties. Using Bitzer's rhetorical situation theory and Burke's identification theory, the author shows that BYU's calm campus can be explained as a result of communal identification with a conservative ethos. He also shows that apparent epistemological shortcomings of Bitzer's model can be resolved by considering the power of identification to create salience and knowledge in rhetorical situations. During the Sixties, BYU administration developed policies on physical appearance that invited students to take on …

A Technique For Converting Nfa's And Dfa's To Regular Expressions In Lex, Gregory Safko

Theses and Dissertations

In the design and creation of compilers, a compiler-writer is called upon to make assumptions and declarations about how their language's syntax performs and behaves. Lex is a software tool used to create grammar rules. A flat file is read as input to lex, and the corresponding C code is output. However, in order to properly format the flat file, the compiler-writer creates the lex expression either on a "hunch," or based on some given set of criteria. Among these criteria are: case sensitivity, the introduction of special characters and symbols, the handling of a space character, and the handling …

Title Ix Compliance In Intercollegiate Athletics, Michelle Andre

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to examine how institutions have been in compliance with Title IX at the New Jersey state schools that are part of the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) and are affiliated with the NCAA as Division III programs. The research was to show how these institutions felt they were in compliance and to explore whether they have met certain criteria and how programs have been dropped in order for institutions to meet a quota. I gathered my information via surveys. The subjects surveyed were both male and female athletic administrators at the state universities. Eighteen …

Effects Of Learning Style On Performance Outcome In A Distance Education Setting, Karen M. Mattison

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship that existed between learning style and performance outcome for a Distance Education setting. The study included three groups of students taking an introductory computer science course during the spring/02 semester at a small Community College in New Jersey. Each group was taught by the same instructor, used the same syllabus, and was expected to complete the same number and type of tests and assignments. However, the first group was a traditional lecture-based section. The second, was a traditional lecture-based section, but enhanced somewhat with a course web site interface. The …

A Descriptive Analysis Of Ncaa Divisions I, Ii, And Iii Compliance Programs, Michele Mcgowan

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to explore a number of aspects and components of athletic compliance programs in Division I, II, and III institutions. I gathered my information for this study via surveys. The subjects surveyed were both male and female athletic administrators at Division I, II, and III colleges and universities. A systematic random sample stratified by division such that it would provide a 90% confidence level with a ± 5% margin of error was designed. To achieve the desired confidence level, I sent 213 surveys as follows: 70 surveys were sent to Division I institutions, 58 were …

The Predictive Validity Of The Afit Graduate Engineering And Environmental (Geem) Admission Requirements, Charles C. Zitzmann

Theses and Dissertations

Recognizing that a strong commitment to advanced technical and management education (Van Scotter, 1993, p. 1) serves to maintain the capability and strength of the United States Air Force (USAF), the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) Graduate School of Engineering and Management (GSEM) offers a full-time, eighteen-month, Graduate Engineering and Environmental Management (GEEM) program to military officers and Department of Defense (DoD) civilian employees. The AFIT uses the applicant's undergraduate grade-point average (UGPA), Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General Test verbal and quantitative scores, and undergraduate mathematics course grade-point average (UMGPA) to select applicants for admission. This study analyzed how …

Admissions Criteria And Academic Performance In The Afit Graduate Cost Analysis Program, Kenneth R. Garwood

Theses and Dissertations

This research examined the admissions criteria used by the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) to determine academic eligibility for the in-residence Graduate Cost Analysis (GCA) master's degree program. Using the cumulative graduate grade point average earned at AFIT as the measure of academic performance, comparisons were made between the predictive capability of the current criteria and other potential factors. Factors considered included scores from the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT), undergraduate cumulative and math grade point averages, applicant's age and gender, ratings of the undergraduate school's admissions competitiveness, undergraduate degree type, and various …

Service Learning In Business Schools: What The H.E.L.P. Honduras Story Teaches About Building, Sustaining, And Replicating International Initiatives In Graduate Programs, Lisa Mali Jones

Theses and Dissertations

This document outlines the foundation and first year results of the H.E.L.P. Honduras organization, which was formed as a student-based, student-governed international outreach initiative at the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University. Specifically, in its first year the organization focused on providing microcredit and service relief to victims of Hurricane Mitch in Honduras.

After studying the case of H.E.L.P. Honduras, readers should conclude that educators interested in sponsoring sustainable student-run service learning organizations at private universities must address three primary issues: the problem of student selection and turnover, the need for administrative and faculty endorsement, and the need …

A Value Focused Thinking Approach To Academic Course Scheduling, Shane A. Knighton

Theses and Dissertations

In 1997, the School of Engineering of the United States Air Force Institute of Technology began exploring ways of automating the academic course scheduling process. The administration desired an expedient approach for course scheduling which supports the institute's mission of "providing scientific and technological education" to officers from all branches of military service, as well as international military forces. The scheduling approach needed to be flexible, efficient, and represent the institute's values and principles. Decision Analysis (DA) and specifically, Value Focused Thinking (VFT), is used to decompose the complex problem of academic course scheduling and determine the factors that are …

Learning Styles And Perceptions Of Effective Teacher Characteristics Among Adult And Traditional Learners In Baccalaureate Nursing Programs, Irene Taylor Henderson

Theses and Dissertations

The problem of this study was to investigate the relationship of learning styles and perceptions of effective teacher characteristics among adult and traditional aged learners in baccalaureate programs of nursing. Previous research did not clearly identify the relationship of the variables of learning styles and student perceptions of effective teacher characteristics. Also, research was not clear as to the import added maturity had on student perceptions. This study utilized a sample of 281 baccalaureate nursing students which comprised 122 (43.4%) adult learners aged 25 and older and 159 (56.5%) traditional learners aged 24 and younger. Three data gathering instruments were …

The Role Of The Gso Program In The Space Operations Career Field, Gregory J. Beloyne

Theses and Dissertations

The number of Air Force officers graduating from the Air Force Institute of Technology's Graduate of Space Operations master's degree program is declining. Furthermore, the number of advanced academic degree jobs these officers fill within the Space Operations career field has been reduced. These events question the role the GSO program has in the Space operations career field. This research surveys the GSO populations to determine how useful their master's degrees have been in providing the skills and knowledge needed to fill the advanced degree positions. This research also addresses the number of officers entering the GSO program each year. …

Demonstration Of A Benchmarking Technique To Compare Graduate Education Level Of Air Force Project Managers And Selected Benchmarking Partners, William D. Beatty, David H. Kelley

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis demonstrated a benchmarking technique to support determining graduate education requirements for officers in the Acquisition Program Management utilization field. The technique is also applicable to other Air Force career fields. The USAF currently uses the Graduate Education Management System GEMS to quantify officer graduate education requirements. Weaknesses in the GEMS-based process include the inability to address future technologies, vulnerability to inconsistency and change, and confusion of training with education. AFIT developed and recommended an alternative requirements determination approach that relies on benchmarking. This thesis reviewed literature on benchmarking principles. The research methodology developed and implemented benchmarking procedures to …

An Analysis Of The Usefulness Of Graduate Education To Contracting Professionals As Perceived By Graduates And Their Supervisors, Ursula J. Woodson, Kimberly L. Yoder

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to assess the usefulness of graduate education to contracting professionals as perceived by graduates and their supervisors. Based on a list of 22 skills used by contracting professionals, graduates and their supervisors were surveyed to determine to what extent graduates possess these skills, developed these skills in their graduate degree program, and use these skills in the performance of their jobs. Air Force Institute of Technology Contracting Management Graduates since 1988 and contracting professionals with masters degrees within the Air Force Materiel Command were identified for this study. As a result of this study, …

Measuring Press Release Placement From Brigham Young University's Public Communications Office To Utah's Newspapers, Gregory T. Kunde

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a replication of a study conducted at Oklahoma State University in 1986. This study measures the percentage of Brigham Young University press releases published in Utah newspapers during a four month period in 1989. The results of the two studies are analyzed and compared.

Additionally, personal interviews were conducted with thirty Utah newspaper editors to help determine any additional factors that may affect publishing decisions among Utah's newspaper editors.

A Study Of The Air Force Logistics Professional Development Model, David E. Gressman

Theses and Dissertations

The personnel population in the field of logistics has two major divisions. The first, is to organizations providing logistic support for the Air Force mission and is the Operations and maintenance area. The second area is Acquisition, which supports the Air Force mission to acquire new weapon systems. Until recently, there was no clear plan for logisticians assigned in these two major divisions to enhance their educational development. This research project reviewed several logistic career enhancement programs focusing on two new programs, the Acquisition Professional Development Program (APDP) and the Logistics Professional Development Program (LOGPDP). The APDP program has received …

A Validity Study On The Air Force Institute Of Technology Student Selection Criteria For Resident Master's Degree Programs, Daniel R. Sny

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis was to determine the validity of the selection procedures that AFIT (Air Force Institute of Technology) uses for admission to their resident graduate programs by discovering if the variables considered by the AFIT registrar's office can predict success at AFIT. The study was based on a collection of 4507 academic records of US military officers, foreign officers, and civilians who attended as AFIT students between 1975-1987. The academic records provided the predictor variables to include each graduate student's undergraduate GPA, standardized test scores, and demographics. Through correlation analysis, this study examined the relationships between the …

The Development Of In-Service Training For Teachers And Counselors Working With Adult Homeless Students, Dagmar F. Pelzer

Theses and Dissertations

The number of homeless persons in the United States has been increasing rapidly over the past few years. Nationwide estimates range between three hundred thousand and three million homeless, with a ten to thirty percent annual increase. Efforts to reduce homelessness consist primarily of the provision of housing and employment.

Dade County Public Schools initiated educational programs for homeless adults in February of 1988. Between 1988 and 1991, over three thousand homeless adults were enrolled in part-time and full-time academic and vocational programs. In-service training for teachers and counselors working with the homeless needed to be developed and implemented because …

A History Of The Men's Intramural Program At Brigham Young University, David A. Brown

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to compile and present an organized and complete history of the Men's Intramural Program at Brigham Young University.

The Brigham Young University Intramural Program had its beginning early in Brigham Young Academy history. The intramural program originated as an outgrowth of the physical education instructional program. Prior to 1954 the intramural program was part of the Physical Education Department and the Chairman of that department gave leadership to the intramural program by assigning part-time directors and student managers to organize sporting events. Since 1954 a full-time director has been employed as Intramural Director. The …

Reasons American Indian Students Do Not Typically Choose Industrial Education As A Major At Byu, Sam Canyon

Theses and Dissertations

It was the purpose of this study to examine reasons why American Indian students do not typically choose Industrial Education as a major at BYU. To identify reasons American Indian students do not typically choose Industrial Education as a major, a questionnaire was developed. This questionnaire obtained data about personal information, reasons for not choosing Industrial Education as a major, reasons not included in the survey, Industrial Education background, and other general information related to the study. The questionnaire was administered on and off BYU campus to 122 identified American Indian students. Ninety- two students completed and returned the survey, …

An Evaluation Of Instructional Television In The Brigham Young University College Of Religious Instruction, James Frank Killian

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to make an evaluation of Instructional Television in the College of Religious Instruction at the Brigham Young University.

The overall findings of the study indicate that there was much discontent manifest, from both students and faculty, with the present TV enrichment program. This discontent seemed to be strongest in the areas of the types of presentations made on TV, the quality of the productions, and that the TV presentations were required and not optional. The discontent was manifested by the fact that one third of the students did not attend half the TV enrichment …