Higher Education Commons^™

Self-Determination, Campus Involvement, And Disability Awareness Of Young Adults With Intellectual Disability, Zoe Bloecher

Honors Theses

This quantitative and qualitative study examined self-esteem; self-efficacy; self-determination; and disability awareness at the beginning and end of the semester in a sample of young adults with intellectual disability enrolled in a post-secondary education program. Participants’ weekly campus engagement in extracurricular activities during the semester was also tracked. The first goal of this study was to observe changes in self-determination satisfaction and frustration, self-esteem, self-efficacy, and disability awareness after one semester of enrollment in the program. There were 16 participants in the study who varied in their length of participation in the program. Dependent t-tests revealed a statistically significant decrease …

Low-Income And Student Success: California Community College Baccalaureate Degree: A Phenomenological Research, Adolfo Espinoza

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

California Community Colleges (CCC) were authorized to offer baccalaureate degree programs to address workforce demands and expand access to affordable bachelor’s degrees. The purpose of this study was to explore the academic, social, and institutional factors that contributed to the success of low-income students enrolled in CCC Baccalaureate Degree Programs (BDPs) and to examine the strategies faculty and administrators implemented to support their academic achievement.

This qualitative phenomenological study was guided by the Four-Capital Framework developed by Mason and Poyatos Matas (2015). Data were collected through structured interviews with faculty and administrators working in CCC BDPs in which 50 percent …

A Multiple Case Study Of Place-Based Promise Programs, Chad Edward Inabinet

Dissertations

This qualitative multiple case study examines three place-based Promise Programs situated in Midwestern community colleges to understand how they are designed, implemented, and experienced by staff and students. Guided by General Systems Theory, data are collected from program documents, archival sources, and 13 interviews with staff and students across three sites. Within- and cross-case analyses explore program origins, design features, partnerships, student supports, financial sustainability efforts, and outcome tracking. Findings show that: funding models shape eligibility and long-term stability; partnerships with K–12 districts, colleges, funders, and community organizations are essential for implementation; proactive supports, such as advising and mentoring, improve …

May 1, 2026 Minutes, Swosu Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Minutes

No abstract provided.

A New Approach To Generate Combinatorial Patterns In Logical Analysis Of Data And Its Application To Predict College Retention, Salihah Ahmed E. Jaafari

Theses and Dissertations

Student retention and degree completion remain central challenges for higher-education institutions, with significant implications for student success, institutional effectiveness, and public accountability. While advances in predictive analytics have enabled earlier identification of students at risk of withdrawal, many commonly used machine learning approaches suffer from limited interpretability, constraining their practical usefulness for advising, intervention, and policy decision making. This dissertation addresses the problem of predicting student persistence by developing and evaluating optimization based, interpretable classification models within the Logical Analysis of Data (LAD) framework. Building on existing LAD formulations, this research introduces two novel pattern generation models, the Best Term …

Transition Experiences Of Early Middle College Completers: A Grounded Theory Study, Sarah Louise Drabik Cheatham

Dissertations

Early middle college (EMC) students arrive at universities academically prepared yet institutionally undefined, occupying a space between traditional first-year and transfer student identities. Emerging through the Early College High School Initiative, EMC programs were structured to expand college access by embedding college coursework within the high school experience (Edmunds et al., 2012; Edmunds et al., 2017a; Haxton et al., 2016; Miller et al., 2013). Students frequently graduate from EMC with significant college credit, up to an associate’s degree, and demonstrate strong rates of post-secondary credential attainment and accelerated progress toward a bachelor’s degree (Edmunds et al., 2012; Edmunds et al., …

Examining Dei-Related Course Syllabi To Assess A College Library Collection: A Case Study, Amy P. Eklund, Joye Cauthen, Andres Cardona

Georgia Library Quarterly

This library collection development project identified courses in the college curriculum that had diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)-related components and analyzed those courses' syllabi. The results of the project led to the addition of books to the collection that aligned with the library’s collection development policy and funding parameters. Other important outcomes included enhancements to catalog records and strengthened relationships with faculty. This strategy can be replicated to target other areas of study and help continuously develop a library collection.

The Decision Of Us Airlines To Diversify The Flight Deck: Perceptions Of Collegiate Flight Students, Timm J. Bliss, Irene A. Miller

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

The United States (US) airline industry is struggling to find enough commercial pilots and to diversify a profession that has the reputation of historically being male and white. To attract a younger and more diverse generation of pilots who have been historically underrepresented, women and people of color, a major US airline announced a diversity plan in March 2021 to hire thousands of pilots, at least 50% of them women and people of color. In 2022, several other US airlines launched similar initiatives. The purpose of this study was to identify perceptions of collegiate flight students regarding the airline industry’s …

May 2026 Bulldog Alumni & Friends News, Kari Jones, Garrett King

Bulldog Alumni & Friends News

May 8 SWOSU Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony & Dinner

May 9 Spring Commencement

June 5-6 SWOSU Football Championship Weekend

July 30 SWOSU Near You: Eischen’s

July 27 - August 7 Online SWOSU Athletic Auction

August 7 SWOSU Athletic Hall of Fame Banquet

August 8 SWOSU Athletic Auction and Dinner

2026 Nsu Graduate Commencement Program, Nova Southeastern University

NSU Commencement Programs

May 5, 2026

• Shepard Broad College of Law

May 8, 2026

• Barry and Judy Silverman College of Pharmacy
• College of Dental Medicine
• College of Optometry

May 8, 2026

• College of Computing, AI, and Cybersecurity
• College of Psychology
• H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship

May 13, 2026

• Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice

• Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center

May 13, 2026

• Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Allopathic Medicine and Dr. Pallavi Patel School of Health Sciences

May 14, 2026

• Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of …

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2026 Nsu Undergraduate Commencement Program, Nova Southeastern University

NSU Commencement Programs

May 4, 2026

• Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice

• College of Psychology

• H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship

• College of Computing, Al, and Cybersecurity

• Halmos College of Arts and Sciences and the Guy Harvey Oceanographic Research Center

• Shepard Broad College of Law

May 5, 2026

• Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine and Dr. Pallavi Patel School of Rehabilitative Sciences

• Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Allopathic Medicine and Dr. Pallavi Patel School of Health Sciences

• Ron and Kathy Assaf College of Nursing

Academic Self-Efficacy Of Black, White, And Hispanic Students Pursuing Professional Education Degrees And Licensure At An Hbcu In Midwest Ohio, Nathan Boles

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this comparative quantitative study was to determine, using three self-efficacy scales, General Self-Efficacy (GSE), Academic Self-Efficacy (ASE), and Educational Self-Efficacy (ESE), the differences in academic and educational self-efficacy among Black, White, and Hispanic students seeking a Professional Education degree and licensure at a Historically Black College and University in Midwest Ohio. Pre-service students’ self-efficacy and goal commitment can affect their likelihood of graduating with a license and may directly affect the number of novice teachers of color in the classroom. The literature examines factors that disrupt students’ self-efficacy, academic confidence, and persistence through the theoretical frameworks of …

Academic And Demographic Predictors Of Retention And Persistence In Business Programs: Post-Covid Cohorts Of Traditional And Ncccs Transfer Students, Matthew K. Crump

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This quantitative study examined academic and demographic predictors of first-year retention and major persistence among traditional first-year and North Carolina community college transfer students enrolled in undergraduate business programs. Guided by Tinto’s 1993 Model of Student Retention and Astin’s 1984 Theory of Student Involvement, the research focused on students who entered two AACSB-accredited institutions within the UNC System during Fall 2021, Fall 2022, and Fall 2023 as traditional first-year students or as transfer students from North Carolina community colleges.

Institutional data from the Banner Student Information System provided the basis for logistic regression analyses that examined predictors including high school …

Adsorption Of Pfas On Bridged Functionalized Organosilica Materials, Elisha Lawerh Kabutey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

PFAS are hazardous contaminants that have a devastating impact on human health and the environment. Their hazardous nature has led to the development of various adsorption methods for removing these contaminants from water sources. In this study, functionalized organosilica materials were synthesized from bis[3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl] amine using the sol-gel method. The surface amino groups of the organosilica were converted into amine hydrochloride groups. Their adsorption properties were evaluated using salts of perfluorooctanoic acid, perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, and perfluorobutanesulfonic acid. Results showed excellent adsorption capacity of the materials. Adsorption of PFAS leads to particle agglomeration and flotation of the spent material. A column …

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

Morehead State Press Release Archive, 1961 to the Present

Press releases for May of 2026.

An Examination Of Student-Faculty Relationships As A Factor In Retention Of Students In The Department Of Agriculture, Macie C. Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to discover the best approach in building academic relationships between students and faculty. Based on past research, student GPA, learning style, faculty relatability, and involvement were common factors in retention research. These factors contributed to the creation of statements used to analyze the best course of action in building academic relationships between students and faculty. Students and faculty in the Department of Agriculture at Stephen F. Austin State University were able to rank statements using a Quasi-Q-Sort. Results from the Quasi-Q-Sort were analyzed using cross-tabulation, descriptive statistics, Kendall’s W, and Mann-Whitney tests. Following these …

Community Engagement Newsletter, May 2026, University Of Northern Iowa. Office Of Community Engagement.

Community Engagement Newsletter

Contents:

--- UNI's Day of Service - Thank You
--- A Snapshot of Our Collective Impact
--- Online Engaged Department Institute

International Panther Monthly, May 2026, University Of Northern Iowa. Office Of International Engagement.

Office of International Engagement newsletter

Contents:

--- From the Director's Desk
--- Last Month With OIE
--- Student Spotlight
--- UNI's World Window
--- Did You Know?
--- Behind the Scenes
--- Next Month's Activities
--- Additional Opportunities
--- Find Connection at OIE
--- Get Involved

The Impact Of Community On Professional Identity In Computer Science Education, Ian A. Kollipara

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis explores the application of Communities of Practice (CoPs) in Computer Science Education. The work consists of two qualitative studies examining related but distinct populations: (1) K–12 CS teachers and (2) undergraduate CS students. The first study presents a retrospective analysis of conneCTION, an online CoP for K–12 CS educators, identifying strengths, weaknesses, and design considerations that inform future platform development. The second study investigates how participation in a CoP can mitigate negative and exclusionary stereotypes in CS. This study was conducted in an under-explored context: a small, private, religious, Midwestern university, and examines an existing community, the Programming …

Ꭰꮎꮰꭶ (Missing): A Phenomenological Study Of Native American Student Experiences In The Law School Setting, Christina Allene Shaw

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The legal landscape for Native American people in the United States is ever evolving and highly nuanced, with its historical foundation anchored into the classical pilasters of American legal jurisprudence. Federal Indian law scholars place that historical foundation within the written opinions of Chief Justice Marshall dating back to the 1820s and 1830s (Fletcher, 2024). Although few law students will likely find themselves closely examining the unassigned readings of the Marshall Trilogy or contemporary federal Indian law, there is one small group of students in law school doing exactly that: Native American law students. American Indians and Alaska Natives are …

Belongingness And Motivation Among College Students, Noah Seiter

Curriculum and Instruction Undergraduate Honors Theses

Background/Introduction: Student motivation is influenced by a plethora of variables and factors in educational settings which include the student’s sense of belongingness; however, belonging is often treated as a single construct rather than a dimensional idea. This study addresses the need to differentiate student belongingness into its distinct components of peer belonging and institutional belongingness and examine their unique contributions to levels of student motivation in the collegiate level. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine this distinction between levels of institutional belongingness and peer belongingness as well as their independent and collective influences on motivation among college …

Examining Mathematics Identity And Student Capital In The United States And Norway: Comparative Insights From First-Generation College Students In First-Year Mathematics Courses, Margaret Ann Bolick

All Dissertations

First‑generation college students (FGCSs)—students whose parents did not complete a bachelor’s degree—are underrepresented in international research on first‑year mathematics course retention and are often compared to their continuing‑generation peers in ways that reinforce deficit narratives and skew perceptions of FGCSs. This study provides a descriptive comparison between FGCSs’ mathematics identity and forms of capital across the cultural contexts of Norway and the United States through four interconnected papers that address the overarching research question: How do cultural and educational contexts in Norway and the United States influence how FGCSs conceptualize and express forms of capital and mathematics identity in first-year …

Show And Tell: Integrating The Arts Into Transdisciplinary Public Health And Community Organizing Education, Bree L. Hemingway, Margaret Hawkins

The Transdisciplinary STEAM+ Journal

This field note examines the integration of arts-based pedagogy into a transdisciplinary graduate course that brings together students from public health, medicine, the social sciences, humanities, education, technology, and the arts. Central to the course is the Show and Tell assignment, in which students select and present a work of art connected to a social movement. Over three years and 42 student submissions, this assignment has served as an accessible entry point for exploring how artistic expression shapes activism, fosters community, and deepens understanding of justice-oriented work. Through an inductive content analysis of student-selected artworks and presentations, five major thematic …

It’S Been A Great Career: Legendary Labor Attorney Reflects On 50 Years Of Change In Academic Collective Bargaining, Karen Stubaus

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

Nick DiGiovanni, legendary labor and employment attorney, reflected on over 50 years of academic labor relations and collective bargaining work in a recent conversation with Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy Co-Editor Karen Stubaus, as he prepared to retire from Morgan, Brown & Joy. Nick’s son and colleague Damien DiGiovanni, also a partner at the firm, joined in the conversation to bring his perspective to some of the issues currently confronting the field.

Strategies In Bargaining Faculty Retrenchment Provisions: Insights From Cases Of Implementing Contract Language, Gary Rhoades

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

In this article on faculty (and professional staff) retrenchment, based on my recent national analysis of 506 collective bargaining agreements, I delineate four strategies to negotiating the topic found in contract provisions (with more than one strategy often found in the same contract). The strategies are: Procedural (focused on due process); consultative (addressing employee involvement in deliberations); conditional (defining pre-conditions of retrenchment); and re-alignment (speaking to reversing the decades-long relative disinvestment in academic and student facing professional staff). In exploring four cases of institutions—two community colleges and two universities—experiencing retrenchment, I consider how the contract provisions have played out in …

Academic Freedom In Graduate Student Union Collective Bargaining Agreements, Madeline Rowe

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

Graduate student unionization has rapidly increased over the last decade, with almost 40% of graduate student employees unionized by 2024. Yet, little is known about how these contracts address graduate students’ academic freedom – an often-ambiguous area due to graduate students’ dual roles on campus as both employees and students. Using textual analysis of thirteen collective bargaining agreements, this study examines how graduate student collective bargaining agreements include and address matters of academic freedom and the implications this may have on graduate students’ roles on campus and in the greater campus hierarchy. Results reveal that graduate student collective bargaining agreements …

Forcing The Issue: Nebraska’S Collective Bargaining Stand-Off, Shannon Cummins

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

This paper describes the unusual collective bargaining landscape for public academic institutions in the state of Nebraska where state legislation has mandated both pay transparency and limits to the collective bargaining process. Specifically, it explores the unprecedented 2024-2025 bargaining cycle which relied on innovative union tactics of nationwide freedom of information requests (FOIA) to reach contract agreement in the face of twelve years of administration stonewalling tactics. The case study of Nebraska is important as it provides an actual account of negotiations where state limits on collective bargaining have yet to be tested in the courts.

One Faculty, One Mission: A Unified Faculty Model For California Community Colleges, Debbie Klein

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

This article advances a unified, non-tiered faculty model as essential to fulfilling the mission of the California Community Colleges (CCC) system. Although the system is charged with realizing open access and educational equity, nearly 70% of faculty serve in part-time or contingent roles—often without proportional compensation, institutional stability, or meaningful participation in governance. Drawing on research demonstrating that faculty working conditions shape student learning conditions, the article argues that structural employment inequities undermine the system’s democratic promise. Situating the proposal within national “One Faculty” efforts and recent legislative attention to pay parity in California, it demonstrates that reform is both …

In Memoriam Of William A. Herbert, National Center Executive Director

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

No abstract provided.

Establishing Nurse Innovator Competencies: A Collaborative Initiative, Lori M. Brodie, Susan B. Patton, Dara Lanman, Ismail Dilek, Noah R. Zanville, Tracy A. Ortelli

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

Background

Rapid advancements in augmented and artificial intelligence (AI) are reshaping health care, necessitating a strategic approach to integrating innovation into nursing education and practice. This article details a collaborative initiative between academic and practice partners aimed at the initial steps towards establishing the required knowledge, skills, and abilities for nurses to lead change through the creation of Nurse Innovator Competencies.

Methods

After an extensive review of literature, the team identified the absence of established Nurse Innovator Competencies. Through a collaborative and iterative process involving subject matter experts (SMEs) in both innovation and academia, key domains for the competencies, including …