Round Ii: Exploring The Experiences Of Black, First-Generation Graduate And Professional Students At Historically Black Colleges And Universities (Hbcus), Derrick D. Lathan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This phenomenological study explores the experiences of Black, first-generation (first-gen) students pursuing advanced degrees at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), following the COVID-19 pandemic and racial justice movements like Black Lives Matter. Additionally, this study examines the present-day motivations to pursue advanced degrees, particularly the benefits of doing so at an HBCU. The main research question guiding this study is: What are the experiences of Black, first-gen graduate and professional students at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs)? The sub-questions are:

1. How do Black, first-gen graduate and professional students describe being a first-gen student?
2. What barriers and supports impact …

A Descriptive Study Of Louisiana 4-H 8th Through 12th Graders' Perceptions Of Career And College Readiness, Carrie M. Lane

LSU Master's Theses

As youth leave primary education and enter college or a career path, preparing those youth to ensure success has fallen, in large part, upon formal and non-formal youth educators. Encouraging students to apply and complete college has been a focus of education professionals for many years. Historically, gauging college and career readiness (CCR), academic institutions have relied on academic performance in areas of English Language Arts and Mathematics (Mattern, et. al, 2014). The use of academic focused measures instead of student-based evaluation had its drawbacks. While core education is important, measuring soft skills needed for the workforce and college environment …

Work Hard For The Money: Performance-Based Funding In The State Of Louisiana, Victoria C. Lloyd

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine in what ways, if any, the introduction of the equity incentive portion of Louisiana’s performance-based funding model impacted the underserved student groups it was designed to support. I employed a quantitative quasi-experimental design for this study by running three outcome variables (Adult Learner Enrollment, First-Time Enrollment for Racially Minoritized Students, and Low-Income Student Enrollment) by sector (two- and four-year public institutions) and employing a differences-in-differences regression with panel data. In my analysis I uncovered two main findings: 1) Louisiana’s equity incentive is showing early signs of success for all three underserved groups …

Do Fishery Meeting Attendees Represent The Fishing Industries?, Dominique Seibert

LSU Master's Theses

Public meetings are a highly utilized tool for disseminating important or useful information. Many agencies rely on them to reach various stakeholders and community representation at these meetings is important. A substantial amount of research has been conducted on various aspects of public meetings including different techniques, factors impacting attendance, and representativeness, that is attendees’ opinions representing the opinions at-large. A noticeable gap in the research includes information on public fishery meetings, commercial fishing industries, and their members’ participation. With the U.S. commercial fishing industries supporting more than a million jobs and providing more than a 200-billion-dollar economic impact annually, …

Integrating Behavioral Research Findings With A Liberal Arts Paradigm, Jonathan Peterson

LSU Master's Theses

This paper explores the role of behavioral research in understanding the complexity and relevance of creativity. A brief history of the liberal arts and its current application is followed by a discussion of the importance of variability in generating novel and diverse responses, challenging the notion that creativity is solely a product of innate talent. The effects of reinforcement on variability, and how it relates to a complex relationship between reinforcement and the probability of variable responding leads to a discussion of how the combination of previously trained behaviors can lead to creative problem-solving, emphasizing the role of combinatory behavior …

The Influence Of Selected Personal And Academic Demographic Characteristics On Persistence To Degree Completion Among Traditional-Age Undergraduate Students At A Research University In The Southeastern United States, Michael Eugene Mckey Jr.

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A college education has never been more important than it is today. With nearly two-thirds of jobs in the future requiring some form of advanced education, and approximately one-third of those requiring a bachelor’s degree, it is imperative that research be undertaken to address the factors that contribute to the success of students in college, more so regarding the persistence and retention of those students. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the influence of selected personal and academic demographic characteristics on the persistence to graduation, specifically, within six years. A causal-comparative research design was used as the …

The Influence Of Participation In Gambling Activities On The Personal Lives Of Gamblers As Perceived By Female Gamblers In Louisiana, Carondalette Turner

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Historically, gambling has been a source of many ills within many cultures throughout the United States. During the last five years, there has been a precipitous surge in the accessibility of legalized gambling. Few studies have methodically surveyed the relationships between extent of gambling behavior and the consequences of gambling that may occur. The primary purpose of this study was to determine the influence of selected personal, and perceptual demographic characteristics on the extent of gambling behavior exhibited by female residents of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

This study used a survey design with instrument distributed by hand at selected community organizations. …

The Perceptions Of Foster Care Alumni's Experiences With Four-Year Post-Secondary Institutions: A Case For Capital And Field Advantage, June M. Durio

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT

The focus of this study was to explore, through the lens of Pierre Bourdieu’s constructs of habitus, field, and capital, the post-secondary experiences of foster youth who transitioned out of the Louisiana foster care system. Specifically, this comparable multiple case study sought out to understand how cultural, social, and financial capital influenced the post-secondary educational outcomes of foster care alumni as compared to first-generation and continuing-generation students. Seven common themes emerged from the study: predisposing factors towards post-secondary education; values, knowledge, and skills associated with post-secondary education attainment; informal and formal social networks facilitating post-secondary support; financial resources addressing …

Interactions Between Federal Education Tax Credits And State-Based Aid Programs: An Analysis Of State Budgeting For Higher Education, Anna Castrillo Bartel

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Prior empirical analyses on federal education tax credits have concentrated on the individual and institutional unit of analysis. These outcomes indicate mostly null effects on promoting college enrollments, along with distribution to higher incomes, and mixed results on tuition and fee increases. This analysis utilized institutional and state unit of analysis over a longer timeframe, Tax Year 2001 to Tax Year 2016, using difference-in-differences estimation to analyze the effects of education tax credits. The results indicated states have decreased appropriations to public, two-year institutions (charging less than $4,000) 14% less than their higher-priced counterparts, while states provided more appropriations to …

The Relationship Between The High-Impact Practice Of Communication-Intensive Courses And Undergraduate Degree Completion At A Research University (Ru/Vh), Rebecca Acosta Burdette

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

With a critical public lens on quality student learning inclusive of 21^st century communication skills, and organizational effectiveness à la retention and graduation rates, all amidst budget constraints and increasing enrollments, postsecondary institutions must adopt practices that are both efficient and effective. This study examined the educational practice of Communication‑Intensive (C-I) courses and its influence on the institutional outcome of undergraduate degree completion at a large, public research university.

In this longitudinal study, the researcher applied a quantitative ex post facto research design to analyze six years of official university data on undergraduates who entered the selected university as …

A Study Of The Lived Experience Of African American Males Who Transition From Out-Of-Home Care To Postsecondary Education, Marvin Cain Alexander

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

While the literature is replete with studies of the factors contributing to the failure and social deviance of African American males, few qualitative studies have been conducted to determine the factors that support the success of African American males, and virtually none have focused on the transition of African American males from out-of-home care to postsecondary educational institutions. Despite the challenges faced preceding and during out-of-home care, African American males can transition to postsecondary educational institutions. There is a need to understand why some African American males who experience out-of-home care can accomplish this while others cannot. It is imperative …

The Influence Of Student Housing And Selected Academic And Personal Demographic Characteristics On The Retention Of Students From The Second To Third Year At A Research University (Ru/Vh), Loren S. Mcintyre

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of participation in a content-based residential college versus non-participation in a content-based residential college on retention in the second year of study at a research university-very high research activity (RU/VH) in the southern portion of the United States. The dependent variable of the study was whether or not the traditional-age, first-time freshman students enrolled at the study institution in their fifth semester, or second to third year, of study. The target population for this study was defined as traditional-age, first-time college freshmen who enrolled in a research university-very high research …

Leveraging The Social Network To Support Engagement In An Academic Environment, Glenn M. Gibeson Iv

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between selected social network characteristics and engagement among faculty at a research university (RU/VH). In 2013, a restructuring initiative targeted seven departments from different colleges at a public research university (RU/VH) located in the Gulf Coast region of the United States with a student population of more than 30,000. These departments were restructured to form a new academic college within the university. The archival sample for this study includes the faculty of the newly formed college who were in attendance at the initial college faculty meeting.

Network data were …

Teaching Introductory Statistics To Graduate Students In The Social Sciences: A Mixed Method Investigation Of The Effectiveness Of Simulations In Statistics Education, Liuli Huang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of using simulations as an instructional tool in an introductory doctoral level statistics course. The study focuses on the impacts of simulations on students’ attitudes and understanding of statistical concepts, as well as how the simulations could inspire students’ positive attitudes and improve statistics performance or would fail to help. In addition, since the statistics anxiety has been a primary obstacle to students’ statistics education, and “statistics anxiety” is experienced by as many as 80% of graduate students (Onwuegbuzie, 2004). The researcher is interested to explore the details of …