Leadership Studies Commons^™

Improving Pre-Departure Training For English Teacher Volunteers In Costa Rica: An Examination Of Aliarse And Recommendations, Derek Schwartz

Capstone Collection

Volunteering outside of one’s country and culture is a challenging endeavor. While abroad, international volunteers generally encounter a new language, culture, and lifestyle which can create challenges for volunteers. Pre-departure training can buffer and lend nuance to the difficulties that volunteers face. In Costa Rica, the organization Aliarse manages a volunteer project that experiences high volunteer attrition and incorporates minimal pre-departure training. This case study draws on quantitative and qualitative data collected from questionnaires and semi-structured interviews of former Aliarse volunteers over two months. Results from the data found that ninety-four percent of the interviewees said interacting either directly or …

Leadership And Professional Development Amongst Student Interns, Amanda Brown

M.A. in Higher Education Leadership: Action Research Projects

Research shows that students who participate in an on-campus internship during their time as an undergraduate can have positive impacts on their leadership and professional development (Matteo & You, 2020). The positive impact of partaking in an on-campus internship has prompted higher education professionals to investigate the specific benefits that are provided through these internship programs as well as the structure of such programs. This study sought to improve my understanding of being a mentor and how I can create space and opportunity for my student interns to work towards leadership and professional development and how those skillsets can be …

Pulling Off The Curtain On The Southeast Asian American Student Experience At Uc San Diego, Kathy Vilaysith

M.A. in Higher Education Leadership: Action Research Projects

The purpose of my research was to examine the Southeast Asian American (SEAA) identity in connection to performance and sense of belonging at institutions of higher education. The central focus was trying to understand the SEAA experience as opposed to the “model minority” narrative that is typically associated with the Asian American community. My research questions are what is the impact of their SEAA identity on their navigation in higher education? How do these students make meaning of their identity and sense of belonging at UC San Diego? How can I increase the visibility of the Southeast Asian American narrative …

Becoming Aware Of The Leader Within: Measuring The Impact Of Mindfulness Practices On Leadership Development, Ayumi Tachikawa

M.A. in Higher Education Leadership: Action Research Projects

The unprecedented events brought on by the global spread of COVID-19, along with the racial justice protest movement, have contributed to heightened mental, emotional, and physical distress among leaders. While research shows chronic stress and anxiety contribute to decreased focus, creativity, and overall well-being, mindfulness, the practice of being actively aware of the internal and external environment, can counter and mitigate those harmful effects that hinder effective leadership.

This research utilized a mixed-methods approach to examine the impact of mindfulness practices on three leadership competencies that an extensive literature review deems essential for successful leadership in times of uncertainty: self-awareness, …

Para La Comunidad: Centralizing Latinx Scholars At An Emerging Hispanic-Serving Institution, Valerie Mora

M.A. in Higher Education Leadership: Action Research Projects

This study highlights Latinx student experiences, through storytelling, to identify existing services and resources aiding Latinx academic success at the University of San Diego (USD), while also exploring what additional resources are needed to aid Latinx scholars’ belonging and mattering at a Catholic, predominantly White institution (PWI). Latinx student enrollment rates at colleges and universities have increased nationwide, leading institutions to consider the Hispanic -serving Institution (HSI) federal designation to gain access to discretionary grant opportunities. For HSI designation, institutions must have at least 25% of their student population categorized as Hispanic, and 50% of Hispanic students must be Pell …

Undergraduate Students’ Perceptions Of Mentorship In Relation To Future Leadership Opportunities At An Evangelical Christian University, Constance Schneider

Senior Honors Theses

Mentoring relationships have been shown to be a catalyst for leadership development. They serve an important role in the lives of students in preparing them for academic success, career advancement, and future leadership opportunities. However, at Christian institutions of higher learning, there is a tendency for male faculty to vastly outnumber female faculty and administrators. For the purposes of understanding how students view mentoring relationships, student perceptions of mentorship and future leadership emergence were measured at a large Evangelical Christian university. A survey was distributed to student Residential Assistants and results were analyzed in order to determine if there was …

The Negotiation Tactics Of Nelson Mandela, Christian Parham

Global Tides

Nelson Mandela is known across the world for his extraordinary peacemaking skills. This paper examines the negotiation tactics Nelson Mandela used to bring unity to South Africa. It begins with examining his childhood and young adult years to highlight the development of his skills, and then provides a comprehensive review of the negotiations he participated in. It explores the effectiveness of each one and describes lessons that can be received. In so doing, it provides an evaluation of his tactics and concludes with how these lessons can be applied in light of current societal issues.

Analysis Of Alumni Giving Based On Student Activity Involvement: Multivariate Logistic Regression Modeling, Michael Speight

Dissertations, 2020-current

Little research has uncovered clear results on why post-secondary alumni give or which alumni might be more inclined to give. The most significant predictor of future giving for alumni to their alma mater is past giving (Okunade and Justice, 1991). This creates an unfortunate situation for today’s post-secondary leader, where they need to be more reliant on fundraising results to overcome budget shortfalls while knowing their fundraising staffs only have the ability to determine the likelihood of an alumni to give through meeting with them. This problem is only more exacerbated for public post-secondary leader, who has dealt with dwindling …

Doing Good Better: The ‘Do Good’ App, Emily Trumble

Honors Theses

Although we all want to do the right thing, doing so reliably is often extremely difficult because we do not always know what the right thing to do is. Personal biases undermine our ability to perceive information in a way that does not favor ourselves. Additionally, even without those biases we often do not have enough information to make adequately informed decisions . The solution to this problem is the Do Good App, an app which would assist people in making the correct decisions. Unlike humans, the Do Good app would not be biased and it would have easy access …

The Case For The Moral Rationale Of Diversity, Will Walker Jr.

Honors Theses

Although there is much literature highlighting the instrumental benefits of diversity (Gurin et al., 2002; Gurin et al., 2004; Hurtado,2006; Jayakumar,2008), little research focuses on the effects of diversity that arise because of moral rationales for diversity. Expanding into the question of diversity rationale’s effect, we in this study measured the relationship between institutional rationales for diversity and undergraduate students’ perceived feelings of belonging. Using one-tailed multivariate analysis of variance (N=257), our results show that the moral rationale for diversity has more beneficial outcomes for undergraduate students, regardless of their race or ethnicity. More specifically, our analyses show that undergraduate …

Access Alone: The Unintentionality Of The Diversification Of Higher Education, Katherine Szeluga

Honors Theses

Recently, American colleges and universities have seen an increase in hate and bias incidents. These incidents are, unfortunately, nothing new. In coming to terms with the continuity of discrimination in higher education, history matters. The process of diversification challenged higher education in seen and unforeseen ways. Namely, institutions of higher education often fail to reconcile the distinctions between their stated institutional claims and actual practices. More bluntly, university administrations have not been as intentional about inclusivity and diversity as they would like the public to believe. Many of America’s universities have failed to institute apparati that might allow diversity to …

When They Lost Their Words: The Impact Of Microaggressions And Exclusion On Chinese International Students’ Linguistic Capacity And Leadership Emergence, Kexin Li

Honors Theses

This research investigates the impact of microaggressions and social exclusion on Chinese international students’ English fluency and leadership emergence. We entered a group of Chinese international students into an online study in which they filmed two videos of themselves speaking English before and after being exposed to either an identity-threatening or an identity-safe condition, both presenting an ostensible group they would be joining and with the identity-safe condition added small inclusionary changes. The results demonstrated that Chinese international students speak English more fluently and tend to show more interest in participating in group activities when put into an identity-safe environment. …

Power And Performance: The Role Of Witchcraft In The Leadership Of Queen Elizabeth I And James I Of England, Sabrina Garcia

Honors Theses

Modern day beliefs about the Early Modern European witchcraft trials portray this time period as ignorant and superstitious, easily falling pretty to religious fervor. However, when looking at the primary source materials from the Elizabethan and Jacobean reigns one can see that beliefs on witchcraft were quite varied and complex. By using primary documents, as well as popular plays at the time that focus on malleus maleficarum (harmful magic) this thesis attempts to explore what witchcraft beliefs can reflect about the leadership performance styles of the monarchs Queen Elizabeth I and James I of England. Witchcraft was an intellectual battleground …

Servant Leadership, Optimal Experience, And Meaningful Life, Kong Wah Cora Chan

Servant Leadership: Theory & Practice

Optimal experience – also known as Flow – was coined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in 1975 in his research study of joy, creativity, and the total involvement with life. Optimal experience is about focused attention and control of consciousness. Likewise, servant leadership is a conscious choice which aspires one to lead (Greenleaf, 1970). After a close examination of the philosophy of servant leadership by Greenleaf (1970), the attributes and behaviours of servant leaders by Laub (1999), Russell and Stone (2002), Patterson (2003), Keith (2008), Spears (2010), and Sipe and Frick (2015), it is argued that the work of a servant leader …

Correlation Between Servant Leadership And Organizational Commitment Within An Academic Health Center, Cheryl Bellamy

Servant Leadership: Theory & Practice

Correlation Between Servant Leadership and Organizational Commitment

Abstract

This paper presents an overview of a study of the relationship between servant leadership and organizational commitment. The study included a convenience sample of 84 full and part-time employees of a health professions education unit within an academic health center. Participants were surveyed using the Executive Servant Leadership Scale (ESLS) to assess servant leadership and the Klein Unidimensional Target-free (KUT) instrument to assess organizational commitment. Data analysis was conducted using Kendall’s tau-b and Spearman’s rho. Results showed that there is a significant positive relationship between servant leadership and organizational commitment.

Keywords: Servant …

Relationship Between Supervisors' Servant Leadership And Police Officers Job Satisfaction, Michael Chikeleze, Jennifer Vigil, William C. Hale, Iris D. Johnson, David Williams

Servant Leadership: Theory & Practice

Recent police killings of unarmed African Americans in the United States and the subsequent protests and demonstrations against police brutality have resulted in more focus on the importance of collaborative relationships between law enforcement agencies and their communities. This quantitative correlational research study was conducted in one southern United States police department that incorporated a servant leadership philosophy, including its leaders being publicly heralded for their servant leadership practices that positively impacted its relationship with its community. The study examined if a relationship existed between perceived servant leadership of law enforcement leaders and line police officers’ job satisfaction. The study’s …

Professional Development: Lessons From Building A Workplace Diversity, Equity And Inclusion Program

Business Exchange

Corliss Garner (BUS ’96), who is the senior vice president and head of corporate social responsibility and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) at First Midwest Bank, offers steps needed to build an effective and sustainable DEI program in any business.

Community Foundations As Community Leaders, Colton Strawser

Dissertations

Community foundations claim to play an integral role in fostering philanthropy at a community level all across the United States. Community foundations have three distinct operational roles, including asset building, grantmaking, and community leadership. While asset building and grantmaking have methods available to quantify and measure their impact, community leadership has remained an elusive concept for community foundations for many years.

This study investigates the idea of community leadership in the context of 81 community foundations based in California. The first part develops a conceptual framework of community leadership based on existing studies and practical guidelines, including the use of …

Potential For Democratization In Ethiopia, Abby Sonnier

Honors Theses

The United States is losing the competition for global power to China, especially on the African continent. This thesis aims to analyze opportunities for the United States to take advantage of China’s withdrawal from Ethiopia in order to develop relations with the quickly growing country and influence the country toward democratization. This author found that while democracy is not likely, through increasing relations with Ethiopia’s prime minister, the United States has an opportunity to push for increased individual freedoms for Ethiopians. The author relied on open-source information and strategic analytic techniques often employed by the U.S. intelligence community.

Understanding And Enhancing The Graduate Admissions Experience For Dacamented/Undocumented Students, Taylor Ulrich

M.A. in Higher Education Leadership: Action Research Projects

The informal and often ad hoc nature of college admissions can deter DACAmented/ Undocumented students from applying, being admitted, or choosing to enroll in higher education. Admissions offices can serve as a resource to these students, assisting them in navigating this extensive process. The purpose of my research was to better understand the DACAmented/Undocumented graduate student experience and explore how DACAmented/Undocumented students’ needs could be better met in graduate admissions at University of San Diego. The research questions guiding my study were (1) how could I understand and enhance the DACAmented/Undocumented graduate student experience? and (2) how could I work …