The United States is facing a crisis of college and university closures as we approach the demographic cliff. As a result, the expected number of four-year college closures is predicted to be substantial. This doctoral project offers a theoretical model (HERC Model) that provides tangible suggestions or recommendations for how to confront the…

Human sexuality is a basic foundation of the human experience. In graduate school for psychology, students are often taught about sexuality in terms of gender identity and sexual orientation. However, there is a lack of education around sexual functioning in terms of sexual wellbeing, arousal, and disorders. Many psychologists are licensed as…

Harmful and inaccurate narratives about the nature of mathematics, and about the mathematical incapability of historically marginalized groups, are pervasive and longstanding. The persistence of these narratives, and their documented negative impacts in school, the discipline, and beyond, have led some scholars to conclude that there is something…

This dissertation investigates student experiences on a four-year public U.S. college campus, focusing on the impact of humanized support services in non-academic administrative offices. Chapter 1 introduces the study's purpose, while Chapter 2 reviews literature on customer service practices through the lenses of Experience Management, Service…

While many community college (CC) students come to higher education with specific career or life goals, these aspirations may be forced to change if students are not able to get past the gatekeeper of remedial mathematics coursework. Racially minoritized students are disproportionately tracked into non-credit-bearing remedial (NCBR) mathematics…

The dominant educational paradigm is rooted in a Platonic, Cartesian, and Piagetian mind-supremacist epistemology that subordinates the body and experience to the mind, ideas, and objective concepts. This reduces students to cognitive receptors of information in a detached, decontextualized, and dehumanizing classroom, i.e., the banking…

This study aimed to understand graduate-level Elementary Preservice Teachers' (EPST) mathematical dispositions before, during, and after a graduate elementary math methods course taught through a rehumanizing, ambitious and equitable math teaching framework. In this study, EPSTs' dispositions included four constructs: math anxiety, math teaching…

Neoliberalism has been described by many as the greatest threat to global democracy. Few studies have attempted to locate the influences of neoliberalism at the interpersonal level on individual educators involved in university-based teacher education. Given this absence, I undertook an exploratory qualitative case study within one…

The aim of this qualitative action research study was to explore what happens when first-generation college students engage with Critical Participatory Action Research (CPAR) as a form of humanizing research experience that can serve as an alternative to traditional research experiences for first-generation college students. It also investigated…

Black individuals have been disproportionately involved in the criminal justice system in the United States ("Federal Bureau of Prisons," 2022). Because of their criminal justice involvement, Black individuals are perceived as "second-class citizens" making their quest for "freedom" an endless journey impacted by…

Asynchronous online learning provides students and instructors flexibility and convenience. However, a persistent concern regarding online learning is that it is inherently impersonal. The Community of Inquiry (CoI) theoretical framework, first introduced by Garrison et al. in 2000, incorporates social-constructivism principles to promote a sense…

Exploring the impact of internationalization on teaching and learning, this study employs a qualitative exploratory extreme case study at an internationally oriented business PhD program by analyzing the experiences of international students, domestic students, and faculty. The four research questions are: What is the meaning of…

Humane education (HE) is a specialized niche in higher education and adult learning. HE provides a curricular framework positioning environmental ethics, animal protection, human rights, media literacy, culture, and change processes as the nexus for understanding and inspiring social change. Research-derived experiences illuminating how educators…

This study examines the college aspirations and access of Latino, undocumented students. In a time when college access is limited and a college education is necessary, the issue of academically qualified, undocumented students trying to enter the higher education system under tremendous odds is one that deserves a closer study. This dissertation…