As employers struggle to fill 9.5 million vacant positions with only 6.5 million workers available across the United States, the role of community colleges becomes critical in educating workers. Open-door access and lower-tuition costs make community college an essential resource for people to access higher education; however, research shows the…

Retention concerns remain high for postsecondary institutions and even more so when focusing on populations such as those who are the first in the family to attend college, first-generation college students. First-generation students account for 34% of the collegiate population, yet 40% of first-generation students do not return for their…

The importance of post-traditional women's persistence in earning credentials at a community college cannot be understated. The literature addresses the issue of non-completion within the community college; however, it does not address why or how some students complete, in this instance, post-traditional women. Deficiencies exist in the…

This autoethnographic study examined the challenges and difficulties a post-9/11 combat veteran faced as they transitioned and reintegrated into civilian life post-military service. With suicide rates in the veteran community reaching alarming rates, this study explored personal narratives and perspectives on reintegration to counter the deficit…

Pursuing higher education in a foreign country entails numerous challenges and opportunities for development for international students. Social media allows individuals adapting to a new environment to connect, communicate, collaborate, network, and learn, overcoming geographical, temporal, linguistic, cultural, and social boundaries. In this…

First-generation college students face internal and external obstacles impacting their persistence and degree completion. This study examined what positive and negative factors and to what degree these factors impact first-generation college students' persistence and degree completion at the Appalachian institution based on academic classification…

This qualitative phenomenological research study sought to explore African American male students' perception of the Successful Teaching Relative to Overcoming Negative Generalities (S.T.R.O.N.G.) MENtoring program's influence on their academic and social integration. As African American male students continue to experience lower graduation rates…

This study explored the association of four independent variables (i.e., sex, class standing, GPA, and living status) with the academic integration, social integration, and institutional commitment (the dependent variables) of international students attending seven public regional universities in West Virginia. A researcher-developed, Likert-type…

Despite copious research discussing student veterans, minimal literature addresses military veteran faculty members. To address the gap, this study used qualitative interviews to describe the perceptions and experiences of military veterans (N = 12) who successfully transitioned into faculty roles within U.S. postsecondary institutions. A…

This study aimed to understand the barriers that two-year college students face that prevent graduation and the possible intervention program to assist them with overcoming these barriers. The perceptions of academic advisors working at a two-year college were gained in the areas of barriers related to environmental factors, social integration,…

International student mobility has been increasingly driven by economic rationales. However, the mere presence of international students in US higher education is inadequate to realize the non-economic values of internationalization, such as enhancing intercultural understanding. This dissertation, grounded in a humanistic perspective, examined…

This quantitative study examined non-TRIO participating first-generation college students' graduation rates and the impact of academic and social integration in one community college setting. This study used archival data to analyze tutoring, purchasing a meal plan, and living in campus housing. The study used Tinto's (1993) Model of Student…

Much attention has been given to the changing landscape in higher education regarding declining student-enrollment rates and changing demographics. University leaders are giving higher priority to student-success outcomes, specifically retention, persistence, and graduation rates, resulting in a need to examine the emerging role of the student…

The objective of this dissertation is to identify the sense of belonging of Black male students attending predominantly White institutions (PWIs). In many cases, Black males feel they do not belong in collegiate environments in the United States. Thirty-nine Black males attending a mid-sized Midwestern university were surveyed using the Basic…

There is a growing demand for a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) trained workforce in the United States. In order to remain globally competitive, the US needs to increase the STEM workforce not only in numbers but also diversity. Colleges and universities throughout the US need to not only gain STEM majors but retain them…