Major life transitions often require people to make complicated decisions about how to disclose information about that change to the people in their lives. Social media, and people's online self-presentations and social networks, add complexity to decisions about how to manage information disclosure and changing identities. This dissertation…

NCAA Division I intercollegiate wrestling has lost more athletic teams to elimination since the early 1980's than any other intercollegiate sport (Irick, 2016). Research exploring reasons behind intercollegiate wrestling program elimination is scant and much of what does exist is part of a broader discussion regarding Title IX regulation. This…

This doctoral dissertation aimed to explore the unique experiences of a very specific, yet quite diverse segment of the student body population in higher education: International students who also identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer or Questioning (LGBTQ). The experiences of this subset of the student population have not…

I explored the socialization and experiences of older adolescents and young adults who were involved in three extracurricular dance organizations at a large Midwestern university. I conducted a six-month, comparative ethnographic study using observations, interviews and a survey. I identified three key themes through which I explored the meanings…

Post-secondary education has been correlated to an individual's self-esteem and quality of life. With this commodity being accessible in a variety of formats, there continue to be discrepancies in attainment for males and females. Current research has documented that the number of females who are earning a college degree has surpassed that of…

Daily experiences of isolation and invalidation create adverse campus climates that often lead to men of color dropping out of higher education. Student leadership positions can increase feelings of belonging, provide greater access to campus resources and increase retention for men of color, particularly when they centralize identity exploration.…

This qualitative study explored the gendered professional experiences of male elementary school counselors. The participants or co-researchers were twelve men of varied ethnic and racial backgrounds between 25 and 60 years old. They lived and worked in five US states in urban, suburban and rural settings. They provided school counseling program…

The purpose of this qualitative interview study was to explore the narratives of 22 elementary reading specialists about their work. It asked: What were reading specialists' narratives about their work and their influences? The study looked at reading specialists' day-to-day functioning within an institution and at reading specialists'…

This study was designed to investigate the perceptions that at-risk African American male students have towards non-minority female teachers and the role they played in their academic success. Participants were low income African American males attending a Southeast Texas University and who were successful in their non-minority female teachers'…

Gender neutral housing is an innovative new policy being developed in colleges around the country. One reason to create these policies is an attempt to meet the unique needs and challenges of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students. As the number of gender neutral housing policies in the United States continues to rise, research has been…

This dissertation is situated as the third work in a series on academic women. In 1964, Jessie Bernard published "Academic Women," which provided a comprehensive assessment of the status of women in academia. Two decades later, in 1987, Angela Simeone offered insight into attempts to achieve equity for women in higher education in her…

This case study explored the gendered performances of five female backline classified staff members who work in non-traditional fields within a community college. More specifically, this study defined gendered behaviors at a community college, and explored how these behaviors have affected the identities of women working in non-traditional fields…

This dissertation is a qualitative study of early 21st century American female college students' experiences of their gender, sexuality, and racial identities, and of institutional politics as their single-sex college transitioned to co-education. It is an ethnography that utilizes feminist theorizing to understand tensions between feminists…

This study examined the networking and mentoring practices of female superintendents in California. Through a mixed-methods approach, quantitative data was collected from a survey using electronic questionnaires, and qualitative data was collected from open-ended questions on the survey and interviews. The survey response rate was 50%. Of the…

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to illustrate the ways in which female university presidents navigate the male-dominated world of higher education. The pathways female university presidents followed in order to reach the upper tiers of higher education administration were explored through interviews with presidents of 4-year…