The purpose of this action research study was to understand and strengthen staff and administrators' sense of workplace belonging in a small, private, family-founded college. In Cycle 1 the researcher aimed to understand factors that contributed to participants sense of belonging. Cycle 1 participants responded to a survey to provide insight on…

The purpose of this action research study was to investigate challenges to college success specific for first-generation undergraduate students at a public regional institution, and to improve their lived experiences via a first-generation student intervention in the form of a one-quarter student success course. Data collection in Cycle 1 of this…

The COVID-19 pandemic created significant disruption across the world. These two studies provide a mixed methods approach to understanding how undergraduate college students at one university were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The first, a quantitative study, examines changes in mean, median, and standard deviation of GPAs in the semesters…

This qualitative research used Strayhorn's (2019) theoretical framework to explore the lived experiences of selected Black students at a predominately White institution (PWI). This study sought out to understand the race-related experiences of selected Black students at a PWI, then to understand if those experiences have affected their sense of…

During a global pandemic, another pandemic of loneliness impacted undergraduate college students and influenced the way members of the 18-25-year-old population lived and learned throughout a time of intentional distancing. Additionally, the insurgence of loneliness impacts members of the 18-25 age group in startling rates. This qualitative case…

Students' Sense of Belonging (SoB) to a University is important because high levels of Sense of Belonging have a positive impact on students' motivation and retention. This mixed methods research design was developed to define Sense of Belonging to the University from the students' perspective, create a more comprehensive measurement tool for…

Building community is essential to achieving optimal learning conditions. Failure to build community in online courses is linked to higher drop-out rates, feelings of isolation, and lower academic success rate (Adams & Wilson, 2020). Although there is research on building a sense of community in online course settings, much of this work has…

This study examined undergraduate college students' sense of belonging during the COVID-19 pandemic and how student services staff addressed belonging during this time. The social cognitive theory served as the theoretical model. Three research questions guided this inquiry: What is undergraduate college students' current sense of belonging right…

The intention of this dissertation in practice is to provide structure to a peer-to-peer mentoring program to improve the academic success of students, while building students' engagement and social emotional skills through connections and relationships within the school district. This study is situated in a rural school community with an…

The issue of teacher shortages has been a national crisis in the United States. Teachers have expressed feeling exhausted and burnt out from the profession. The COVID-19 pandemic made these feelings worse, with the rates of teachers leaving the profession being higher than what has occurred in the past. Teachers' sense of belonging at their…

The unprecedented circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic altered the educational industry globally. In March 2020, a nationwide lockdown was implemented in the US, a "shelter-in-place" ordinance that required everyone except those deemed essential personnel to stay home and work remotely (Jacobsen & Jacobsen, 2020; World Med Health…

The purpose of this study was to better understand the living-learning community (LLC) experience and the residential-optional learning community (ROLC) experience, specifically the aspects that had the most influence on college transition and involvement according to students. The LLC model specifically has become common practice within higher…

This mixed-methods study used the Culturally Engaging Campus Environments (CECE) model to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on college student sense of belonging. The purpose of this study was to explore how environmental changes related to the disruptive effects of the COVID-19 pandemic may have altered students' sense of belonging to…

Universities have increased the number of fully or partially online courses they offer to meet students' family, work-life, and academic needs. As a result of this shift, the HyFlex learning paradigm, which provides hybrid and flexible learning options, has gained traction in academia in recent years. The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the…

Belonging has been studied for decades with many researchers concluding that humans have an inherent need to belong. Although each person's level of need to belong differs, it is a deeply rooted human motivation that impacts a person's feelings, thoughts, and behaviors. Individuals develop a sense of belonging when they feel connected to others.…