With the shifting dynamics within higher education, there is a stronger reliance and need for financial support in order to aid the institution's growth and financial health. One particular segment of their donor base that institutions will need to cultivate in order to respond to these dynamics is among their alumni. Simultaneously, while many…

Since its inception in 2003, the IWCA Summer Institute (SI) has been understood within the writing center field to be an important professional development opportunity for new and experienced writing center professionals (WCPs). Publications on the SI to date have focused on anecdotal perceptions of the benefits to leaders and participants or on a…

Students minoritised because of their race and/or ethnicity have a different university experience from their peers, which is reflected in degree completion statistics, awarding gaps, and graduate outcomes. One factor influencing these outcomes is students' sense of inclusion and belonging with the university, which is lower in minoritised…

This essay aims to build upon the Peer Writing Tutor Alumni Research Project (PWTARP), designed by Bradley Hughes, Paula Gillespie, and Harvey Kail (2010), which focuses on what tutors learn about themselves as writers and students. However, the PWTARP survey, like much of writing center scholarship, focuses on student workers attending PWIs…

The COVID-19 pandemic has required new marketing strategies for leveraging brand equity among Higher Education Institutions. Previous research has uncovered the impact of electronic word of mouth in the Higher Education Institutions' service industry, so this research extends our knowledge of the effects of electronic word of mouth on Higher…

The increased emphasis on targeting audiences via digital and social media channels necessitates the updating of traditional advertising curriculum. Academic courses specializing in social media strategy, analytics, and campaigns are vital to the advertising educational landscape as we strive to best prepare students for future employment. Phase 1…

To what extent do active learning spaces foster students' development of collaboration skills, a set of highly sought-after competencies in today's workforce? This case study highlights the novel use of a survey specifically designed for recent alumni to attempt to identify and quantify important attributes of these learning environments…

In this dissertation, I present readers with three studies about the ways in which science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) research experiences impact undergraduate learning, perspectives, and academic/career activities. In the first two studies I focus on this topic by investigating the ways in which undergraduates were impacted…

This case study explored the experiences of alumni of a private boarding school for low-income children who had informal mentors to understand the long-term effects of informal mentors among a diverse population. Guided by the memorable message framework, the study retrospectively focused on relationships alumni identified as having made a…

The capstone course serves to integrate accumulated knowledge with a culminating experience or project and is a common component in undergraduate and graduate programs. The research on capstones courses shows that many capstone experiences or projects involve students working with outside clients, such as local businesses and organizations, to…

The purpose of this qualitative interpretive study was to identify aspects of leadership theory prevailing in the practice of educational leaders by analyzing how 22 participants experienced leadership. The study was framed using a conceptual framework grounded in a select body of theoretical and empirical leadership literature. Data were…

Institutions rely on career-ready competencies developed by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) to understand the nationwide job outlook and labor market trends. The purpose of this mixed-methods study is to inform a course redesign process in the business curriculum at a Midwestern university in the United States. Using an…

The purpose of this research is to measure the impact of data literacy on psychological empowerment in workplace for newly employed graduates. Since data play an increasingly important role in our lives, including the work environment, it incites research on whether data literacy skills, those related to collecting, processing, analyzing, and…

Authoring Action (A2) is a youth-focused, arts-based, afterschool and summer program. A2's mission is "to transform the lives of youth and the world through the power of creative writing, spoken word, visual and media arts, film-making and leadership education that promotes positive systemic change." Using in-depth interviews, this study…

This study examined the lived experiences of premedical advisors employed in four-year institutions of higher education in the northeastern U.S. advising premedical students about the gap year options between undergraduate education and medical school. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews of 17 premedical advisors and analyzed…