Care is foundational to the way we reproduce and transform the world around us. Today, in a time marked by widespread calls for racial and social justice, and simultaneous backlash against these calls, it is imperative that we understand the ways that care circulates and operates within racialized struggle. In this dissertation I engage in this…

This dissertation research explores how college instructors perceive and demonstrate care toward students. This research also seeks to consider how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced instructors' caring behaviors. Although instructor care has been linked to several positive student outcomes, including persistence, little research has examined caring…

This qualitative descriptive study explored the experience of Senior Diversity Officers (SDOs) or comparable positions in implementing the frameworks for anti-racism strategies at Jesuit colleges and universities. The study explored how, if at all, SDOs think the Jesuit character impacted the implementation of frameworks and the move toward…

Collaborative teaching may provide classroom support, professional development, and mentoring for teachers (Gallo-Fox & Scantlebury, 2016; Guise et al., 2017; Friend et al., 2015; Rytivaara et al., 2019). Recent scholarship in music education has indicated that collaborative teaching may also provide a more holistic approach to student teacher…

This dissertation explores the lived experience of transformation in mentor-coaches trained and certified through the Center for Mentoring, Coaching, and Leadership Development (CMCLD). The CMCLD describes its training as a transformational process in which mentor-coaches adopt a listening mindset that becomes a lifestyle change. This dissertation…

The quality of faculty mentor to student relationships has been a significant factor in undergraduate students' collegiate experiences. Faculty mentors have a unique opportunity to serve as personal connections, informal resources, and professional role models for these young adults. When students are mentored, they should reasonably expect full…

Care is something we expect educators to demonstrate towards their students, but are they themselves being taught the importance of care in education and prepared to enact it in their classrooms? The existing literature on care and care theory in education is limited, but shows a link between care and student success; many educators also point to…

The focus of the study is District A's expected instructional coaching for veteran special education teachers. A mixed methods study was conducted to analyze the perspective of the teacher receiving the instructional coaching. The study included a semi-structured survey that was compared to individual student growth from start score percentiles in…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how graduate students describe self-care deficits and to understand how self-care deficits contribute to burnout, exhaustion, and stress at a private university in the Southeast. During semi-structured interviews and post-interview reflections, ten graduate students from private…

This doctoral action research dissertation is coauthored as a qualitative three-article dissertation; each article leverages a different qualitative approach to the research. Article 1 focuses on the existing depth of literature regarding higher education faculty and their practice of social justice within their roles. Article 2 is a critical…

Often considered an experience in instructional preparation for preservice teachers, the student teaching practicum is both a practical "and" relational experience for both the cooperating teacher and student teacher. In this qualitative study, I examine both the instructional and relational core practices cooperating teachers enact…

Many organizations utilize formal mentoring as a means of human resource development. Positive mentoring experiences can lead to positive outcomes for the mentor, mentee, and organization; however, negative mentoring experiences can have the opposite effect. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive case study was to examine how mentees describe…

This study examined Kanaka (Native Hawaiian) well-being and focused on two questions: (a) How do Kanaka doctoral students describe their well-being? and (b)What lived experiences contribute to the development of their well-being? Rooted in a multiple case study design, this exploratory qualitative inquiry tells the story of 11 Kanaka doctoral…

During the first months of 2020 and throughout the following two years, the COVID-19 pandemic spurred changes in daily life for people worldwide and placed stress on the global economy. The crisis was one of the most impactful and unpredictable global events in recent history. The COVID-19 pandemic catapulted institutions of higher education…

This qualitative inquiry uses the methodology of portraiture to investigate the relationship between founding holistic school leaders and the schools they lead. The guiding question of this investigation is, how do founding holistic school leaders embody their pedagogy through their approach to leadership within holistic schools? Through an…