The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived work experiences of Title IX Investigators as they navigate their responsibilities amongst the continuous changes to Title IX policies and procedures. The lived work experiences of 12 Title IX investigators were collected through in-depth one-on-one interviews to provide knowledge…

The first step to improving an organization's security posture is to define the organization's security goals. At a technical level, these goals are expressed as security policies. Security policies are predicates over programs, that return true or false if the program adheres to the policy. Defining these policies correctly is thus essential to…

Ensuring that all students graduate high school prepared to pursue a career, postsecondary degree, or enter a certification program requires all stakeholders to work together for a common goal. The Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 gave state education agencies the opportunity to partner with their local education agencies, restructuring school…

Child and youth homelessness is a complex topic area for researchers. There are many facets to the homelessness phenomenon, especially among children and youth. Yet, over the past decade, this topic area has created a research and practicum platform for researchers and actors and followers who are passionate and interested in exploring this social…

This study investigated the relationship between information security training and awareness and employees' compliance with information security policy in the U.S. retail industry. Using a quantitative non-experimental research design, this study examined and quantified the significance of the relationship between information security training and…

Methods to estimate the causal effects of interventions are increasingly used in clinical medicine, public policy and social science. Using observational data, researchers can obtain causal treatment effect estimates without the ethical risks and time constraints that typically burden randomized experiments. The three studies in this dissertation…

The Individualized Education Program (IEP) remains a pivotal document for ensuring educational equity for students with disabilities in public education (Bateman, 2017). This qualitative interview study investigated how an IEP team supporting a student with extensive support needs navigated the decision-making process during annual IEP…

This dissertation presents the first known Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) investigation of how marginalized students are included in syllabi. This study fills a gap in the literature due to the changing demographic of college students, the absence of faculty who share these marginalized identities, the syllabus being the first…

The undocumented college student population in the United States reflects a similar pattern of growth relative to the overall population of undocumented individuals (Goo, 2015). While the undocumented population in the U.S. has not recently increased substantially, and in some cases the undocumented population has actually declined (Baker &…

This study examines the ascension of women of color (WOC) to senior leadership roles in the higher education C-suite (senior-level executives in an organization). WOC earn 16% of PhDs and only 2% of senior leadership positions at higher education institutions. Increasingly, the higher education pipeline has diverse women ready and capable of…

This study explores significant aspects of the history of Islamic higher education in the central Ottoman lands (Bilad al-Rum) and Greater Syria (Bilad al-Sham) during the approximate period 1530-1650. Two general themes constitute the greatest part of our focus. The first is an examination of the divergent approaches to pedagogy in each…

The problem of practice this research sought to study and offer solutions for was centered around social media communications from a housing and dining department at a major university in a large United States city during times of crisis and emergencies. The purpose of this Action Research study was to examine and make recommendations to improve…

Despite attempts by medical schools and professional organizations to address the problem in recent decades, the issue of bullying remains a widespread and serious problem in medical training and the training of medical scientists. Because of the hierarchical structure found in many medical schools and institutions of higher education training…

This qualitative case study is situated in the area of educational leadership. It aims to explore possible strategies for increasing community-integrated employment for graduates of a Job Training Coordination Program at OakVeil High School. It is important to consider the lived experiences, hopes, fears, and barriers experienced from a…

Almost 5.5 million young children with working mothers spend more time in family child care (FCC) than any other form of care in the U.S. FCC providers play a critical role in child development for infants and toddlers. Yet, research on FCC is lacking, particularly on providers, despite the national child care crisis. To fill this gap, my…