Collaboration between rural school counselors and educational stakeholders may create opportunities to address inequities; however, there is limited research on rural school counselors' collaboration relationships. The purpose of this dissertation study is to understand the experiences of rural school counselors within the Virginia Department of…

The community college has one of its missions to provide access for students who intend to transfer to a 4-year university using a vertical transfer pathway. As potential advocates for students in the transfer process, faculty who work in community colleges need to recognize the importance of supporting transfer students and help to improve the…

The purpose of this project was to evaluate the Virginia Cooperative Extension internship program from the perspective of student participants and their supervisors. Three focus groups were conducted with internship supervisors from the summer of 2019. Student survey data was used to identify concerns from the student perspective to inform the…

As experiments and models of participatory, sustainable living, ecovillages demonstrate how to enact just, cooperative, and regenerative economic and social constructs, as alternatives to 'unsustainable' capitalist economies and consumerist/individualistic lifestyles. Work is central to these enactments, which provides an opportunity to examine…

Beginning in 2016 and with funding from the National Science Foundation, the Rural and Diverse Student Scholars Program at George Mason University supported two cohorts of diverse undergraduate students from rural Virginia in their pursuit of a STEM degree. A holistic program design and individual components aimed to combine to support student…

The purpose of this case study was to understand approaches for preparing students for their transition to a four-year university following completion of a transfer-focused associate degree at a community college. The theory guiding this study was Albert Bandura's social cognitive theory. The study followed an embedded, single case study design…

In this qualitative study, I examined teachers' perceptions of the influence of high stakes testing on instructional practices and student learning and engagement in middle schools in rural Southwest Virginia. Fourteen middle school teachers from three middle schools completed questionnaires, and seven teachers submitted lesson plans as part of…

As many as 41 million Americans live in "higher education deserts" -- at least half an hour's drive from the nearest college or university and with limited access to community college. Many of these deserts are in rural America, which is one reason so much of rural America is less prosperous than it deserves to be. The lack of higher…

The Rural and Diverse Student Scholars Program at George Mason University is a strategic initiative to recruit and retain rural and diverse Virginia students in STEM majors. A grant facilitated a partnership between an academic college and the Office of Admissions, enabling new recruiting methods to be tested. In this article we describe these…

This is the first of two reports exploring the relationship between coal activity and funding for elementary and secondary education in the Appalachian Region. In this first report, patterns in funding for elementary and secondary education are explored using annual data from 1995 to 2016. Counties that had some level of coal employment over this…

The purpose of this article is to describe the development, mission, and events of the Festival of the Arts at Southwest Virginia Community College (1995-2018) with special emphasis on community involvement and community enrichment. The festival serves as a tool in fulfilling the cultural enrichment mission and community service function of the…

This study of the master planning process of Virginia's public community college system investigates the factors that influenced decisions for site selection of the community colleges and the ways in which the community college system was integrated into the larger postsecondary education system in Virginia. This research illustrates how the State…

Over the last three years, 724,116 online courses were attempted within the Virginia Community College System (VCCS). From these attempts, 206,533 resulted in a grade of D or F or a withdrawal, accounting for 29% of all attempted online courses (Virginia Community College System, 2015). This does not account for the students who may have dropped…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand, from the perspective of students with disabilities, what special education leaders and their respective classroom educators should consider in the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) features and tools to support individualized instruction. This study utilized an immersive and…

Higher education--particularly the liberal arts--has been under attack for several decades. With policies affecting funding, support for students, endowments, and more at stake, how can colleges and universities effectively demonstrate their value to policy makers and key community figures? For some insight and advice, "Liberal…