While leader identity development (LID) and meaning making are interwoven and essential for student development, little research has explicitly explored their intersection. In this article, we briefly summarize the work of two research projects that explored the intersection of LID and meaning making, including a review of the findings that…

Social group disparities persist in who chooses to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields in higher education. Goal congruity theory has highlighted how perceptions of other-oriented opportunities in STEM can spur interest among underrepresented students. The present work extends this framework by considering how…

Universities have offered the best platforms and learning ecosystem to enrich students' characters development. However, how students in the new generation perceives the total experience they get from the university is yet to be examined. This research examines the impact of university education on the personal and social development of these…

This qualitative descriptive design study aimed to understand how males of color in a mentoring program described how natural mentoring relationships support their social-emotional, cognitive, and identity development during the transition from high school to college in a southern state. The researcher used Hagler's (2018) Process Model of Natural…

Black women have a unique process in forming their identities, because of the subordinated status of both their racial and gender identity. Black women in America have urged American society at large to understand the complexity and multidimensionality of the Black woman identity, due to issues of inequality being addressed through a single axis…

Along with the inclusion of intercultural communicative competence (ICC) into the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) World Readiness standards, there has been recent interest in the field of Chinese foreign language teaching towards integrating ICC into the course curriculum. However, many Chinese teachers still display…

This research investigated the developmental patterns of students' writing and public-speaking self-efficacy throughout their experience in the basic communication course (BCC). Questions were posed regarding (1) whether students grew in their reported writing and public speaking self-efficacy over two semesters; (2) whether growth differed based…

Research on third-culture individuals (TCIs) is an emerging topic in college student development. However, while emerging literature on TCIs exists, research on TCIs' personal development in postsecondary contexts is still lacking. This literature review addresses this issue. In this review, I argue that the literature predominantly illustrates…

The purpose of this study was to examine advancement toward three tasks of psychosocial development for a national group of academic peer advisors. Previous research and program evaluations have shown the positive impact serving as a peer advisor has on undergraduate students, in addition to the institutional and advisee benefits generated. In…

This dissertation examined narratives of seven current and former students of a Southwestern university in the United States who participated in short-term study abroad language and culture immersion programs (3 to 4 weeks) in three different locations outside of the United States. The research explored how the short-term study abroad participants…

Theories of college student and adult intellectual development have shown that learning to interpret, evaluate, and construct knowledge evolves in a developmentally predictable fashion, and have offered explanations for the difficulties some students face when asked to make their own decisions (Baxter Magolda, 1992; Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger,…

The purpose of this study was to investigate coaches' perspectives on the personal development student-athletes experience through interuniversity sport. Additionally, it explored the ways in which coaches understand, enable, and facilitate the personal development of student-athletes. Eight in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with…

In the increasingly global world, skills in cultural competence now form part of the minimum standards of practice required for allied health professionals. During an international work-integrated learning (WIL) placement, allied health students' cultural competence is expected to be enhanced. The present study scrutinized reflective journals of…

Informal (and sometimes formal) assessments in higher education often ask students how their skills or attitudes have changed as the result of engaging in a particular course or program; however, it is unclear to what extent these self-reports are accurate. Using a longitudinal sample of over 3,000 college students, we found that students were…

Are athletics a positive or negative educational force? The viewpoint widely shared across academe is that participation in intercollegiate athletics has a positive impact on students and contributes to learning and moral development. Often, this notion is captured in the phrase "character development," a shorthand way to describe the individual…