Over the past 30 years, a shift occurred in higher education that saw more of the burden for paying for postsecondary education placed on students. Combined with rising tuition and fees, this has led students to take on increasing amounts of student debt. Despite the historic rise in student loans, surprisingly little attention has focused on…

This dissertation conducts a narrative positioning analysis of full-time two-year college literacy teaching (TYLT) faculty in order to investigate how they perform professional identities through storytelling. The author analyzes narratives surrounding three significant facets of professions: professionalization, jurisdiction, and uses of…

This qualitative narrative inquiry study explored students' perceptions of intervention strategies used in the early alert program at an Arkansas two-year college. The problem addressed in this study was that student perceptions do not inform early alert program designs. By assessing the student's perceptions of intervention strategies,…

Today's post-secondary institutions in the United States are seeing the continuous decline of enrollment. In Fall, 2020, there were 19 million students enrolled in college according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center in 2020, which is a decline of 4.4% from the prior year. While the decline can partially be attributed to the…

Instructors of first-year composition (FYC) face the challenge of crafting rhetorically diverse opportunities for student writers within a classroom setting. As a result, many have embraced service-learning or community-engaged pedagogy. Oral history projects may be incorporated into curricula by faculty who embrace this approach to teaching, but…

As the number of refugees worldwide continues to rise at an alarming rate, it is pivotal for resettlement processes to include equitable pathways to postsecondary education and the workforce. Despite the growing media coverage of the experiences of individuals with refugee backgrounds, empirical research on adult refugees in college is scant,…

The first-year writing (FYW) course is located at a crucial moment in a student's educational pursuits: it is one of the few required courses that nearly all students must take, and success in this course is often an early indicator of whether a student is likely to graduate. This dissertation examines how writing assessment and FYW have been used…

Two-year athletic programs bring many unique elements to a college campus, many of which help to create a comprehensive student experience. Quantifying this experience is difficult as little data has been collected historically on two-year college athletes. The purpose of conducting this study was to create a profile of a rural two-year college…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to identify the critical factors of professional instruction that positively influence employee engagement. The setting for this study was a 7,500-student, two-year college and career training institutional district that is located in the midwestern region of the United States. The research sample for…

The strength of alignment between Student Housing and its functions with Student Life may impact its ability to promote the retention and persistence of first-generation and historically excluded students who live on campus. The purpose of this action research study was to investigate the role of Student Housing, as a Public-Private Partnership,…

The Associate-Degree Nursing Student (ADN) self-care practices will assist in determining success during the first semester of nursing school. Understanding the first-semester ADN nursing students' self-care strategies will help produce a future nurse as academic pressure can derail a successful graduate. What is not fully known is how the…

In an effort to boost enrollment, remain competitive, and to offer students flexible schedules, two-year colleges throughout the nation have been offering more online courses to attract students from all races, ethnicities, and genders. Gateway courses are among the many types of courses being offered both in synchronous and asynchronous models.…

Using critical theory of technology and intersectionality, this study uses a mixed methods approach to investigate how power dynamics are embedded within the scholarship application of a two-year college in the United State. It also researches what might happen if the scholarship determination process was completed by machine learning and how that…

Globalization has offshored low skills manufacturing, leaving industry in the United States to adjust business models, install ever-advancing technology, and incorporate automation on their production floor. These advances in precision and computer-aided work require a labor force with technical and "soft" skills to operate complex…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the work values that motivate higher education professionals, specifically those who work in TRIO programs, to persist in providing support to vulnerable student populations. Higher education professionals employed at two-year institutions are essential in assisting at-risk students with services that…