The purpose of this study was to determine the impact that participation in co-curricular activities has on the academic performance and retention of students at an urban community college. This study utilized archived data to make quantitative analyses of the impact of participation in co-curricular activities on GPA scores and one-semester…

In 2016, the CCC Maker initiative provided the California Community Colleges with an influx of resources and energy designed to foster maker-centered learning (MCL). These hands-on practices have the potential to support the broader CCC mission by providing opportunities for engaged, empowering, and collaborative learning for the system's diverse…

In the last several decades educational development efforts for faculty at higher education institutions have shifted to be more collaborative in nature, using approaches such as communities of practice and faculty learning communities. Including activities with strong interpersonal components such as communities of practice and faculty learning…

Military veterans make up a growing proportion of students attending community colleges. Current research shows that some veterans do not transition easily from the service into a higher education setting. One possible reason for this is that the military purposefully creates and sustains its service members' culture. This culture can be retained…

While the national graduation rate has increased over the past ten years, Students of Color graduate at a much lower rate than their white counterparts (National Center for Education Statistics, 2021). Scholars boast that high-impact practices promote positive outcomes such as increased retention and graduation rates as well as student learning…

The aim of this dissertation is to inform policy makers when designing and making decisions on performance measure and performance-based funding models. While performance measures are designed to incent and inform college efforts to increase levels of student success, many of the models unfairly assess college outcomes and fund based on those…

The purpose of this historical case study is to examine the response of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU) to Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. The AJCU is a voluntary association of 28 Jesuit higher education institutions rooted in the Jesuit charism that centers on God's desire for a direct relationship with creation,…

This dissertation explores two main questions of farmers in Western Kenya -- how they see farming as a creative process and their role in that - and how change is made possible in their community. I explore stories from farmers themselves, using photographs they have taken and stories they tell about those photographs, which answer these two…

In this multicase study (Stake, 2005), I studied a semester-long online implementation of the "Mathematics Discourse in Secondary Classrooms" (Herbel-Eisenmann, Cirillo, et al., 2017) (MDISC) teaching professional development (T-PD)--slightly modified for the university context--which I offered to three mathematics-teaching graduate…

This qualitative, phenomenological study explores the impact of employing a cross-grade grouping strategy in elementary advisory programs. The perceptions of advisors regarding the development of younger students' sense of community and connectedness due to interaction and collaboration with cross-grade peers were used to assess the impact. Data…

This qualitative dissertation critically analyzes proposed and enacted state-level, tuition-free college legislative documents. Taking a three-article approach to the research, this study adds to the recent literature of tuition-free programs focusing on program design characteristics and the inequitable outcomes for students. The first article…

Amidst the vast amount of research that measures, evaluates, and suggests best practices for social and emotional learning (SEL), less attention has been given to the underlying cultural values, emotional investments, and relational patterns that shape and uphold SEL at a "root level." The purpose of this dissertation was to create a…

To date, there has been no known research completed on decision-making processes for integrating healthcare simulation activities into the paramedic curriculum. With a growing body of research that demonstrates simulation as a valuable methodology in healthcare education, it is important to understand how to appropriately integrate simulation…

In the spring of 2022, six "caregivers," defined in the loosest of parameters as one who "is" providing or "has" provided care for an ill individual, participated in a five-week residency that utilized storytelling as a processing tool to cope with the demands of caregiving. To balance the importance of remaining…

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) have created opportunities, within schools, as a means to work together to share professional inquiry and further explore various strategies to increase student achievement. Previous research on PLCs mostly focused on ways school staff and faculty engaged on topics of student performance and student…