While trauma-inclusive approaches to student learning have been well documented in K-12 contexts, postsecondary education has done little to incorporate trauma-inclusive pedagogy into college classrooms. Using a sample (n = 529) of graduate and undergraduate students at a public rural-serving regional serving university, this study aims to explore…

Family and consumer sciences (FCS) is an interdisciplinary field in which professionals, regardless of their specialty area, will most likely need to interact with individuals and families in poverty. Several tools are available to help instructors teach college students about poverty. The Community Action Poverty Simulation (CAPS) has been widely…

Executive leadership for African-American males in higher education in student affairs at predominantly white institutions remains elusive and requires dedicated insights, critical thought, hard work, and a community of support that manifests itself in many ways. The work is evolving, and higher education administrator must take time to…

The current set of studies examined whether two common appraisals that students make during learning (whether they have control over their learning and whether they place value into learning the material) give rise to common types of thoughts students also experience (mind wandering, personal connections, and freely-moving thought). Study One…

This research explores a personal aspect of leadership: the self-leadership of Chinese women doctoral students in the U.S. This dissertation reviews current dilemmas of feminist and leadership studies and adopts a constructivist grounded theory approach to examine how Chinese women doctoral students have gone through their doctoral journey in the…

The pipeline of college students seeking teaching positions is shrinking. The teacher shortage makes finding and retaining new teachers even more challenging. The cost of replacing existing teachers who leave is tremendous, and new teachers leave the profession at an alarming rate. This dissertation explored the lived experiences of new teachers…

The purpose of this exploratory case study was to examine how the implementation of a near-peer leadership framework for student employee leaders, referred to as Operations Leads (OLs) in my practice as the manager of the Operations area at a university student recreation center, influences the supervisory and leadership ability of the student…

The higher education problem addressed in this study was racial inequity in student outcomes in California Community Colleges. The purpose of this narrative study was to explore the feelings White administrators had about race and describe the emotional management White administrators engaged in to uphold and/or transform racist structures.…

Providing visual instructional aids, such as maps and visual orientation cues, in Hypermedia Learning Systems (HLS) has been argued to reduce the disorientation experienced by learners with specific individual differences. In turn, it has been suggested that providing such aids may lead to improvements in learning performance and learner attitude.…

In this qualitative case study, I examined how teacher instructional practices and beliefs around teaching literature were impacted after self-selecting into a sustained professional development opportunity called Bard Core. Specifically, I ask, 1. What are the perspectives of secondary ELA teachers as to how a self-selected, year-long,…

Latin@ undocumented students confront unique and significant barriers in accessing and obtaining postsecondary certificates and degrees within community colleges. This study explored 4 current and 1 former community college part-time (6-8 credits) undocumented students, specifically how they described their help-seeking experiences within a…

The shift to online learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic has brought about significant changes in the way education is delivered. The online environment provides a new avenue for physical therapy education. With a majority of undergraduate students taking at least one course online, their perceptions of online learning are critical in the…

Throughout history, higher education institutions (HEIs) in the United States (U.S.) have espoused the goal of developing an educated citizenry with the capacity to engage across difference and contribute to solving the major issues in society (Association of American Colleges & Universities [AACU], 2019; Kezar, 2004). Although significant…

The American Association of Community Colleges has identified diversity, equity, and inclusion as important initiatives in redesigning American community colleges. One area of focus is having accessible resources for students with identified disabilities. However, intellectual disabilities are not as readily observable and often go unnoticed. This…

One of the most persistent barriers within the education system preventing students of color from accessing and persisting in higher education is the deficit lens that the education system uses to judge college-worthy students. To combat this deficit lens, strengths-based programming has shown promise in validating the strengths and students bring…