This study investigates the critical literacy practices of adult learners at a community college. Student participants were selected from four different leveled reading courses. In this study, four guiding questions that were adopted from Klenner and Sandretto (2011): (1) How do students make personal connections to text?; (2) In what ways do…

As university-based community engagement programs expand through curricular and cocurricular initiatives, it is important to understand and assess their impact in advancing a key mission of higher education--to nurture and develop engaged citizens with a well-honed sense of civic identity. A literature review revealed a gap in the…

The purpose of this phenomenological case study was to explore the perceived effectiveness of a restructured developmental education program at one campus of a large, multi-campus community college in North Texas. The restructuring process was guided by the mandates of Texas House Bill 2223 passed in 2017. One of the components of the bill allowed…

The tragedies that befell the USS Fitzgerald and USS John S. McCain in 2017 cost 17 service members their lives. These incidents sent shock waves through the service, with several upper-echelon officers losing their positions while temporarily halting all naval operations. Investigating the collisions, The National Transportation Safety Board…

This dissertation is in two parts: Part 1 of the study focuses on investigating the feasibility of delivering turn-on rhodamine-based fluorophores through Glucose transporters (GLUTs) for biomedical applications, both "in vitro" and in vivo. Fluorescent GLUT targeting probes are essential for analyzing transport activity, monitoring…

Due to ongoing financial cuts and budget restraints, community colleges have turned to alumni association fundraising to support their mission and advance their institution. Fundraising for any organization is challenging, but community college alumni institutions have a more difficult time than their university counterparts in recruiting alumni…

Students in developmental math classes have been documented to struggle with arithmetic. This dissertation research was a response to the calls in the literature to qualitatively understand what students are learning in a classroom. Number sequences have been well researched to document the connection of student understanding of math in elementary…

While public outrage in response to excessive force is appropriate and understandable (e.g., Rodney King), there are also use-of-force instances which may be misconstrued as excessive by civilians due to a lack of understanding of the law, policies, and procedures for police use of force (UOF). This can lead to negative perceptions of police…

In this field note article, I discuss my in-progress historical novel about privateering in the 17th century to demonstrate how adult education feminist theories of situated learning have influenced my fiction-based research. I introduce situated learning in gendered communities of practice, explain women's experiences in (para)military…

The purpose of this action research study was to understand and develop school-wide critical literacy practices with middle school teachers. During Cycle 1, students, teachers, and administrators from one school within an urbanized district spoke with the researcher in either interviews or focus groups. Results indicated that in order to implement…

With the increasing prominence of the children and adolescent mental health crisis after the COVID-19 pandemic, schools have been tasked with connecting students with supports to reduce non-academic barriers to learning. Student Assistance Programs (SAPs) can assist with this by connecting students and their families with school-based and…

If students are to have an equitable opportunity to talk and communicate understandings, reasoning, and ideas, teachers need to use instructional practices that promote equitable academic discourse in the students' academic home -- the school. Students need to feel and know they are challenged and supported to be their best, just like a school…

The induction process for new and beginning teachers has the potential to transform how teachers experience themselves and their school and ultimately the impact they have on students. Schools, like Clark Hill Academy, within rural, historically marginalized communities face challenges of recruiting and supporting new teachers. By using a…

Department chairs are tasked with a variety of responsibilities including informing institutional decisions, yet approximately 65% of department chairs have reported receiving no training, and two-thirds of those who received training believed it was not adequate. I conducted an external program evaluation of a department chair institute for…

Professional staff make up the majority of employees at colleges and universities in the United States but are rarely the focus of research in higher education. As a result, little is known about how these employees experience the workplace, creating a challenge for educational institutions working to attract, develop, and retain this essential…