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The typical educational stressors experienced by college students, in conjunction with developmental stressors such as separation from parents, individuation, and perceived social support, can interact to impact adaptation significantly. First generation college students (students who are the first in their family to attend college) can experience stressors beyond the typical educational stressors experienced by later generation college students, including lack of support from family and peers as well as financial difficulties that can interact to impact the pursuit of an education beyond the undergraduate level. The present study examined factors that may be especially influential in the pursuit of a higher education for first generation college students. Results indicated that aspects of family enmeshment were related to academic motivation for first generation students, but not for later generation students. Exploratory analysis showed that family and finances were mentioned more often among first generation students when compared to later generation students as stressors that strongly influence the desire to continue beyond the undergraduate level.

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Academic programs for student athletes are an integral part of collegiate athletic programs across the country. The Summer Bridge Program at Texas A&M University is a transition program for student athletes that are beginning their first year of college. The program allows student athletes to begin their college career in the summer immediately following graduation and take a few courses and learn study and time management skills. The purpose of this study was to determine if transition programs were effective in helping student athletes succeed academically while in college. Chickering’s Theory of Identity Development and literature on learning communities formed the framework of the study. Learning communities and transition programs are becoming popular programs at colleges and universities to help all student transition to college and succeed academically. Also, there was much literature regarding the Academic Progress Rate and the 40/60/80 rule which determines the amount of degree plan that must be completed at the end of the sophomore, junior and senior year of college created by the NCAA. These rules are a driving force for academic centers to provide services for the academic success of student athletes. Data were collected both quantitatively and qualitatively with cumulative grade point ratios (GPR’s) of the student athletes and interviews were conducted with a small number of student athletes in select sports. After the GPR data was analyzed, the student athletes that participated in the program had lower GPR’s than those that did not participate. The qualitative data from the interviews provided positive statements and feelings toward the Summer Bridge Program. Additional research is needed since the area of transition programs for collegiate athletics has not been extensively investigated.

Academic programs for student athletes are an integral part of collegiate athletic programs across the country. The Summer Bridge Program at Texas A&M University is a transition program for student athletes that are beginning their first year of college. The program allows student athletes to begin their college career in the summer immediately following graduation and take a few courses and learn study and time management skills. The purpose of this study was to determine if transition programs were effective in helping student athletes succeed academically while in college. Chickering’s Theory of Identity Development and literature on learning communities formed the framework of the study. Learning communities and transition programs are becoming popular programs at colleges and universities to help all student transition to college and succeed academically. Also, there was much literature regarding the Academic Progress Rate and the 40/60/80 rule which determines the amount of degree plan that must be completed at the end of the sophomore, junior and senior year of college created by the NCAA. These rules are a driving force for academic centers to provide services for the academic success of student athletes. Data were collected both quantitatively and qualitatively with cumulative grade point ratios (GPR’s) of the student athletes and interviews were conducted with a small number of student athletes in select sports. After the GPR data was analyzed, the student athletes that participated in the program had lower GPR’s than those that did not participate. The qualitative data from the interviews provided positive statements and feelings toward the Summer Bridge Program. Additional research is needed since the area of transition programs for collegiate athletics has not been extensively investigated.

Individuals with a history of multiple concussions may be at risk for relative weaknesses in executive functioning and processing speed. These weaknesses could adversely influence academic skills and academic success. This study determined if the relative weaknesses in executive functions and processing speed mediate associations between multiple concussions and academic outcomes in university students. To achieve this aim, university students with a history of three or more concussions (n = 58) were compared to two control groups (ns = 57) on measures of executive functions, processing speed, academic skills, and academic success. Results indicated no significant differences between the groups on measures of executive functioning or processing speed. The multiple concussion group endorsed significantly more psychological symptoms, had a slower reading rate, and had a lower grade point average (GPA) than controls with no history of concussion. Executive functioning and processing speed did not mediate the associations between concussion status and academic skills or academic success. Future research should investigate other potential mediators, such as psychological symptoms, that may account for differences in academic skills and performance amongst students with multiple concussions.

This thesis examines Augustine's relation to Academic Skepticism through a detailed commentary on the dialogue Against the Academics. In it is demonstrated the significance of epistemological themes for Augustine and their inseparability from practical and religious concerns. It is also shown how these issues unfold within the logic of Augustine's trinitarianism, which informs the argument even of his earliest works. This, in turn, demonstrates the depth of the young Augustine's engagement with Christian categories in works often thought to be determined wholly, or almost wholly, by the logic of Plotinian Neo-Platonism. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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As the discourses of the “technological imperative” and student-centred learning have gained momentum in university teaching and learning, one way for the lecturer to signal excellence has been to adopt the flexible, student-centred practices of online teaching. This thesis investigates academics’ insights and experiences about their changing teacher identities in the context of being, or becoming, a facilitator of online student learning. This was an empirical research project, a collective case study that explored the teaching experiences of twelve university lecturers in two Australian universities who taught online, or were making the move online. Primary research data were drawn from semi-structured conversations with the lecturers, online teaching artefacts and email communications. The interpretative analysis was organised according to three overlapping lecturer identities: the teaching metaphors of performance, care and creative direction. From the perspective of each metaphor position, the move to becoming a facilitator of blended learning was uneasy. The performer/carer/director lecturer struggled to entertain, care and intervene in familiar ways in asynchronous, computer-mediated communication. Online, the performing/caring/directing lecturer was ignored by students, and became instead a helpless and highly reflexive bystander to students’ learning. The findings suggest that the teaching values and practices of the performing/caring/directing lecturer, in particular lecturer-student responsiveness and reciprocity, do not adapt to online pedagogies. Indeed, blended learning establishes the conditions for a new moral order in university education, with the move to online facilitation best understood as a move to management-centred regulation of teaching and student learning. And so, overlooked in higher education policy and research, and ignored by her students online, the performing/caring/directing lecturer is under erasure, at the same time as the work of the facilitator is being archived.