Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Spirituality is a topic of growing interest for college students and scholars and yet personal accounts of spiritual development among college students remains limited. This study investigated the spiritual development of seven traditional-aged, University of the Pacific students in their senior year of course study. Interviews were conducted using an interview guide. Participants were requested through chain sampling techniques. Interviews were used to gain knowledge about the experiences students have that contribute to the ways in which they define spirituality and how those experiences affected them personally. Responses from interviews of Pacific students will be compared to Fowler's Stages of Faith and the work of Parks, Chickering and other's conclusions made regarding how students and people across generations and cultures develop a sense of meaning and purpose.

This study was based on the premise that one outcome of education is ego development. The research was based on Jane Loevinger's theory that ego development is the central frame-of-reference through which people view themselves and their relationships with others. The study looked for evidence of ego development in adult students and for contributing factors, including academic environments. It compared the ego levels of students aged 35 to 55 at two higher education institutes and some experiences that are common to most colleges. The variables compared were based on Loevinger's levels of ego development and theories of academic environments of Moos, Pace, and Knefelkamp. The variables used were: ego development, type of school, background characteristics, relations with faculty, enthusiasm about school, opinions about academic environment and estimates of gains. The study was done in two stages. Five hundred forty students responded to a questionnaire on background characteristics and selected portions of Pace's Measuring the Quality of College Student Experiences. From this group, 150 students were mailed Loevinger's Sentence Completion Test and 85 were returned. Study findings provided an opportunity to expand the knowledge about the ego levels of adult students. Statistical analyses included chi-square and ANOVA. No statistically significant change in ego levels was found. No statistically significant differences were found between the ego levels of the students by schools or background characteristics. There were differences in how the two total populations responded to the questionnaire about school, environment and personal gains. Students attending the small liberal arts college indicated that they were more enthusiastic about college, felt that their school placed a stronger emphasis on both the subjective and objective outcomes of college. These students felt that their school placed a higher emphasis on interpersonal relationships. The students from the small liberal arts college were more likely to say that they had gained the most personally. Personal gains included development of values and standards, understanding of self, and the ability to work with others. These are characteristics that are indicative of ego growth. Recommendations included additional research into maximizing developmental environments of adult students and faculty education on adult development and learning styles.

Most educational leaders of higher education recognize the importance of creating and sustaining a sense of community on college campuses to enhance the likelihood that students achieve their educational goals. Historical definitions of campus community often are vague in their characterizations and difficult to use to structure learning experiences. This study was concerned with creating definitions of campus community with greater specificity and utility than has been traditionally revealed through literature. Historical conceptualizations of community were reviewed and a consensually oriented process for operationally defining campus community in a particular setting was employed to arrive at a preferred definition of community. The Hutchinson methodology for defining "fuzzy concepts" was used to arrive at a preferred definition of community. Student participants from a land-grant research university living in three distinct life style arrangements were consulted in workshops designed to achieve consensus to arrive at their operational definitions. The findings from this study should be useful especially to student affairs professionals who are concerned with structuring out-of-class college environments to strengthen the learning opportunities for students. / Ed. D.

State systems have begun to implement performance-based policies in higher education that obligate state institutions to demonstrate they are providing quality educational experiences for students in an effective and efficient manner (Hatcher, Kryter, Prus, & Fitzgerald, 1992; Redd, 1998). Quality and overall effectiveness are measured by student outcomes, such as student retention, attrition, and graduation rates (Hatcher, et al., 1992; Redd, 1998). College student satisfaction has emerged as a factor that affects student retention, attrition and graduation rates (Aitken, 1982; Allen, 1987; Hatcher, et al., 1992; Love, 1993). The greater the level of satisfaction with the college environment, the greater the likelihood that the student will remain affiliated with the institution. This is seen at predominately White institutions (PWIs). Many have found that African American students are less satisfied than their White counterparts with the college environment, and have attrition rates five to eight times higher than their White counterparts at the same institution (Allen, 1987; Fisher & Hartmann, 1991; Love, 1993; Suen, 198). Approximately 80 percent of all African American undergraduates are enrolled in PWIs (Arenson, 1997). Research also indicates that African American students attending historically Black institutions (HBIs) seem to be more satisfied with the college environment than their African American counterparts at PWIs, and graduate at rates equal to White students at PWIs (Allen, 1987; Bohr, Pascarella, Nora, & Terenzini, 1995; Love, 1993; Nettles, et al., 1986; Suen, 1983). Despite these satisfaction and success rates, by 1994, total African American student enrollments at HBIs decreased to an all-time low: 16 percent (Redd, 1998; Schexnider, 1998). Contrary to African American student enrollments, White student enrollments at HBIs have increased 71 percent from 1976 to 1994 (Redd, 1998; Wenglinsky, 1996). Because these students represent non-majorities on HBI campuses, it would be interesting to see if the pattern of satisfaction for African American students attending PWIs hold true for White students at HBIs. The present study, by examining the satisfaction levels of both groups of students with the college environment, is designed to address this gap in the existing body of literature on African Americans and Whites at PWIs and HBIs. Data related to levels of student satisfaction with the college environment were obtained from the College Environment scale of the Student Opinion Survey (SOS). Chi-squares were calculated on each item of the College Environment scale to determine significance. The study made within group comparisons (AA-HBI v. AA-PWI; W-PWI v. W-HBI) and between group comparisons (AA-PWI v. W-PWI; AA-HBI v. W-HBI) based on majority and non-majority statuses on respective campuses. Results of the study revealed that, when respecting the non-majority on campus, African American and White students are seemingly more satisfied (or equally satisfied) with aspects of the college environment than their majority students counterparts on campus. Additionally, these non-majority groups were more satisfied (or equally satisfied) with dimensions of the college environment than their ethnic counterparts on PWI and HBI campuses (AA-HBI and W-PWI students). W-HBI students demonstrated greater levels of satisfaction than all other groups included in the study. / Master of Arts

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1986 E49 / Master of Science / Special Education, Counseling and Student Affairs

This observational study involving intact groups and convenient sampling examined learning communities at four North Texas Community Colleges. The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a significant difference in cathectic learning climate, inimical ambiance, academic rigor, affiliation and structure among students in learning communities and freestanding classes. Learning communities are gaining nationwide popularity as instruments of reform in Higher Education. Recent studies have discussed the benefits of learning communities to student, faculty and institutions. As learning communities are gaining popularity, especially at the community college level, there is a need to determine if the learning communities are significantly different than freestanding classes. The College Classroom Environment Scales, developed by Winston, Vahala, Nichols, Gillis, Wintrow, and Rome (1989), was used as the survey instrument for this study. Using SPSS 10.1, a multivariate analysis of variance, (Hotelling's T2) was performed on five dependent variables: cathectic learning climate (CLC), inimical ambiance (IA), academic rigor (AR), affiliation (AF), and structure (ST), which yielded a significant difference. The independent variable was learning community compared to freestanding classes (group). Follow-up independent t tests were also conducted to evaluate the differences in the means between the two groups and to explore which dependent variables contributed to the multivariate difference, which resulted in significant differences in inimical ambiance, affiliation and structure. The researcher concludes that learning communities make a difference for some learners, but not necessarily all and that more research needs to be conducted to find the answers to the questions concerning the efficacy and sustainability of learning communities in higher education.

The purpose of the study was to determine the direct influences of selected environmental, academic, and background factors as well as academic outcomes and expression of intent to leave on persistence or non-persistence of nontraditional students at a comprehensive community college in the Dallas County Community College District. The study applied a conceptual model of nontraditional undergraduate student attrition. Data for this study were collected during the Fall, 1987 semester from 312 first-year nontraditional students using the two-year institution questionnaires from the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems. In addition, follow-up surveys were administered to the 97 students who did not re—enroll for the Spring, 1988 semester. The data were analyzed using discriminant function, chi square, and product-moment correlation. For these nontraditional students, educational goal commitment, cumulative grade point average (GPA) and expression of intent to leave at the end of the semester had significant direct influence on persistence or non-persistence decisions. In contrast, environmental factors such as finances, employment status, and family responsibilities, and background factors such as high school academic performance, enrollment status and parents' education level did not directly influence dropout decisions. Nontraditional students reported receiving moderate to high levels of encouragement to remain in college from outside sources, especially employers. In spite of this encouragement, a frequent reason given for leaving college was the inability to cope with working and going to school at the same time. The results generally confirmed that the conceptual model used in this study provided a valid framework for research on nontraditional student attrition. Accurate prediction of persistence or non-persistence of nontraditional students in a community college appears quite difficult due to the heterogeneity of this student population and their diverse educational goals.

Esta tese tem por objetivo investigar a gestão do conhecimento na sociedade do presente momento histórico, como um dos produtos esperados da universidade O conhecimento tem uma função crucial na produção de recursos econômicos. O conhecimento alimenta a sociedade como um todo desde que foram instalados o desenvolvimento e a preocupação com a qualidade como ordem lógica de produção. O conhecimento é uma questão estudada desde o início da sociedade como meio de compreensão do mundo; mas hoje o conhecimento tem sido abordado como instrumento econômico e freqüentemente tem sido confundido com informação. A gestão do conhecimento tem sido um dos principais alvos da missão das universidades na sociedade. Estas tornaram-se na principal referência para a produção e desenvolvimento do conhecimento. Desde o início da era das telecomunicações, esse papel tradicional das universidades começou a ser compartilhado com outras instituições, como as empresas, as consultorias e os institutos privados de pesquisa. No início do século XXI, surgiram dúvidas sobre o papel e o poder das universidades na produção de conhecimento, tal como exigidos pela produção econômica. Desde então, a gestão do conhecimento tem sido disputada entre as universidades e aquelas instituições. Essa disputa levanta muitas questões tais como \"se as universidades ainda estariam liderando esse processo?\" \"Se não, quem o estaria liderando?\" \"Neste caso, qual tem sido o lugar das universidades em relação às demandas de conhecimento por parte da sociedade?\" E finalmente \"Qual é o relacionamento das universidades com aquelas instituições com as quais ela compartilha a produção de conhecimento?\" Para responder a essas questões foram programados dois caminhos para serem integrados como o conteúdo desta tese. O primeiro consistiu na análise ampla das exigências de gestão do conhecimento por parte da sociedade e do papel e das realizações das universidades frente essa demanda de gestão; e o segundo consistiu em um levantamento empírico da opinião de especialistas em gestão do conhecimento sobre o papel ideal e o papel desempenhado pelas universidades na realização de sua missão. Especialistas foram entrevistados e suas respostas submetidas à análise de conteúdo, através de dois métodos, o programa NUD*IST 6 e a metodologia tradicional das ciências sociais para esse fim. Os resultados revelaram que as universidades, de fato, compartilham a produção de conhecimento com outras instituições e que têm sido incapazes de liderar esse processo na sociedade atual, embora elas não estejam à margem dessa atividade. Elas não lideram, mas ainda mantém influência significativa na produção e gestão do conhecimento. / The present study aims at investigating knowledge management in the present day society as one of the outcomes expected from universities. Knowledge plays a crucial role as society\'s economic input. Knowledge fuels society as a whole since the fast technological development and the concern with quality turned into the new logical order of production. Knowledge is an issue studied from the beginning of society for the sake of the understanding of the world but today it has been approached as an economy instrument and quite often misunderstood as information. Its management has been one of the main targets in the mission of the universities. The latter have turned into the main reference concerning the production and development of knowledge. Since the beginning of the telecommunication era, that traditional role of the universities started to be shared with other institutions such as enterprises, consultancies and private organizations dedicated to the production of applied research. In the beginning of the XXI century doubts came up about the role and power of the universities to provide knowledge as required by the economic production. Knowledge management has been disputed by universities and those institutions. That dispute raises many questions such as \"whether universities are leading that process?\" \"If they are not, who is leading it?\" \"In that case what is the role of the universities in relation to the demands of society for knowledge?\" And finally, \"what are the relationships between universities and those organizations which share with them the production of knowledge?\" In order to provide answers to these questions, two paths were designed and integrated as the content of this thesis. First, a broad analysis of both the requirements of knowledge management and the doings of universities were carried out; and secondly an empirical survey of the opinion of some experts in knowledge management about the ideal and the performed roles of the universities to accomplish that mission. The experts were interviewed and their answers were subjected to content analysis both through the NUD*IST 6 and the traditional methods used in social sciences. The results revealed that the universities are indeed sharing the production of knowledge but have been unable to lead that process in the present day society although they are not aside of that track. They do not lead but have significant influence in it.

The concept of campus environment and its implication to student development is important to any institution of higher learning and student affairs in particular. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.