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Many articles within the literature point to the information security policy as one of the most important elements of an effective information security program. Even though this belief is continually referred to in many information security scholarly articles, very few research studies have been performed to corroborate this sentiment. Doherty and Fulford undertook two studies in 2003 and in 2005 respectively that sought to catalogue the impact of the information security policy on breaches at businesses in the United Kingdom. The pair went on to call for additional studies in differing industry segments. This dissertation built upon Doherty and Fulford (2005). It sought to add to the body of knowledge by determining the statistical significance of the information security policy on breaches within Higher education. This research was able to corroborate the findings from Doherty and Fulford's original research. There were no observed statistically significant relationships between information security policies and the frequency and severity of information security breaches. This study also made novel contributions to the body of knowledge that included the analysis of the statistical relationships between information security awareness programs and information security breaches. This effort also analyzed the statistical relationships between information security policy enforcement and breaches. The results of the analysis indicated no statistically significant relationships. Additionally, this research observed that while information security policies are heavily utilized by colleges and universities, security awareness training is not heavily employed by institutions of higher education. This research noted that many institutions reported not having consistent enforcement of information security policies. The data observed during this research implies there is room for additional coverage of formal information security awareness programs and potentially a call to attempt alternative training methods to achieve a reduction of the occurrences and impact of security breaches. There is room for greater adoption of consistent enforcement of policy at higher education organizations. The results of this dissertation suggest that the existence of policy, training, and enforcement activities in and of themselves are not enough to sufficiently curtail breaches. Additional studies should be performed to better understand how breaches can be reduced.

The purpose of this study was to investigate student participation in collegiate student governance, the impact of that involvement and its influence on career choice for African-American participants, and to enlighten educators about role and value of collegiate student government participation. If participation in student government and involvement in leadership activities is important in the overall development of a student, then the benefits and characteristics of that development may appear after the student graduates and enters society and the workforce (Cress, Astin, Zimmerman- Oster, & Burkhardt, 2001). Studies conducted over the last twenty years have attempted to measure the impact of involvement and leadership development on college students after graduation (Cress, et. all, 2001; Sommers, 1991) but not much has been written about the subject specifically tied to student government (Downey, Bosco and Silver, 1984; Kuh and Lund, 1994; Schuh and Laverty, 1983; Sermersheim, 1996). A qualitative case study/cross case analysis of multiple participants was utilized for this project. Following the collection of data through the use of a written participant profile and oral interviews with each of the survey participants, case studies were constructed and presented in a narrative form to allow the individual personalities of the participants to emerge. The use of cross case analysis allowed the researcher to group the data into themes and highlight patterns that cut across each case, more narrowly defining what related factors were significant to the impact of student government participation and the selection of a particular career choice. x The findings from this study indicate that while the impact of student government participation has an overall positive effect on students who participate, including greater career competency and self confidence, students attribute their choice of career to their chosen undergraduate major or other factors. Study findings revealed evidence that the impact of student government involvement was limited in its direct influence on career choice.

The purpose of this descriptive-quantitative study was to examine which models of academic governance are utilized by Southern Baptist related liberal arts colleges and universities. Special attention was given to the distribution of institutional power among seventeen campus leadership groups or power holders. Using J. Victor Baldridge's models of academic governance (i.e., bureaucratic, political, and collegial), the study produced data of which models are most utilized on Southern Baptist related colleges and universities across the United States. The research additionally conducted a replica study of Edward Gross and Paul Grambsch's 1974 research on the distribution of institutional power in secular, nonreligious academic institutions. Gross and Grambsch's study produced ordinal data concerning which campus leadership group had the most and the least institutional power. The replica study was performed on Southern Baptist related colleges and universities. The findings of each were then compared identifying key similarities and differences between the two samples. The findings proved that similarities do exist between secular and Southern Baptist related institutions in regards to the three top power holders, the role and power of the faculty, and how academic leaders rank below administrators. Significant differences also exist between secular and Southern Baptist related institutions in the heightened influence of denominational leaders and financial donors and the minimal influence of state and federal government in campus decision making. KEYWORDS: academic governance models; institutional power; Christian colleges; Christian universities; Edward Gross, Paul V. Grambsch, J. Victor Baldridge, Southern Baptist related; International Association of Baptist Colleges and Universities; bureaucratic; collegial; political

Thesis advisor: Hosffman Opsino / Women Religious founded more than half of the current two hundred and sixty institutions of Catholic higher education in the United States. Rooted in a distinct mission to women’s education in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, these colleges and universities have demonstrated a strong commitment to educate the politically, economically, educationally, and ecclesially marginalized, with particular emphasis on the empowerment of women. For nearly a century, these colleges and universities have creatively adapted to various changes in the educational and cultural landscape and have navigated and negotiated the complex relationships between the Church, the university, and the larger U.S. society. Ironically, their experiences and stories remain widely unknown compared to those of similar institutions founded by and for men. Using a historical and theological lens, this dissertation demonstrates how the deep stories that sustained the life and identity of many Women Religious in the United States inspired the foundation of colleges and universities that distinctively saw these stories in unique ways. In doing so, they modeled new and creative ways of education women, and others, that remain to be genuinely studied and incorporated into the larger narrative of U.S. Catholic higher education. At a time of major cultural, demographic, and ecclesial transitions, this dissertation proposes ways for those deep stories to continue to give life, even in the absence of the women who embodied them. It does so by focusing primarily on the example of the Sisters of Mercy and one of their universities. This work proposes practical approaches for leaders in Catholic higher education to embrace the deep stories grounding their institutions in order to cultivate practices and commitments that prophetically advance the identity and mission of their institutions in the twenty-first century. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry.

Colleges and universities use language (i.e., talk and text) to represent diversity and inclusion in community engagement. Diversity refers to individual and social or group differences (e.g., race, ethnicity, national origin, social class, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, ability), while inclusion is the intentional and ongoing engagement with difference. Community engagement involves collaborations between institutions of higher education and their local, regional, national, and global communities. The language used to describe diversity and inclusion in community engagement is socially constructed and situated in complex power relations. The purpose of the study was to describe how three universities use language to represent diversity and inclusion in community engagement. The primary research question asked: In what ways do colleges and universities use language to represent diversity and inclusion in community engagement? The study employed critical discourse analysis (CDA) using a multiple case study approach to examine language-in-use (i.e., discourse) about the connections between diversity, inclusion, and community engagement. As a theory and method, CDA offered a means to investigate how language constitutes reality, or in other words, is shaped by power relations and social struggles. Data analysis occurred in a three stage recursive process: description of text and its linguistic features, interpretation of messages underpinning patterns in language, and explanation of the relationship between texts and society. Language for the study stemmed from applications for the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s elective Community Engagement Classification; individual interviews with two engagement actors per campus, or faculty and staff with dedicated responsibilities in community engagement efforts; and text from community engagement office web pages. The three participating universities received the 2105 first-time Community Engagement Classification, thus providing relevant text to examine language about diversity and inclusion in community engagement. Collected data included 312 pages of text across three cases and data collection methods. Study findings emerged from the three stages of analysis (descriptive, interpretative, and explanatory). At the descriptive stage, patterns in language use pointed to linguistic features of text relevant to the connections between diversity, inclusion, and community engagement (e.g., euphemisms to conceal negative action, “diverse” as a descriptor of groups or places, and “the” community as a singular entity). Findings at the interpretative stage focused on representations of diversity and inclusion revealed in patterns of language use. Representations depicted diversity as: a seamless “other,” a commodity, and a proxy. Representations also suggested inclusion as: correction, honoring, and a skillset. Moreover, explanatory level findings indicated four emergent discourse types underpinning the language of diversity and inclusion in community engagement, including managerial, promotional, oppositional, and specialist discourses. The four discourses also reflected ideologies, or taken for granted assumptions, of neoliberalism and White supremacy in higher education. The study offered implications for community engagement practice and opportunities for more transformational educational environments. The study also suggested future studies and applications of CDA as a reflective and action-oriented tool to interrogate language-in-use towards more just outcomes. Advancing research on the language of diversity and inclusion in community engagement is integral to creating institutions of higher education that better enable all people to thrive and engage meaningfully in public life.

The following dissertation comprises three studies that aim to better understand organizational identity in the field of U.S. higher education. Research in this area has focused largely on attributes that emphasize college and university distinctiveness, though a good deal of studies in higher education have found that many postsecondary institutions are very alike in their structure and behavior. On the other hand, qualitative research demonstrates that organizational identity helps to explain differences between colleges and universities. The studies herein conceptualize organizational identity as a series of claims about self that balance both sameness and distinctiveness. These studies analyze how organizational identity establishes an institution’s group membership, while distinguishing the institution from colleges and universities in other groups. Manuscripts analyze how organizational identity is associated with action using institutions’ self-selected comparison groups. The first study examines how institutions’ identity claims and aspirational identity claims, measured through their comparison groups, are associated with future action. The second study applies social network analysis techniques to identity communities of colleges and universities that are routinely nominated together. With specific focus on public comprehensive institutions (CIs), this analysis finds salient institutional groups that draw on a common set of organizing principles. CIs, for example, tend to enroll diverse student bodies and maintain low tuition prices when compared with other types of postsecondary institutions. The final study investigates how these common organizing principles influence organizational action in response to their environments. Findings suggest that under the same conditions, CIs enroll more students from low-income backgrounds as a share of their undergraduate bodies when compared with public research universities.

More than 30 states currently implement some form of outcomes or performancebased funding for public two-year and/or four-year institutions of higher education. Thirteen of these states have public Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Every state’s higher education governance and power relationships are a unique compilation of internal and external entities such as the governor, governing boards, policymakers, higher education staff and advisors, and the institution’s administration, faculty, students, and alumni. Each entity holds power over the HBCU or its state policy context. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2019. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

This thesis examines gay student organizing to understand the role of college students in the burgeoning lesbian and gay movement of the 1970s. Although students are widely recognized as participants in gay activism in this period, few studies have attempted to explore their particular role. The Gay Academic Union (GAU) at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, FL, is presented as a case study, using archival and oral history research. Lesbian and gay students participated in the construction of a new political strategy based on visibility and community, which positioned “coming out” as its central metaphor. During the early to mid-1970s, students were especially well positioned to play a role in the gay movement, which relied on small, local organizations to spread gay politics throughout the nation. However, in the wake of the Anita Bryant-led effort to repeal Miami-Dade’s gay rights ordinance in 1977, the growth of national gay organizations and a national media discourse on homosexuality began to eclipse the type of organizing at which college students had excelled. By extending the narrative of gay organizing in the 1970s outside of urban centers, the story of the GAU at Florida Atlantic demonstrates that college students played a crucial part in disseminating the new forms of gay identity and culture associated with the gay movement.