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The purpose of this qualitative research study was to investigate the motivational factors that lead to faculty giving to their employing institutions. Giving practices in relation to the life experiences and independent influences of faculty members who were employed at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) were examined. In addition this study contributes to the limited amount of literature provided on HBCUs institutional advancement offices as well as the effectiveness of their solicitation efforts as perceived by faculty members employed at the colleges and universities. Three research questions were considered in this study. First, what life experiences contribute to the predisposition of faculty donors in giving to their institutions? Second, what intrinsic motivational elements influence faculty donors to give to their employing institutions? Third, how are the strategies used to solicit funding from faculty related to giving? Basic interpretive qualitative methodology was used to analyze the data gathered from the research participants. In-depth interviews were conducted with seven faculty members employed at HBCUs in the southern region of the United States. It was determined that faculty members attribute their giving practices to many of their life experiences. Religious involvement, childhood experiences, and family history, were all discussed by faculty members as being instrumental to their giving habits. Participants also discussed the sense of community that is established at HBCUs as being inspirational in determining whether or not they gave of their time, talent, or financial resources. Responses to open-ended questions about the effectiveness of institutional advancement offices provided additional qualitative data that could be used by HBCUs to increase the amount of annual giving to the university.

This thesis, a social novel in the tradition of Tom Wolfe's The Bonfire of the Vanities and Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, is all at once an attentive first-person study of a twenty-something man close to his cracking point in his first post-college job, a detailed expose of national fraternities, and the sweeping panoramic view of an entire generation of over-programmed college students searching for direction. Frat Star follows a fragile college graduate named Charles Washington, who takes a position as an "Educational Consultant" with a national fraternity in his first semester after graduation. For sixteen straight weeks, he drives across the country, from college to college and fraternity house to fraternity house, meeting with alumni and students, and living on frat house couches and in seedy off-exit hotels. As he travels, the pressure mounts for Charles to convince his family and friends back home that this is a "Real Job" and that his work actually matters to the business world, but at each new fraternity house he visits, his yearning for the old college atmosphere grows--the beer, the parties, the girls!--threatening to send him into a frightening tailspin. How can he be a professional when the temptations of youth still seem so attractive? And before Charles can sort out what is happening in his own life, he finds himself stuck in a vicious tug-of-war between students, alumni, administrators, and the national fraternity, when he must deal with one particularly abrasive undergraduate fraternity and the aftermath of its disastrous decisions. Spanning thousands of miles, from Florida to California, from Illinois to New Mexico, this thesis takes us inside fraternity houses, into their attics and their basements, behind the scenes of their rituals and ceremonies, inside their parties, inside their heads, giving us a view not only of the power of the national fraternity, but the disconnect between alumnus and student, between Baby Boomer and Generation X and Millennial. Incorporating research as varied as the generational studies of Howe and Strauss, and Alexandra Robbins' psychological study of the "Quarterlife Crisis," Frat Star stretches across the country, stretches across genre, stretches from text to illustration, but is ultimately the human story of a young man's longing for morality, independence, and purpose in a world he simply has not been prepared to understand.

For approximately the last 20 years, researchers have studied the "environment" for students who are lesbian, gay, and bisexual. However, there has been little empirical research on the experiences of lesbian, bisexual, or gay students at historically Black colleges and universities. Most of the literature to date has focused on students at predominantly White institutions and students who are male. Further, HBCUs have long-been lauded for the unique educational experience they have created for African American students in general as evidenced by reports of greater satisfaction, faculty and social support, positive self-images, strong racial pride, and better psychosocial adjustment (Allen, Epps, & Haniff, 1991; Berger & Milem, 2000; Fleming, 1984; Fries-Britt & Turner, 2002; Terenzini, Bohr, Pascarella, & Nora, 1997). However, little research has been conducted on within-group differences among African American students at HBCUs to explore whether and how other social identities such as sexual orientation or socioeconomic class impact an African American student's experience of an HBCU. This is an exploratory study that examines the experiences of seven lesbian and bisexual female students at an historically Black college and inquires into the relationship between the culture of HBCUs and the students' perceptions of campus climate. Drawing from a focus group interview, a survey, institutional artifacts, and historical data, I explore three research questions. The questions are 1) what can be characterized as the culture at historically Black colleges and universities; 2) what is the lesbian and bisexual female student perception of the campus climate for lesbian and female bisexual students at HBCUs and; 3) how, if at all does the HBCU culture impact the campus climate? The culture was characterized by adherence to traditional gender norms of dress and behavior, affirming racial identity but not sexual identity, the dominance and prevalence of Christian values and beliefs, and a system of rewards and punishments for conforming or not conforming to gender norms. The climate was characterized by students feeling afraid; being harassed; feeling as though they are not wanted at the institution; restricting themselves from participating in activities; facing threats of expulsion; and having little to no social or institutional support.

It is believed that purposefully constructed learning communities can have academic, social, and motivational advantages for its participants. In an effort to improve graduation and retention of students, some HBCUs have sought new ways to construct learning environments that are conducive to the learning styles of students of color. This study sought to investigate the impact of a learning community on pre-college level students standardized test scores and final grades. The Repeated Measures One-Way ANOVA revealed a statistically significant difference in COMPASS score change between groups with the comparison group demonstrating a greater change than did the learning community group. In addition, Analysis of Covariance test was used to answer the research question regarding differences in final grades between the two groups. After adjusting for the COMPASS pre-test, there was no difference in final grades between groups. Using the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ), a Likert-type scale based on the Eccles et al. (1983) expectancy-value motivational model, three components of students motivation were investigated: task value, extrinsic value, and test anxiety. The Independent Samples t-Test was used to compare the means. There was a statistically significant mean difference in extrinsic value with the students enrolled in traditionally taught pre-college level English courses demonstrating more extrinsic motivation. There was a statistically significant mean difference in task value with students enrolled in the learning community demonstrating higher task value than the comparison group. Finally, there was a statistically significant mean difference in affect with students in the learning community group demonstrating more test anxiety. Conclusions and recommendations were presented for future research.

Business decisions are increasingly being made in the higher education institution (HEI) based on their impact to university rankings, sometimes to the detriment of the HEI mission. HEIs are not homogenous, and rankings are inadequate on their own in capturing HEI excellence. This dissertation took a three-pronged approach in addressing quality and excellence in the HEI. First, a case study adapted the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) for a Financial Aid office in a public HEI, illustrating that, with a few modifications, the BSC is an appropriate and holistic approach to addressing quality in the HEI. The primary modification was to place mission at the top of the BSC, reflecting that each of the strategic objectives should be made with mission in mind. Next, survey methods were used to gain insight from upper administrators at public four-year HEIs regarding perceived quality factors. According to survey results, respondents rated Graduation and Retention as the most important indicator of quality. These results were further used to calculate weights of importance for each quality factor, further comparing these weighted factors to methodologies of three rankings systems, and found that the perceived quality factors identified by the respondents did not align with rankings methodologies. Finally, historical data was used to consider which HEIs moved most in their U.S. News and World Report (USNWR) rankings and peer scores. Higher-ranked HEIs were found to have less movement, and lower-ranked HEIs had more movement. Peer scores were found to be variable, although only by incremental amounts. Multiple regression analysis was used to compare USNWR rankings and objective data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and Top American Research Universities (TARU) publication, finding graduation rate to have the strongest relationship with rankings. Ultimately, the wise HEI will find an appropriate mix of aiming for higher rankings and a focus on its mission, and ideally both would be in alignment.

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Over the past several decades, the victimization of women on college campuses has not decreased despite an uptick in research and concern surrounding the topic. In this study, I analyzed the victimization prevention messages on the websites of 30 4-year PWIs and 30 4-year HBCUs in the Southeastern United States to investigate how they contextualized such messages. Drawing on a comparative thematic analysis of 132 documents from HBCUs and 138 documents from PWIs, I elaborate on four key themes, with several subthemes: gendered safety messages, rape culture education, racialized safety messages, and collective responsibility. I found that victimization prevention messaging was contextualized by community engagement at HBCUs, and both types of schools engage in victim-centered crime prevention. Additionally, PWIs used language on their webpages that encourages peer-to-peer racialized coveillance. This study contributes to the literature on victimization prevention on college campus, the college-prison nexus, and understandings of sexual assault prevention.