As the mean age of the population continues to rise, increasing attention is being given to how and where the elderly will live. Since health of this age group varies considerably, living arrangements which offer a full spectrum of services and attend to a continuum of needs have arisen over the past few decades. Called Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs), these places offer three levels of living: individual apartments, assisted living and the nursing center. Residents can move freely among these three levels as the need arises. While the educational needs of the elderly have been discussed theoretically and explored in a variety of practical contexts, no research to the author's knowledge has investigated the context of CCRCs and the population within. This study filled that gap in the literature. Framed by the seminal research of McClusky which identified five categories of educational needs of the elderly (coping, expressive, contributing, influencing and transcending), the purpose of this study was to investigate the educational needs of the residents as perceived by residents and to determine if selected demographic variables differentiated among responses; a corollary aim was to learn more about the residents' learning formats used, and current satisfaction as well as future interest in educational activities. Results of a questionnaire distributed to residents of two not-for-profit CCRCs in northern Virginia served as a data base, with a response rate of 68% for residents. The questionnaire, designed by the researcher, was validated through multiple iterations by content and process experts and piloted with a CCRC not in the study. Data were appropriately coded and analyzed using SPSS. Confidentiality of the respondents was maintained at all times. The results indicated that residents were highly educated, financially secure, and in good health. Ages range from 67 to 100 years old. Both current participation as well as future interest in educational activities was high, but only a few demographic variables seemed to differentiate responses. Educational activities dealing with coping and transcending needs seemed to take priority, involvement in self-directed learning activities was high, and when involved in programmatically organized and structured activities, the format of small groups preferred. These findings could be significant for any practical intervention implication. Implication for future research include inquiry into this growing special population; for example, the why and how of their self-directed learning projects. / Ed. D.

The purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which Greeks living in Greek housing experience outcomes associated with living in a learning community. Additionally, the study explored differences in the degree to which these outcomes were achieved by type of house (fraternity v. sorority) and type of control (university vs. private). Data were collected by administering the Learning Communities Assessment (LCA; Turrentine, 2001) to Greek students living in fraternity and sorority houses at a major research institution in the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. Specifically, the study was designed to address the following research questions: 1. To what extent do Greek students feel actively engaged in their communities as measured by the LCA? 2. To what extent do Greek students learn within their communities as measured by the LCA? 3. To what extent do Greek students feel a sense of community as measured by the LCA? 4. To what extent do Greek students feel their identity has been shaped by their community as measured by the LCA? 5. Are there differences in the extent to which Greek students feel actively engaged, learn, feel a sense of community, and feel their identity has been shaped by their community by type of house (sorority v. fraternity) as measured by the LCA? 6. Are there differences in the extent to which male Greek students feel actively engaged, learn, feel a sense of community, and feel their identity has been shaped by their community by type of control (university v. private) as measured by the LCA? / Master of Arts

Healthy Cities/Communities (HC) is an experiment that addresses health from a non-medical perspective. It focuses on health as a phenomenon that is not amenable to conventional scientific investigation or discussion. HC emphasizes values of community, aestheticism, relativism and private behavior. Review of available material establishes that an existing understanding of the concepts underlying HC movement contributes to its successful application. No research appears on the attitudes of health care providers and public health officials on general beliefs about health. The importance of gauging the perceptions of these two sectors could determine the potential success of collaborative efforts for improving public health. Studies of health-related professionals, their perceptions for community health promotion and role of the administrative process, among others, will establish this potential in accordance with what the literature demonstrates. This study compares the attitudes and preferences of public health professionals and members of the hospital service category in Virginia concerning Healthy Communities concepts. The study concludes that the two sectors surveyed have similar attitudes and preferences on the issues that promote community health, thus showing potential for successful collaboration. Future research can explore the attitudes of other sectors, such as educational institutions, and their potential for engaging in collaborative efforts to create healthier communities. / Master of Urban and Regional Planning

This qualitative case study examined the development of doctoral students' professional identities through the negotiation of boundaries among communities of practice and through the social forces within a community of practice. The five doctoral students who participated in the study had been secondary agriculture teachers and were in their second and third years of a Teaching and Learning concentration of an Agricultural and Extension Education doctoral program at a Land Grant University. The participants had from four to seven years of teaching experience in secondary agriculture programs and were on full graduate assistantship with their academic department at the time of the study. The over arching theme was developed through analysis of interviews which were developed through a priori propositions, document analysis, and participant observations. This theme - Doctoral students must lose some legitimacy in their previous communities of practice to gain legitimacy with the faculty community of practice and access the faculty Discourse. Doctoral students' ability to define themselves as "good" and to have legitimacy reinforce each other and increase access which facilitates their professional identity development in relation to the faculty community of practice - emerged to describe the entire study and suggest influences that hinder or facilitate professional identity formation. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this research was to explore professional learning communities (PLCs) and their impact on teacher practice. The focus of this single case study was on reviewing the process of the implementation of a PLC (DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, and Many, 2010) within MidAtlantic Elementary School, a Title I school. This school implemented the PLC (DuFour et al., 2010) process following the guiding principles set forth by Richard and Rebecca DuFour and the MidAtlantic School District. The guiding principles include a shared vision and mission, collective inquiry, collaborative teams, action research and experimentation, continuous improvement, and being results oriented. By following these guiding principles, the goal was to show how this process improved teacher practice enough to help students be successful in the first year of opening the school and each consecutive year since the school opened. Results of this research showed the PLC (DuFour et al., 2010) process leads to improvements in teacher practice that positively affect student learning. / Doctor of Education / The purpose of this research was to explore professional learning communities (PLCs) and their impact on teacher practice. A PLC can be defined as a group of professionals who come together to create a culture of collaboration, and then develop a way to share their reflections related to their work. The focus of this single case study was on reviewing the process of the implementation of a PLC within one elementary school. The guiding principles included a shared vision and mission, collective inquiry, collaborative teams, action research and experimentation, continuous improvement, and being results oriented. Results of this research showed the PLC process led to improvements in teacher practice that positively affected student learning at this school. This is important, because it shows how the PLC (DuFour et al., 2010) process affects teachers’ practice in a positive way. Implications for how this research might be used include (a) implementing the PLC (DuFour et al., 2010) process in middle and high schools to improve teacher practice, and (b) the importance of making sure teachers have buy-in for the PLC (DuFour et al., 2010) process throughout its implementation.

The aim of this design thesis was to carefully examine the condition of an American small town, and through an understanding of that exploration; offer the design of a residential community that draws its energy from the place and aspires to extend the life of the town through an intensification of Main Street America. / Master of Architecture

This thesis is an analytic study of a neighborhood. Using Hilton Village in Newport News, Virginia as an example, the graphic analysis encompasses all levels of the neighborhood fabric and considers several possible interventions thereto. The study includes a brief discussion of the traditions and development of town and community planning, as well as of the social backdrop of the period in which the specific community was developed. / Master of Architecture

The study was concerned with the communal movement as an illustration of Sorokin's thesis. Sorokin maintains that our culture is moving from a sensate or this-worldly form to an ideational or other-worldly definition of reality. It was shown through the works of Kanter and Fairfield that the utopian ideals expressed by commune members tend toward ideational beliefs. Three variables were chosen as indicative of the trend toward ideational values--alienation from the sensate culture, commitment to a group opposed to the sensate society, and religiosity or belief in the supernatural. Seven communes were selected as a purposive sample--two monasteries, three populations of a Christian community, a Skinnerian commune, and a Hindu group. These were chosen because they were all creedal communes; that is, they all had some core ideology, and because they varied widely in their religious beliefs. Three main hypotheses were tested regarding the relationship between commitment and alienation, the relationship between religiosity and alienation, and the relationship between commitment and religiosity. It was found that the cohesion measure of commitment and belief in God were negatively related to alienation at significant levels. There was no significant relationship between the involvement dimension of commitment, between orthodoxy and alienation, or between commitment and religiosity. The author concluded that several of the measures need modification for use in testing Sorokin's thesis. Nevertheless, it appears that there is a tendency toward ideational beliefs in creedal communes, although the trend is still in its initial stages. / Master of Science

Thesis advisor: Elizabeth Rouse / Society faces a variety of grand challenges: global problems that must be addressed through coordinated and collaborative effort such as reducing global poverty, effective management of natural resources, and balancing innovation and security in the development of emerging technologies. Management researchers have made great strides in conceptualizing what makes these challenges unique, why they are especially difficult to solve, and how organizations can help solve them. Despite this progress, we lack an understanding of the experience of the “grand challenge workers” who seek to address these problems, including the unique difficulties they face in their work and how they overcome them. Through a qualitative, inductive study of workers seeking to ensure the safe development of artificial intelligence and biotechnology, I explored the pressures and worrying thoughts that lead these workers to experience work performance anxiety. I show how, in response to this anxiety, workers engage in various bounding and reframing practices to limit the demands their work places on them and expand their sense of the resources available to them. I also illustrate how these workers relate to grand challenge communities: groups focused on coordinating efforts to address the grand challenge. I build theory around the contextual factors that lead workers to rely heavily on these communities and subsequently adopt an exclusive solidarity approach to addressing the grand challenge. I show how these workers recognize the threats this approach poses to their judgment, well-being, and effectiveness, and how they shift toward an expansive solidarity approach. Practically, this research provides insights into how these workers respond to the challenges they face in ways that enable them to address the grand challenge while also preserving their well-being. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2024. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Management and Organization.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the Student Police Unity League as an effective program at fostering more positive views of the police from black citizens operating by the core tenants provided by Intergroup Contact Theory. It was expected that black students who participated in the Student Police Unity League would report higher levels of trust, legitimacy, willingness to work with the police, outcome justice, and lower level of perceived racial profiling. While the majority of the findings did not reach statistical significance at the .05 level, participation in the Student Police Unity league did lead to better views of police in terms of outcome justice and legitimacy. However, trust, profiling, and willingness to work with the police unexpectedly had inverse results. / Master of Science / The purpose of this study is to evaluate the Student Police Unity League as an effective program at fostering more positive views of the police from black citizens operating by the core tenants provided by Intergroup Contact Theory. Intergroup Contact Theory suggested that positive effects of intergroup (between two or more distinguishable groups) contact occur in contact situations characterized by four key conditions: equal status, intergroup cooperation, common goals, and support by social and institutional authorities. It was expected that black students who participated in the Student Police Unity League would report higher levels of trust, legitimacy (the idea of being treated fairly), willingness to work with the police, outcome justice (perceived police effectiveness), and lower level of perceived racial profiling. While the majority of the findings did not reach statistical significance at the .05 level, participation in the Student Police Unity league did lead to better views of police in terms of outcome justice and legitimacy. However, trust, profiling, and willingness to work with the police unexpectedly had inverse results.