The purpose of this study was to focus on the theoretical framework of cultural capital as a potential catalyst for the graduation rates of African American men in community colleges. Cultural capital is being defined as 'institutionalized, i.e., widely shared, high status cultural signals (attitudes, preferences, formal knowledge, behaviors, goods and credentials) used for social and cultural exclusion' (Lareau and Weininger, 2003, p. 587). Unfortunately, cultural capital as a construct has been difficult to measure quantitatively due to varying interpretations of the variable structure (Dika and Singh, 2002; Pishghadam, Noghani, and Zabihi, 2011; Sullivan, 2001). Consequently, researchers have indicated the need to better operationalize cultural capital, to provide better avenues for both replication and extension of the constructs measurement (Noble and Davies, 2009). Therefore, this study first employed exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with the National Education Longitudinal Survey (NELS:88/00) to determine the latent variable structure of a measure of cultural capital in the community college field. Second, a factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted based on the new variable structure to determine whether there are differences in the self-reported levels of cultural capital for African American male students as compared to male and female students of other races within community colleges. Third, a binary logistic regression was conducted to determine how well the variables of cultural capital predict graduation for African American men in community colleges. The EFA, utilizing a sample of 3097 participants, extracted six factors indicative of the latent variable structure of cultural capital: (a) parental involvement, (b) habitus, (c) engagement with parents, (d) educational level of parents, (e) high school extracurricular activities, and (f) awareness of college norms. The resultant variable structure was then used to determine that there were no significant differences between the self-reported levels of cultural capital for African American male students and both male and female students from other races within community colleges. Similarly, the variables of cultural capital were not found to be a significant predictor of graduation for African American males within the community college field. As a result, implications for future research were outlined to include replicating the study with a more current dataset and replicating the study with a four-year student population. Additionally, implications for counselors in community college settings included highlighting an awareness of college norms, encouraging student engagement with parents, increasing parental involvement, and promoting collaboration with high school counselors and college counselors in high school environments. / Ph. D.

Despite California community college counseling faculty having unique roles on their campuses due to their faculty status and their proximity to students, there is a lack of research related to the experiences of counseling faculty and how they can be supported by local and statewide leaders to best meet the needs of the diverse student populations that are currently being served within the California community college system. This qualitative research study utilized narrative inquiry to examine the current onboarding and mentoring experiences of California community college counseling faculty to evaluate both best practices as well as institutional gaps that negatively impact counseling faculty and the students they serve. Utilizing Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological systems theory as a framework, this study intentionally centered counseling faculty development while examining three main questions: (a) how do the onboarding and mentoring of community college counseling faculty reflect an institution's support of diverse student populations, (b) what policies and practices exist, from the counseling faculty perspective, that effectively support the onboarding and mentoring of counseling faculty, and (c) how can an ecological framework assist in identifying recommendations on what supports for counseling faculty are necessary for institutions to be successful in their mission to support diverse students? Five counseling faculty were selected as participants, who provided data through journal responses, artifact submission, and narrative inquiry interviews. Findings indicated that a primary challenge for new counseling faculty was the need to “freeway fly” while working at multiple campuses part-time, leading to inconsistent onboarding support, increased stress, and a lack of sense of belonging on campus. Additionally, onboarding opportunities that intentionally combined technical training with cultural competencies were considered most valuable. Finally, informal mentoring was seen as a key component of onboarding as faculty sought out relationships that helped fill institutional gaps in professional development. The findings point to the need for a reimagined approach to onboarding and mentoring counseling faculty in ways that center faculty perspectives to better align with California’s mission to support the diverse needs of community college students.