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The purpose of this study was to examine Alabama community college presidents’ perceptions regarding distance education. Further, this study was intended to determine the adequacy of the training opportunities and support for faculty that teach distance education courses and what services are available for distance education students. This study was designed to investigate distance education in the Alabama Community College System and to provide information in an effort to create a comprehensive plan to maximize access to online learning for students within the system. A survey was given to a total of 26 Alabama 2-year college presidents (22 comprehensive community colleges and four technical colleges). The online survey consisted of 40 closed-ended multiple-choice questions and 2 open-ended questions. The survey asked questions regarding the presidents’ perceptions of distance education, online courses, student support, and virtual community colleges. The results of the statistical analysis were presented in both narrative and table forms to provide answers to the four research questions. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. The study concludes with a summary, conclusion, and recommendations for further research. The findings of the study showed that Alabama community college presidents’ perceived distance education as important to the growth of their respective institutions. Alabama community colleges provided adequate training opportunities for faculty who taught distance education courses, and provided adequate services for students that enrolled in distance education courses. In addition, the findings indicated the following factors had a major or moderate influence on their institutions’ decisions regarding college-level, credit-granting distance education offerings: seeking to increase student enrollment, making more courses available, making more degree and certificate programs available, meeting student demands for flexible schedules and reducing seat time, providing access to college for students who otherwise would not have access, and maximizing the use of existing college facilities. The findings also determined that institutions provided adequate services for students enrolled in distance education courses.

Community gardens play a valuable role in creating places where people can socialize; share knowledge, experiences, and mutual interests; and improve food security. As previous research has shown, effective leadership is a prerequisite to community building in garden programs. However, relatively little research to date has examined the types of leadership and leadership practices that exist and work in community garden settings, and even less has focused on the role of leadership in facilitating social interactions and relationship building. This study aimed to gain a better understanding of leadership practices related to community building in the context of community gardens by exploring various stakeholders' perspectives on leadership. The primary purpose of this research was to: 1) explore knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding community building in different types of community gardens; 2) obtain a better understanding of stakeholders' views on leadership competencies and roles; 3) examine how informal leadership emerges and develops; and 4) identify how organizational structures and managerial schemes influence leadership practices and performance. Building upon transformational and adaptive leadership theories, this research focuses on the interactive process whereby leaders and various actors mutually influence each other to meet individual as well as organizational goals. This study employed a two-phase research design. The first phase consisted of collecting quantitative data through self-administered surveys from five groups of stakeholders – garden coordinators, executive directors, gardeners, representatives of allied organizations, and non-gardening neighbors – in four Virginia community garden programs located in Blacksburg, Salem, and Roanoke. The second phase entailed conducting semi-structured interviews with 21 participants and using cross-case analysis to interpret the results. The comparative case study included four community gardens characterized by different organizational structures and ties to their adjacent communities. The findings indicated that leadership performs an overarching role not only in fulfilling a garden program's mission, but also in facilitating social interactions and trust-based relationships between garden members and with wider communities. Good leadership practices in the context of community gardens implied engaging in inclusive and transparent communications with different entities on a regular basis and attending to the needs and motivations of each member. This study also shed light on the value of dedicated informal leaders to facilitate a garden's social function and to take on the maintenance and supervision of hands-on tasks on-site. Comparative analysis of the four cases revealed that different characteristics inherent to the community gardens, such as whether they are place-based or interest-based and whether their governance structure is formally or informally driven, are closely related to the leadership approaches that constitute best practices. These findings have implications for practitioners who organize and manage community organizations in a broader context, as well as community garden programs. / Doctor of Philosophy / Community gardens are places where people socialize and cultivate relationships, in addition to growing food. Even though leadership plays a major role in enhancing these functions, relatively little research to date focuses on leadership in the context of community gardens. This study reveals leadership practices related to social interactions and relationship building. This study also explored diverse experiences and opinions about leadership competencies and roles from the perspectives of garden coordinators, executive directors, gardeners, representatives of allied organizations, and non-gardening neighbors. To compare and contrast leadership practices in diverse types of programs, four community gardens were selected, each representing a different organizational structure and ties to their adjacent communities. 100 people involved in four Virginia community garden programs located in Blacksburg, Salem, and Roanoke completed surveys. 21 people of these respondents were interviewed to gain further information. The findings indicated that leadership performs an overarching role not only in fulfilling a garden program's mission, but also in facilitating social interactions and trust-based relationships with garden members and wider communities. Good leadership practices in the context of community gardens indicated engaging in inclusive and transparent communications with different entities on a regular basis and attending to the needs and motivations of each member. This study also shed light on the value of dedicated informal leaders to facilitate a garden's social function and to take on the maintenance and supervision of hands-on tasks on-site. Comparative analysis of the four cases revealed that different characteristics inherent to the community gardens, such as whether they are place-based or interest-based and whether their governance structure is formally or informally driven, are closely related to the leadership approaches that constitute best practices. These findings have implications for practitioners who organize and manage community organizations in a broader context, as well as community garden programs.

Despite natural beauty and strong ties to kinship and community, the Appalachian region has experienced economic and social disadvantages compared to other regions of the United States. Historically rural areas have been left by the wayside with little federal or state funding; rural areas received $401-$648 less per capita than their metropolitan counterparts in the years between 1994 and 2001(Kellogg Foundation, 2004). 42 percent of the population of Appalachia live in rural areas, compared to 20 percent nationally (Gohl, 2013). As of 2014 the poverty rate in Appalachia is 17.2 percent in comparison to the national average of 15.6 percent (ARC, 2016). Consequently Appalachian towns have been privy to anti-poverty policies and development work by the United States government for over half a century (Farmbry, 2014). But the anti-poverty measures did very little to change the region. In order to promote change and prosper as a region, many Appalachian towns have turned to using their cultural capital as a community development resource. As a tool in community building, cultural capital shifts the focus of a community away from its problems, towards its assets (Phillips and Shockley, 2010). The purpose of this study was to explore how two rural Appalachian towns use cultural capital to impact their community's viability. To do so the researcher used qualitative interview methods and focus groups to understand the experiences of three leadership groups in each community. The findings of this study provide insight into how communities identify and operationalize their cultural capital, and what impact it has on their economic and social prosperity. Additional research should be done on community viability in rural areas, including community visioning, and power dynamics of rural spaces. / Master of Science in Life Sciences

The purpose of this study is to provide some sound procedures for the organization of the school and the community. Most educations today appear to be in agreement upon the fact that the school and the community should be organized.

Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

In recent years, students have been excluded from school at consistently high rates, even as school crime rates have declined. Moreover, students of color are excluded at disproportionately high rates compared to their White peers. Although researchers have found these patterns across a variety of contexts, there has been little research that examines school-level mechanisms that may contribute to the high overall rates of exclusionary discipline and the attendant racial disparities. This dissertation focuses on two possible mechanisms that have been theoretically linked to increased rates of exclusionary discipline: school resource officers (SROs) and zero-tolerance approaches to discipline. Study 1 used 14 years of data from Tennessee high schools to model trends in suspension rates before and after the implementation of SROs using a latent growth curve modeling approach. The findings indicated that SRO implementation was associated with lower overall suspension rates and lower suspension rates for Black students, and no changes for White studentsâ suspension rates or racial disparities in suspension rates. Study 2 examined the relation between the combination of SROs and a high zero-tolerance approach and schoolsâ rates of exclusionary discipline using a nationally representative sample of public high schools. A series of three-way interaction models with an ordinary least squares regression framework indicated that schools that had SROs in combination with a high zero-tolerance approach to discipline had higher overall rates of exclusionary discipline in schools characterized by higher proportions of racial minority students and other indicators of disadvantage. Together, these studies suggest that SROs and zero-tolerance approaches to discipline may not be universally appropriate mechanisms for reducing rates of exclusionary discipline. Instead, school context is an important consideration when forming strategies to reduce student exclusions.