<p> Non-traditional nursing students, including Vietnamese Americans often face challenges that differ from those of their white counterparts. These challenges have significant impact on academic success and contribute to underrepresentation of minorities in nursing. This study explored the lived experience of 12 Vietnamese American undergraduate nursing students and recent graduates through the use of phenomenologically based interviews. Study participants identified challenges similar to those identified in the literature by other ethnic minority nursing students. Participants experienced a variety of challenges including pressure to succeed in school while providing support for immediate and distant family members, financial hardship, language difficulty, cultural insensitivity, difficulty with socializing with other students, and racism in both academic and clinical settings. Despite significant stress experienced during participants' education, they perceived nursing as a rewarding career that could offer many benefits for themselves and their families. Findings from this study can serve as a springboard for additional research which can promote progress in applying transcultural nursing theory in nursing education.</p>

<p> This qualitative study examined first generation college students who persisted towards completing baccalaureate degrees with and without the assistance of TRIO, a federally funded program that assisted first-generation college students with obtaining baccalaureate degree. The researcher gathered empirical data through conducting semi-structured, one-on-one interviews with 20 first-generation students from two universities who were beyond their first year of college and possessed a 2.0 or higher grade point average (GPA). Interviews were retrospective, as all students were upper-class college students who completed at least one year of college at one of two four-year universities. It was important to the study design to understand the challenges and perspectives of first-generation students who defied the odds of persisting beyond their first year of college. The researcher interviewed an equal number of participants from each respective university. While one of the subgroups was involved with TRIO, student support services were not available at the university for those in the second subgroup. Fifty-five percent of those interviewed were African American, while 40% were White, and 5% were Hispanic. Additionally, of those first-generation students interviewed, 35% were sophomores, 45% were juniors, and 20% were in their senior year of college. These demographics provide a snapshot of the diversity within the population that existed among the generational cohorts interviewed. </p><p> Various themes emerged regarding the challenges and perceptions of first-generation college students that included family support, college affordability, socialization, academic rigor, and mentorship. Further, these findings suggested that this generational cohort of first-generation students shared similar challenges and perspectives as they persisted towards completing baccalaureate degrees. Data indicated that involvement in programs such as TRIO seemed to assist participants with progression through college life by providing mentorship, book stipends, and grants, as well as opportunities to fellowship with other success-driven, first-generation college students.</p><p> It is important for colleges and universities to understand the perceptions of first-generation college students persisting beyond their first year of college. With this information, colleges and universities alike can make sure to take appropriate measures of providing the necessary tools to help first-generation college students complete degrees of higher education, particularly baccalaureate degrees.</p>

Professors have three main functions in universities: research, teaching and service. This study focuses on the teaching function. Effective teaching in higher education enhances students' learning while ineffective teaching can have detrimental impact on students' learning and their attitudes toward learning. In this regard, it is important that professors have the knowledge base for effective teaching, a base which is growing and changing rapidly. This requires that they engage in professional development activities to improve their teaching. Research suggests that professors are reluctant to dedicate time to improve their teaching. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the contextual and personal factors that contribute to a sense of reluctance or motivation for the improvement of teaching. Goal orientation and implicit theory of teaching skills guided this study to explore personal factors. Results revealed that mastery goal orientation and implicit theory of teaching skills are correlated with the time spent on activities for improving teaching and implementing new instructional methods, respectively. Professors' perceptions of barriers against and support for improvement of teaching were also studied. Recommendations forwarded by professors to enhance their engagement in the improvement of teaching including creating a reward system for teaching, designing more efficient teaching improvement opportunities, building communities of learning and practice, allocating funds for the improvement of teaching and considering teaching time release designated for improvement. / Les professeurs de l'université ont trois rôles principaux: faire la recherche, enseigner et rendre des services comme élaborer des programmes d'études. Cette étude porte sur celui de l'enseignement. Puisque l'enseignement inefficace a des impacts nuisibles sur la compréhension des étudiants, il est important que les professeurs sachent comment améliorer leur efficacité de l'enseignement. Il apparaît que les professeurs ne sont pas assez motivés pour s'engager à développer l'enseignement. Les résultats révèlent que ça existe des corrélations entre orientation vers les objectifs, la théorie des implicites compétences de l'enseignement et le temps qui a été mis pour améliorer l'efficacité de l'enseignement et réalisation de nouvelles méthodes pédagogiques, respectivement. Les perceptions des professeurs sur les obstacles existants contre l'amélioration de l'enseignement ont été étudiées aussi. Les professeurs ont été demandés de donner leurs avis sur l'amélioration de l'enseignement. Ces avis comprennent la création d'un système de récompense pour l'enseignement, élaboration des occasions plus efficaces pour l'amélioration de l'enseignement, planification des communautés d'apprentissage et de pratique et désignation de budget pour amélioration de l'enseignement.

I examine the beliefs of first generation immigrant students in their lived experience in accessing higher education while in situations of precarious immigration status with an emphasis on the dialogic intercultural possibilities afforded by a journey to and through university studies. I aim to raise awareness about undocumented students' evolving visions of identity and how their personhood interacts with discourses surrounding students' own efforts to widen their participation in higher education (Yosso, 2005). Participants attest that they see themselves, and arguably are, United States citizens in every aspect but on paper. A major emerging theme is the diverse ways these participants, also known as Dreamers, frame their identity as a collective effort to harmonize the integration of immigrant-origin youth into the contested spaces of belonging and exclusion constituted by higher education and join the fabric of urban and multicultural contexts in the Greater Los Angeles area. / En mettant l'accent sur les possibilités du dialogisme interculturel offert par leur parcours vers et à travers les études postsecondaires, cette étude propose une analyse des croyances des étudiants d'origine immigrante vis-à-vis leur rencontre avec les études de première cycle lors de leur expérience d'un statut d'immigration précaire. Cette exploration du vécu des étudiants vise à rendre compte de l'évolution de leur identité ainsi que de la façon dont l'expression de leur identité s'engage avec les discours autour des efforts que ces mêmes étudiants mènent en faveur d'une participation plus élargie aux études postsecondaires (Yosso, 2005). Parmi les thèmes clefs émerge celui de la construction de la propre identité comme ressource harmonisateur qui, partagé, cherche à promouvoir l'intégration des jeunes vivant une situation d'immigration précaire au sein de la société multiculturelle, multilingue et urbaine constituée par le grand Los Angeles en Californie du Sud.

<p> The purpose of this study was to examine the way US returned academics negotiate their academic identities and professional practices at China's research universities in the context of higher education internationalization. To be specific, it explored how western doctoral education and work experiences affect returnees, and how these returnees reconstruct what it means to be and become a Chinese professor as they renegotiate the existing university rules, cultures, and practices. Second, it examined the complexity of the internationalization of Chinese universities and the role that returnees play in the process. This study went beyond economic accounts of academic mobility and placed the investigation in a broader frame of social and cultural analysis in order to go deep into the everyday experiences of the returning scholars around issues of their sense of identity, as well as their ways of connecting and bringing about changes in their work communities. It shed light on scholarly debates on transnational academic mobility and higher education internationalization in China.</p><p> This study utilized qualitative methodology to explore the everyday experiences of the returned Chinese scholars. The sample was comprised of 52 US doctoral recipients from different disciplines at five research universities in both east and west China. In-depth interviews were used as the primary method of data collection. Other methods, such as non-participatory observation, informal conversations, and documentary analysis, were also used to complement the interview data. An inductive analysis approach was employed to generate codes, categories, and themes from the raw data. Data interpretation and reporting followed the <i>Standards for Reporting on Empirical Social Science Research in AERA Publications.</i></p><p> This study finds that 1) the returnees were motivated to return by China's rapid economic and social development, policy initiatives on mobilizing return moves, and better career opportunities that the improved academic system provided. They also returned for cultural and personal reasons, including social attachment, cultural belonging, self-realization, and family considerations. It suggests that the act of returning is a complex process that involves both personal choices and negotiations of various conditions and regions. 2) The integration of returnees into Chinese universities was not always a linear process, but constrained by the existing university structures and power relations. These include the bureaucracies of university administration, local politics and complicated interpersonal relationships, the problematic evaluation and funding system, and a lack of an efficient administrative system that supports high quality of teaching and research. 3) The returnees were not passively adapting to the structure. Instead, they were strategically drawing upon and using part of their transnational gains and advantages to create a new space for their professional careers and China's higher education innovation. They can be regarded as a driving force for change, either by introducing new teaching and research practices at the operational level, or calling for organizational changes by taking up leadership positions at the institutional level.</p>

<p> Institutions of higher education are charged with academically and professionally preparing students to lead in the workforce. Specifically, little is known regarding how students develop their leadership identity throughout their undergraduate career. One significant leadership role that students hold is that of student government president. Student government has been a critical component of the landscape of higher education for centuries, yet little research has been conducted on the experiences of former presidents. Concurrently, although women earn more degrees than men in the United States, they are underrepresented in the role of student government president. This study examines the experiences of fourteen former, female student government presidents to understand how leadership identity develops. The leadership identity development theory was utilized as a framework to examine leadership development during and post-college. Through a feminist lens, gender was central to the study to uncover gender expectations and stereotypes. A qualitative, phenomenological design was used to capture the lived experiences and meanings created by the women. The women graduated from various types of institutions along the East Coast within a 15-year timespan. Derived from two semi-structured interviews, the findings indicate four themes: (a) prior involvement, (b) relationships matter, (c) navigating gender dynamics, and (d) the student government experience matters. The findings suggest that serving as student government president impacts leadership identity development during and post-college and is a valuable, meaningful experience. Interpretations are made from the findings and recommendations for future research are addressed, as well as practical implications for practice.</p>

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of Tulsa, 1969. / Bibliography: leaves 77-80.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-09, Section: A, page: 3754. Adviser: Vasti Torres. Title from dissertation home page (viewed May 7, 2008).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Central Eurasian Studies, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-07, Section: A, page: 2851. Adviser: Mihaly Szegedy-Maszak. Title from dissertation home page (viewed April 8, 2008).

Thesis (Ed.D.)--The University of Auckland (New Zealand), 2005. / (UnM)AAI3201548. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 66-12, Section: A, page: 4319. Advisers: Roger Dale; Roger Peddie.