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As educational funding from traditional sources decreases and the cost of operating educational programs increases, community colleges are seeking ways to diversify funding streams and increase revenue. For many 2-year colleges, resource development, particularly the procurement of government grants and contracts, represents a viable source of revenue. The purpose of this research was (a) to establish a profile of grant development programs in Florida community colleges and (b) to identify factors associated with successful grant development. A cross-sectional survey design was used to collect information about grant development programs at the 28 publicly-supported community colleges in the state of Florida. Twenty-six colleges completed the survey. The grant success rate, return on investment, and organizational and operational integration of institutional advancement functions of the respondent colleges were incorporated into linear mathematical models to predict grant development success. Although no statistically significant predictive relationships were determined, organizational and operational integration of institutional advancement functions can not be considered to be without some influence on a college's ability to generate grant revenue. The potential for community college efforts to yield increasing grant funding will continue to transform higher education. The study of the components and characteristics that allow for predicting successful grant acquisition is of continuing research interest and mounting practical importance to community college presidents, administrators, trustees, and resource development professionals.

Community college students often have more complex needs and access to fewer resources than their four-year university counterparts. While there is some research on community colleges, it tends to be narrowly focused on students' initial degree aspirations, previous academic record, and demographic characteristics and less on the students’ experiences and perceptions. This dissertation identifies and illuminates the gaps between the existing research and the perceptions of community college students. This research draws on empowerment theory and the theory of democratization and diversion to comprehensively explore the complexities of community college students' lives. In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with two groups of current Pell Grant eligible community college students: 1) those who meet their institution's criteria for satisfactory academic progress towards an Associates in Arts degree (n=31); and 2) those who do not meet the criteria (n=31). The purpose of these interviews was to uncover barriers and enablers contributing to students' abilities to meet their educational goals. Braun & Clarke's (2006) six phases of iterative thematic analysis were followed to analyze the data and ATLAS.ti software was used to assist in the coding. The data were grouped so that the overlapping experiences of participants could be clearly noted without losing the unique perceptions and words of the participants. Four major themes were identified: sources of motivation; responsibilities to resources ratio and external barriers; informational capital and knowledge; and powerlessness. Motivation and access to sufficient resources in order to meet a student's responsibilities were noted by participants as requirements to enable educational attainment. Additionally, the need for students to decode the rules of higher education in the institution and classroom were identified, and different levels of powerlessness were noted between groups. These findings have implications for theory including updating Brint & Karabel's democratization and diversion theory and presenting an emerging theoretical construct. Recommendations for policy and practice are made. Further, areas of further exploration for community college students and employees are presented in order to continue to add these expert voices in to the larger community college conversation.

In this dissertation I argue that properly situating Van Rensselaer Potter's bioethics makes it newly available to those seeking an alternative conceptual framework for global bioethics discourse. Locating Potter in the heretofore unappreciated context of the land-grant college ideology (evinced by those institutions established by the 1862 federal Morrill Act with a charge to democratize higher education and apply knowledge in the best interests of the public) and the Wisconsin Idea (a still–extant Progressive – era policy of applying university research to social legislation) not only illuminates its distinctive features but renders transparent its previously opaque epistemic culture. I outline how American bioethics as it is commonly understood took form at Georgetown University in the early 1970s with a mandate to consider the impact of new medical technologies on society, particularly in relation to reproductive and human fetal tissue research. This work yielded a vision that became known as principlism, the now-dominant form of Western bioethical discourse. I look at the various criticisms of principlism, as well as the inability of its critics to discard the principles framework. I then contrast principlism with the distinctly different understanding of bioethics that was offered in 1970 by Van Rensselaer Potter when he coined the word "bioethics." I discuss how, when Potter first began to speak of bioethics, he envisioned a "bridge to the future, " a union of science and the humanities that would foster cross–disciplinary thinking in anticipation of, and in the hope of averting, a worsening ecological crisis and its resultant negative impact on human health and well–being. The response to threats posed by technology — "dangerous knowledge" — was not to limit knowledge, but to respond with more knowledge, with the kind of contextual and moral vision that only transdisciplinary knowledge could provide. While Potter originally envisioned this work as a specific obligation of scientists, he gradually came to understand it as a social activity, a shift in communal perceptions and obligations. Finally, I suggest that Potter's bioethics has tremendous potential for redeeming bioethics and offers an alternative vision that is truly redemptive.

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This study is an assessment of the New Extension Agent Training (NEAT) program in Virginia. Although new Extension agents have exceptional subject matter training, they often lack skills needed to be effective Extension professionals (Bennett, 1979). The NEAT program provides a way for new agents to receive hands-on experiences that will facilitate a smooth transition into their respective roles. There is currently no specific data that has the NEAT program. Therefore, an evaluation of the program by its participants to determine its importance and effectiveness may be utilized to enhance the effectiveness of the NEAT program. The survey utilized to collect data in the study was developed by the researcher. The instrument was put on a website where participants could access it during a given time frame. The population consisted of new Extension agents, training agents, and administrators who participated in the NEAT program and are currently employed by Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE). Participants were asked to rate the importance and effectiveness of the NEAT program in facilitating new Extension agents' growth in a series of goals needed for a new agent to be proficient. These goals were then divided into eight competencies as outlined by National Policy Statement on Staff Training and Development (1968). Participants were asked to provide demographic information and suggestions that would be useful in designing future programs. Data were analyzed using SPSS. The data showed that communication was rated the most important competency while human development was considered the least important. The data related to the ratings of effectiveness of the NEAT program in relation to the eight competencies also demonstrated that respondents rated communication as the most effectively taught competency covered in the NEAT program, and human development as the least effectively taught competency. Significant differences among ratings by position in the NEAT program were measured at the 0.05 alpha level. Significant differences were observed both between new Extension agents and Extension administrators and between Extension training agents and Extension administrators were in the importance of a selected competency and the effectiveness of the NEAT program in teaching the some of the competencies. / Ph. D.