College students’ worldviews and (non)religious beliefs continue to evolve and become more nuanced. Thus, it is crucial that college students make meaning of diverse worldview perspectives and recognize the accompanying inequitable experiences that others encounter because of their worldviews. In promoting research on critical consciousness in their 2018 call for proposals, the Association for the Study of Higher Education invited educators to consider, not only how students engage across differences, but how they recognize, make meaning of, and act upon social inequities. To expand topics of pluralism and interworldview dialogue in higher education, it is important to investigate the phenomenon of critical consciousness in relation to worldview inequities. The purpose of this study was to explore how critical consciousness involving worldview inequities took shape for 15 undergraduate college students (aged 18-24) at one institution, William & Mary. Though some scholars have offered findings regarding students’ and administrators’ development of critical consciousness, there is not much research focused on how critical consciousness takes shape (i.e., “how it is produced in time and space”) for students regarding worldview inequities (Vagle, 2018, p. 150). In this study, I used a theoretical borderlands perspective, tenets of intersectionality theory, and a qualitative, post-intentional phenomenological (PIP) methodology. Data sources included two semi-structured interviews with each student participant, student-generated reflections over a two-week period, and my own post-reflexive journaling. Findings from this study are depicted through a primary tentative manifestation (momentarily recognizable aspects of phenomena), which I named emotionality, and two figurations that elucidate how critical consciousness took shape for students in this study.

Internationalization has become widely recognized as a critical element of higher education, and study abroad is considered one of the most common methods to achieve it. Yet, despite the perceived value of study abroad for both students and faculty, institutions struggle with committing resources to such opportunities as well as assessing the true impact of these learning experiences. This study evaluated the Global Business Minor (GBM) program at William & Mary (W&M), the first program in the nation to allow students to earn a minor in a single summer through an innovative hybrid learning approach that involved one week at W&M, three weeks of online learning and eight weeks at University College Dublin in Ireland. This evaluation sought to provide insights to administrators regarding the facilitating conditions and barriers for the GBM as well as how the program contributed to the intercultural competence and professional development of students and faculty. This study involved in-depth interviews and document analyses to include student reflections on LinkedIn. The findings revealed the GBM contributed to the intercultural competence of students and faculty through an increased understanding of cultural awareness, diversity, and perspective. The program also contributed to the professional development of students through career awareness and building competencies related to communication and teamwork, as well as the professional development of faculty through the enrichment of curriculum and enhancement of teaching skills. Recommendations included dedicating resources to ensure sustainable and immersive learning programs, establishing clear program objectives with intentional assessments, and incentivizing faculty efforts to teach abroad in support of W&M's mission to develop compassionate global citizens.

The purpose of this study was to understand the perceptions of academic advising held by junior and senior transfer students who have declared a major within the STEM programs at a small, highly selective, public institution in the Mid-Atlantic Region. A phenomenological case study of Small University was utilized to understand the perception and socially constructed reality and knowledge that vertical and lateral transfer students build through interactions with a faculty academic advisor. Interviews were conducted with a diverse population of 20 junior and senior transfer students who have declared their major in one of the eight STEM departments at Small University. Overall, students experienced difficulties once on campus in terms of navigating the institution and obtaining the courses needed in a timely manner. The majority of participants did not work closely with their advisor and therefore needed to find supports and resources on their own. Modification of faculty advising away from a prescriptive model towards a developmental or proactive model may serve to prevent negative outcomes for transfer students during the transition into a new institution.

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Dual enrollment (DE) programs provide high school students the opportunity to earn credit for college coursework completed while still in high school and help smooth the transition from high school to college by making the unfamiliar familiar—a valuable experience for students from a wide range of economic and academic backgrounds. Yet, the value of DE is largely undermined when students who have completed college credits do not enroll in college after high school graduation. Therefore, this study examined student demographics and academic metrics of Virginia DE students to explore potential patterns between student habitus and college enrollment, providing prototypical profiles of Virginia DE students who immediately enrolled in college, delayed enrollment, or did not enroll. Overall, the data demonstrated that participants of Virginia DE experienced high enrollments in college, but the majority of these students were non-minority, non-first generation, academically high performers, and/or from families with higher income. African American students, Hispanic students, and first generation college students participated in Virginia DE and enrolled in postsecondary education at rates lower than expected given their representation in higher education today, revealing the need to improve policy and practice to better attract and retain these students in DE. This study underscores the need for policymakers and educators to better leverage DE programs to prepare a broader range of students for success in college rather than simply providing courses to those students already primed to attend college and succeed.

In response to public sector criticism, higher education reform in Ecuador over the past decade has created a nation-wide transformation of faculty roles. The literature from researchers in Ecuador concerning reform and the role of faculty discusses the desired impact of these new expectations; however, very little is known regarding the substantive reality of faculty navigating new roles and work. This study explored faculty sense making of national reforms relating to their role and work at universities and sought to understand how faculty are navigating both policy and implementation of new work expectations ten years after government top-down reform efforts. The qualitative, cross-case comparison was framed through the perspective of the model of policy reaction. Interviews were conducted with 15 full-time Ecuadorian faculty participants representing hard and social sciences from five case universities located throughout the country. Data analysis resulted in five major findings: a) faculty negotiating uncertainty around work expectations and policy implementation; b) faculty building networks in order to meet expectations and develop research capacity; c) faculty understanding practices to legitimize their work as distrustful and inefficient; d) faculty perceiving policies as constraints to their academic autonomy, and; e) faculty making sense of themselves as a transitional generation building capacity and sustainability for future university stakeholders. The findings for this study will assist future policy-makers and university authorities in planning and managing change efforts to ensure that faculty stakeholders are involved in the policy-making and implementation processes.

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