<p> Students who enter higher education requiring reading remediation have poor institutional persistence. This study examined the course success and first-year institutional persistence of six women enrolled in a developmental reading course at a regional campus of a state university. Data sets were comprised of classroom observation, review of academic records, and interviews with students and their instructor. </p><p> </p>

<p> Since the end of the Civil Rights era, a new paradigm has emerged for understanding race and racism in American society. This neoliberal hegemonic discourse argues that systemic racism ended with the abolishment of formal, juridical racism and that any continued investment in race is both unnecessary and deeply problematic. Critical race theorists have named this framework color-blind racism. In recent years, color-blind racist discourse has been repackaged under a &#129;"post-race" label and the election of America&#129;'s first non-White president has only served to bolster notions that America might have somehow <i>transcended race</i>. </p><p> For college students, the undergraduate years are often a time of great intellectual, emotional, and spiritual upheaval and this instability makes college a prime site for examining individuals&#129;' meaning-making and identity formation processes. Students of color are no exception to this overall phenomenon and the literature on racial identity development speaks to the dramatic changes in self-concept that individuals of color often experience while attending college. One group of students of color, Asian American college students, are deeply understudied and there is little scholarly writing on Asian American college students' racial identity development process. </p><p> This dissertation is a qualitative study of the effects of color-blind racism on the racial identity meaning-making of Asian American college freshmen. Using a narrative inquiry methodology, the author conducted lengthy in-person interviews with nine participants. The emergent themes from the study indicate that the participants&#129;' racial meaning-making process was heavily laden with elements of the ethnicity paradigm of race, color-blind racist tropes, and Asian American racial tropes. The study results suggest that these participants&#129;' hold little in the way of racial identity consciousness, as Asian Americans, and that their heavy investment in ethnic identity works to support a color-blind racial frame. Furthermore, elements of color-blind racism and Asian American racial formation appear to interlock in unique ways to produce complicity with the logic of color-blind racism and support for key elements of White racial hegemony. Further research is needed on the effects of color-blind racism on the identity development of college students broadly, and on Asian American students specifically.</p>

<p> Over two million military personnel will leave the service over the next decade (Cook &amp; Kim; 2009). The majority of these veterans will receive the most generous GI Bill since its inception (United States Department of Veterans Affairs [VA], 2011). Institutions will covet these students to offset discounting (Barr &amp; McClellan, 2011; Basch, 1997; Curs &amp; Singell, 2010; Parrott, 2008; United States Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee [HELP], 2012). To recruit and retain these students, military veterans must view these institutions as friendly (Bean &amp; Metzner, 1985; Radford, 2011; Vacchi, 2012). </p><p> Previous studies focused on transition and access to veteran services (Ackerman, DiRamio, &amp; Garza-Mitchell, 2009; Cook &amp; Kim; 2009; Diamond, 2012; DiRamio, Ackerman, &amp; Mitchell, 2008; Griffin &amp; Gilbert, 2012; McBain, Kim, Cook, &amp; Snead, 2012; Rumann &amp; Hamrick, 2010). They identified factors that contribute to military friendliness along dimensions of cost, culture, collaboration, convenience, caring, and characteristics; however, they did not correlate these variables with veteran perceptions of friendliness (Ackerman et al., 2009; Diamond, 2012; DiRamio et al., 2008; Rumann &amp; Hamrick, 2010). These studies were qualitative and used small samples (Ackerman et al., 2009; Diamond, 2012; DiRamio, et al., 2008; Rumann &amp; Hamrick, 2010). This study determined how military veterans ranked these variables, compared how they differed by demographics, and determined to what extent these factors explained impressions of military friendliness at their institutions. </p><p> This quantitative correlational study surveyed veteran populations (N=188) at five institutions in the New England. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to run descriptive and inferential statistics to rank military friendliness factors and compare these rankings along various demographics. Findings revealed significant differences in student perceptions based on gender, marital status, children, age, combat experience, military status, educational assistance eligibility, academic status, institution type, and college residency. Findings also determined to what extent and in what manner these factors explained respondents' perceptions of military friendliness at their own institutions. The results of this study may inform higher educational leaders how to prioritize initiatives and to provide better support to military veteran students.</p>

<p> This two-phase sequential mixed methods exploratory study examined the perceived skill deficits of instructional deans at California community colleges to better understand the training and development needs that are necessary to support dean success and to prepare them for advancement in a timelier manner. This study is grounded in the theoretical framework of social constructivism and system dynamics. The literature indicates a need for competent leaders in the hiring pipeline to fill the predicted vacancies of the baby boomer generation in California community colleges. Despite the ongoing warnings in the literature for the past decade, little has been done to prepare future leaders for the mass exodus of senior administration. Further, given the structured path to senior administration, very little research has been conducted on mid-level administrators despite the critical role that they play in day-to-day college operations and the fact that mid-level administration is the accepted training ground for senior leadership positions. This study focused specifically on instructional deans, who make up a large portion of mid-level administrators. Perceptions were elicited from California community college instructional deans, senior administrators, and faculty. Results indicated that, overall, all three constituency groups interviewed and surveyed generally agreed on the skills required to be an effective instructional dean. However, there were frame gaps in perceptions, based on the position of the respondent, when it came to identifying instructional dean skill deficits, training provided for deans, and support. Additional findings indicated that on-the-job training is the most common form of instructional dean training used by colleges.</p>

<p> Students who declare a major follow a sequence of courses beginning with the introductory course in the major that is usually defined as a 100-level, or freshman level course. This introductory class is called a gateway class, as students must complete this course to register for the next sequence of courses within their major. This study examined and measured the relationship between first-time, full-time freshman, college students who attempted a gateway class within their declared major during their first semester of college and the retention of these students to their second semester. The study also analyzed retention rates for students who declared a major, completed a class, but not the gateway class in their major and the retention rate for these students. Finally, the study analyzed students who did not declare a major, completed a class, and the retention rate for these students. The findings in this study suggests first-time, full-time freshman students who declared a major and successfully completed the gateway class were more likely to persist, then students who were unsuccessful with the gateway class, or students who declared a major, completed a class, but not the gateway class in their major. To improve retention of first-time, full-time freshman students, the results of this study indicate changes are warranted in the way students are advised with regard to which classes they should complete in their first semester of college. </p>

<p>This study investigated the faculty perception of the use of a student evaluation of faculty instrument. The areas considered were use of the current Student Evaluation of Faculty (SEF) instrument to measure teaching effectiveness; use of the current instrument for annual faculty review; faculty involvement in developing the instrument; utilizing the instrument to improve teaching; and demographics of faculty gender, college/school in which they teach, and the numbers of years of higher education experience. </p><p> Participants included 734 full-time instructional faculty members at Mississippi State University who taught during the fall 2012 semester and utilized the current SEF instrument. From the 734 faculty invited to participate in the study, 205 responded. The study was conducted in the fall 2013 semester. Over 71% of the participating faculty indicated a negative perception toward the current SEF instrument as an effective tool for their use in evaluating teaching effectiveness. However, 60% of the participants agree the instrument serves as an effective tool for their use to improve teaching. The faculty also indicated they would like to be able to compare their SEF results to others teaching comparable courses. Participants were asked to rate each question taken from the current SEF instrument, indicating its level of usefulness in their ability to utilize the results to improve teaching. Of the 11 questions, only 2 were found to be least useful to the faculty. One of those was related to the tests they give being fair and the other related to the student learned a great deal in the class. Almost 81% of the participants indicated that faculty involvement in the development of the current student evaluation of faculty instrument increased the usefulness in measuring teaching effectiveness. </p><p> Conclusions based on the findings indicated a need to continue revising the evaluation process and instrument to include a multidimensional process. This multidimensional process should provide separate instruments to be used for annual faculty review and for improving teaching. These revisions should be carried out with faculty involvement to ensure acceptance of the processes and maintain positive perceptions. </p><p> Keywords: student evaluation of faculty, multidimensional evaluation process, teaching effectiveness </p>

<p> This dissertation examines the academic life of part-time professors at the five biggest universities in Chile. By examining part-timers' academic life, including both who the part-time professors are and what their academic work is, this study sheds light on the complexity and diversity of the part-time world. </p><p> Based on a qualitative methodology, this study looks at part-time professors' individual characteristics, job experiences, and aspirations for academic careers. It also looks at how part-time professors interact with structures in relation to the tasks and activities they perform in higher education. Data come from 70 interviews: 44 with part-time professors and 26 with university administrators including department chairs, ex-deans, provosts, and human resource directors. </p><p> This dissertation challenges the widespread view that part-time professors basically comprise one overarching entity. To be sure, the study also discovers significant commonalities, some encompassing all part-timers, others an extensive share but with exceptions. Chilean part-time professors share a teaching vocation and teaching is nearly the totality of what they do. Most of this teaching is classroom teaching. Only a few part-timers aspire to full-time academic careers. </p><p> Mostly, however, the study finds a part-time world that is diverse and complex. As it maps out dimensions of this diversity and complexity, the study discovers significant patterns within the wide-ranging terrain. Moreover, the study probes the logic of much of the variation. It develops a typology of part-time professors and their academic work. The typology first identifies the two major kinds of part-time professors: Higher Education Teachers (HET) and Outsider Professionals (OP). HET have their main work experience in higher education, OP chiefly outside higher education. Beyond that, the typology maps out multiple sub-types within each of these two major types. Exploration of the types and sub-types unearths much information about matters such as heterogeneous reasons to teach part-time and contrasting employment profiles. Even within teaching, always part-timers' main endeavor, the study finds variation on multiple activities such as evaluation of students and development of curriculum.</p>

<p> A correlational inferential study of diverse urban community colleges found student engagement and persistence to be influenced by student body racial and ethnic demographics. An omnibus methodology was devised to quantify persistence of students with multifarious goals, allowing existing data about the student outcomes to be examined over the long term, inclusive of full-time and part-time students and those who stop out and return. This study adds to the understanding of peer groups as viewed in college impact models and recommends practices to improve student success.</p><p> Among the major findings of the study, student body diversity was found to promote student persistence. Student race or ethnicity was also found to affect persistence contingent upon student body racial and ethnic composition. Asian student persistence did not appear to be affected by the racial and ethnic composition of the colleges they attended. White students experienced a positive effect on persistence at colleges with no predominant population. Hispanic students experienced the greatest negative effect on persistence among all groups when they attended predominantly Hispanic colleges. Black students experienced less negative effects than Hispanics at institutions with predominant populations of Black or Hispanic students than they did when attending colleges with no predominant population.</p><p> Student academic preparation and access to financial aid were confirmed as consistent predictors of student persistence. The larger effects of background characteristics and preparation on persistence recommend a greater emphasis on active engagement with students to increase college effects on student persistence.</p><p> Racial and ethnic student body demographics did not affect student engagement patterns as strongly as they affected persistence. Higher percentages of Black or Hispanic students in college predicted modest increases in engagement while the percentage of Asian students did not predict engagement. Small differences between the ways in which Asian, Black, Hispanic, and White students engaged were also identified.</p><p> The evidence of effects on student outcomes at predominantly minority community colleges necessitates greater understanding of social normative systems to update theoretical models developed for predominantly White four-year institutions. The findings recommend developing educational practices that are sensitive to specific student populations, while also recommending better understanding of within-group differences.</p>

<p> This qualitative study identified the challenges, supports, and services that a diverse sample of veterans with disabilities utilized as undergraduate students at universities across the United States. The study sample consisted of ten veterans with disabilities who were currently enrolled in, or had graduated within five years from, a four-year postsecondary institution. The participants attended ten different universities and were a diverse sample in terms of disabilities, branch of service, combat exposure, area of study, and gender. The veterans participated in semi-structured interviews that examined their transition, academic, and social experiences in college. </p><p> Generally, the participants struggled during the transition to school and received a limited number of supports from their postsecondary institutions. The majority also faced a number of academic challenges, although they did not seek formal assistance. There was a severe lapse in Disability Support Services (DSS) as none of the participants registered with the DSS office and more than half were unaware that these supports were available to them. The veterans had limited social experiences on campus and none of them opted to join student veterans' organizations and other social groups, though they felt most comfortable around other veterans. These findings suggest the need for additional research on veterans with disabilities, specifically between those who are receiving DSS and those who are not. There is also a clear need for improved transition services, including methods of identifying veterans with disabilities, and academic supports at four-year institutions. Furthermore, these results indicate that it is may be more effective to connect veterans to each other through channels outside of traditional on-campus veterans' organizations.</p>

<p> Demographic changes within the field of higher education have generated growing interest for the study of cultural intelligence and authentic leadership among academic leaders. The relationship between cultural intelligence (CQ) as a moderator to authentic leadership (AL) was examined through a quantitative study that included two surveys, the Expanded Cultural Intelligence Scale (E-CQS) and the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire (ALQ). Hypotheses were formulated to assess relationships between CQ and AL, and specific components of each set of data. The study's findings were directed toward academic leaders being equipped with both cultural intelligence and authentic leadership to effectively interact and support diverse multicultural populations within higher educational institutions.</p>