Doctor of Philosophy / Department of History / Michael Krysko / David Stone / Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who was a nationalist leader and founder and first president of the republic of Turkey, still remains an important figure in the Turkish political and social landscape. Kemalist historiography, which is based on Mustafa Kemal’s six-day speech (Nutuk) in October 1927, emphasizes the foundation of the Republic as central to Turkish history. While this historiography emphasizes that Mustafa Kemal had an explicit plan during his modernization efforts, this dissertation will cover how Mustafa Kemal was incoherent in his actions and changed his discourses over and over again during the change of the political structure of Turkey. Beyond that, this study will suggest that Mustafa Kemal was an opportunist and pragmatist who utilized every single event to establish a Jacobin style autocracy. This research will discuss how Mustafa Kemal succeeded in using every opportunity, such as the Law of Supreme Commander Act in August 1921, the abolition of Sultanate in 1922, the establishment of Republic in 1923, the abolition of Caliphate in 1924, and the elimination of opposition in 1925, to establish his personal autocracy. In particular, the records of Assembly debates, not sufficiently used by Turkish historians, will be helpful to understand the creation of this personal autocracy. While Kemalist historiography credits Mustafa Kemal Ataturk with the original and unique conception of the social, legal, and educational reforms of the early Republican period, this dissertation argues that this approach is not balanced. Although the Kemalist historiography asserts that Mustafa Kemal and his legacy represent carrying out Enlightenment ideals in an obsolete society almost totally ignorant of these principles, the Kemalist modernization got a great inheritance from its predecessors, the Young Turks. Therefore, the Kemalist overstatement of an idealist figure of Mustafa Kemal is wrong in some degree. This dissertation aims to scrutinize the contribution of the Ottoman reformers and contradictions, mistakes, and overstatements of the Kemalist modernization project in social, legal, and educational areas by the help of wide primary sources which include official reports of the Grand National Assembly, the Republican Era archives and a mass of periodicals which were published in 1920s in Turkey.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Apparel, Textiles, and Interior Design / Joy M. Kozar / Today, home economics in Saudi Arabia, in particular, apparel and textiles programs (AT) typically emphasize two major areas: apparel design and textile science. However, AT programs in Saudi Arabia need to evolve to help students take advantage of new job opportunities in the apparel retail sector. Establishing an apparel merchandising track in AT programs in Saudi Arabia will provide women with better preparation to succeed in the industry. Until recently, most female graduates of home economics programs in Saudi Arabia were prepared for teaching positions. The purpose of this study was to develop an apparel merchandising program for the AT discipline in Saudi Arabia. Qualitative data were collected in three phases to examine the focal points of choosing the new curricula: (a) the nature of the subject matter, (b) the nature of society, and (c) the nature of individuals. In Phase 1, the content of the top apparel merchandising programs in the US was examined to explore the nature of the subject matter. In Phase 2, the perceptions of industry professionals in Saudi Arabia were explored by interviewing 21 human resource managers and apparel store managers. Finally, the AT students’ needs to succeed in the apparel industry were examined by interviewing 17 female students. The data were analyzed by utilizing the word-based technique as well as comparing and contrasting responses to each question. The findings for all three phases were combined and compared to identify the knowledge and skills that need to be added to the new apparel merchandising track for AT discipline in Saudi Arabia. Results of the study indicated that all three phases reported the importance of considering hard skills, or content and process knowledge, and soft skills, or professional attitude and skills, in preparing AT student for the apparel retail industry. AT major knowledge, business knowledge, mathematics, as well as professional skills (e.g., communication, commitment, teamwork, English language, lifelong learning, and experience) are found to be essential for the success of Saudi women in the apparel retail industry. For AT educators in Saudi Arabia, this knowledge and skills have to be addressed in the apparel merchandising program.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction / Rosemary Talab / The purpose of this study was to investigate concerns regarding the adoption of online teaching as expressed by faculty and instructors in six departments in the College of Arts and Humanities at King Abdulaziz University. Additionally, it investigated faculty professional development needs in adopting online teaching. The data in this study were obtained from 147 faculty members (response rate 63.9%). A non-experimental, cross-sectional survey design was used, incorporating the Stages of Concern Questionnaire. The data were analyzed using quantitative measures (descriptive data analysis and inferential analysis). This study utilized the Concerns Based Adoption Model as its theoretical framework. King Abdulaziz University faculty Stages of Concerns findings showed a mean score percentile of 87% of them as Unconcerned. The Informational stage showed a mean score percentile of 72%, and the Personal stage was the third highest with a mean score percentile of 70%. Refocusing, Collaboration, and Management were the fourth, fifth, and sixth highest stages of concern. The Consequence stage was the lowest stage of concern. The Stages of Concern Questionnaire had concerns that were generally aligned to nonusers or users who sometimes implement parts of online teaching. The data analysis regarding the participants’ personal characteristics indicated that their concerns in adopting online teaching were not influenced by their age, country of graduation, or years of teaching experience. A statistically significant difference was found in the participant concerns in adopting online teaching by gender, p<.05. The significance differences were found in stage one (Informational) (p<.05), stage two (Personal) (p<.01), and stage six (Refocusing) (p<.001). Likewise, the data analysis regarding the participants’ contextual characteristics indicated that their concerns in adopting online teaching were not influenced by their department or academic rank. A statistically significant difference was found in the participants’ concerns in adopting online teaching based on administrative support, p<.05. The significances were found in stages zero (Unconcerned) (p<.05) and three (Management) (p<.01). The data analysis regarding the technographic characteristics also indicated a statistically significant influence of participants' prior instructional technology use and technology-related professional development on their use of technology in teaching. The significance values were .000, .006, .009, and .030. The study concludes with recommendations for King Abdulaziz University regarding faculty adoption of online teaching and recommendations for future studies focused on professional development programs and the adoption of online teaching in King Abdulaziz University as well as in other Saudi universities.