Few debates spark as much interest as the controversy over how to increase access to higher education, particularly for racial minority groups. Despite the knowledge accumulated on the benefits of diversity, the higher education community knows very little about the determinants of minority student enrollment, or what universities can do to affect minority student representation. This dissertation seeks to investigate the factors that affect variance in minority student enrollment levels at public universities, with particular attention devoted to the political environment. This analysis of the relationship between political institutions and public universities draws on a number of subliteratures in public administration and political science, including theories of political control, descriptive representation, and public management. As one of the first major studies of the politics of higher education, the analysis draws on untapped data that allow for better tests of many of these theories. These data include measures of university enrollments, drawn from the Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Dataset and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, data on political institutions, including racial representation, and interviews of university administrators. The quantitative analysis uses a combination of methods, including ordinary least squares, hierarchical linear modeling, and descriptive statistics. Using a framework of governance to link these subliteratures together allows for progress toward more general theories about the relationship between political institutions and bureaucracy. Substantively, this analysis also adds to our understanding of what factors affect minority enrollments. Chapter V uncovers the redistributive effect of the Hopwood case and California’s Proposition 209, and chapter VI builds on this finding, by testing for the effect of minority representation in state legislatures. Chapter VII then takes a closer look at the Texas system, investigating the effect of the Grutter decisions on enrollments, particularly at the flagship institutions. Overall, findings point to the importance of university-specific characteristics -- such as the institution’s level of selectivity and the values held by the university -- in moderating the influence of political institutions, particularly of court cases and state-level interventions, on minority student enrollment levels.

Research relevant to the unique needs and experiences of racial/ethnic/cultural (REC) minority groups in social science literature is essential to the work of policymakers and clinical practitioners. However, the social sciences have traditionally failed to publish a sufficient number of articles that address these needs and experiences or even adequately report the racial and ethnic makeup of their samples. The purpose of this study is to provide an updated look at Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) literature and how often sample participants’ ethnicity is reported, how frequently studies focus on ethnic issues or specific REC minority groups, which REC minority groups and topics receive the most attention in minority-focused studies, which REC minority groups and topics receive the most attention in funded studies, and how these trends have changed over time. Specifically, five journals (American Journal of Family Therapy, Family Process, Journal of Family Therapy, Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, and Contemporary Family Therapy) were selected for inclusion in the analysis and were examined inclusively from 2000-2017. Results and suggestions for future research are discussed.

About special indigenous representation in Peru: An approach from the viewpoint of indigenous leaders. Following the numerous indigenous uprisings in the 1990´s, scholars have paid close attention to indigenous politics in Latin America, with their main focus placed on the construction of indigenous movements, as well as indigenous identity. In contrast, very few contributions deal with institutional designs to promote indigenous people’s access to formal politics. This paper addresses the topic of descriptive representation of indigenous people in formal decision-making spheres, with the main focus on the Parliament. It outlines the benefits associated with descriptive representation of minorities, as well as two cases of interest: Mexico and New Zealand. Based on interviews conducted during the summer of 2009, the article provides insight into the indigenous leaders´ assessments regarding this issue. It also includes a look at the magnitude of recent indigenous representation in Parliament. The final section presents a brief review of some strategies to include indigenous people informal power structures. / Se aborda la representación especial o descriptiva de poblaciones indígenas en espacios formales de decisión, con foco en el ámbito parlamentario y en la potencialidad de un diseño en esta línea para el caso peruano. Como marco, el trabajo reseña los beneficios asociados a la representación descriptiva de minorías, así como dos casos de interés: México y Nueva Zelanda. Se presenta la opinión sobre este tema de líderes indígenas peruanos, cuyos testimonios fueron recogidos durante el verano de 2009. El texto incluye una breve descripción del marco normativo peruano, como también una mirada a la magnitud de la representación indígena reciente en el Parlamento. La última sección presenta notas a modo de conclusión, y una reseña sucinta de algunas estrategias ensayadas para incluir a poblaciones indígenas en espacios formales de poder.

This thesis studies spatial visibility of Greenlanders in Aalborg by particularly looking and examining three most notable places associated with the Greenlandic community in the city as an indicator into socio-economic conditions of Greenlanders. To meet the aim, ten interviews with the Greenlandic representatives in Aalborg were carried out to find out their feelings and experiences towards these places. This thesis looks at spatial visibility in cities as an indicator into broader socio-economic issues. The results demonstrate how different groups of Greenlanders in Aalborg use urban space to uphold and practice activities that are characteristic to them. Finally, the results indicate that Greenlanders in Aalborg are still heavily subjected to stereotyping and racism which brings attention to the need of Danish government to redesign  their integration policies.

abstract: This project is a comparative exploration of the connection between descriptive representation and the substantive and symbolic representation of ethnic minorities: do Afro and indigenous representatives effectively “stand for” group members by introducing identity and empowering descriptive constituents? Featuring reserved seats for both minority groups, Colombia is an ideal case. In combination, the institutional design of reserved seats and the tradition of mestizaje and racial democracy add complexity to analyzing these populations. Consequently, in order to assess minority representation this work adds to extant representational theory by taking into account the crystallization of minority constituencies across elections. I use quantitative and qualitative data to comparatively assess the use of reserved seats for integrating minority identity to the deliberative process and measuring empowerment impacts for minority-majority municipalities. This data includes an original dataset of electoral outcomes across seven cycles (1990-2010) and transcripts of congressional plenaries spanning three legislative periods (2002-2014). I take into account constituency dynamics identifying the concentration and geographical sources of votes in minority districts. These outcomes translate to expectations of representative behavior, hinging on the theoretical belief that constituency dynamics act as signals of legislator accountability to minority constituents. This dissertation is located at the intersection of the comparative politics literature on minority quotas and representation, on one hand, and ethno-racial minority politics in Latin America, on the other. I find that ongoing electoral reforms have impacted constituency outcomes in post-reform cycles. More importantly, I observe that reserved representatives from both groups have integrated identity into deliberative processes often, but that only in the case of indigenous representation has the use of identity in plenaries been responsive to constituency variables. In addition, empowerment effects are identified in indigenous-majority communities that have strong linkages to minority districts, while the same empowerment cannot be conclusively identified in Afro-majority communities. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Political Science 2015

A major component of the screening process for prospective teachers is the licensure examination. The examination serves two important functions: (a) sorting and screening candidates and (b) defining the knowledge base for professional practice. The first function receives the most attention from policymakers and serves the symbolic purpose of creating selectivity for entry into the profession. Initial entry typically is controlled by raising or lowering examination passing requirements which simply allows more or fewer persons to pass (Darling-Hammond, Wise & Klein, 1995). The second function presumes that a single instrument exists that not only contains the essential knowledge required for professional practice, but accurately identifies those most qualified to teach.The Virginia Board of Education (VBOE), like several other state boards of education, has authorized validation and standard-setting studies related to its teacher licensure examination policy, and the most recent studies have occurred in the past 20 years. The first study was authorized in April 1981 for the potential use of the National Teachers Examination (NTE). Following completion of validation studies for the Specialty Area Tests and the Core Battery Tests, the NTE was adopted as Virginia's licensure examination which was made effective on July 1, 1986. Ten years later (effective July 1, 1996), the VBOE agreed that prospective teachers would be required to take Praxis I Academic Skills Assessments. Praxis I would replace the NTE Core Battery, however, and the original NTE Specialty Area Tests would be retained. The decision to change teacher licensing examinations was precipitated primarily by the announcement by Educational Testing Service (ETS) that it would introduce new tests and eventually discontinue the NTE Core Battery. The passing requirements for Praxis I (as established in 1995) exceeded those of all states administering the test and were as follows: reading and mathematics - 178, and writing - 176. Review of test data obtained after the effective date of this policy revealed that the passing percentage for all test takers in 1995-96 was reading 72; mathematics 62; and writing 58. For minorities, the passing percentages were 34, 18, and 18, respectively. When these results were compared to test taker performance one year later (1996-97), there were modest percentage increases for all test takers: reading - 74; mathematics - 66; and writing - 63. For minorities, passing percentages were 36, 35 and 28, respectively. Despite these increases, 26 percent of all test takers failed the reading test; 34 percent failed the mathematics test; and 37 percent failed the writing test. The long-range effects of the Praxis I passing requirements on test takers are unknown; however, one of the near-term effects likely will be a reduction in the passing rate for a significant number of persons, particularly racial minorities.This study examined current Virginia teacher licensure policy, its intent, and near-term effects of examination results on teacher availability and minority representation. / Ph. D.

This thesis consists of three self-contained essays. Essay 1: This essay estimates wage assimilation among non-western immigrants in Sweden, controlling for selection into employment by including individual fixed effects. Furthermore, using matched employer-employee panel data covering the complete Swedish labor market, this essay decomposes wage catch-up into relative wage growth within and between workplaces and occupations. The results show that failing to control for selection into employment is likely to underestimate relative wage growth of immigrants, as early entrants in the labor market differ from later entrants along unobservable dimensions. Even after 30 years in the country, the group of non-western immigrants still earns substantially lower wages than natives. Wages catch up mainly within workplaces and occupations, suggesting that improved signals of productivity, rather than improved knowledge of job options, are of importance for the wage growth of non-western immigrants. Essay 2: Earlier research has shown that immigrant- and minority entrepreneurs have difficulties accessing capital through the formal financial markets. This essay studies what role immigrant employees within the local bank sector have for the probability of immigrants to run their own businesses. I use linked employer-employee data covering the whole Swedish labor market for the years 1987 to 2003 and utilize a nationwide refugee dispersal policy to get exogenous variation in the exposure to co-ethnic bank employees. Results suggest that there is a positive relation between co-ethnic bank employees and the probability of being self-employed. This effect is most pronounced for immigrants who arrived with low education, for males and for those residing in metropolitan regions. The effects are substantial and robust to a wide set of controls for labor market characteristics of the ethnic group at the local level. These results provide evidence of an ethnic component in the formal credit markets. Essay 3 (with Oskar Nordström Skans): This essay investigates the impact of a collective agreement stipulating a one shot increase in establishment-specific wage levels in a public-sector setting where wages otherwise are set according to individualized wage bargaining. The agreement stipulated that wages should increase in proportion to the number of low-paid females within each establishment. We find that actual wages among incumbents responded to the share of females with a wage below the stipulated threshold, conditional on the separate effects of the share of low wage earners, and the share of females. We find clear evidence of path-dependence in wages, covered workers remained on higher wage levels 4 years after the agreement took effect. The increase in wages resulted in a reduced probability of exit among young workers with relatively good grades and a lower frequency of new hires at the establishment level.

The storytelling ability of television can be observed in any genre. Crime drama offers a unique perspective because victims and offenders change every episode increasing stereotypes with each new character. In other words, the more victims and criminals observed by the audience, the more likely the show creates the perception of a mean world. Based on previous literature, three questions emerged which this study focused on by asking the extent of Criminal Minds’ ability to portray crime accurately compared to the Federal Bureau of Investigations Uniform Crime Report (UCR) and the Behavioral Analysis Unit’s (BAU-4) report on serial murderers and how those portrayals changed over the fifteen years of the show. A content analysis was conducted through the lens of cultivation theory, coding 324 episodes which produced a sample size of 354 different cases to answer the research questions. Two additional coders focused on the first, middle, and last episodes of each season (N=45) for reliability. The key findings are low levels of realism with the UCR and high levels of realism with the BAU-4 statistics. Mean-world syndrome was found to be highly likely to be cultivated in heavy viewers. Finally, roles for minority groups did improve overtime for Black and Brown bodies, yet Asian bodies saw a very small increase in representation. LGBT members were nearly nonexistent. The findings indicated that there is still not enough space in television for minority roles and found that the show perpetuated stereotypes. Additional implications and themes include a lack discourse on violence and erasure of sexual assault victims.

The purpose of this three-article dissertation was to expand knowledge and theory regarding digital tool use in biology laboratory courses, such as microbiology, which requires specific laboratory skill development through the perception of instructors and students. Article 1 establishes the broad digital literacy and fluency problem in education by providing definitions and the context behind digital literacy fluency and its impact on acquisition of knowledge in digital learning environments. The study provided a picture of the lack of knowledge about the use of digital tools in education and practical problems around appropriate implementation, infrastructure, and preparedness. Article 2 presents results of a literature research study about the foundational, pandemic-induced, and current digital tool use in biology and microbiology lab courses. Recommendations for improvement in digital tool implementation, pedagogical approach, and appropriate selection to meet learning outcomes were provided. Article 3 describes a 3-layered study to build a new instrument to understand minority-student perceptions of identity and digital literacy and technology barriers on student success in STEM courses. The study identified challenges and benefits of digital tool use in virtual microbiology lab courses, unique challenges of underrepresented populations, and the need to develop an instrument to capture the context of this unique population.