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Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This study uses narrative analysis to investigate public communication efforts of community development groups to provide a richer understanding of the indicators of group success or failure in this context. The subjects are participants of the Indiana HomeTown Competitiveness program, an initiative that seeks to develop local economic capacity to move rural communities beyond outdated economic models and generate more innovative, sustainable community development. Indiana HomeTown Competitiveness emphasizes four points: entrepreneurship, leadership, youth engagement, and local wealth or philanthropic giving. The impetus for this study is the pilot program’s need for a better understanding of the manner in which participating groups might generate engagement from external community members. To better understand the groups’ success or failure regarding public communication efforts, instances of seven pre-determined themes derived from narratives provided by group members are investigated. The themes, identified by existing research, include group relationships, group structure, group process, member attributes, external forces, group communication, and member emotions. This study uses a blend of quantitative and qualitative analysis to give broad perspective to successful identification of effective tactics which groups may use to engage community members in economic initiatives by means of public communication. Though the study is exploratory in nature, the findings indicate that group communication, relationships, and group structure are likely predictors of a group’s success or failure. The findings of this study also offer a reflection of actions that were successful and also actions that were not successful to program participants, and documents results for future program participants to use. The results also expand upon the available research regarding community development using communication theory. Using a narrative approach also identifies directions of further study to address the multiple discourses created by groups that give insight into community and group communication.

The international student experience presents an interesting and complex case in which a student must adjust to a new environment. Informed by poststructural theories, this exploratory study aimed to gain an in-depth understanding of eight Saudi international students’ linguistic, cultural, and identity experiences while living in Canada. It examined how Saudi students’ linguistic and cultural transitions within Canada relate to their L2 learning. To conduct this study, narrative inquiry was adopted as a methodology to gather narratives from Saudi participants by conducting semi-structured interviews. In the first part of the findings, using thematic analysis, I found nine emergent themes that revealed participants’ cultural/linguistic challenges, e.g., language anxiety and problems with academic English, and demonstrated participants’ difficulties socializing in their new L2 communities. In the second part of the findings, a narrative co-construction of one Saudi female participant’s life story in Canada revealed that gender-related issues were a central theme in Saudi female students’ integration. Linking all these emergent themes to poststructural L2 acquisition (SLA) theory, four key conclusions about the Saudi international student experience were brought to light: 1) Saudi participants faced challenges in building an academic identity in which they could participate confidently; 2) the formation of a non-native speaker identity impacted their ability to fully participate in the L2 community; 3) while attempting to gain access to the L2 community, some participants found themselves constrained and secluded by what they perceived as a lack of communicative competence; and 4) female participants talked about the re-negotiation of the Saudi female identity throughout their stay in Canada. Given these conclusions, this study carries various policy implications through which university administrators can build support services and foster international student inclusion.

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Women continue to be underrepresented in superintendent roles in public schools. The purpose of this narrative inquiry was to explore the lived experiences and perceptions of women superintendents regarding the professional and personal factors that impacted their ability to be promoted to the position of superintendent in Texas public school districts. I applied role congruity theory (RCT) to participants' shared stories to ascertain how their promotion to the superintendency was affected by gender-related role stereotypes. Based on that lens, my findings revealed that every woman believed both formal and informal mentorship and networking opportunities were critical factors in being promoted to the superintendency and their continued success in that role; they perceived they had control over deciding how to balance family and work-life, they agreed they needed to have a supportive family; they perceived that hard work was directly correlated to promotion to or success in the superintendency, more so than gender. While each of the women may have experienced gender-related issues in their career, none perceived that gender-related issues impacted their ability to be promoted. Most of my participants said the career path they followed was a factor, and suggested that other women should be strategic about which superintendent position they should accept. As a result of my findings, I make recommendations that should be offered to women who want to pursue the superintendency and for future research.

The American democracy is experiencing strain from the erosion of democratic norms and its political, judicial, social, and economic institutions. In short, the American democracy shows signs of democratic deconsolidation. Community colleges are higher education institutions that help consolidate the U.S. democracy by representing democratic values such as equality and opportunity. The purpose of my study was to explore how selected community college presidents understand and articulate the responsibility of their institutions to prepare students for a meaningful role in the American democracy. Qualitative narrative inquiry methods, including in-depth semistructured interviews and document analysis, were used to collect data for the study. Three primary themes emerged from the data that addressed the purpose of this study: 1) community college philosophy: blueprint for a vision, 2) consolidating local democracies, and 3) citizens as students, students as citizens. These three themes supported further interpretation of the data that was organized under these headings, 1) the community college democratic mission, 2) community colleges help deepen democracy, and 3) the role of community colleges in the American democracy: public goods, private goods. In summary, my research found that first, my participants believed that community colleges have a responsibility to the American democracy and this responsibility is reflected in their community college mission. Second, my participants framed the American democracy as a continual work in progress and that community colleges help deepen democracy. Third, for my participants, community colleges are not merely distinct in their institutional mission and philosophy, but in their role in supporting the American democracy.