Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University

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Researchers suggest that there are many outcomes associated with involvement in student clubs and organizations. Research also indicates that positive outcomes are associated with serving in leadership positions. Residence Hall Association (RHA) leaders are college students who are involved in a specific type of organization, based in the residence halls with specific aims to improve the quality of life and enhance leadership skill development. Studies to assess the outcomes associated with the RHA leadership experience, however, are limited. The purpose of this study was to examine the skills achieved by RHA leaders. Data were gathered by administering the Student Leadership Outcomes Inventory (SLOI) to all RHA Presidents and National Communications Coordinators (NCCs) of NACURH, Inc. during the spring of 2001. The SLOI is a 60-item instrument designed to measure the outcomes of leadership experiences on seven scales. Respondents rate items on a Likert-type scale with responses ranging from "Strongly agree" to "Strongly disagree." Data were analyzed to determine if outcomes associated with RHA leadership differed by: type of position (President versus NCC), age, sex, race (minority v. majority), status of advisor (professional versus graduate student), and size of on-campus population (< 900 v. 1000+). Additionally data were analyzed to determine if there were any interaction effects between the status of advisor and size of on-campus population. Results revealed significant differences by sex on six of the seven scales, status of advisor on the technology scale, and type of position on the self-confidence scale. The data provide information for Residence Education administrators, RHA leaders, and the national board of NACURH, Inc. regarding outcomes achieved by RHA leaders. Using the results of this study, these parties can work to further promote leadership development among RHA officers and members. / Master of Arts

Master of Science / Counseling and Student Development / Christy D. Craft / Since residence hall roommates can have a significant effect on the stress level of an individual, it was predicted that living with a roommate experiencing emotional distress could cause added stress due to the support needs of that roommate. For this study, emotional distress is defined as experiencing any of the following symptoms of common mental illness: excessive use of alcohol/drugs; working hard but getting poor grades; test anxiety; excessive tearfulness or crying; feeling misunderstood or mistreated; lost hope that life will improve; unresolved conflicts with others; feeling agitated or restless; having trouble memorizing; difficulty concentrating, focusing, or paying attention; bored or unhappy with life; loss of energy/fatigued; feeling shy or timid; excessive worry; change in nutrition or exercise habits; low self-esteem; difficulty trusting other people; lost interest in activities; changes in sleep patterns; no close personal friends (lonely); poor time management; mood swings; difficulty controlling angry thoughts or actions; anxiety attacks; depressed mood; and/or addiction concerns (Robertson, 2006). A qualitative research study was done where five individuals were interviewed about their experience living with someone who was experiencing emotional distress. The participants’ answers were evaluated and synthesized with prior research material. Further research could be done on this subject by utilizing quantitative research methods at multiple institutions and comparing the results with the institutions’ policies and procedures for staff members. This research could result in a new manner in which to respond to students who are experiencing emotional distress and to their roommates in the residence halls.

Master of Science / Department of Special Education, Counseling and Student Affairs / Christy Craft / Abstract Intrusive advising is a concept that developed in the 1970s as a method of working with at-risk students by identifying challenges they faced and solutions to overcome them (Backhus, 1989). Intrusive contacts are those that make early, unsolicited contact with students in the hopes of identifying and resolving academic and social obstacles that would prevent persistence (Frost, 1991). This proactive approach has been experiencing revitalization in the current economic times due to declining funds and changing governmental funding models that would fund higher education on the basis of graduation rather than enrollment. Because 44 percent of first year students do not persist to their second year, this type of governmental funding model has profound implications for administrators (Bushong, 2009). I propose that administrators consider restructuring residence hall personnel responsibilities to include intrusive contacts in an effort to address retention issues. While residence hall personnel will not have the responsibility of scheduling classes, they can begin identifying and addressing issues earlier in the semester. This paper identifies several institutions that currently implement intrusive contacts in their residence halls and the benefits of doing so. These schools have indicated an increase in their students’ grades, commitment and persistence, and overall satisfaction since implementing intrusive contacts (B. Silliman, personal communication, November 1, 2012). The findings also revealed that residence halls with effective intrusive contacts involve collaborative efforts between student affairs personnel and faculty members, engage students in building rapport with staff early in their first semester, and focus on developing students holistically. This report provides a summary of best practices and strategies for implementing these contacts.

The purpose of this dissertation study was to critically examine college student alcohol use in the context of the microenvironment of residence halls, the transition of the national minimum legal drinking age, and the attitudes and experiences of University of Iowa students who lived on campus from 1980 to 1995. The following research questions guided this study: 1) What were the attitudes and experiences of students living in the University of Iowa residence halls before, during, and after the change in the national minimum legal drinking age? 2) What were the individual experiences of students in the residence halls, in particular their alcohol behaviors? 3) What were students' attitudes towards policies and rules regarding alcohol? 4) How did non-residential students or staff members view student alcohol behaviors within the residence halls? 5) How might this information provide context and inform our understanding of the culture and environment we have on campus today? This study merged nested case study, historical methods, and oral history in order to address the research questions and best represent individual attitudes and experiences. Existing research on college student alcohol use and the influences of environment and peer groups, as well as the researcher's own background, informed and framed the study. Qualitative data sources for this study included nineteen participants, who were students, staff members, or administrators during the 1980s and 1990s. Guided interviews combined with artifact analysis were employed. Four over-arching themes emerged as a result of participants' attitudes and experiences provided during interviews: culture, residence halls, permissiveness, and sociability. Lessons learned include the importance of the culture and environment, the influence of residence halls norms, and the role of the university in shaping college student alcohol use. The national minimum legal drinking age transition seemed to affect few, if any, of my participants. My participants' attitudes and experiences during the time period of 1980 to 1995 did not depend on what year my participant was on campus in relation to the national minimum legal drinking age as all my participants faced similar experiences throughout the years of my study. The time period on campus was not as significant in shaping experiences as was the culture that had developed over time.

This dissertation was the first study to estimate the direct and indirect effects of living-learning community (LLC) participation on a standardized measure of critical thinking using a multi-institution longitudinal research design. It is possible that despite being lauded nationally as an effective institutional intervention, LLCs may simply cluster students predisposed to be more engaged with their environment, more academically prepared, and more open to growth compared with traditional residence hall peers. Recent studies have demonstrated a positive relationship between LLC participation and self-reported growth in critical thinking. The findings of this study demonstrate markedly different conclusions from previous LLC studies exploring the outcome of critical thinking. The results of this study suggest that net of academic ability and background and institutional characteristics, students who participated in LLCs did not demonstrate greater gains on a standardized measure of critical thinking than their peers in traditional residence hall environments. To investigate the relationship between LLC participation and growth in critical thinking, I performed secondary data analysis from the 2006, 2007, and 2008 cohorts of the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education - a longitudinal study of teaching practices, programs, and institutional structures that support liberal arts education. From the initial 53 colleges and universities in the WNSLAE study, I selected a sub-sample of 19 institutions with formal LLC programs to make a more conservative estimate of the reliability of participation in an LLC. The final sub-sample included 435 (25%) students in the experimental group (students participating in LLCs) and 1,282 (75%) students in the control group (students living in traditional residence halls). This study makes four important contributions to the literature on LLC. First, the longitudinal nature of the WNSLAE data allowed for an estimate of growth during the first-year of college and controls for students' self-selection into the experimental or control groups. Second, the critical thinking module of the Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency allowed for an objective measure compared to previous studies that use students' self-reports. Third, this was the first multi-institution LLC study to include liberal arts colleges in the sample. LLCs at liberal arts colleges did not demonstrate a differential impact compared with LLCs at regional and research universities on students' growth in critical thinking. Finally, post hoc analysis did not demonstrate conditional differences of LLC impact between students background, institutional characteristics, or the degree of faculty and peer interaction.

abstract: The purpose for this doctoral action research study was to discover if and how an updated training and development curriculum benefited residential student organization advisers at Arizona State University (ASU). Eleven advisers of residential student organizations completed a pilot training and development program and agreed to participate in a focus group. This program consisted of nine 60-minute workshops as well as a journaling experience. Data was collected through a focus group at the completion of the nine workshops to document the practical value of the training and development program and to determine how prepared advisers were for their professional roles. Study participants named six important themes in understanding the most effective methods for training and developing advisers: interaction among advisers, the experiences of seasoned advisers, the dialogues and other learning techniques, the structure and timing of the training workshops, the training curriculum itself, and the general understanding of how to support students best. Participants also reported practical value in the effectiveness of the program, positive reactions to the overall training curriculum, and mixed perspectives on the value of journaling as a part of the development experience. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Higher and Postsecondary Education 2012

abstract: With budgets on the decline, university officials are seeking alternative methods to maintain and increase the type of services provided to students. By incorporating social entrepreneurial competencies in the daily actions of university staff members, staff members will be able to perform their work more effectively and help students acquire skills such as innovative thinking, which is needed in today's society. Social entrepreneurs are defined as change agents for society; these individuals seize opportunities missed by others, improve systems, create solutions, innovate and adapt, leverage resources they do not control, and advocate for what they and others need to be successful (Ashoka, 2010a; Bornstein & Davis, 2010; Dees, 1998). Universities will be more successful in respect to helping students with a workforce of social entrepreneurs capable of leveraging resources. Through action research, this study utilized a phenomenological perspective with both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and analysis to introduce social entrepreneurial competencies to the live-in housing professionals (pro-staff) at Arizona State University (ASU) and then examined the incorporation of the competencies into the pro-staff's daily work. Ten current pro-staff participated in two phases of the study, each of which consisted of surveys and workshops. Participants' responses indicated that there are five competencies and three strengths related to social entrepreneurship that are significant to the pro-staff position and their daily work at ASU. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Higher and Postsecondary Education 2012

Plug loads—traditionally viewed as behaviorally motivated and beyond the control of designers and operations—are now seen as an integral part of achieving low-energy building targets. Higher education institutions are increasingly recognizing the environmental impacts of campus facilities through holistic approaches to energy savings including energy efficient design and occupant engagement. Residence halls are a compelling example because students bring large numbers of electronics to their rooms and have unlimited access to power for an all-inclusive room rate and resource usage competitions and campaigns are commonplace. However, limited research exists on residence halls plug loads. This dissertation asked the following of residence halls: (1) What are the measured plug loads and how do they compare with design estimates? (2) What role do building design characteristics play in plug loads? (3) What are the specific occupant behaviors that could influence future design? (4) How can plug loads be better understood in terms of behavior, design, and operations? To answer these questions, a sequential mixed methods study included field measurements and student surveys in six residence halls on three Oregon campuses followed by 24 interviews with designers, operators, and students. Findings suggest that plug loads in occupied residence halls are higher and usage profiles differ from design predictions. Results do not show significant correlations between design characteristics and plug loads but suggest that some room/suite level features may play a somewhat stronger role. Survey responses indicated that students are doing more with fewer smart devices, which suggests opportunities for students sharing energy intensive devices. Lighting emerged as both a practical and a social consideration. Finally, the data revealed “balance of power” as a coherent process that explicates the relationships between design, operations, and behavior. Designers have the power to recommend plug load strategies and technologies but are limited by costs, maintenance, and political concerns; operations personnel have the power to impose limits on student power usage but are often reluctant to interfere with the overall living experience; and students have the power to use plug load electricity with few restrictions. This suggests that the balance may be skewed toward student behavior.