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Working in a university setting, I have learned a great deal from the diverse experiences and knowledge that students bring. I have often wondered whether students learn as much from each other. In this study, I explore the interactions between domestic and international university students as an “internationalization at-home” (IaH) strategy that has the potential to impact most students on a given campus, as opposed to “mobility” focused strategies (where students travel abroad to study) that benefit only a minority of the student population. Guided by student involvement theories and using a qualitative, grounded theory approach to explore the experiences of domestic students at a Canadian university, I conducted six focus group discussions followed by 12 individual, in-depth interviews with two members from each focus group at the three University of Toronto campuses. The research findings revealed that the university embodies substantial structural cultural diversity, making the campus environment a fertile ground for cross-cultural interactions among students. As a result of studying in a richly diverse environment, the respondents were aware of the cultural complexities of campus life and demonstrated a global mindset, which is a prerequisite for internationalization. The study established that domestic students’ redefined the identity of international students to include domestic students with diverse international experience. Interactions between domestic iii and international students have positive, negative and neutral impacts with positive impacts outweighing the others. Respondents reported that they had gained more intercultural skills and knowledge than family and friends since joining the university because there are more opportunities for interaction at various learning sites inside than outside the university. However they pointed to the need for more university facilitated opportunities. The findings point to the need for the university to amplify its capacity to measure diversity and support cross-cultural interactions through policy driven, planned and sustained programmatic interventions. Findings justify the need to use domestic students with diverse international experiences as a resource to internationalize the campus as well as to establish multicultural policies and practices inline with increasing diversity on campus. Recommendations focus on the majority of the students who remain at-home.

Working in a university setting, I have learned a great deal from the diverse experiences and knowledge that students bring. I have often wondered whether students learn as much from each other. In this study, I explore the interactions between domestic and international university students as an “internationalization at-home” (IaH) strategy that has the potential to impact most students on a given campus, as opposed to “mobility” focused strategies (where students travel abroad to study) that benefit only a minority of the student population. Guided by student involvement theories and using a qualitative, grounded theory approach to explore the experiences of domestic students at a Canadian university, I conducted six focus group discussions followed by 12 individual, in-depth interviews with two members from each focus group at the three University of Toronto campuses. The research findings revealed that the university embodies substantial structural cultural diversity, making the campus environment a fertile ground for cross-cultural interactions among students. As a result of studying in a richly diverse environment, the respondents were aware of the cultural complexities of campus life and demonstrated a global mindset, which is a prerequisite for internationalization. The study established that domestic students’ redefined the identity of international students to include domestic students with diverse international experience. Interactions between domestic iii and international students have positive, negative and neutral impacts with positive impacts outweighing the others. Respondents reported that they had gained more intercultural skills and knowledge than family and friends since joining the university because there are more opportunities for interaction at various learning sites inside than outside the university. However they pointed to the need for more university facilitated opportunities. The findings point to the need for the university to amplify its capacity to measure diversity and support cross-cultural interactions through policy driven, planned and sustained programmatic interventions. Findings justify the need to use domestic students with diverse international experiences as a resource to internationalize the campus as well as to establish multicultural policies and practices inline with increasing diversity on campus. Recommendations focus on the majority of the students who remain at-home.

The purpose of this study was to identify if and how graduating seniors make meaning of their undergraduate education by exploring graduating seniors’ understanding of their undergraduate education, as well as what Texas A&M University was providing undergraduates during their senior year to help them synthesize and bring closure to their experiences. The researcher developed a research protocol that relied upon qualitative research data collection through interviews with a purposive sample of graduating seniors. Quantitative data was collected using the graduating student exit survey to provide a baseline of the population of graduating seniors from which the interview participants were selected. The descriptive baseline data were calculated from nearly 3,000 student records, and a total of 20 students were interviewed from this pool. This group included at least one student from each of the nine Texas A&M University academic colleges. The overall gender representation of 60% female and 40% male was nearly par with the graduating senior population, 15% were Black and 15% were Hispanic, 30% were 1st generation, and there was one member of the Corps of Cadets. The baseline data from the graduating senior exit survey were instrumental as a point of reference when examining the participants’ interview responses, particularly given that the interview participants’ survey response averages mirrored the baseline population almost identically. The interviews with these students provided a depth and a dimension of information that was not possible through the survey responses. As they reflected upon their experiences as college students, they described the experience as very positive and exciting. In essence, they loved being “Aggies.” However, the details of their academic experiences were not described as positively, and many were facing the realization that there were more questions at the end than when they began their journeys as undergraduate students.

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This thesis examines undergraduate international education in the USA and the EC. It establishes that significant differences in international education do exist in the two areas, then goes on to pose two related questions in explanation: how do they differ and why do they differ? A dual explanatory approach is explicitly engaged throughout, one emphasising macro-level factors, the other stressing micro-level perspectives. A preliminary discussion of these two explanatory modes appears in Chapter One, together with an argument for the significance of the topic beyond its educational ramifications. In Chapter Two, the range of meanings attached to 'international' is applied to international education. This is followed by a review of salient developments in both practice and research into tertiary level international education. Chapters Three and Four illustrate how and why regional variations in international education arise, building a detailed picture of the themes and modes of advocacy characteristic of each region. Both chapters adopt a structural analysis emphasising social, cultural, and political factors. The second explanatory approach is deployed in Chapter Five, where similarities and differences in international education are explored from an institutional perspective. Case studies are used to show the extent to which actors' accounts of institutional developments in international education reflect the themes anchored in a macro-level or structural framework. The evidence suggests that intermediate and institutional agendas have equal heuristic potential in accounting for variations in international education. Focusing on institutional perspectives and local accounts of international education grounds the macro-level analysis of regional differences and continuities; a mid-range explanatory approach is thus suggested in Chapter Six.

The study involves a qualitative investigation of undergraduate students' experiences of helicopter parenting. Quantitative research has provided a variety of important insights into this phenomenon as far as the characteristics of helicopter parents, the nature of the helicopter parent-child relationship, and multiple outcomes of helicopter parenting for children. Little qualitative research, however, has been conducted on the general phenomenon helicopter parenting of college-aged children. Much of the phenomenon therefore remains to be investigated qualitatively for other demographic groups of undergraduate students. Purposeful sampling was used to select undergraduate students from a mid-sized, public, four-year M1 university in the mid-Atlantic region of the country. Participants were recruited via email, using a listserv that includes all undergraduate students who attend the institution. Data collection involved the use of in-depth, open-ended qualitative interviews to explore the participants' experiences of the phenomenon. A standardized, open-ended interview format was used, which involved developing all interview questions in advance and asking them in the same way and in the same order for all of the participants. A form of whole text analysis was then used to code the data and develop categories and subcategories from the resulting codes. To establish the credibility of the findings from the current study, the traditional trustworthiness criteria was used but without their commitment to a foundationalist epistemology. Several prominent alternative criteria in contemporary qualitative inquiry were used. The current study has a number of limitations, as well as a variety of potential implications for further research on the helicopter parenting of college-aged children, higher education, and qualitative methodology. The analysis yielded seven major findings: (a) helicopter parenting prior to college can take a variety of forms, (b) helicopter parenting during college can take a variety of forms, (c) other parental characteristics associated with helicopter parenting, (d) personal consequences of helicopter parenting, (e) consequences of helicopter parenting for others and relationships with others, (f) efforts to deal with helicopter parenting, and (g) goals associated with education, career, and helicopter parenting. The implications of the findings for higher education and further research and implications of the study for qualitative methodology are discussed. / Doctor of Philosophy / The study involves a qualitative, interview-based investigation of undergraduate students' experiences of helicopter parenting. Little qualitative research, however, has been conducted on the helicopter parenting of college-aged children, and these studies have dealt with only one facet of the phenomenon or have focused on a specific ethnic group. Purposeful sampling was used to select undergraduate students from a mid-sized, public, four-year M1 university in the mid-Atlantic region of the country. Participants were recruited via email, using a listserv that includes all undergraduate students who attend the institution. Data collection involved the use of in-depth, open-ended qualitative interviews to explore the participants' experiences of the phenomenon. A form of whole text analysis was then used to code the data and develop categories and subcategories from the resulting codes. The limitations and implications for further research on the helicopter parenting of college-aged children, higher education, and qualitative methodology are discussed. The analysis yielded seven major findings in the areas of (a) helicopter parenting prior to college can take a variety of forms, (b) helicopter parenting during college can take a variety of forms, (c) other parental characteristics associated with helicopter parenting, (d) personal consequences of helicopter parenting, (e) consequences of helicopter parenting for others and relationships with others, (f) efforts to deal with helicopter parenting, and (g) goals associated with education, career, and helicopter parenting.

Thesis advisor: Sara Moorman / Thesis advisor: Lacee Satcher / The well-being of students is pivotal to the success of higher education institutions, yet students are experiencing an unsettling rise in mental health issues. This study aims to examine the mental health status of Boston College undergraduates and how different institutional and social factors shape variance in mental health. Undergraduate students (N=919) completed an anonymous online survey asking about mental well-being, campus attitudes/culture, and support resources on campus. significant relationships between mental health outcomes and self-rated mental health, feeling tired or having little energy, poor appetite or overeating, thoughts of self-harm, and seeking support for mental health difficulties. Additionally, There are statistically significant relationships between the prevalence of mental health diagnoses and school, race/ethnicity, and sex. Attempting to access University Counseling Services also varies by sex, race/ethnicity, and graduation year. I provide strategies to improve future research, support the well-being of undergraduates, and increase student engagement with mental health resources and practices. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Sociology.

Women of color in general and Black women in particular who pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in mathematics are nearly invisible in the mathematics education research literature (Borum & Walker, 2012). The majority of research published in the mid-to-late twentieth century that explored the mathematics education of women was limited not only by failing to explore the unique mathematical experiences of women of color but also by employing quantitative methodologies in positivist frames (see, e.g., Benbow & Stanley, 1980; Fennema & Sherman, 1977; Hyde, Fennema, Ryan, Frost, & Hopp, 1990). Therefore, the purpose of this narrative inquiry project was to come alongside Black women who earned an undergraduate degree in mathematics and conduct an inquiry into their mathematics teaching and learning experiences. Specifically, the study explored the life and schooling experiences of mathematically talented Black women who attended Spelman College from the 1980s to 2000s. While theoretical and methodological elements from both Black feminist standpoint theory (e.g., Collins, 1986) and womanist theory (e.g., Phillips, 2006) have framed my thinking, in the end, both theoretically and methodologically, narrative inquiry grounded the project, affording my participants (and me) the opportunity to tell stories of their (our) mathematical experiences. Initially, three central questions guided the research: (1) What were the life and schooling experiences of Black women who pursued their undergraduate degree in mathematics at Spelman College from the 1980s to 2000s? (2) How did larger socio-historical and -cultural contexts and life experiences (on and off campus) affect their image of themselves as mathematicians? and (3) How did relationships with other Spelman students, faculty, and staff influence their short- and long-term goals in the field of mathematics? As I employed narrative inquiry and developed my research puzzle, I focused on particular moments in my participants’ mathematical lives—their sacred stories—identifying common threads across experiences. I share my participants lived experiences in the hope that readers will engage in “resonant remembering” as they “rethink and reimagine” relationships and “wonder alongside” my participants and me (Clandinin, 2013, p. 51). My participants’ stories highlight the importance of familial support and influence on education, the role and academic experience of Black women mathematics majors, and mentorship of caring faculty and staff and positive peer relationships. Implications for mathematically talented Black women are discussed.