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This dissertation is a qualitative case study of a program where binational program established by the University of Texas to lower the Hispanic high school dropout rate in the United States. The Language Learners at the University of Texas at Austin Center for Hispanic Achievement (LUCHA) program is the focus of this dissertation. The LUCHA program serves immigrant Hispanic students who account for 34% of the 45% Hispanic dropout rate reported by NCES. The theoretical framework employed included the theories of cultural and social capital and the theory of caring to answer the following questions: 1) What challenges had to be met in order to initiate and develop the LUCHA program, a binational education program to combat the high dropout rate among Latino immigrants?, and 2) What can be learned from the implementation and practice of the LUCHA program in school districts with almost identical, homogenous population, and different levels of success with the program. Data was collected in Mexico and the United States and included participants involved in the program at different levels ranging form political involvement in Mexico to immigrant students in South Texas Valley school districts where the program started operations in 2006. The researcher was a participant in this study. The innovative ideas developed and instituted to reduce the Hispanic dropout rate included equipping schools with essential/core and English as a Second Language courses produced in Mexico, validating prior high school credits students had from Mexico through a transcript analysis service, obtaining Mexican transcripts for immigrant students who could not deliver them to schools, and diagnostic tests produced in Mexico for immigrant students with interrupted schooling. These services and their delivery were modified and adapted to meet the changing needs and graduation requirements of students and the educational bureaucracy in the U.S. This study brings to light the skills sets, assumptions, and characteristics of people needed to create binational agreements of cooperation. This research suggests that the perception of caring (Noddings, 1984) of educational agents in schools and school districts influences the level of success of the program in schools with almost identical populations. / text

During a period in American history when the racial landscape was rapidly changing, racial advances in collegiate athletics were taking place across the South in the 1950s and 1960s. At the University of Texas, that process proved harder to achieve than many expected as it would take nearly two decades to integrate athletics following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that admitted blacks to the university in 1950. Caught in the middle of the decade-long struggle, as blacks finally began integrating various UT athletic teams, was a group of black basketball players whose story reflects the racial progress made not just in Austin, but also across the United States. / text

As community colleges continue to define their mission statement, expand their services, and operate in the new global economy, this study explains the multiple dimensions of impact of the nation’s first community college leadership development program, The Community College Leadership Program (CCLP) at The University of Texas at Austin. Over the last 40 years, the program has consistently employed a targeted method of student recruitment, used a cohort learning model, incorporated an internship experience as part of a self-directed pedagogy, and imparted a system of core competencies derived from Mintzberg’s (1973) The Nature of Managerial Work. This study examines factors of the CCLP experience that contribute to successful careers in the community college and also identifies potential applications for utilizing similar tactics in leadership development programs. A qualitative research approach, incorporating mixed-methodologies, is used in this study. The first part of this investigation includes interviews with distinguished graduates, researchers, and other notable persons involved in the community college field, as well as Dr. John E. Roueche, program director. Additional analysis depicts social networking graphs of the positions and geographical placement of distinguished graduates in order to frame the national impact of this program on community colleges at large. Findings include those themes of community college leadership development which may prove useful in guiding the direction of other such programming and curriculum. Additional emphasis is placed on the future of the community college, the advancement of minority candidates to positions of leadership, and key attributes of successful community college leadership. / text

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 442-455). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis discusses two ensembles, the study of which was dependent upon the controllable production of cold gas-phase samples using supersonic beams. The experiments on DNA bases and base clusters were carried out in Germany at the Max Born Institute. The experiments anticipating the construction of a molecular beam slower were carried out in the United States at the University of Texas at Austin. Femtosecond pump-probe techniques were employed to study the dynamics and electronic character of DNA bases, pairs and clusters in the gas phase. Experiments on DNA base monomers confirmed the dominance of a particular relaxation pathway, the nπ* state. Competition between this state and another proposed relaxation pathway was demonstrated through observations of the DNA base pairs and base-water clusters, settling a recent controversy. Further, it was determined that the excited state dynamics in base pairs is due to intramolecular processes rather than intermolecular processes. Finally, results from base-water clusters confirm that microsolvation permits comparison with biologically relevant liquid phase experiments and with ab initio calculations, bridging a long-standing gap. A purely mechanical technique that does not rely upon quantum or electronic properties to produce very cold, very slow atoms and molecules would be more generally applicable than current approaches. The approach described here uses supersonic beam methods to produce a very cold beam of particles and a rotating paddle-wheel, or rotor, to slow the cold beam. Initial experiments testing the possibility of elastic scattering from a single crystal surface were conducted and the implications of these experiments are discussed. / text

The University of Texas at Austin has the highest revenue producing college athletic department in the country and routinely contends for national championships in numerous sports. It brings in millions of fans and millions of dollars in profit from hundreds of sporting events each year. This has led the UT athletics program to dominate the Central Texas sports scene. However, there are several professional sports teams, including the Austin Aztex, Austin Toros, Austin Turfcats, Round Rock Express and Texas Stars, in the area. This report shows how these teams attempt to survive in a town where numerous professional sports teams have struggled and finally folded in the shadow of the University of Texas. / text