Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Educational Leadership / Jeffrey Zacharakis / In this study, the researcher explored the effects of a formal education and leadership development program (LDP), Command Team Spouse Development Program–Brigade Level (CTSDP-BDE), given to spouses of senior military service members (command team spouses) in preparation for brigade-level command team roles and environments. This study employed a nonexperimental, embedded, concurrent, mixed-methods approach to answer the overarching research question: “Can formal educational programs influence life effectiveness for adult participants, assuming informal leadership roles?” Findings from quantitative data indicated that the CTSDP-BDE course influences life effectiveness in participant personal and social abilities and beliefs and organizational skills as defined by scales in the Review of Personal Effectiveness and Locus of Control (ROPELOC) instrument for command team spouses who assume informal leadership roles. No change occurred for Active Involvement or participants’ measures of locus of control (internal and external) because of attending the program. Findings from qualitative data supported quantitative findings, and raise and provide deeper insight into the CTSDP-BDE and spousal education within the United States Army (U.S. Army). Additionally, the researcher demonstrated that formal educational programs could positively influence the informal leadership capabilities of adults. In this study, the researcher used research participants from the CTSDP-BDE, who were housed at the U.S. Army’s School for Command Preparation located in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Command team spouse participants (n=40) completed both presurveys and postsurveys over the course of a 7-month data collection period. Likewise, the researcher conducted follow-up, qualitative interviews (n=10) to further investigate the effects of the CTSDP-BDE program.

This qualitative study examines the participation of post-Katrina residents in neighborhoods of New Orleans’ Upper 9 th Ward. I examine respondent self-concepts and attachment to the community to gain understanding of how individuals participate in voluntary helping behavior in their locality. Interview data, brief economic and cultural examination of the area, and my observations as a resident of the Upper 9 th Ward inform analysis. The experiences of respondents suggest that there is a tension between an individual’s need to seek selfverificationand their understanding of themselves and others within their own neighborhood. Respondents’ understanding of the impact of their own actions and those of their neighbors reinstates theories of displaced attachment to local context in regards to local community involvement. Findings incite further research as to the division of individuals from their locality within the modern urban context.

O objetivo do estudo foi compreender quais as estratégias de preparação de voluntários para a atuação em megaeventos esportivos no Brasil. A pesquisa foi de natureza qualitativa e de cunho exploratório, tendo como técnica para a coleta de dados a entrevista com roteiro de perguntas semiestruturado e o caderno de campo. A entrevista foi realizada com o responsável pelo programa de treinamento dos voluntários do V Jogos Mundiais Militares (2011) sobre a organização realizada. A análise do conteúdo (BARDIN, 2011) foi utilizada para análise das experiências relatadas de acordo com 3 categorias: perfil do voluntariado esportivo e do líder de voluntários; dificuldades em se trabalhar, compreender e valorizar o voluntariado no esporte e modelo de treinamento e de gestão do programa de voluntários esportivos. Os resultados desta pesquisa contribuíram para a literatura nesta temática, bem como ponto de partida para o design e coleta de dados de pesquisas sobre voluntários para os próximos megaeventos esportivos que serão sediados no Brasil, Copa do Mundo de 2014 e Jogos Olímpicos de 2016. / The aim of the study was to understand which strategies of preparation volunteers to work in the mega sports events in Brazil. The research was of qualitative and exploratory nature, using the interview as a technique for collect data with a screenplay by semi-structured questions and the field diary.The interview was carried out with the responsible of volunteers training program of the V World Military Games (2011) about the organization held. The content analysis (Bardin, 2011) was used to analyze the experiments reported according to three categories: sporting profile of volunteering and volunteer leader; difficult to work with, understand and value volunteering in sport and training model and program management of sports volunteers. The results of this study contributed to the literature on this topic, as well as starting point for the design and collecting survey data about volunteers for the next sport mega events that will be held in Brazil, 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games.

In the U.S., the number of persons who cannot afford health care continues to rise. Providing a "safety net" for such persons is becoming increasingly important. Medical professional volunteerism provides access to health care for people who have little or no access to health care otherwise. At a not-for-profit free health clinic in Tampa, Florida, hundreds of physicians have volunteered their time in an attempt to reduce the health care gap in their community. The clinic sees thousands of persons who have very limited options in regards to their health care. This study investigates the reasons physicians volunteer and the barriers physicians face when providing free medical service. Through a survey, shadowing sessions, and focused in-depth videotaped interviews with volunteer physicians concerning the risks, rewards, experiences, and barriers of professional volunteering, a greater understanding of this important topic was obtained. This applied visual anthropological project was developed in collaboration with the free clinic in order to provide a product which would be of use to the organization at the end of the research process. This research led to an enhanced understanding of this population as well as recommendations in volunteer physician recruitment strategies.

Volunteerism is an important component in the 4-H program. It was initially used as a method to help agents reach the many youth interested in participating in 4-H. Community service has since become a required component for every club project. Research shows that volunteering can impact youth in many different ways. Other research shows that 4-H youth are more likely to contribute or do some type of community service. The present study uses the Modified Extended Version of the Object Measure of Ego Identity Status (EOMEIS), the Cognitive Autonomy and Self-Evaluation (CASE) inventory, and an instrument specifically designed to study 4-H involvement and volunteerism to look at Utah 4-H. In order to more fully understand how volunteering in 4-H impacts youth, this study focused on adolescents (age 14-25) who have participated in the Utah 4-H program. The study had two main goals: (1) to discover the demographic characteristics of 4-H volunteers during middle and late adolescence, and (2) to focus on 4-H volunteering and its relationship to autonomy and identity achievement. This could be then be used to determine future programming changes to the Utah 4-H program. The results of this study indicated that 4-H adolescents were most likely to be from rural communities and 16 and 17 years old if still in high school or 23 to 25 years old if they had graduated from high school. Academic grades for high school participants did not seem to make a difference in if they volunteered or not. Those members who were involved for longer periods of time or those that considered 4-H a significant part of their life were more likely to continue to volunteer. Individuals who participated in events held on the national and county level were most likely to continue volunteering, but less likely to volunteer if they participated on the state level. Identity status and cognitive autonomy were not significantly related to volunteerism. However, trends did show that they could possibly be impacted in some way. A larger sample could play a role in determining if it were just a trend or if there was a significant relationship. It may also help to study 4-H participants versus non 4-H participants or 4-H volunteers versus non 4-H volunteers to determine if the 4-H program has an impact on identity status and cognitive autonomy.

This dissertation examines the potential for two forms of corporate philanthropy, donations of time and money, to have differential effects on consumers' response to corporate giving. Drawing upon indirect-reciprocity theory I show that corporate donations of time compared to money elicit a greater desire to reciprocate on the part of consumers. It is found that the influence of corporate donations on consumers' desire to reciprocate occurs through serial mediation, whereby donations of time are perceived as being more effortful than monetary donations. This in turn leads to more altruistic motive attributions, and ultimately greater admiration towards the firm and a stronger desire to reciprocate on the part of consumers. I find that consumers' desire to reciprocate is strengthened when the relative cost to the firm for making a donation is higher. Additionally, this research advances the emotion gratitude as a mechanism through which corporate giving leads to a desire to reciprocate and more broadly, a catalyst through which indirect reciprocity occurs. Finally, the influence of consumers' personality traits on their response to corporate philanthropy is examined. Corporate donations of time and money lead to stronger feelings of gratitude and a greater approval of a company's philanthropic actions when consumers possess higher levels of empathetic concern. Conversely, consumers who embody narcissistic traits are significantly less inclined to experience feelings of gratitude or approve of a company's philanthropy.

Each year a group of university students from English speaking countries go to Chile and work as volunteers under the National Volunteer Centre Program. The purpose of this case study is to examine how a group of novice volunteer teachers describe their experiences in a foreign country and how these experiences shape their understanding of teaching. Participants went through the process of open-ended questionnaires and one-on-one interviews of their experience. This study was sustained in the literature by the domains of volunteerism, English Language Teaching, and volunteerism and ELT, and a socio constructivist and experiential lens was adopted. Even though volunteer teaching abroad is an increasing worldwide trend, there are few studies that combine these areas, showing that the existing blend of volunteerism and English language teaching needs to be further examined. The analysis of the data showed that novice volunteer teachers experience five types of experiences when teaching English: language teaching experiences, language learning experiences, challenges, general experiences, and volunteering experiences. Novice teachers recalled their expectations before teaching and those were maintained, modified, or unfulfilled. Volunteers stated what teaching means to them after working in public schools, they were able to describe diverse language teaching experiences, and make recommendations to future volunteers.

This thesis mainly aims to understand how the realms of &ldquo / the political&rdquo / and &ldquo / nonpolitical&rdquo / are comprehended, defined and differentiated on the practice of volunteerism in civil society. This study is based on an ethnographic research conducted with people who are volunteering in a Non-Governmental Organization in Turkey working in the field of education. The data were collected through in-depth interviews and participant observation by following the volunteers who regularly visit the elementary schools in villages and Yatili Ilk&ouml / gretim B&ouml / lge Okullari (Regional Boarding Elementary Schools) in order to help school children. Volunteers&rsquo / strong emphasis on the construction of volunteer activity and political activity as opposing categories and their strategies and rules conducted for avoiding any political representation, their perception of politics as &ldquo / spoiled&rdquo / and useless and responsibilizing themselves for their target group constituted the grounds of this study. Basing on the data and following the Foucauldian concept of governmentality / it is argued that the idea &ldquo / non-politics&rdquo / is a new type of politics which is experienced in late liberalism. By prioritizing &ldquo / how&rdquo / questions, this study discusses how volunteerism and politics are defined and how individuals feel responsible for the tasks which were previously seen as duties of state.

This study sought to develop a list of best management competencies, benefits and limitations for Texas Cooperative Extension Agents who are Master Gardener Coordinators using a Delphi technique. The study utilized fifteen expert County Extension Agent Master Gardener Coordinators throughout the State of Texas as the expert Delphi panel. Three research questions were asked of the expert panel members. Those questions included: 1. What competencies do you need to be an efficient and effective Master Gardener Coordinator?, 2. What are the perceived benefits of being a Master Gardener Coordinator? and 3. What are the limiting factors (problems) of being a Master Gardener Coordinator? One hundred-twenty consolidated statements were generated by the panel in response to these questions. These statements were subsequently rated by the panel for their strength of agreement with each statement on a six-point Likert-type scale (6 = "Strongly Agree," 5 = "Agree," 4 = "Somewhat Agree," 3 = "Somewhat Disagree," 2 = "Disagree," and 1 = "Strongly Disagree"). Consensus was reached on 64 competencies needed by Master Gardener Coordinators, answering research question one. There were a total of 19 benefit statements regarding coordinating a Master Gardener program, in response to research question two. Two statements of limiting factors or problems associated with coordinating a Master Gardener Group achieved consensus associated with research question three. Categories of competencies needed included organizational leadership, systems leadership, organizational culture, personal skills and management skills. The panel placed an emphasis on "people" skills, positive attitude and management skills to be an effective Master Gardener Coordinator. Benefits of coordinating Master Gardeners included such items as expanding the reach of the County Extension Agent and increasing Extension's impact. Problems associated with coordinating Master Gardeners included increasing the County Extension Agent's workload as well time commitments. The results of this study will provide Texas Master Gardener Coordinators a list of essential competencies for effectively managing a Master Gardener program. This list will help Extension Master Gardener Coordinators most effectively utilize their time, energy and resources for maximum impact and program success.

The purpose of this study is to explore the coaches' perceptions, motives and constructed identities by participating in a regional physical activity-based positive youth development program. There is growing evidence that suggests the success of positive youth development (PYD) programs depend on the environment that is created by caring adult mentors. These coaches are the delivery vehicles for these programs and play an essential role in the development of participating youth. As a result, the characteristics these coaches possess are critical to the success of the PYD implementation. Based on the application of anthropological methods and theory, this study seeks to create a profile of the coaches and propose strategies for recruitment and retention for a regional council of Girls on the Run. The main findings from this study indicate that the coaches' network is strong within this community and contributes the success of the program and its sustainability. These women are driven by altruistic factors to become involved in this program and most were previous volunteers in some capacity (n=12). However, there seems to be an even distribution along the self-determination continuum that motivates them to participate. Intrinsic motivation (n=5), intrinsic motivation driven by external factors (n=5), and extrinsic motivation (n=3). Additionally, these findings can be translated into recommendations for other councils.