All stories stem from two setups: a stranger came to town or someone went on a journey. For me, these stories are not an either/or situation but a both/and. I was born, along with my older brother, in my mother's hometown of Buckhannon, West Virginia. My childhood was spent in my father's homeland of Poland. My missionary parents moved back to America in 1996 when my grandmother, on my mother's side, died. As a stranger, I journeyed south to Florida with my family. I call Orlando home, after living here for a dozen years. My story is how I journeyed with my family as a boy from Poland to America and along the way felt tugged by both my parents' heritages. I considered my homeland strange, but took root as a man in the States. The unknown became familiar. When I entered college, half my life had been spent in Florida, in a balance with my childhood in Poland. Now the majority of my life has been spent here in Florida. Narrative poetry is a self-investment on the page. A collection of such poetry is as close to memoir. I tell my life story in these poems: I chronicle my change from a stranger to a local in this collection, highlighting my international experience, and explaining how home is three different places: Buckhannon, Warsaw, and Orlando.

This study investigated the views of academic personnel at, and of employers associated with, six community colleges in Virginia and West Virginia regarding the desired amount and character of general education in two-year occupational programs. Specifically, the desired amount of general education was measured as the proportion--expressed as a percentage--of the total credit hours in a program the participants would dedicate to general education, compared to amounts desired for other curriculum components. Response to the primary research question--desired character of general education--was recorded as the emphasis placed on each of several general education competences and measured as a percentage of the general education effort to be devoted to each. Results of the analysis showed that academic personnel and employers are in substantial agreement on the amount of general education desired in a two-year occupational program--about 20-22 semester hours--and on the nature of that component: both would emphasize strongly communication skills and critical thinking and, to a lesser degree, vocational adjustment ability, mathematics skills, human relations skills, and a knowledge of science and economics. Academic personnel and employers would each place less emphasis on ethical sensitivity, knowledge of health and fitness, and political awareness. They would emphasize least a knowledge of art and literature, a global perspective, and a knowledge of history. Employers representing manufacturing, retail sales and non-profit enterprises are in essential agreement on these points. Among academic personnel, occupational faculty, particularly in the engineering technologies, desire less general education and put more emphasis on mathematics and critical thinking skills than do general education faculty. The study finds sufficient consensus among the groups surveyed to suggest that community colleges should move boldly forward to improve their general education programs. / Ed. D.

Analysis of staff knowledge of client rights in West Virginia institutions for the developmentally disabled was undertaken in this study. Even with the identification of guaranteed rights for institutionalized individuals through federal and state legislation, standards, policies, and judicial decisions, whose findings have shown that violation of client rights continues to occur in most institutions. A review of the literature indicated that one possible cause for the continuation of rights violations may be the staff limited understanding of client rights. The literature also has revealed few studies have attempted an investigation in this area. This study involved 644 full-time staff who were representative of one of six different job categories. The staff were employed in one of three West Virginia institutions for the developmentally disabled. It was hypothesized that if differences in staff knowledge of client rights were identified, this information could be used to direct staff training and policy-making decisions and perhaps minimize the continuous violations of client rights. That significant differences in knowledge of client rights did exist when different job categories of staff were compared within each institution as well as across institutions. It was found that significant relationships in knowledge of client rights exist between staff with different job longevity rates, but the correlation was too low to be considered a reliable predictor of limited value. No significant differences in staff knowledge of client rights were found between the three institutions. The implication of these research findings and the future need for research in this area are discussed. / Ed. D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2009. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains x, 431 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 416-431).

Based on author's thesis (doctoral)-- West Virginia University, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 267-288) and index.

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