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Scholars in the history and sociology of engineering in the United States have commented critically on the unwillingness of twentieth century engineers to participate actively in politics. Alfred Chandler, for example, has noted the absence of engineers in Progressive Era reform movements, while Edwin T. Layton Jr has criticized engineers in the 1920s for an excessive focus on sterile status seeking. This perceived lack of twentieth century engineering activism is especially puzzling given that nineteenth-century American engineers and engineering societies did not hesitate to lobby openly for clean water, smoke abatement, municipal reform, and numerous other issues. / Ph. D.

Various sociological theories of deviance have demonstrated the importance of an individual's attitudes toward deviance in determining whether or not that individual will engage in deviant behavior. This research contributes to the theoretical and empirical literature on deviant behavior by examining the strength of two cultural factors, the scientific worldview and individualism, in predicting an individual's attitudes toward deviance when tested alongside the tenets of other predominate individual level theories of deviance, namely Hirschi's (1969) social control theory and Sutherland's (1939) differential association theory. The sample for this analysis is 202 students from a large research university in Southwest Virginia. The findings of this research lend support to Sutherland's (1939) differential association theory and to the scientific worldview as significant predictors of tolerant attitudes toward deviance. Several of the bonds of Hirschi's (1969) social control theory were also supported in this research; however, some failed to predict deviant behavior, leading to the conclusion that future research should focus on clearly elucidating the conceptualization of the social bonds forwarded in the original theory. Finally, the cultural ideology of individualism was not a significant predictor of tolerant attitudes toward deviance in this study. Future empirical studies should work to more clearly operationalize this variable as Hawdon (2005) described it and investigate the variables significance as a predictor of tolerant attitudes toward deviance. / Ph. D.

Current economic theory describing the behavior and performance of agricultural cooperatives is not capable of addressing many of the crucial issues facing these institutions in today’s environment of declining government involvement in price and income support of U.S. agriculture. This dissertation seeks to incorporate those factors which uniquely define a cooperative as different from other forms of organizing business activity into a model of cooperative investment behavior. In this study, the set of property rights governing ownership and control of cooperatives is identified and formally built into a neoclassical model of firm investment. The property rights approach is used to establish the core of a theory of cooperatives. This theory is used to construct a set of hypotheses about cooperative behavior, particularly with respect to investment behavior and the relative competitive position of cooperatives and competing forms of business organization. The approach lends insight into the economic incentives for forming cooperatives and the reasons why cooperative corporation ownership and control structures are unique from those observed in investor owned corporations. The resulting analysis indicates four key issues impacting the cooperative institution’s ability to compete with investor owned firms in the agribusiness sector of the economy. These issues are (1) the decision control problem, (2) the common property problem, (3) the investment portfolio problem, and (4) the residual horizon problem. These conditions, if active, will act so as to restrain cooperatives from investing at the same rate and scope as investor owned firms. Policy makers interested in promoting the role of cooperatives as an organizational form to assist and protect the interests of entrepreneurs such as farmers and at the same time provide an orderly and efficient flow of goods and services to consumers, need to understand the precise conditions of competitive environment, economic sector type, and investment requirements in which cooperatives will be able to fulfill these dual roles and those in which they cannot. Empirical research into these areas will require both case study and traditional quantitative approaches which permit in depth analysis of the hypotheses generated by this study which seek to explain and predict cooperative business organization behavior. / Ph. D.

The Virginia High School League is a private, non-profit organization whose member schools include public high schools and one private school in the Commonwealth of Virginia (Virginia High School League Organization, 2015). This organization manages and supervises athletics and other extracurricular activities such as forensics, debate, drama and publications (Polakiewicz, 1985). The mission statement of the Virginia High School League is "The Virginia High School League is an alliance of Virginia's public and approved non-boarding, non-public high schools that promotes education, leadership, sportsmanship, character and citizenship for students by establishing and maintaining high standards for school activities and competitions" (Virginia High School League Handbook, 2016, p. 13). Since each state is responsible for establishing a system of supervision and oversight for regulating interscholastic athletics and activities, differences in the administrative structures among each state's athletic associations are inevitable. This dissertation contains court cases regarding interscholastic athletics, and their impact on state athletic associations. Current issues facing not only the Virginia High School League, but all state athletic associations are also examined in this dissertation. The survey results suggest that participants support the VHSL's authority to impose probation which would prohibit the participation of coaches and sponsors, member schools, and participants. Additionally, the survey results suggest that the majority of participants believe the VHSL is performing well and that home-schooled students should not be able to participate in VHSL athletics and activities. Moreover, survey participants identify the major issues they believe the VHSL will face in the next five to ten years, while also identifying organizational changes that the VHSL should make. / Ed. D.

This thesis examines development as a catalyst for the decision to migrate. Specifically, the two complementary theories of relative deprivation and social networks are examined to explore possible associations between level of household development and migrants' designation of savings or remittances towards development-related purposes and whether remittances are positively affected by migrants' participation in a hometown association (HTA). The study relied on data from the Mexican Migration Project (MMP), using the historical Mexican sending state of Jalisco. The MMP, using an ethnosurvey method, gathers data on individual migrant experiences, including border-crossing methods, jobs held, and participation in migrant hometown associations, amenities found in individual households, and available services in communities. No support was found for the first hypothesis, which predicted that relative deprivation was a catalyst of migration. Support was found for the second hypothesis, that migrant participation in HTAs, specifically in social clubs, positively influenced designation of savings or remittances for development-related purposes. This same support was not the case for migrant involvement in sport clubs. This thesis contributes to social network theory, pinpointing the positive effect that migrant participation in hometown associations has on designating money towards development. / Master of Arts

M.S.

The problems of this study may be stated as follows: (1) to show the various methods used by Virginia savings and loan associations in handling their delinquent accounts, (2) to determine by research their major advantages and disadvantages, and (3) to determine which methods or procedures would serve the best interests of the associations and their customers. Information concerning the current procedures and conditions were supplied by thirty (30) savings and loan officers, who answered questionnaires mailed to them. These replies represented over 50 per cent of the associations currently doing business in Virginia. In addition, selected representative associations were visited and operating personnel interviewed. The conclusions which were reached as a result of the analysis of the accumulated information have been stated. The study shows that procedures followed by the different savings and loan associations vary to a considerable extent and that innovation in management techniques would benefit many of these organizations. / Master of Science

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