The purpose of this study was to conduct a qualitative exploration of the relationship between Appalachian identity and the college experience among Giles High School graduates who attend Virginia Tech. The population for this study was Giles High School graduates who attend Virginia Tech. The sample size included ten volunteers who graduated from Giles High School in Pearisburg, Virginia, and have attended Virginia Tech in the past three years. Data collection was obtained from the sample by conducting semi-structured interviews. Coding occurred in two phases using thematic coding. The first phase consisted of an initial coding to establish an understanding of the responses and develop codes to fit the responses for analysis. The second phase of coding consolidated, re-affirmed, compared, and contrasted categories created in the first phase using matrices. The results revealed that the interviewees did communicate an Appalachian identity. When describing Appalachia, the interviewees communicated both positive and negative perceptions of their hometown. Attending college did result in a change in their Appalachian identity. Common changes were in their willingness to accept people different from themselves, their perceptions of Giles County in comparison to more diverse and urban areas, and their appreciation for the natural beauty of Giles. Compared to previous research, I found that Giles High School students seem to have less of a disrupting experience when attending college; however, dominant cultural messages still influence the identity of Appalachian students. Further research should be conducted to confirm the results and analysis. / Master of Science

This study examined the executive functioning skills as students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) entered college. The participants consisted of 95 college students with ASD who attended the Kelly Autism Program (KAP) on Western Kentucky University’s campus in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The individuals in the sample were categorized three groups: individuals who graduated from college, individuals who were still attending college, and individuals who dropped out of college. The results indicated that the executive functioning skills of inhibiting and initiation were statistically significantly different between the three groups and additional skills were significantly different when comparing only the group that graduated from college with the group that dropped out of college.

This quantitative research study examined the college experiences of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students at the University of South Florida, Tampa campus. Students were surveyed, via the web, using select questions from the College Student Experiences Questionnaire during the Fall 2014 semester. The data were analyzed using appropriate statistical methods and the results reported for each scale and question. Recommendations for practice and areas for future research were identified. There are four research questions that guide this study: • Question 1: What are the collegiate experiences of gay men, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students as measured using aspects of the College Student Experiences Questionnaire? • Question 2: How do the campus experiences of gay men and bisexual male students differ from lesbian and bisexual female students? • Question 3: How do the campus experiences of gay men and lesbian students differ from bisexual students? • Question 4: How do the campus experiences of gay men, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) students differ from non-GLBT students? The sample was composed of undergraduate and graduate students from a variety of ethnic and racial backgrounds at the University of South Florida, Tampa campus. The sample was primarily composed of Caucasian individuals (66%) under the age of 29 (82%). There was a sizable number of individuals who identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual or other (N = 268). Most of the students were female and there were only a few individuals who identified as being transgender (N =10). Approximately seventy percent of those in the sample were undergraduate students. There were only a few notable differences between those who identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual, other, or transgender and those who identified as heterosexual/straight for their sexual orientation. A review of the demographics revealed only a few differences between the groups. Those differences included: • Those who identified their sexual orientation as lesbian, gay, bisexual or other or their gender as transgender were more likely to live in campus housing than those who identified their sexual orientation as heterosexual/straight. • Those who identified their sexual orientation as lesbian, gay, bisexual or other or their gender as transgender were more likely to be enrolled in fewer course hours than those who identified their sexual orientation as heterosexual/straight. • Those who identified their sexual orientation as lesbian, gay, bisexual or other, or their gender as transgender, were more likely to use loans to pay for college and less likely to have parental support in meeting those same expenses than those who identified their sexual orientation as heterosexual/straight. Analysis of the first research question, “What are the collegiate experiences of gay men, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students as measured using aspects of the College Student Experiences Questionnaire?” was conducted with descriptive statistics for each of the CSEQ questions. A review of the individual research questions, with their respective means and frequencies, revealed a few key findings: • Students do not often develop a role-play of case study for class, with this question receiving the lowest mean in the Quality of Effort Course Learning scale. • Higher level learning items, summarizing, explaining, and seeing how ideas fit together, within the Quality of Effort Course Learning scale all received high mean scores. • Students are not very likely to engage with faculty outside of class time, as revealed in analysis of items with the Quality of Effort: Experiences with Faculty scale. • Within the Quality of Effort: Campus Facilities scale students reported the highest frequency for meeting another student on campus for a discussion. All other items in the scale showed a lower frequency level. • The Quality of Effort: Clubs and Organizations scale reinforced that students are not likely to engage a faculty member outside of class, with the question about meeting a faculty member or advisor receiving the lowest mean score in the scale. • Students were more likely to become acquainted with a variety of students, rather than have a serious discussion with a variety of students, as revealed in a review of the questions in the Quality of Effort: Student Acquaintances scale. • Students reported more frequently discussing social issues than discussing the views of writers, philosophers and historians, as revealed in a review of the questions in the Quality of Effort: Topics of Conversation scale. • Within the College Environment: Scholarly and Intellectual scale, students thought that the greatest emphasis was placed on developing academic, scholarly and intellectual qualities. • Within the College Environment: Vocational and practical scale, students thought that the greatest emphasis was placed on developing an understanding and appreciation of human diversity. • Students reported, with the College Environment: Personal Relationships scale, having the best relationships with other students, followed by faculty, and then administrative personnel. For Question Two, “How do the campus experiences of gay men and bisexual male students differ from lesbian and bisexual female students?”, Question Three, “How do the campus experiences of gay men and lesbian students differ from bisexual students?” and Question Four, “How do the campus experiences of gay men, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) students differ from non-GLBT students?” a 2 (male, female) x 3 (gay/lesbian, bisexual, straight/heterosexual) factorial between subjects ANOVA was performed, along with post hoc analysis. If an ANOVA was not able to be performed because of unequal variances, a one-way ANOVA was performed for differences between the three sexual orientations, answering questions thee and four. Overall, results showed that students do not differ greatly based on gender or sexual orientation. However, there were a few statistically significant differences. On the Quality of Effort: Campus Facilities scale, a significant interaction effect between gender and sexual orientation (F(2,1189) = 3.55, p = .02) was found in performing the ANOVA. Post hoc pairwise testing revealed that female gay/lesbian had a significantly (p = .03) higher mean (M = 2.069, SD = .416) than male gay/lesbian (M = 1.78, SD = .50), making them more likely to utilize campus facilities on a more frequent basis. Additionally, male heterosexual/straight had a significantly (p = .03) higher mean (M = 1.92, SD = .57) than female heterosexual/straight (M = 1.84, SD = .55), making them more likely to utilize campus facilities on a more frequent basis. On the Quality of Effort: Topics of Conversation scale, a significant difference between gay/lesbian, bisexual, and heterosexual/straight was found (F(2,1225) = 7.86, p = < .001) when performing a factorial ANOVA. Post hoc pairwise testing revealed a significant difference (p = .02) between those who identified as gay/lesbian and those who identified as heterosexual or straight. Additionally, there a significant difference (p = .006) between those who identified as bisexual and those who identified as heterosexual or straight. Those who identified as gay/lesbian (M = 2.61, SD = .59) as well as bisexual (M = 2.60, SD = .64) indicated a greater frequency of participating in a variety of conversation, when compared to those who identified as heterosexual or straight (M = 2.39, SD = .66).

This study examines the relationships between students' perception of the supportiveness of the campus and students' level of satisfaction by analyzing and comparing National Survey of Student Engagement data related to the social and cultural experience of black and white undergraduate students who attend Virginia Commonwealth University, a large, urban, Southern, predominately white research oriented university located in Richmond, Virginia. Conclusively, the low levels of black undergraduate student engagement predicted by the literature were not found to be true of the Virginia Commonwealth University undergraduate sample reviewed. Black male students displayed the highest instances of high perceptions of a supportive campus environment, as well as the highest instances of high satisfaction scores. Few statistically significant differences were found between the scores of black and white students, regardless of the sex of the student.

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceived leadership orientations of leaders and general members affiliated with the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M University, assess the validity and reliability for the Competing Values Instrument for the cadet population, and identify differences in leadership orientations of leaders and members of a student organization. The survey instrument used was an adaptation of Quinn's 1988 Competing Values Instrument. The two-part 32-item instrument was theoretically based on Quinn and Rohrbaugh's (1981, 1983) Competing Values Framework of managerial-leadership. The instrument divided the items into eight groups of leadership role orientations: Innovator, Broker, Producer, Director, Coordinator, Monitor, Facilitator, and Mentor. The instrument was administered to 520 cadets enrolled in 28 randomly selected Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) and School of Military Science (SOMS) courses at Texas A&M University. Responses were compared using various background information and environmental factors. Responses were also examined to establish validity and reliability for the instrument when used with college student members of this student organization. Factor analysis procedures resulted in slight alteration of items within specific factors. Results supported the idea that perceived leadership orientations are associated with academic classification, Corps classification, gender, age, leadership experience prior to college, involvement in college leadership experiences other than the Corps of Cadets, contract status, level of leadership position in the student organization, and military service affiliation. The contributions the student organization made to the development of leadership were assessed, and a better understanding of leaders' and members' perceptions of their leadership tendencies and practices was obtained. Survey instrument data indicated the Corps of Cadets was effective in enhancing students' perceptions of their leadership orientations. Recognizable differences were found to have existed in relationship to the complexity and nature of the leadership position. The higher the level of leadership position held by members of the Corps of Cadets, the more frequent those members' practice of leadership and management behaviors became. Military cadets were also more likely to practice leadership and management behaviors more frequently than non-military cadets. The study provided evidence that the Corps of Cadets has some effect on leadership development.

This qualitative study examined African-American student athletes' perceptions of engagement at a Division One Predominately White Institution. Bronfenbrenner's social ecological theory was used as a framework to explore the following research questions: How do African-American student-athletes make meaning of campus engagement? How do African-American student-athletes engage with their university? Four themes emerged from the data: (a) Unfulfilled Expectations; (b) Feelings of Isolation; (c) Commitment to Sport and (d) Social Involvement. The findings suggested that home, school community and societal factors may be linked to the differential experiences African-American student-athletes reported, and, as a result, may be worthy of additional exploration. Implications for African-American student-athletes and their families, as well as K-16 administrators were reported.

No description available.