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This study examined the retention and graduation patterns of a cohort of students at one baccalaureate, public, commuter campus. Quantitative and Qualitative data were analyzed to develop a campus specific retention model (risk model). The results of this study are used to inform retention initiatives on this campus. Recommendations for a specific strategy to improve the year-to-year student retention rate and improve the 6-year graduation rate are made based on the findings of this study. / Educational Psychology

High profile behavioral problems have motivated a national call for accountability by colleges and universities to better manage these issues to maintain safe and supportive campus communities. The current literature supports the use of the student conduct process as the main student behavioral intervention, but limited research has been published that examine the outcomes associated with the process. This study examines the experiences of students who participated in the conduct process and influence on their learning and future behaviors. The study also compares the experiences of students to the expressed outcomes of the professionals who administer the process. This study utilizes a qualitative research design to provide a reflective understanding of administrators’ desired outcomes pertaining to the conduct process and students’ experiences and meaning-making after participating in the same process. The study exams students’ perceptions of learning and ways future behaviors are influenced due to participating in the conduct process. This study takes place at a large four-year public urban institution located in the Northeast and includes interviews with students who participated in the student conduct process between August 2012 and September 2014 and of administrators that oversee the disciplinary proceedings at the same university. The findings from this study reveal similarities and differences between administrators and students that may provide useful in exploring ways to further prevent disciplinary issues and support students when behaviors occur beyond what is already being offered. Additionally, findings demonstrate that learning is occurring, which students attribute to interactions with administrators, active sanctions involving peer interactions, and learning to critically think through future decisions before making them. Furthermore, students’ claims that the conduct process is educational aligns with responses shared by administrators, but are not fully substantiated, due to a lack of formal outcomes and assessment measures that could validate the overall effectiveness of the conduct process. / Educational Leadership

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are a minoritized and marginalized population in the United States and on most college and university campuses (Rockenbach, Bowman, et al., 2017). Recent studies highlight the negative characteristics of campus environments that affect Latter-day Saint undergraduate students' experiences. Furthermore, non-Latter-day Saint college students know little about Latter-day Saint beliefs and do not dedicate time to learn about them during college (Rockenbach et al., 2020). This qualitative study aimed to explore the question: How might interfaith engagement take shape for Latter-day Saint undergraduate students in the context of the interfaith learning environment? I used a post-intentional phenomenological research approach (Vagle, 2018) to investigate the research question and guide my study. The findings revealed that students' Latter-day Saint identity and the context of their experiences shaped their interfaith engagement. Additionally, both intrafaith and interfaith engagement influenced students' interfaith learning and development while in college. This study has implications for university administrators, faculty, and staff, Latter-day Saint Institute Directors, and Latter-day Saint students. The findings also have implications for future research on interfaith engagement, interfaith learning and development, and experiences of Latter-day Saint undergraduate students. / Doctor of Philosophy / Students who belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are not as accepted in the United States or on college campuses. However, they also hold privileges other religious groups do not, including Christian privilege and the ability to choose when and with whom they tell about their religion. This study aimed to explore Latter-day Saint undergraduate students' interfaith engagement. Interfaith engagement means having intentional experiences where people from different religions interact. As a result, educators can create places for students with different religious beliefs to engage in meaningful ways. In this study, I examined how Latter-day Saint students' faith identity shaped their interactions with others and how interfaith engagement influenced their faith identities. This research shows that faith identity and environment affect Latter-day Saint students' interaction with other faith traditions. Moreover, the extent of their engagement within and outside of their religion helps shape their interfaith learning and development in college. This study is important because it helps us learn more about what Latter-day Saint students experience within an interfaith learning environment. In addition, this study is the first of its kind, filling an essential gap in the literature about the interfaith learning and development of Latter-day Saint college students.

The primary purpose of this study was to assess the relevance of two forms of orientation courses for adult students (aged 25 and older) and to determine a means of predicting the relevance for future adult students. The two forms of orientation were information-giving/ skill-building courses which emphasized school related information and student related skills and personal growth courses which emphasized self-confidence and self-determination building and emotional/ psychological adjustment to the role of student. The experimental group included adults in five orientation courses. Three were information-giving/skill-building (Self-Instructional Orientation, College Survival, and Information and Planning Workshop for Interior Design Students) and two were personal growth (Women Returning to School and Second Career Adults). Students were able to select whichever orientation option they preferred. The control group included adults in four orientation courses taught at another campus of the same community college. Students in the control group did not have a choice of orientation content or structure. All students completed a questionnaire on the relevance of their orientation at the end of the course. Students in the experimental group also completed the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule (SPPS). A comparison of the mean relevance scores of the experimental and control groups indicated that those students who had an option in their orientation course found the course more relevant than those who had no option. A comparison of the retention rates (subsequent enrollment in the community college) for the high and low relevance reporters in the experimental group and within each of the two groups of the experimental group (information-giving/skill-building and personal growth) indicated that high relevance reporters did not have a higher retention rate than low relevance reporters within the subgroups or for the group as a whole. In a comparison between the subgroups, however, the personal growth subgroup had both a higher mean relevance score and a higher retention rate than the information-giving/skill-building subgroup. Using relevance as the dependent variable, regression equations for each of the subgroups were developed on the basis of selected ZPPS variables. Adult students who are high on deference and achievement and low on autonomy and succorance are more likely to find an information-giving/skill-building course relevant. Adult students who are high on deference and low on change, nurturance, order, and autonomy are more likely to find a personal growth course relevant. On the basis of the study, it was concluded that adults will be more apt to find their orientation course relevant if they have several options from which to choose, that personal growth elements should receive more emphasis in orientation courses for adult students, that the relevance of an orientation course will not affect the student's likelihood of re-enrolling, and that orientation relevance can be predicted given the appropriate EPPS scores. / Ed. D.

Objective: To determine if weight gain in college subjects is associated with meal frequency, breakfast consumption, breakfast type, and alcohol intake over one year of college. Secondary aims were to determine whether BMI and body fat percent are associated with breakfast consumption and type as well as meal frequency. Design: A longitudinal observational study. Health history, work schedule and sleep patterns were recorded. Subjects fasted overnight and height, weight, skin fold measurements, waist, and hip measurements were taken. Two seven day food and activity records were self recorded in September 2005 and in April of 2006. Subjects: One-thousand fifty college students enrolled in freshman level foods and nutrition or personal health courses in fall 2005 were invited to participate in the study; 507 agreed to participate in the study. Main Outcome Measures: Weight change, meal frequency, number of breakfasts per week, breakfast type, and amount of alcohol consumed were analyzed. Weight change by breakfast category was also analyzed. Statistical analyses: Diet records were entered into Nutritionist Pro™ for nutrient analysis. Associations between weight change and meal frequency, breakfast consumption, and alcohol intake in college students were analyzed using independent t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results: Two-hundred and thirty subjects completed the study. Subjects ate more breakfasts per week in September (148.5 ± 32.5) compared to April (149.6 ± 32.5, p > .05). Non-breakfast eaters gained slightly more weight than breakfast eaters (p = .099). Similar results were found for meal frequency and weight change. Those who consumed more meals per day gained less weight compared to those who ate 4 or fewer meals per day (p = .206). Non drinkers gained significantly more weight than heavy drinkers (p = .004). Conclusion: Although significant associations between breakfast consumption, meal frequency and weight change were not found, results from this study suggest that increasing breakfast consumption as well as meal frequency may be beneficial in reducing the amount of weight gained over time. Although non-drinkers gained significantly more weight than heavy drinkers, more studies are warranted to investigate this finding. Application: This study strengthens the literature on meal frequency and breakfast consumption as they are associated with changes in body weight. The study was also the first of our knowledge to assess these associations in a college setting. Based on these findings, more studies are warranted to determine whether the associations between weight changes and meal frequency as well as breakfast consumption and breakfast type are strongly correlated when a larger and more diverse population base is used. / Master of Science

Career development theory suggests that the exploration process, an important stage of early adulthood, is facilitated by meaningful involvement in a variety of activities. This theoretical tenet is widely accepted, yet little empirical evidence exists to demonstrate the extent to which exploratory behaviors, as exhibited in undergraduate involvement in out-of-class activities, serve to enhance the career development process and, consequently, the quality of occupational choice after graduation. The purpose of this study was therefore to analyze the degree to which college student involvement in educational, work, and leisure out-of-class experiences related to career development status and three dimensions of the initial work experience-career satisfaction, career stability, and occupational mobility. Survey data were collected from 243 liberal arts and sciences bachelor’s degree recipients in Spring of 1986 who did not pursue additional education or homemaking on a full-time basis (52.6 percent return rate). Step-wise multiple regression results demonstrated modest, yet significant, relationships between involvement in categorical and summed educational, work, and leisure activities, as well as academic factors (college major and QCA), and satisfaction in career progress, satisfaction in current employment, career stability, and occupational mobility (R-squares ranged from .01 to .18). Relatively low Differential Career Status Scores made it impossible to generate significant results for the career development status criterion. These results provided little assistance in helping to define exploratory behaviors. In contrast, participation (a critical component of involvement) in specific undergraduate activities indicated strong, yet curious, relationships with all criteria variables when compared to those who did not participate. Interestingly, t-tests demonstrated that former students who met with career counselors, referred to career-related written materials, used computer assistance programs, and attended related seminars were less satisfied with their current employment, less stable, and more mobile. Conversely, those who were members of professional and social organizations, employed in internships, and engaged in intramural sports, and enrolled in the Cooperative Education and ROTC Programs experienced opposite results. Participation in various activities, therefore, may serve to facilitate or inhibit aspects of the career development process. / Ed. D.

Freshmen Interest Groups (FIG) programs 'peer support systems for entering students at a public university in the northeast' were believed to contribute to positive retention outcomes, but had not been evaluated to determine their impact on student retention. The rationale for this project study was the absence of formal evaluations to determine retention program effectiveness. The results are important to enrollment management staff and academic program coordinators whose job responsibilities are tied to student retention. Bean's nine themes of college student retention provided the conceptual framework for this study. Research questions considered the likelihood that retention and persistence to graduation outcomes are based on FIG participation, and the likelihood of retention when controlling for the nine themes. Regression analysis examined existing data on a sample of 4,098 students who started at the local campus and should have returned for the 3rd semester. Results showed that participation in the FIG increased the odds of retention by a factor of 1.37, and the odds of persistence by a factor of 1.74. Five of the nine themes 'students' intentions, first-year GPA, housing status, school of enrollment, and ethnicity' had a significant impact on the likelihood of students' retention at the study site. The project study results informed an evaluation report which presents findings and offers recommendations to the administration at the study site. Understanding and promoting student retention and success is of utmost importance to those striving to affect social change through education, and a clear understanding of opportunities to support the development of responsible, productive, and prepared students have both local and far-reaching social change implications.

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In the process of adjusting to a new institutional environment, transfer students will often experience difficulties and these difficulties may limit their academic potential. Can an institution create a formal process which can help the transfer student adjust to the institutional environment? This study is an examination of a program--an extended transfer student orientation course modeled after the freshman extended orientation course which was developed at the University of South Carolina. Grade Point Average (GPA) was used to study the effects of the course on academic achievement (academic integration as measured by GPA, retention and graduation rates). This experimental study was conducted at Oregon State University, a northwestern land-grant institution. The study was conducted with two groups of newly-admitted transfer students. The experimental group (N=80) consisted of those self-selected transfer students enrolled in the extended transfer student orientation course, while the comparison group (N=80) consisted of transfer students, picked at random, who were not enrolled in the course. The two groups were studied after the Fall 1988 extended transfer student orientation course. The demographic data revealed that a majority of the students transferred from in-state institutions, tended to enter from two-year institutions and four-year institutions. This study showed no evidence that the extended transfer student orientation course had an effect on academic achievement. / Graduation date: 1993