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On September 13, 2008, Hurricane Ike, a huge storm with tropical storm force or greater winds extending 275 miles from the eye, made landfall in Galveston, Texas submerging over 75% of the city. In response to this crisis, Texas A&M University at Galveston, a small ocean oriented satellite school of 2000 students, deployed a never-before-attempted business continuity plan, relocating 91% of the student body and campus operations 150 miles inland to the mother campus of Texas A&M University in nine days. As a result, Texas A&M University at Galveston successfully weathered the storm and enjoyed a record enrollment the following spring semester. This dissertation utilized a case study methodology to look at the approach/planning process that went into the plan, the deployment of the plan, and the learning that took place throughout the crisis. In addition, the case study was considered through the use of a performance management system, specifically the Quality Texas Foundation - Engagement Level Criteria based on the Malcom Baldrige Quality Management Criteria, to determine whether this criteria might be appropriate for assessing future crisis response in higher education. All Texas A&M University at Galveston crisis team members were interviewed using the criteria to guide the discussion. The study revealed that the approach taken by the Texas A&M University at Galveston crisis team members was very timely in that a number of significant changes were implemented in the plan only a year prior to Hurricane Ike, initiated in response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita’s impact on other universities. Furthermore while the approach outlined a plan that guided the relocation effort, significant areas that were not directly related to the relocation of the students, such as plans for the workforce not directly involved in the relocation and community involvement, were not adequately addressed. In deployment of the plan, the development of guiding principles to further align the thousands of decisions that would take place proved critical. The study further identified that the crisis team members incorporated learning into the approach and deployment of the plan, and established a very comprehensive assessment process immediately after the crisis. The study also revealed a number of valuable lessons for practice for use by other institutions as they develop their own crisis management plans. Lastly, the Quality Texas Foundation - Engagement Level Criteria provided a solid platform for crisis management assessment in higher education, particularly in large scale disaster type crises.

In October 2010, the state government of Andhra Pradesh issued an ordinance prohibiting microfinance institutions from distributing and collecting loans following allegations that over-indebtedness and coercive loan recovery tactics were causing borrower suicides. While no evidence substantiating a link between microfinance and borrower suicide has been provided, an anti-microfinance movement across India developed with clients reneging on their loans. Indian microfinance risked insolvency and the once lauded poverty alleviating movement was perceived as a villain by the international community. Microfinance was in crisis. <br>How a social movement such as microfinance responds to a crisis is an understudied topic in social movement literature. By contrast, crisis management is an extensively analyzed topic in business literature. This thesis aims to develop five broad crisis managing concepts from this business literature and probe them in the case of Indian microfinance. The five concepts probed include: denial, retaliation, purification, reform, and re-authentication. All five tactics were observed to occur. This thesis concludes with two findings. First, social movement crisis management is an area primed for future research. Second, this research needs to be applied to other social movements in crisis to eventually develop a model that explains how social movements respond and should respond to crises. / McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts / Graduate Center for Social and Public Policy / MA / Thesis

Thesis (Ph.D.)--The University of Oklahoma, 2007. / Adviser: Michael W. Pfau. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.J.)--West Virginia University, 2007. / Adviser: Diana Martinelli. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 261-279). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Counseling Psychology and Special Education, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 98-111).

Thesis (M.A. in Security Studies (Far East, Southeast Asia, Pacific))--Naval Postgraduate School, March 2010. / Thesis Advisor(s): Miller, Alice L. Second Reader: Twomey, Christopher P. "March 2010." Description based on title screen as viewed on April 26, 2010. Author(s) subject terms: China, PRC, PLA, Crisis, Crisis Management, Collective Decision Making, Stress, Rationality, Cybernetic, "Muddling Through", Institutionalism, Incrementalism, Servomechanism, Fragmentation, Rules, Organizational Routine, Information Channel, Case Study, Uncertainty, Adaptation, Belgrade Embassy Bombing, EP-3, SARS, ASAT, Sichuan Earthquake. Includes bibliographical references (p. 109-116). Also available in print.

Thesis (M.A. in Security Studies (Homeland Security and Defense))--Naval Postgraduate School, March 2006. / "March 2006." Thesis Advisor(s): Robert Bach. Includes bibliographical references (p. 93-97). Also available online.

Thesis (M.A. in Security Studies (Homeland Security and Defense)--Naval Postgraduate School, September 2006. / Thesis Advisor(s): Ellen M. Gordon. "September 2006." Includes bibliographical references (p. 63-65). Also available in print.