<p>The three studies included in this dissertation collectively aim to highlight the negative impact that culturally homogenous academic, social, and financial systems on college campuses have on the experiences of culturally diverse college students. Currently the academic, social, and financial experiences of college students are not structured to support culturally diverse student groups, thus inhibiting their development of a sense of belonging and contributing to the low retention rates of culturally diverse students. The first study, “Examining Individualism in College Student Retention Theory and Practice: A Transition from Student Integration to Institutional Adjustment,” is a meta synthesis that explains that contemporary retention theories and practices are based on antiquated retention theories and are inadequate in addressing the needs of culturally diverse college student populations. The second study, “Financial Literacy Programming in American Higher Education: What’s There and What’s Missing,” is a qualitative study that addressed the research gap regarding financial literacy and wellness by more clearly defining the financial experiences and interactions that college students have within the financial systems of college. As a follow-up to the second study, the third study, “Values and Value: A Qualitative Study on Culturally Responsive Financial Literacy Programming,” examines more closely the content of financial literacy programs in higher education to identify ways that financial literacy programming on college campuses is responsive to students’ cultural identities. The findings of the included studies collectively inform foundational principles of a culturally responsive retention theory through which the college environment can be examined and potentially transformed to be more inclusive in access and support for culturally diverse students.</p>

Research suggests parental home and school involvement improves multiple outcomes for middle school students, including academic achievement, school engagement, motivation, self-efficacy, and prosocial behaviors. Little is known, however, about multilevel factors associated with Latino/a parental involvement in the middle school learning environment. In the current study, multilevel analysis was used to explore student, family, and school factors associated with Latino/a parental involvement. Results from the hierarchical linear modeling analyses found (a) Latino/a parental home and school involvement varied within schools and between schools, (b) student gender, prosocial behavior, and academic achievement were positively associated with parental home involvement, and (c) student gender, problem behavior, prosocial behavior, academic achievement, and family socioeconomic status were positively associated with parental school involvement. Percentages of Latino/a students and low-income students in schools did not significantly moderate the average parental home or school involvement across students and across schools. The results of this study have implications for educators and policy makers to promote Latino/a parent-teacher collaboration in the middle school learning environment.

The debate on gender equality and diversity has shaped our time. More and more companies and organizations are looking into how to raise their workforce diversity. To recruit a more diverse workforce you could either raise the public opinion or get more effective in your recruitment. The Swedish armed forces are today an organization where women are highly underrepresented, only 18 percent of the personnel is female. By using a theory on diversity management, to look into if the Swedish armed forces way to handle diversity appeal to what the theory that’s used are saying. The study concludes that the Swedish armed forces partly handle the diversity focus at women in same way the theory claims to do. But one level of the theory is not proceeded. And on that part the Swedish armed forces can be better. The study concludes that there is a difference between the armed forces and the recruiting center inobjectives in diversity, this is what can make the Swedish armed forces goal hard to reach.

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Malaise traps are a common tool for collecting insects used by many researchers. Although there have been variations in the models and materials used for Malaise traps, the potential for sampling bias due to mesh gague has been explored inadequately. This study compared coarse and fine mesh Townes model Malaise traps in two habitats on the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The two habitats next to the Lick Wash trailhead were defined by dominant vegetation type – sagebrush and grasses or Piñon-Juniper. We collected from three sites per habitat type, over three consecutive days in June in both 2006 and 2007. A pair of Malaise traps consisting of one coarse mesh and one fine mesh trap were used at each site in order to compare differences in the diversity and in the average size of individuals collected by each type of Malaise trap. We measured diversity using both presence-absence data such as richness scores and Jaccard's Index of Similarity, and abundance-based measures of comparison, including Simpson's Index of Diversity and non-metric multidimensional scaling. We identified all individuals according to Order, and because of our interest in flies and their abundance, we further identified the Dipter ta to the Family level. Average insect size was determined by categorizing individuals according to one of 14 distinct size-classes. In sum, 71 samples totaling approximately 62,500 insects were identified and sized. Because we sampled from two adjacent habitats, we also discuss beta diversity across the sample sites. Although mesh-size appears to have a significant effect on the diversity of the catch according to some tests, not all of our analysis agrees. In addition, the gain in the amount of diversity collected by incorporating both mesh-sizes may not be worth the costs of that kind of sampling. Other means of collection may adequately make up that difference. Habitat on the other hand was a clear marker for difference in diversity. Size was not found to be significant overall, but there still may be reasons to examine the effect of mesh-size with respect to the Hymenoptera.