This qualitative, narrative inquiry investigated the lived experiences of adult learners as transfer students. Participants in this study matriculated from community colleges to universities within the State of Florida. The study consisted of 10 participants aged 29 – 59. This research examined adult learners who have transferred and transitioned from community college to make meaning of their individual experiences as transfer students. The research questions that guided this study are: (1) What are the experiences of adult learners who have transferred and transitioned from a community/state college to a four-year university? (2) How do adult learners describe the experiences that motivated their academic persistence? Participants were interviewed in a virtual setting. Interview transcripts were analyzed using a narrative analysis method. Each narration was re-storied and structured by story code to include: an abstract, orientation, climax, resolution, evaluation, and narrative summary. Three core narratives were co-constructed from the data analysis: (1) Learning Curves; (2) Demotivating Experiences; (3) Influential Factors. Higher education is an ever-changing environment that continues to expand in its adult learning student populations. This study benefits the practitioners and policymakers of higher education seeking to understand and improve policies for retention efforts of adult learners and transfer student populations.

The principal purpose of this program evaluation was to determine how the 2010–2019 alumni of the William & Mary (W&M) D.C. Summer Institutes (DCSI) perceived their participation helped them achieve career readiness. Existing literature on experiential learning methods and practices has suggested great value in such opportunities, but less information existed about the outcomes of internship programs in higher education. As leaders consider what their institutional operations look like following the COVID-19 global pandemic and demand for quality internships rises, research on what works in high-impact programs, such as DCSI, offer valuable data for faculty, administrators, and students. A total of 449 DCSI alumni spanning the first 10 years of the program were invited to participate in an electronic survey, followed by the option to interview to discuss the topic and their experiences in more detail. I analyzed the resulting quantitative and qualitative data to determine if DCSI outcomes aligned with program intentions. The findings suggested overall, DCSI alumni perceived an increase in their career readiness as a result of their participation, with the biggest increase in their professionalism. Women and students of color perceived higher levels of readiness overall and in multiple career competencies than their male and White counterparts. This evaluation highlighted the need for universities to increase access to internship programs for all students, especially women and students of color. First-generation and low-income students in particular would benefit by participating in internship opportunities, which may be especially effective for increasing career readiness.

During a global pandemic, another pandemic of loneliness impacted undergraduate college students and influenced the way members of the 18-25-year-old population lived and learned throughout a time of intentional distancing. Additionally, the insurgence of loneliness impacts members of the 18-25 age group in startling rates. This qualitative case study explored how undergraduate women who participate in comedy troupes fostered community while living and learning during a global pandemic known as COVID-19 between the spring of 2020 and the fall of 2021. The research added to the body of knowledge on how comedy and levity can enhance wellness and how humor can be brought into various aspects of life from work to play. This study explored how undergraduate students living in a time of heightened loneliness infused humor in their relationships with one another. The study explored the relationship dynamics built by women-identified comedians and focused on how the participants developed community by using humor, comedy, and levity as the pillars of their interactions. Lastly, this study is rooted in better understanding how higher education student affairs practitioners can better support collegiate comedians invested in their relationships with one another.

Institutions of higher education are no strangers to crisis situations. From world wars to campus violence, colleges and universities across the United States have been both directly and indirectly affected by these crisis situations. However, in the early part of 2020, higher education was faced with a situation that transcended anything colleges and universities had seen before—COVID-19. What made COVID-19 so unique was how the disease quickly permeated throughout the United States. Thus, a stage was set for institutions of higher education to defend their campuses and communities from a most historical pandemic. This study, understanding the historical significance of the COVID-19 pandemic, researched how two public universities in Virginia, William & Mary and the University of the Virginia, used email communication to inform the students, faculty, and staff of their respective institutions during the pandemic. A discourse analysis was conducted and found that both institutions framed their discourse using a science and data-driven approach coupled with a unity-based structural frame that advanced the rhetoric and narrative of their COVID-19 response.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to gain an understanding of the experiences of being a female, African American STEM undergraduate who is enrolled at an elite Predominantly White Institution and who has a mentoring relationship. A hermeneutic approach to phenomenology was used to gather data through open-ended interviews. Research questions included: What are the lived experiences of female, African American, STEM undergraduate students of the STEM community at an elite Predominantly White Institution? What are the lived experiences of high achieving female, African American, STEM undergraduate students with their mentors? Four themes emerged from the interviews: (a) Discouraging Academic Environment, (b) Minority Stress, (c) Positive Persuasions, and (d) Mentoring Support. This study concluded that African American women needed a supportive environment to thrive as an undergraduate STEM major. This support came from African American peers, informal mentoring experiences that provided psychosocial support and affirmed their ability, formal mentoring experiences that provided academic guidance, and positive verbal messages by university professors that women belong in STEM careers.

Abstract as part of a strategic planning effort begun in 2008, the College of William & Mary began the process of reviewing and changing its general education program. Approved by the faculty in 2013, the university is implementing an innovative curriculum called the "College Curriculum," designed in part to help students acquire knowledge and develop the skills and habits of critical and creative thinking. The purpose of this study was to investigate the institution's and faculty's understanding of how the new curriculum addressed student development of critical and creative thinking. This descriptive case study provided a review of the literature on general education, critical and creative thinking; a review of key documentation; and structured interviews with faculty and other members of the community with an understanding of the problem. Lattuca and Stark's (2009) academic plan model provided a theoretical frame to analyze the data, determining that the impetus for initiation of the curriculum review was primarily driven by internal forces within the college. Using established governance procedures, the faculty played the leading role in its development and approval to include establishing the goal of developing critical and creative thinking as key principle in the curriculum. However, based on the research, there is a lack of coherence among the faculty as to what, when, and how these critical skills are developed. The findings indicated a need to develop and share a plan among the faculty and students of what constitutes these competencies and how they are developed through the college curriculum.

Vertical transfer is a centennial symbol of access that also provides inputs for operational funding and produces outcomes for performance-based funding (PBF). Thus, this mission-critical community college function may be leveraged to decisively impact the higher education completion agenda. Yet, deeper insights into student level data are needed to understand what powers vertical transfer efficiency. Previous research used administrative data, analyzed access, and tracked transfer outcomes, but few studies have used vertical transfer as a single analysis framework to reconcile access and efficiency goals while examining tensions between access, accountability, and resource allocation. The body of research tends to isolate and individually analyze student and institutional variables related to the input, process, and output factors of institutional performance. to connect access and efficiency, this study linked student course-taking variables to institutional performance outcomes. The conceptual framework fused resource dependence and choice overload theories to examine institutional resource allocation and student course selection. Predictive models replicated the Community College Transfer Calculator and cohesively linked access, efficiency, institutional accountability, and funding. For a largely part-time cohort, this study found that course-taking variables, including average credits per semester significantly predicted the likelihood of vertical transfer and bachelor's degree completion within six years. PBF points were highly sensitive to vertical transfer, and USP outcomes intensified PBF point gains.

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The retention of African-American male students at predominantly White institutions is an issue that continues to plague colleges and universities in the United States. African-American men have the lowest college graduation rate of any segment of the population. Pointedly, two-thirds of African-American male students who attend public four-year schools do not graduate within six years. Yet, research highlights how social engagement supports many minority students who find themselves on the campuses of predominantly White institutions. Establishing social connections builds a support system for these students and can prevent social isolation. One manner of social engagement steeped in history is the presence of Black Greek Letter organizations (BGLOs), which were mostly founded around the turn of the 20th century and have encouraged the educational pursuits, social growth, maturity, and community outreach that is often part of the successful African-American male educational experience. The purpose of this dissertation is to understand and analyze how African-American men now view their experiences as a member of a BGLO at a predominantly White institution 25 years later. The dissertation examines how do the fraternity members perceive the influence of their BGLO membership on their persistence and what memories of their BGLO membership are most salient? Specifically, this study aimed to collect information regarding the impact of African-American male student retention employing empirical phenomenology. Data collection included interviews with eight African-American males who were members of one of the BGLOs. These men attended and graduated from a four-year PWI located in the southeastern region of the United States. The data collected was analyzed using the hermeneutic phenomenology method. This study found that African-American former collegians who successfully persisted towards their college degrees used their BGLO membership as a means of social engagement in order to establish connectedness to their respective PWI campuses. Their BGLO membership gave them immediate access to mentorship, campus leadership opportunities, heightened culture capital and an affinity group where they inspire and lead.

This study examined the experiences of faculty members from U.S. universities who led students on a short-term summer study abroad program that incorporated the Camino de Santiago, a medieval pilgrimage route in Spain. The study sought to understand how faculty leaders engaged in sensemaking (Weick, 1995) of these experiences in the context of their faculty roles on their home campuses. The ethnographic methods included six years of field work in Spain, participant observation as faculty program director, and in-depth interviews with faculty leaders. The findings show that participants engaged in sensemaking through three theoretical constructs. The construct of family addresses nuclear family roles, including gendered roles, as well as Camino Family expectations. The construct of appointment and role expectations deals with tenure status and issues of autonomy, agency, and teaching. The construct of inspirations identifies and analyzes both internal and external sources of inspiration for faculty engagement in these programs. These sources include personal tragedies, a focus on student-centeredness, and a desire to expose students to a “Real Spain.” The constructs, in addition to serving as catalysts for sensemaking, establish a counternarrative on faculty growth (O’Meara et al., 2008). This counternarrative focuses on learning across complex faculty roles, the development of agency in enacting meaningful work, and faculty capacity for commitment to their work and institutions. Overall, this study demonstrated that leading a study abroad program along the Camino is an activity that contributes to faculty leaders’ growth.