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In addition to recruitment pressures felt by all in higher education, community colleges have the unique challenge of communicating with students of all ages, interests, and academic levels, and doing so with limited staff and resources. Many recruiters have turned to social media as an important tool for reaching potential students. However, for community colleges with few staff, social media communication can be difficult and time-consuming. This study explores how community college administrators are using social media as a recruitment tool, and how this use aligns with students' needs and expectations. This two-part study employs uses and gratifications theory to guide qualitative interviews with the social media administrators at three Virginia community colleges and focus groups with current students at each of the colleges. This study takes a unique approach to theory by comparing the uses and gratifications of both the message creator and user. Social media administrators at the community colleges were found to use social media to gratify their awareness, recruitment, and reach/engagement needs. Students thinking about the recruitment process were found to expect community colleges' social media content to gratify their needs for socialization, discovery, and access. Administrators are meeting many of the students' reported social media recruitment needs but could use the data provided in this study to improve their social media efforts in a few emerging areas. / Master of Arts

The increasing enrollment of nontraditional students in online degree programs has underscored the importance of effective academic advising practices. These students, often over the age of 25 and juggling full-time employment and family responsibilities, encounter unique challenges in navigating the asynchronous, online learning environment. Academic advisors play a pivotal role in mitigating these obstacles by fostering trust and delivering comprehensive support systems tailored to the needs of online learners. While previous studies have explored various advising models and approaches in connection with student satisfaction, inadequate attention has been given to assessing the quality of advising specifically tailored to nontraditional, online students and their persistence. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if advising quality impacts persistence among nontraditional, online students enrolled in a baccalaureate degree program as to what extent specific dimensions of advising quality (reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy) impact their persistence. Data were collected using an anonymous online survey that was shared with potential participants via email. Data were analyzed through SPSS software using a multiple linear regression model to determine significance between the independent variables, the dimensions of advising quality, and the dependent variable, self-report impact on persistence. Results indicated that three dimensions of advising quality were highly significant; reliability, empathy, and assurance. These findings indicate that higher education administrators should focus efforts on implementing advisor training programs tailored to the needs of online learners, creating a centralized advising structure which offers a streamlined approach to student services, and executing advisor evaluations to collect student feedback and inform practice. Future research should be conducted to confirm the findings of this study and to explore other institutional factors that impact the persistence of nontraditional students enrolled in online baccalaureate degree programs.

The purpose of this study was to understand if a nontraditional internship in a K-12 setting prepared preservice teachers for their first year of teaching. At the time of this study, there was limited research that existed in utilizing a nontraditional approach to internship to decrease the barriers associated with becoming a teacher. It was critical to analyze the perceived preparedness of novice teachers who participated in research-based practice while maintaining their perceived self-efficacy in a nontraditional internship in their first year of teaching. Current novice teachers who participated in a nontraditional internship and the principals who supervised them were invited to participate in the study. Four novice teachers and two principals participated in separate focus groups. The focus groups were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using Grounded Theory (Saldaña, 2020). Data were analyzed for reoccurring statements and analyzed based on parameters defined by the researcher and six categories emerged, including Preparedness, Ownership, Resiliency, Integrated Withitness, Trusted Mentor, and Transition. The researcher continued to analyze the six categories for focus, and synthesized data which evolved into two themes, Adaptive Pedagogical Readiness and Interpersonal Influence on Self-Efficacy. The two themes were condensed into an assertion, or main finding, of the study, that the nontraditional internship experience resulted in facilitating and accelerating the preparedness of the participants for their first-year teaching as perceived after the first-nine weeks of instruction. Higher education institutions should collaborate with local school districts to consider implementation of a nontraditional internship that prepares novice teachers for their first-year of teaching.

Mental health challenges face many college students. Community college students encounter unique stressors and challenges that impact their mental health. Issues such as depression, anxiety, eating disorders, substance use, and struggles with suicidal thoughts and attempts plague many students as they juggle the demands of being a college student with other responsibilities in life. The mental health of students often impacts daily functioning, including their academic performance. Reduced completion and graduation rates and campus safety concerns are felt by the community college. Community college campuses often provide various forms of mental health treatment options to help students address mental health issues. However, students may not be aware of the available options. Furthermore, students may encounter barriers that make it difficult or impossible to access the available resources. The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of mental health concerns between traditional and nontraditional community college students, the awareness of available services, and the willingness of students to utilize available campus mental health services. This quantitative study examined the results of the nationwide 2022-2023 Healthy Minds Study, which examined various mental health factors among college students including prior or current mental health diagnosis, symptoms of mental illness, impact of symptoms on daily functioning, awareness of resources and campus outreach efforts, experience with mental health treatment, outlook on future treatment, and willingness to seek treatment. Independent samples t-tests and chi-square tests for independence were utilized to examine differences between the responses of traditional and nontraditional community college students. Data were analyzed through the lens of Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior. The results of this study reveal valuable insight into the needs and intentions of both traditional and nontraditional students related to their mental health. Traditional students indicated having more symptoms and functional impacts from symptoms of mental illness than their nontraditional counterparts. Nontraditional students indicated a greater willingness to seek treatment and were more aware of campus outreach and resource opportunities. Further research should examine additional characteristics of community college students to better guide campus leadership in their efforts to meet the mental health needs of students.

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Research was conducted using hermeneutic-phenomenology and semi-structure interviews to explore and understand the lived experience of women veterans of the Canadian Forces. Women recently entered Canadian military combat positions, taking on a profession historically exclusively occupied by men. Due to the lack of research on women veterans of the Canadian Forces, knowledge was drawn from research about women in nontraditional work, American paramilitary and military occupations, as well as an historical review of women’s involvement in the Canadian Forces, to provide context to the research themes. Participants comprised of 6 women veterans who described 11 essential and 4 significant themes. Unique contributions to literature include essential themes such as, Slut or a lesbian, take your pick, Proving I’m good enough, Trying to be treated better, Got some support, Visible and singled out, Perpetual outsider, Given gender based tasks or opportunities, and Women demeaned. Suggestions for future studies and implications for counselling practice are discussed.

Too few Kentucky community college students transfer and persist to earn baccalaureate degrees. This is particularly true in Appalachia Kentucky which has a high rate of poverty and a low rate of baccalaureate attainment. Scholars and economists agree that the fastest way to decrease poverty within a geographical region is to increase the educational level of the citizens. Policy makers in the Commonwealth have established a goal of doubling the number of baccalaureate holders within the state by 2020. This study is framed by a collaborative study which examined the ways in which institutional and student characteristics impact the pathway to the baccalaureate degree for Appalachian community college students in Kentucky. Quantitative analysis was conducted for the student populations who graduated in the summer and spring 2009 from four Appalachian community colleges. A framework was developed that identified two of the colleges as high-impact. The graduates of these colleges were twice as likely to transfer as the students from the two low-impact institutions. The two high performing colleges had partnership arrangements with baccalaureate-granting institutions that offered multiple degree options in or near the community college campus. Four companion studies that examined institutional and student characteristics were conducted. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the ways in which nontraditional-aged Appalachian women attending college as location-bound adults perceive the supports and challenges to baccalaureate attainment. Twenty-four women were interviewed to explore the ways in which they balance their multiple life roles with the demands of their postsecondary studies, to understand their perceptions how Appalachian culture impacts them as students, and their perceptions of the ways in which educational institutions provide them with baccalaureate access. Narrative was used both as the method of inquiry and the object of interpretation. Major themes that emerged from this study included: (1) Adult Appalachian female students are both challenged and supported by their major life roles and (2) Postsecondary institutions provide both support and challenges to this population.