The holistic development of college students encompasses their growth academically, socially, and personally and occurs as students master knowledge, develop connections with others, and increase their engagement in the college setting (Kuh, Kinzie, Schuh, and Whitt, 2013; Mauk, 2011; Shushok, 2008; Sungok, Shim, Ryan, and Cassady, 2012). Self-Authorship is a theory that describes holistic development in people as they transition from externalized to internalized ways of knowing (Baxter Magolda, 2009). The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how constructs of masculinity influence Self-Authorship in college men. The conceptual framework for this study was Baxter Magolda's (2008) dimensions of Self-Authorship: Epistemological, Interpersonal, and Intrapersonal. Data were collected through interviews with men in their final year of study in college. The Masculine Behavior Scale (Snell, 1996) was utilized to organize participants into three groups: high scorers, medium scorers, and low scorers, which allowed me to further examine their experiences within the dimensions of Self-Authorship. Analysis of the data revealed three key findings. First, participant scores on the Masculine Behavior Scale declined as their motivation to learn moved from external (status, power, etc.) to internal factors (learning for the sake of learning). Second, high scorers formed relationships that affirmed their abilities. Yet, medium/low scorers developed relationships for the sake of mutual benefit. Lastly, high scorers sought external validation, while medium/low scorers relied upon internal validation. / Ph. D. / The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how constructs of masculinity influence Self-Authorship in college men. The conceptual framework for this study was Baxter Magolda’s (2008) dimensions of Self-Authorship: Epistemological, Interpersonal, and Intrapersonal. Data were collected through interviews with men in their final year of study in college. The Masculine Behavior Scale (Snell, 1996) was utilized to organize participants into three groups: high scorers, medium scorers, and low scorers, which allowed me to further examine their experiences within the dimensions of Self-Authorship. Analysis of the data revealed three key findings. First, participant scores on the Masculine Behavior Scale declined as their motivation to learn moved from external (status, power, etc.) to internal factors (learning for the sake of learning). Second, high scorers formed relationships that affirmed their abilities. Yet, medium/low scorers developed relationships for the sake of mutual benefit. Lastly, high scorers sought external validation, while medium/low scorers relied upon internal validation. My study adds to the understanding that identifying external and internal motivators for learning and relationship-building for men in college is critical for their retention and persistence to graduation. With this knowledge, university administrators can structure campus environments that facilitate stronger academic and personal success for college men.

This research investigates the process of self-authorship by applying self-expression, intentionality and appropriation by South African graphic designer Garth Walker (b. 1957) in the production of the i-jusi magazine. For this purpose, selected issues and designs of i-jusi magazines are analysed. In his search for an indigenous South African design language through self-authorship, Walker works outside of the traditional clientdesigner model. He attempts to capture this unique South African voice through a number of themed i-jusi issues. In self-authorship, the intent of the graphic designer is embedded in personal conviction and expression, which are key factors to the creation of the work. Hollis (2001) describes the designer as a messenger with an eye for the aesthetic and a target market. As the country’s socio-political transformation took on a different shape post-1994, a search for a South African design language became prevalent among South African graphic designers. Writers in design such as Heller (1998), Lupton (2003), and Bierut (2007) coined the term Designer as Author in the critical discourses on self-authorship and design that is more experimental in nature. McCarthy and Melibeu de Almeida (2002) acknowledge the practice in which designers take responsibility to create content and form simultaneously, thus expanding the opportunity for self-expression. In their search for unique self-authorship, contemporary graphic designers give voice to their intent and self-expression, making use of the appropriation or borrowing of different styles, visual languages and cultural contexts. Ijusi serves as an example of self-initiation, a criterion for self-authorship, as it is produced, edited and distributed by Walker himself. In his search for a truly South African design language, Walker explores identity and individual expression to include intent and appropriation as part of the production process. / MA (History of Art), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

This research investigates the process of self-authorship by applying self-expression, intentionality and appropriation by South African graphic designer Garth Walker (b. 1957) in the production of the i-jusi magazine. For this purpose, selected issues and designs of i-jusi magazines are analysed. In his search for an indigenous South African design language through self-authorship, Walker works outside of the traditional clientdesigner model. He attempts to capture this unique South African voice through a number of themed i-jusi issues. In self-authorship, the intent of the graphic designer is embedded in personal conviction and expression, which are key factors to the creation of the work. Hollis (2001) describes the designer as a messenger with an eye for the aesthetic and a target market. As the country’s socio-political transformation took on a different shape post-1994, a search for a South African design language became prevalent among South African graphic designers. Writers in design such as Heller (1998), Lupton (2003), and Bierut (2007) coined the term Designer as Author in the critical discourses on self-authorship and design that is more experimental in nature. McCarthy and Melibeu de Almeida (2002) acknowledge the practice in which designers take responsibility to create content and form simultaneously, thus expanding the opportunity for self-expression. In their search for unique self-authorship, contemporary graphic designers give voice to their intent and self-expression, making use of the appropriation or borrowing of different styles, visual languages and cultural contexts. Ijusi serves as an example of self-initiation, a criterion for self-authorship, as it is produced, edited and distributed by Walker himself. In his search for a truly South African design language, Walker explores identity and individual expression to include intent and appropriation as part of the production process. / MA (History of Art), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

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The Learning Partnerships Model (LPM) (Baxter Magolda and King, 2004) is a framework for promoting self-authorship. Self-authorship is a holistic development theory that employs three dimensions (epistemological, intrapersonal, interpersonal). The LPM can be tailored to a variety of academic tasks, including course design and curriculum development. The model has also been used in co-curricular settings to design community-standards programs, internship programs, and to improve academic advising. An exhaustive review of the literature on one particular co-curricular setting, the student conduct office, revealed studies about the conduct process and student outcomes achieved through that process but no research on student conduct and self-authorship. I explored how the principles of the LPM are evident in student conduct environments where learning is occurring. The sample consisted of student conduct environments at three institutions where students involved in the conduct process achieve learning outcomes that exceed the learning outcomes achieved by like students at other institutions based on a national quantitative assessment (NASCAP). I spent three days on each campus, observing office operations that included 21 conduct hearings. I interviewed every hearing officer in the three student conduct offices (n=8). I found that the principles of the LPM were evident in these environments. Hearing officers created conditions for learning and development to occur. Specifically hearing officers' engaged in four key behaviors that support the principles of the LPM. They created a connection with the student, sought to understand the conduct incident, provided encouragement, and promoted learning and autonomy. Hearing officers purposefully built a welcoming environment in order to solicit information that would enable them to understand students' lived experiences and developmental capacities. They partnered with students to create expectations for future behavior that encouraged student autonomy and accountability. These actions by hearing officers created conditions intentionally to promote learning and development. The findings provide tangible strategies that can be used in the student conduct process to promote self-authorship. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this qualitative, case study research project is to explore international student-athletes’ experiences at U.S. higher education institutions, probing how well nonimmigrant visa holders are prepared for postgraduate success through their college experiences. Six collaborators engaged in photo elicitation interviews to provide insight into how they have navigated their international student identity and student-athlete identity. Collaborators each shared 10-15 media files representative of their experiences, and then they engaged in 90-minute interviews to talk about what their selections meant to them and why they were significant. The frameworks of agency, self-authorship, and voice were used to gauge how the international student-athlete experience fostered collaborators’ journeys from external influence to internal meaning-making and equipped them to become leaders in their global societies. This project offers considerations and strategies for college athletics staff and international services staff to better support the international student-athletes on their campuses.

The perspectives of gay men on college and university campuses is informed by a rich gay social history and extensive roots of community politics. The experiences of gay undergraduate men have been illuminated in segmented ways in scholarly literature to date. This narrative inquiry develops and advances those efforts by exploring how gay undergraduate men construct, experience, and make meaning of their gender as a population ascribing to both liberationist and assimilationist viewpoints. Data for this qualitative study were collected at one public, four-year research university in the southeastern United States in the fall 2015 semester using recorded personal interviews with eleven men. Interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed for data analysis. The men included in the study represent a broad range of personal identity backgrounds, including a variety of college majors and years of experience in university study. Self-authorship and queer theoretical frames were used to analyze participants’ gender interpretations. Findings suggest men do not understand gender in isolation, but in tandem with intersections of familial ethnic and cultural backgrounds, social class status, and involvement on campus. Four major themes of experience that effect self-authorship of gender evolved from narrative analyses: masking, agency, costs, and policing. Implications for higher education professionals, including faculty, staff, and administrators, are discussed. Opportunities for further research in navigating lived experiences of marginalized campus subpopulations are also suggested and explored.

Thesis advisor: Karen D. Arnold / Taking a gap year between high school and college has become more common in the United States in recent years, yet little research attempts to describe or analyze the experience of the students who arrive on college campuses after such a year out. This qualitative study followed 12 first-year students attending highly-selective private institutions in the northeastern U.S. as they experienced the transitions from high school to gap year to college. With varying levels of family support and high levels of personal motivation, the students participated in a wide range of gap-year endeavors. The findings indicate that students were heavily influenced by their encounters during the gap year, leading to strong evidence of self-authorship among the participants, which in turn shaped the way students pursued their goals when they arrived at college. Particularly influential were encounters that involved independent problem-solving, participating in multigenerational relationships, and immersion in new cultural settings. The students' transitions to college during the first year were marked by patterns of Sovereign Engagement with regard to learning, relationships, and decision-making. Commonly marked by internalized goals, authenticity in relationships, and greater individual agency, "Sovereign Engagement" captures the self-authored perspective that these students brought to their college experience. Contrary to suggestions in the popular media, not all gap-year students found the transition to be seamless; nor were they uniformly motivated to earn good grades. As a summary of the findings, the Gap Year Impact Model provides an important frame of reference for understanding the experiences, needs, and sovereign decision-making patterns of gap-year students. The results offer students, parents, colleges and universities an introduction to the lived experiences of gap-year students, who are arriving on campus in increasing numbers each year. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

abstract: Most research on the experience of young women in student service roles in higher education is focused on a reflection of the early career experiences of mid and senior level professionals. Young women enter the field with a set of expectations about the work and their early career experiences need to be uncovered in order to better understand what they expect from their roles in student services. This study focused on the experience of young women in student services and the dynamics they identify as being significant to their work experience. Six women in their mid-twenties working in student service roles participated in two dialogic interviews regarding their work experience. Findings from these women's stories suggest that women are aware of internal and external dynamics that shaped their work experience, and are engaged in their journey toward Self-Authorship along intrapersonal and interpersonal dimensions. Specifically, the women actively chose their career path, looked for opportunities to develop their professional cache, and were impacted by their relationships with their supervisors and colleagues. The women are interested in their professional development in student services in higher education and are active in shaping the experience to meet their expectations. The findings suggest that to understand the experience of young women in student service roles in higher education, women should be asked to share their stories on their early career experiences, including interactions with supervisors and other professional colleagues. By representing these voices in the dialogue on the experience of young women in student service roles, the dynamics that shaped those experiences can be better understood. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Higher and Postsecondary Education 2011