An estimated five million Americans participate in non-credit college and university classes annually. The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) does not require the reporting of non-credit student postsecondary enrollment, which means there is a lack of data about non-credit higher education. This qualitative case study provides…

Universities have the potential to bring significant assets to community school development, and community school models align with emerging priorities in higher education, including shifts toward community engagement. University-assisted community schools (UACS) present an ideal place for these mutual interests to be met, although barriers to…

Using the Culturally Engaging Campus Environments (CECE) Model, this qualitative study examined development of psychosocial attributes (i.e., sense of belonging, science identity, and self-efficacy) among 1st-year life science undergraduate students who participated in integrated and culturally engaging research activities at New Mexico Highlands…

Community college (CC) students interested in medical school may lack the resources to be successful. CC students represent diverse backgrounds and often more closely reflect underserved populations' demographics than traditional University students. Yet, there is a negative association between attending a CC and being accepted into a medical…

Improving community college transfer pathways in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields is an urgent educational equity issue in the United States. While there is abundant literature documenting the challenges community college transfer students face in their pursuit of a STEM bachelor's degree, there is limited research on the…

Institutional researchers (IRs) at higher education institutions fulfill a crucial role in identifying, processing, and disseminating data to administrators. Identifying effective ways for leaders to make sense of data is essential to advancing the most critical institutional issues, including achieving equitable student outcomes. However, leaders…

Validation within higher education, "refers to the intentional, proactive affirmation of students. Validation, at the community college level, is closely linked to resilience, retention, as well as higher graduation rates. This research paper will address if students are able to find the validation that they require at the community college…

The problem is the decrease in educational continuance of New Mexico high school students to college or university. The purpose of the qualitative exploratory case study was to gain insight into how educational administrators in New Mexico high schools, colleges, and universities perceive what factors influence students in Advancement Placement…

According to American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) data, 13.8% of American Indians 25 years and older have a bachelor's degree. The single most important barrier to student success remains preparation (Adelman, 2006). Underprepared students are disproportionately students of color, students of low socioeconomic status, and students…

This phenomenological study aimed to explore the lived experiences of African American staff administrators who hold non-academic administrative positions at a Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) situated in the southwestern region of the United States. Employing a phenomenological approach and purposeful sampling, the study involved conducting…

This qualitative study utilized a constructivist grounded theory approach to understand how rural students engaged with people in their home community as it related to before, during, and after their study abroad experience and what impact that engagement had on their experiences. Participants included 15 students who self-identified as being from…

Purpose: The purpose is to gain insight into the benefits of mentoring and using femtoring as an inclusive approach for minoritized and underrepresented students and faculty, who are often challenged in feeling welcomed, included and valued at higher education institutions. Design/methodology/approach: This study used a qualitative inquiry design,…

Creating Responsive Educational Avenues for Training Environments in Early Childhood (CREATE EC) is a new, interdisciplinary initiative aimed at transforming academic programs and professional development at the University of New Mexico's College of Education and Human Sciences. The goal is to co-create a community-informed approach for early…

While many colleges and universities are headed back to campus, providing multiple attendance options in an online or remote environment is key to student success. The name Attend Anywhere may be new, but the idea behind the name has been around for many years. It is often called HyFlex, but Attend Anywhere (AA) better describes how a student can…

Response to intervention (RTI) is a valuable framework for providing effective and equitable educational opportunities to all students; however, recent research indicates that RTI programs are not achieving their potential for promoting student learning. As schools develop, implement, and sustain RTI systems, they would benefit from the addition…