This study focused on the allocation decisions that college and university leaders make with potentially transformational donations and their associated decision-making processes. A gift was defined as potentially transformational if it was: 1) unrestricted and 2) exceeded 25% of an organization's annual revenues or existing endowment. These types…

In college athletics, there appears to be evidence of misalignment between stated commitments and institutional practices. Though institutions publicly promote equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), college athletic departments have failed to create large scale systemic change in the representation and retention of women and people of color.…

This study examined the perceptions of students related to determinants of service quality experienced within both academic and non-academic areas of their respective institutions. As competition increases among higher education institutions so does the need to implement organizational strategies comparable to that of industries outside academia.…

As a result of shifting market forces affecting institutions of higher education, implementation of enhanced resource management practices has become a strategic imperative for many colleges and universities. An increasing number of universities have adopted decentralized budgeting practices to enhance stewardship of resources and foster…

Business school deans at public and private research universities today face particular fiscal challenges due to declining MBA enrollment, shifting student enrollment choices and changing international student enrollment trends. Social and political forces such as the COVID-19 pandemic and recent social justice movements also impacted college…

This qualitative study explored the pivotal role tutoring center professionals play in supporting historically marginalized students in California public universities. There was a focus on the intersection that social capital and equity have on the experiences of the professionals. This study sought to highlight the perspectives, challenges, and…

Public Higher Education (PHE) reflects a drastic reduction in funding to subsidize its day-to-day functioning, increasing dependence on tuition fees to be operational, the existence of outdated government funding policies, and the lack of a sustainable funding mechanism. Notwithstanding, the plethora of research attempting to understand different…

During and in the immediate years after the global COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government has given school districts across the United States millions of dollars through a series of three final grants called the Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief (ESSER) Grant to help improve education, decrease student learning losses suffered…

The role of the Chief Diversity Officer (CDO) in higher education is a recent phenomenon, having gained prominence only within the last decade. The growth in the role seems to mirror that of corporate America's, which began appointing a senior level executive to focus on diversity and inclusion to achieve economic benefits for the firm…

As state budgets are continuously tightened, and state dollars dwindle to cover only the bare necessities, resources must be carefully examined and utilized to increase efficiency and effectiveness; one such area in which higher education institutions must concentrate on allocating and streamlining resources is to increase the retention and…

Beginning at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, higher education experienced a sea of change in reduced enrollment, altered course delivery models, and increased need for student support. While observing staff's actual impact on the student experience during this time, this study will address the question, "How do professional staff in small…

This dissertation is comprised of two chapters regarding the economics of post-secondary education. The first concerns effects of peer gender: Large gender differences exist in the take-up and completion of college majors across academic fields. The degree of gender concentration within fields tends to increase over time spent in college. In this…

This qualitative study used the Burke-Litwin organizational change model as its primary framework to understand the lived experiences of community college educators who were first to transition to remote work during the 2020 global pandemic. The purpose of this research was to examine the lived experiences of community college remote workers in…

Amidst increased enrollment, economic recession, and state budget cuts to postsecondary education over the past two decades, two and four-year colleges and universities have employed a multitude of different approaches to managing resource allocation. At the crux of this issue is the internal struggle each institution faces: improving the level of…

While there is extensive research on the historical development and impact of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the United States, there remains limited research focused on the current condition of public HBCUs, and strategies used by their leaders to achieve organizational outcomes. In addition, research has not often…