Continued professional learning is a consistent focus of attention for the field of student affairs within higher education. Yet, very little research has been conducted on the factors that influence the motivation of student affairs professionals to pursue continued professional learning, especially professionals within community colleges. This…

Though 92% of California's community colleges are federally recognized Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs), Hispanic/Latinx students have disproportionately low success rates statewide. HSIs have been slow to center their Latinx students, opting instead for race-neutral policies and practices. Such approaches prevent educators from addressing the…

This hermeneutic phenomenological study examined how Latiné/x classified student services staff experience cultural taxation in a predominantly White work setting within a rural Northern California Community College. There is a lack of research on how Latiné/x classified student services staff experience cultural taxation in a higher education…

Employee retention is an ongoing challenge for higher education student affairs professionals, who account for the largest employee group across the higher education workforce. Job satisfaction and organizational commitment have previously been identified as correlated with college and university employees' decision to stay or vacate their…

In this interview study, I examine how student affairs administration (SAA) works at rural community colleges as well as how rural senior student affairs officers (SSAOs) function in their leadership roles. The study purports to understand student affairs in the context of "rurality," or what it means to be rural. Two primary research…

Black students with disabilities are multiply marginalized; they experience both racism and ableism. Many students are further marginalized by poverty, age, and gender identity. The toll of their intersectional identities impacts their academic experience, and the evidence is that Black disabled students have the highest attrition rates and the…

The present literature on leadership in higher education reveals that there is an association between the support of student affairs leaders and the success of the students who are single parents. However, there is a lack of research concerning the effectiveness of the support of student affairs leaders and how their support helps with the…

This study investigated the transfer pathway between a rural university and a community college to understand what procedural barriers exist for student degree attainment within existing structures. Process mapping was used as the intervention to examine the influence of enrollment and student services processes and investigate the perceptions of…

Purpose: This study aims to examine the impact of the Student Centered Funding Formula (SCFF) on a selection of California community colleges that are Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) from the perspective of student services professionals at these colleges to understand the equity implications of the formula for first-generation college…

This study explored the Professional Quality of Life in behavioral intervention team members at community colleges through the subcategories of compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue. Although major tragedies are rare at colleges and universities, the emotional toll that behavioral intervention team members experience through listening to…

The diversity of students who attend America's universities and colleges is steadily increasing (American Association of Community Colleges [AACC], 2017), which signals a need for college personnel to understand students' distinct cultures and how they perceive institutions, and, equally, to understand their privilege and often unconscious…

This dissertation explores academic persistence among Latinx students at City College of San Francisco (CCSF), using cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) to emphasize the culturally-mediated nature of goal directed human activity. The study investigates factors related to persistence within the context of CCSF's Metro Transfer Program…

The purpose of this multicase study was to investigate and understand how institutional agents foster a culturally engaging campus environment to facilitate completion for Latinx students at federally designated Hispanic-serving community colleges in New Jersey. This multicase study focused on institutional agents at two New Jersey community…

This basic qualitative study contributes to what is known about mentoring in higher education: the mentoring experiences of minority women leading in academic and student affairs at Pacific Island community colleges (PICC). This study examined the mentoring experiences of these minority women leaders and related mentorship to their leadership…

The stringent demands and lofty expectations placed on collegiate student athletes can significantly impact performance, both on the fields of play and in the classroom. Minority community college student athletes are a unique student population with distinct experiences which have historically been overlooked and understudied. The focus of this…