Organizational climate (OC) affects employees, their interactions with students, and is essential to student achievement. However, the research is limited in that it is not clear how college faculty and staff perceive OC factors that may contribute to student academic achievement. The aim of this study was to answer the following research…

This narrative inquiry captures the stories of three newly-hired professors struggling to assimilate into Metro Community College's social environment. My work first presents Samantha's metaphor: a sandbox campus wherein employees work in isolation, building individual sandcastles. This metaphor evokes an imaginative way to interpret and…

"An Analysis of Factors Influencing the Success of Dual-Enrollment Students Through the Perspectives of Faculty and Counselors" is a qualitative study. Dual enrollment has increased enrollment by offering opportunities to a broader audience. However, portions of this broader audience may be unprepared to face the challenges of being…

The concept of 'flexible seating' has emerged as a possibility to meeting the goals of an active learning classroom. Recent scholarship has suggested that numerous student learning predictors are enhanced when interacting with flexible seating. This study aims to fill a gap in the literature by investigating the effects of flexible seating from a…

Texas community colleges are facing new challenges every day from outside forces. One of the latest forces is the Texas state legislature. The state legislature has allowed the carrying of conceal weapons on community college campuses with the passing of Senate Bill 11 (Handgun Laws, 2018). Historically, community colleges have been safe places…

Similar to K-12 classroom teachers, literacy teacher educators are susceptible to high levels of stress and burnout. The objective of the present analysis was to add to the limited base of available literature and specific challenges and pressures experienced by literacy teacher educators in Texas (n=61). Data from an open-ended survey question…

In a post #SilentSam, #METoo, #BlackGirlOnCampus, #WhatHappenedtoSandraBland world, a world where universities find themselves inundated by a 24-hour social media cycle and the truth of campus life is one viral video away, both communication staff and instructors are often tasked with new social media responsibilities not previously encountered or…

The 2007 mass shooting at Virginia Tech is one part of a decades-long increase in the frequency of gun violence on U.S. college and university campuses (Drysdale, Modzeleski, & Simons, 2010; Ferraro, 2015). The events at Virginia Tech also served as a catalyst for the spread of so-called "campus-carry" laws, or acts of state policy…

Active learning spaces form an important part of university learning environments and have the potential to enhance student learning, yet studies on student and faculty perceptions of collaborative learning pedagogies indicate that many remain resistant. To overcome this resistance, an academic department developed and implemented an active…

Ethnic studies programs have recently been the target of positive and negative scrutiny in both the K-12 system and in 4-year institutions. There is a critical disconnect in the research on ethnic studies in community colleges, which serve a large proportion of racially minoritized students. Moreover, studies tend ignore how ethnic studies courses…

Historically, the predominant narrative framing Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) is that they are monolithic and underperforming, inscribed in a false dichotomy as "Hispanic-Serving" or merely "Hispanic-Enrolling" (Núñez, Hurtado, & Calderón Galdeano, 2015). Together, these narrative threads weave a deficit perspective…

Communication teachers have long been concerned with the development of students' oral communication competencies. Regrettably, public speaking remains one of the most feared communicative contexts. Though there has been extensive interest in cognitive/behavioral strategies for alleviating communication apprehension, there has been surprisingly…

This qualitative case study sought understanding of unique mentoring relationships of six faculty ambassadors and nine Hispanic first-generation students (HFGS) as part of a first-year initiative program. The single site was a career college in Texas, Taylor College. There were three research questions to guide inquiry comprised of six faculty…

This Special Issues Brief from the Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability and Reform (CEEDAR Center) and the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders (GTL Center) outlines essential features for providing high-quality, structured, and sequenced opportunities to practice within teacher preparation programs. This brief is…

Across the United States, a growing number of colleges are redesigning their programs and student support services according to the "guided pathways" model. Central to this approach are efforts to clarify pathways to program completion, career advancement, and further education. Equally essential are efforts to help students explore…