Despite the important role organic chemistry plays in a wide range of industries, the undergraduate organic chemistry course sequence is considered to be difficult for and feared by students. Although work has been done to identify and address student difficulties within the cognitive and psychomotor domains, little work has focused on…

Background: Problematic trends have been identified with student travel that perpetuate hierarchies of power in outdoor recreation. Little research has examined the impact of bias, racism, or political national meta-narratives regarding immigration and people crossing the border on students who enter areas where cultural differences exist.…

Beliefs about conducting research and completing major projects, such as a thesis or marketing campaign, suggest that previous experience, guidance from a mentor, and cohesive teams are particularly important in boosting the confidence to conduct research in graduate students (i.e., research self-efficacy). Although these factors are also thought…

The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to investigate how first-year college students describe their experiences with stress and coping. This study sought to understand what coping mechanisms first-year college students use when they experience stress. Prior to this dissertation, it was not known how first-year college students describe…

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) has been widely used as a strong indicator of loyalty and growth in organizations. However, despite extensive use in various industries, its application in higher education has been limited. To address this gap, we explore the use of NPS in the identification and investigation of the characteristics as well as…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how college-bound Generation Z students describe higher education institutions' use of social media as a marketing tool during their college choice experience in Texas. The foundation for the study was the college choice model from Hossler and Gallagher that identified three phases…

In this article, I examine how a sample of principals in Texas and West Virginia made sense of the learning experiences of kindergarteners and how such sensemaking appeared to affect them as instructional leaders. Examining these issues creates the opportunity to consider the types of support school leaders might need to address the changing…

This critical discourse analysis study examines Latinx primary and secondary school teacher candidates' (TCs) struggles with raciolinguistic ideologies that connect speaking Spanish to being authentically Latinx. Data came from a larger qualitative project, in which these TCs engaged in reflexive language ideology and awareness tasks, as part of…

This transcendental phenomenological study will explore the lived experiences of Southern Texas Mexican American/Chicana women pursuing a doctorate. The Chicana's experience achieving a doctorate has been overlooked by the literature, with much of the research on Mexican American women being outdated or focusing on completing high school or…

The purpose of this study is to explore the parental factors that impact Hispanics' post-secondary education completion. This is an important social issue as prior literature has indicated that educated parents have a strong influence on their children's abilities, knowledge, and values. For this study, 20 in-depth, semi-structured interviews of…

Community colleges play an essential role in providing student-athletes with the opportunity to continue to pursue athletics and go to college. Community college student-athletes' experiences, specifically those of female student-athletes, are critical to examine. Female student-athletes have unique academic and social experiences that can…

This study explored the lived experiences of Black male mentees mentored by female staff in high school school-based mentoring (SBM) programs. Specifically, it identified how their relationship achieved the four components of relational-cultural theory to improve academic achievement and support graduation. According to TEA (2022b), Black students…

Entrepreneurship education (EE) is a hot topic and has gained the attention and interest of scholars in the United States and globally. Despite the growth of EE, scholars have been marginalizing the impact of EE at the community college level and there is a dearth of studies in this area (Liguori et al. 2019; Mars & Ginter 2012). Therefore, I…

Transitioning away from high school to postsecondary life can be a complicated process for any young person. This process can be made more difficult for students with disabilities if options are not put in place before they leave high school. This is where the transition process becomes an important development to help guide students with…

As the hospitality and tourism workforce evolves high school Career and Technology Education (CTE) hospitality and tourism programs must remain relevant and innovative (Gauthier, 2020). One of the main goals of offering hospitality and tourism as a program of study during high school is to transition graduates into the hospitality and tourism…