This research highlighted the critical importance of colleges and universities to prioritize the education of diverse students, foster inclusive communities, and cultivate awareness of inclusive learning environments. As higher education continues to evolve with an increasingly diverse student body, a one-size-fits-all institutional model is…

Although research has extensively documented international students' adjustment and acculturation challenges, the role of academic advising in assisting with such challenges has received scarce empirical attention. This phenomenological study explored how international students' communications with their academic advisors influenced their…

This dissertation focuses on identifying essential characteristics of initiatives that build cooperative relationships and solidarity to advance democratically engaged community-campus partnerships. As such, it involves understanding the conditions that undermine these relationships, the critical practices that strengthen them, and the role of…

Framed within pedagogical translanguaging, this qualitative case study explored university teachers' translanguaging practices in the bilingual space in English reading instruction. Data were gathered through class observations and semi-structured interviews with four teachers instructing English reading courses in the Bachelor of Education…

This study measured competencies and conceptual knowledge developed by undergraduates who participated in a 2-month interdisciplinary research project at a large urban university in Southeast US. Working in groups, students chose a shared topic of significant interest and examined it through the combined lens of multidisciplinary insights toward a…

The number of nontraditional students in colleges in the United States has been and is continuing to rise, but these students face difficulties that affect their motivation to persist towards graduation. Some of these difficulties include balancing multiple roles, including work, school and family demands, lack of support, financial constraints,…

Students' sense of community is at the heart of their college success and can be impacted by many factors, including staff, programming, and hall design, as well as demographic variables such as age, ethnicity, and gender. The purpose of this study is to investigate how gender and student housing type at a faith-based institution influence sense…

Considering critical roles of teachers in education, an increasing number of studies have investigated language teacher identity. Although many studies have reported nonnative English-speaking teachers' identity, few studies have explored native English-speaking teachers' (NESTs') professional identity. Taking poststructural approaches towards…

Due to Covid-19 and the inaccessibility of study abroad for some students, we successfully tested an alternative for building intercultural effectiveness -- a glocal classroom (GC) pedagogy highlighting assessment as learning. Over a 15-week course, the GC replicated the work context and job demands of expert global leaders and developed global…