This dissertation, my scholarly professional narrative (SPN), is a self-reflection of mentoring experiences as a Latina millennial in academia and professional settings. These experiences are told through the art of storytelling using "testimonio," which promotes critical awareness of cultural intersectionality and intercultural…

The purpose of this naturalistic study is to explore, through the lens of cultural theory, how selected school contexts adapted roles and responsibilities in educational processes during three of the COVID-19 pandemic phases: (a) infection, (b) social distancing, and (c) management. The COVID-19 pandemic forced educators and the districts in which…

School districts have attempted to implement many programs, initiatives, and frameworks to promote positive student behavior. However, despite these attempts, there remain inequitable student behavior outcomes in many public schools. Educational leaders who hold the position of building administrator in a public school district in Oklahoma were…

The overarching aim of this dissertation is to expand evidence and theory of adult identity processes in the context of environmental stewardship, as well as to provide knowledge and recommendations to environmental stewardship and environmental education professionals. The intent is to better understand variation in how adult environmental…

Arab faculty faced challenges building collegial relationships and positive classroom environments due to the discrimination they faced from colleagues and students. This discrimination took the form of microaggressions which included: microassaults; microinsults; and microinvalidations. This phenomenological study concluded that Arab faculty…

Educational services for Native Americans within the United States have traditionally been used to assimilate Native Americans into what would be recognized today as the mainstream White Christian culture. The problem is that Native American scholars have a lower academic achievement rate and graduation rate than other scholars. The purpose of…

Different teaching and learning strategies have informed physics educators on addressing the cultural meanings and practices of physics that have sustained homogeneity within university programs. However, literature evidence physics learning environments are under-theorized in dismantling homogeneity and conceptually changes physics student…

The purpose of this study was to identify malleable practices in the homes of Spanish-speaking toddlers prior to school enrollment. This was achieved by examining daily activities and routines and the role older siblings played in these interactions to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of the home language and literacy environment and…

This qualitative study sought to provides insights around the central research question, "What role does a school employee's cultural lens play in the cohesiveness and effectiveness among multi-national teams serving in private domestic and international schools within the Association of Christian Schools International and Network of…

This research study proposes to examine the cultural intelligence of international student support staff, which in turn serves as an indicator for international student engagement and the acculturation outcomes of international students on university campuses in the state of Louisiana. In this study, the major theoretical construct, student…

Despite significant cultural attention on the phenomenon of school shootings, one of the most predictive dimensions of these tragedies is under-analyzed: gender. Men commit 98% of mass shootings, but robust discussion and research on this relationship is lacking. This dissertation investigates the relationship between masculinity and gun violence…

This dissertation answers the following research question: How does Christian hegemony influence sense of belonging for students of minoritized religions on a college campus? Institutions of higher education claim to be secular and inclusive spaces for their students (Jacobsen & Jacobsen, 2012; Joshi, 2020; Jun et al., 2018; Lang &…

The field of modern counseling is conceptualized through a lens of social justice advocacy with professionals tasked with actively engaging in advocacy efforts. However, counselor education has been slower to make systemic changes needed to decolonize and dismantle the field to prepare future counselors with the skills needed to adequately address…

Today, about 350 languages are spoken and signed in the United States, many of which are heritage languages (HL). A HL is a language to which a speaker has an ethnic, historical, or sentimental connection. This dissertation reports on an ethnographic case study on the language and literacy socialization practices of one trilingual family (English,…

Although ample research investigates students' belongingness experiences in counselor education (CE) programs, existing literature only marginally explores the realities of Black master students, and there is a notable lack of empirical attention to Black doctoral students' belongingness experiences in counselor education and supervision (CES)…