Institutional researchers use skills from their diverse backgrounds to collect, analyze and report data about their institutions to stakeholders representing various interests and levels of data literacy. However, there is little research into how these professionals process data and none into what aspects are important to institutional…

Overview and Problem of Practice: The evaluation of student learning in higher education is of interest to many stakeholders including students, faculty, higher education administrators, employers, governmental entities, and accreditors. Despite this interest, many institutions struggle to successfully facilitate the process of evaluating student…

College and university enrollment has decreased nationwide every year for more than a decade as educational consumers increasingly question the value of higher education and discover alternatives to the traditional university system. Enrollment professionals seeking growth are tasked to develop and implement innovative solutions to address…

The purpose of the study is to examine the retention rates of Full-time, First-Time in College (FTIC) students by academic discipline and explore what services and university policies are available in each college to retain its students. While the data obtained from the Southern University Fact book for the years 2016 - 2020 examined the retention…

Most higher education institutions in the United States would not be able to answer, "how many LGBTQ+ students are at your school?" Rarely are colleges and universities asking students to self-identify their sexual or gender identity, leading to disconnect with the community, gaps of information, and difficulty with outreach. The purpose…

Missing values that fail to be appropriately accounted for may lead to reduced statistical power, biased estimators, reduced representativeness of the sample, and incorrect interpretations and conclusions (Gorelick, 2006). The current study provided an ontological perspective of data manipulation by explaining how statistical results can…

Employee turnover continues to be discussed as an outcome in Human Resources (HR), but comparatively few studies have examined the relationship between turnover as the independent variable and institutional outcomes. Although the call to HR practitioners has often been made over the past 20 years regarding the importance of tying HR programs and…

Planning for a pandemic influenza outbreak at a college or university cannot be done in a vacuum. Like any emergency plan, it needs to be a coordinated effort by a dedicated and unselfish group of individuals at the university pulling together a multitude of people and resources focused on a common goal. There is an ongoing struggle among…

IPEDS graduation rates have become de facto means for higher education accountability in the United States, used by the federal government, state and local agencies, non-profits and media to compare and rank institutions. IPEDS uses a limited subset of students, as well as an institutional perspective to measure graduation rate. Under this model,…

The purpose of this exploratory research study was to examine the perceptions of seven northeast United States, college-based, Peace Education program directors regarding their respective programs' characteristics and the challenges they face. This qualitative study was designed to fill a gap in the literature by examining the perceptions of…

Higher education is faced with a challenge to its traditional funding structure. As a result, academic programs must seek alternative sources of support. Chief among these sources is philanthropy in the form of major gifts. Insight into donor motivations and decision making when approached to consider a major gift may help to maximize the success…

Physician assistant (PA) program directors perform an essential role in the initiation, continuation, and development of PA education programs in the rapidly changing environments of both health care and higher education. However, only limited research exists on this academic leader. This study examined the leadership roles of PA program directors…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to analyze Miguel A. Nevárez's educational leadership style by focusing on his notable contributions to The University of Texas Pan American. The researcher defined leadership style as actions by the leader. After examining Nevárez's background to place his motivations and actions in proper context, this…

As the world is experiencing unprecedented changes and challenges, it is essential to develop educational approaches that enable current and future leaders to be effective in meeting them. To do so, education must foster transformation of the learner to achieve an inclusive, dynamic, and flexible approach to life. This dissertation involved a case…

This study intended to identify commonalities of fine arts programs at selected private liberal arts colleges and universities in order to ultimately develop an exemplary fine arts program in a similar setting. This study searched for answers to three research questions within the context of art, music, dance, and theatre. The first research…