Research demonstrated peer-to-peer mentoring provides advanced or experienced undergraduate students the opportunity to play a significant role in impacting an individual's leadership values, especially values of citizenship, commitment and collaboration (Hirsh et al., 2021). The action research study explored the expansion of peer mentor…

Only two percent of teachers in the United States are African American males (Wallace & Gagen, 2019). If this trend continues, the vast majority of students in America will never encounter an African American male teacher (Burns Thomas, 2020). The purpose of this research study was to explore the motivations and obstacles that African American…

Nationally, schools in the United States struggle to recruit and retain highly qualified teachers. Previous research supports using teacher pedagogy training and mentorship to increase retention. This study examines the use of mentorship in a high school Grow Your Own teacher training program and student career selection. The action research study…

The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study was to gain insight into the factors that influence male elementary teachers' decisions to remain in the classroom. Eight current male elementary classroom teachers with at least 5 years of experience were interviewed regarding their lived experiences as male elementary school teachers. The…

The Auburn University Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) degree program has enrolled fewer women in comparison to their male counterparts in each cohort since the inception of the program. The percentage of women has varied year-to-year but has never exceeded 35%. As women continue to increase their roles in upper management in the…

Adjunct faculty are important to academe and have been part of community colleges since the early 20th century, providing community colleges flexibility with student enrollment by filling instruction needs while keeping salaries manageable. Rural community college adjunct faculty bring industry expertise and many other positives to their work.…

From the 1930s through modern times, African Americans have faced marginalization regarding equal access to higher-paying job opportunities, including job opportunities in the information technology (IT) industry. This study adopts social capital theory as its framework to investigate the influence of social capital on individuals' careers,…

The national teacher shortage in the United States is a problem that has been steadily growing since the turn of the century (Sutcher et al., 2016; Sutcher et al., 2019; U.S. Government Accountability Office [U.S. GAO], 2022). Two of the main factors of this shortage are the decreased enrollment in teacher education programs and the retention of…

This research was conducted as a qualitative study of African American college students' racialized and academic experiences while completing the teacher preparation program at their respective universities. This study was carried out at three predominantly White institutions (PWIs) of varying sizes in rural, urban, and suburban cities in the…

Increasing diversity in the physician workforce is critical to eliminating healthcare disparities (Abelson et al., 2018; Washington et al., 2017). Although there are many proven benefits to increasing racially and ethnically diverse medical faculty, representation of these groups remains relatively low compared with their White counterparts and…

California Bay Area school districts are experiencing a teacher shortage that threatens to further widen the opportunity gap for schools with the neediest student populations. Financial incentives, administrator support levels, appropriate and consistent professional development, and mentoring are often cited as areas that cause teachers to leave…

This interpretive phenomenological study explored the lived experience of rural high school principals in New York State and developed an understanding of why they choose to remain in their role as school leaders. The study answered two research questions: "What role, if any, does self-efficacy play in the sustainability of rural high school…

I conducted this study to determine if rural scholars faced unique challenges as applicants to medical schools. I created a 34-question, novel survey, "Challenges of Medical School Applicants," and broadly distributed it to medical schools across the country. I collected and analyzed a total of 178 responses. Rural and urban cohorts were…

Exploring methods to diversify the teacher workforce has grown over the years as the United States becomes increasingly more diverse. However, diversifying the teaching workforce has been met with challenges due to various factors, including an overall declining teacher workforce, fewer minority candidates entering the field of education, and the…

This study investigated the mentorship experiences of TK-12 teachers of Color (TOCs) with community college students aspiring to be teachers and how it informed their growth and development into Murrell's (2000) definition of a "community teacher." Through analysis of 15 interviews with teachers of Color involved in the Community…