This basic qualitative interview study explored the perceptions of 18 gender-expansive individuals for whom gender identity exists beyond society's binary construct of gender. Participants have been or are employees or students at a four-year public higher education institution in southern California. This study examined participants' perceptions…

The role of higher education continues to evolve beyond teaching and academic learning. Faculty and staff can enrich academic experiences and foster a culture of care by promoting the importance of meaning and purpose with students and colleagues. Some scholars argue that higher education has been deficient in creating places of deep, holistic,…

Few studies address the lived experiences of transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) students in engineering. Grounded in critical trans politics (Spade, 2015), this dissertation contributes to the literature on TGNC students in engineering by examining their experiences negotiating their identities while navigating interrelated systems of…

Retaining students in higher education is ever-changing, requiring continual evaluation and institutional commitment to ensure measures are implemented to meet the varying demands of today's college students. Student-athletes make up a large percentage of the overall student population on many college campuses, thus, warranting further research to…

Higher education diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives have become an imperative for institutional change in an ever-changing pluralistic society. The impact of diversity on college campuses has come a long way since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Chang, 2005), but there is still needed work. Higher education institutions continue to…

Despite evidence showing the resilience and success of many Transgender students in higher education and the increasing prevalence of supportive campus policies, this is an emergent population with growing, varying, and diverse needs that are often not met by institutions and practitioners. The Southeast is a unique place for the LGBTQ+ community…

Despite there being numerous studies on leadership, persistence, and sense of belonging, there are few studies that examine these constructs for student employees who work in student unions. The number of students employed, on or off campus, while working on a degree is increasing (Watanabe, 2005). One of the places on campus where students can…

Persistence of first-year, full-time students toward graduation at U.S. community colleges poses concerns for administrators, faculty, and policymakers. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of faculty members teaching a college success seminar at an urban multicampus community college on what impedes or supports the persistence…

The integration of behavioral sensing and Artificial Intelligence (AI) has increasingly proven invaluable across various domains, offering profound insights into human behavior, enhancing mental health monitoring, and optimizing workplace productivity. This thesis presents five pivotal studies that employ smartphone, wearable, and laptop-based…

This dissertation explores the intricate dynamics between the self-perceptions of undergraduate mathematics (UM) educators and their conceptions of excellent teaching practices conducive to student learning. Employing a sequential mixed methods approach, the study addresses two primary research questions. First, it investigates educators'…

Latinx student enrollment in higher education institutions has been increasing and will continue to rise (McFarland et al., 2018), yet Latinx students have lower degree completion rates than their peers from other racial and ethnic backgrounds (National Center for Education Statistics, 2019). Higher education institutions need to learn directly…

African American male enrollment in higher education has been declining for decades and African American male completion rates in higher education continue to demonstrate wide disparities. Explanations for these statistics are too often framed through deficit lenses that reinforce negative stereotypes about the motivations and capabilities of…

First-generation, minority, undergraduate students experiencing the imposter phenomenon need more support programs in their transition to higher education. This study focused on examining how students experience the imposter phenomenon and also identifying the additional strategies and support that those in academic advising offices can implement.…

In this study, I examined ways in which Black undergraduate students perceive student success and how those perceptions are influenced by institutional power structures. In historically and predominantly white institutions, the structural conditions of anti-Blackness are endemic to the college experience and can influence how students perceive…

First-generation college students are a population of students who are often under-served in higher education institutions. Previous research indicates their well-being is impacted by their experiences within the collegiate environment, which contributes to their lower retention and graduation rates. The purpose of this qualitative research study…