Women bring diversity, innovation, and leadership to higher education institutions, which is often disregarded (Renn & Hughes, 2004). This participatory action research study explores women's experiences before, during, and after the COVID-19 component using a feminist lens. This study examines the obstacles facing women in the workplace that…

Kenya strives to achieve education for all to contribute to its development needs. Like other countries globally, Kenya's national education goals aim to educate its citizens to play important roles in the economy. To measure this trajectory on its citizens, evaluation has become a critical tool used by decision-makers to seek evidence and assist…

This study explored the educational journeys of 17 Black Ph.D. students who attended a large, public Predominantly White Institution (PWI) of higher education in the Midwestern United States. At the time of data collection, each participant was enrolled in one of five different Ph.D. academic programs in the university's Education College (EU).…

Secondary English Language Arts classrooms are spaces where teachers can pursue justice through curricular, pedagogical, assessment, and discretionary decisions they make, using popular asset (i.e., cultural modeling, culturally responsive pedagogy) and justice pedagogies (i.e., critical literacies, culturally sustaining pedagogy, restorative…

Many institutions have turned to individualized holistic review to make admissions decisions, which is meant to take a comprehensive view of the quantitative and qualitative elements that comprise a single application. Prior research shows holistic review lacks a common definition and the gap between theory and practice has not been thoroughly…

School attendance is a valuable key element in promoting academic achievement and determining student success inside and outside the classroom. However, due to the unforeseen circumstances of a deadly contagious, airborne disease, known as COVID-19, the pandemic has created the largest disruption within the education system in history, affecting…

Latinas are underrepresented in top level leadership positions in higher education, comprising a small fraction of the 5% of women of color who serve as college and university presidents. Recent data revealed that the number of Latinas in senior-level leadership positions decreased, signaling a concerning downward trend. While much research has…

As a growing number of higher education institutions commit to first-generation student success, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers should aim to better understand how to deliver on promises to first-generation students within institutions and across the higher education landscape. First-generation students are a particularly important…

Collegians arrive to their campus' steeped in self-concept derived from their pre-campus contexts and experiences. Student experiences have ranges in their cultural distance or proximity to the values proclaimed by their institution. Ultimately, the degree of congruence with their campus' values influence ways students make meaning of their…

The COVID-19 pandemic has threatened to widen racial educational achievement and attainment gaps in the United States, reinforcing a need to understand how education policy can work to advance racial equity. Dual enrollment (DE) programs offer a potential policy solution that could increase college-going for these students as participation has…

My dissertation consists of three chapters in the field of labor and education economics. The first chapter studies the impact of early morning classes on students' educational trajectories. The second chapter explores how college course shutouts affects students' educational outcomes. The third chapter investigates the impact of kindness on wage…

The current study examined the impact of a pre-matriculation social belonging intervention on the academic achievement of incoming first-time, full-time college students at a four-year public university in the Midwestern United States utilizing a secondary analysis of existing data. The theoretical framework was viewed through the lens of…

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe the experiences of students formally enrolled in a California community college promise program at Mountain View Community College, Lakeview Community College, Hillcrest Community College, and Ocean Valley Community College, each located in Southern California. The…

Even in a higher education environment characterized by a shift in student interest and funding sources towards STEM programs, some religious studies programs are able to expand at state universities. Prior research on curriculum, the development of the humanities, and organization decisions more broadly points to a complex array of factors…

The purpose of this study was to to determine whether there is a relationship between management characteristics of writing center directors and the ability for writing centers to overcome challenges as perceived by writing center directors at public, four-year, historically black colleges/universities. This study also provides directors with…