Problem: In Colombia, higher education plays a relevant role in developing human capital and equity, giving everyone the opportunity to access higher education. In particular, the government has been supporting public and private universities to open campuses in rural areas where guerrillas, the mafia, and paramilitary groups were fighting the…

This dissertation consists of three chapters that contribute to the fields of macroeconomics, economic development, and entrepreneurship. In the first chapter, "Entrepreneurship Selection and Performance in the U.S. and Across Countries: The Role of Human Capital," I seek to establish a set of stylized facts related to entrepreneurship…

Many postsecondary students in the United States exist at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities, such as race, socioeconomic status, (dis)ability, and legal status. Amidst a tumultuous sociopolitical context, a number of higher education institutions in the United States established Undocumented Student Resource Centers (USRCs),…

Parent and community involvement has always been a part of the public education system; from its inception in the early American colonies, local community control was a hallmark of schools. Today, with mandates present in the No Child Left Behind Act, the Race to the Top legislation, and amidst more pressing international comparisons, educators…

The purpose of this qualitative, modified exploratory case study was to explore how and the extent to which (i) Big Law partners describe their experience of their careers with respect to the PsyCap capacities of Hope, self-Efficacy, Resilience, Optimism (HERO) and the informal learning opportunities for developing PsyCap in Big Law; and (ii) Big…

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between vocational/ technical education (VTE) and economic growth in Nigerian. This purpose is motivated by the consideration that human capital development through enrolment in vocational and technical education is expected to stimulate economic growth. Quantitative correlational research…

This qualitative historical case study explored the experiences of corporate and non-corporate organizations involved in educational partnerships. There is significant documentation that supports educational partnerships as they relate to the benefits for students. These beneficial experiences for the students are evident and seem to drive the…

This research evaluates the role of urban universities in economic growth. The study employed inherently rich data from IPEDS to create a panel dataset aggregated at the county level for 1065 colleges and universities in the Middle Atlantic region of the US. Using linear regression analysis, this study found that increases in expenditure per…

In this dissertation, I argue that the entrepreneurship education literature might be undersocialized in its understanding of how entrepreneurship education programs (EEPs) impact entrepreneurial outcomes. I contend that this organizational context and the pedagogical approaches undertaken can arguably facilitate not only the development of…

Career and technical education (CTE) incorporates occupational skills, workforce readiness skills, and credentials that make high school graduates better prepared for the workforce. Students who complete CTE programs of study have higher employment rates after high school graduation and often go on to postsecondary education. For those who do not…

This dissertation consists of three chapters that study individual investment in human capital and the incidence of economic shocks. I use administrative data to answer these questions, developing and applying structural methods to analyze individual choices in combination with a careful consideration of research design. Chapter 1 studies the…

The purpose of this explanatory sequential study was to identify factors associated with Pell grant recipients' persistence in a community college setting and to understand the influence of institutional actors on the formation of academic capital. Students completed a survey designed to measure the formation of students' academic capital (St.…

I study the effect of higher education on lifecycle earnings and focus on three ways in which education may help drive earnings: the effect of higher education on one's skills, the effect on one's ability to accumulate new skills in the future, and the relationship between education and one's likelihood of unemployment. In the first chapter, I…

Economic development theory focuses on a country's human capital development which is its greatest resource. Human capital development is the empowerment of citizens which comes through education and training. A major player in this process is Community colleges which its mandate is to bridge the skills gap and attend to the academic needs of its…

This dissertation argues for an expansive understanding of academic fiction in the postwar period--specifically as associated with the rise and fall of the "Golden Age of the American University"--beyond the conventional forms of the campus and academic novel. Rather than restricting academic fiction solely to types of novels that are…