Available research discusses the first-generation undergraduate experience, graduate students' sense of belonging, and first-generation graduate students, but little research shows the themes that impact a first-generation graduate student's sense of belonging. Understanding the first-generation graduate students' experience as a marginalized…

School leaders and policymakers seek various pathways to help minority, low-income, and other historically underrepresented populations matriculate to college after graduating high school. However, many students are not fully prepared academically or non-academically to transition to college, making it challenging to persist through completion and…

Over the past 30 years, state funding for public higher education has decreased dramatically in the United States ("The Chronicle of Higher Education," 2014; National Education Association (NEA), 2022). As a result, many public universities have purposefully increased international student enrollment to help replace these vanishing state…

The purpose of this mixed-method pragmatic study was twofold: to identify the necessary classroom and campus supports student veterans require to create a veteran-inclusive environment. Additionally, the study investigated whether those supports differ for male and female student veterans. The United States has been at war for twenty years in…

Muslim students have a host of challenges and hurdles to overcome on colleges campuses today, particularly in light of the socio-political circumstances. With the rise in Islamophobia and hate crimes, coupled with day-to-day obstacles that minority students face in institutions of higher education, there is a noticeable gap in the services that…

This dissertation examines the perceptions of Latinx sense of belonging in a Midwest community college and how their academic and social experiences are impacted. Sense of belonging is meaningful to community college students because Latinx students are historically underserved in postsecondary education. The goal is to better understand the…

Higher education has long known the many challenges facing Black students at predominantly White institutions (PWIs) leading to lower Black student retention rates relative to their White peers. One factor contributing to retention rates among Black students at PWIs is their sense of belonging. There are many factors that contribute to a sense of…

Undocumented college students face a broad range of legal, political, financial, cultural/social, and psychological/emotional barriers and challenges to persisting and succeeding in their college journey. The purpose of this action research study was to train faculty and staff at Long Beach City College (LBCC) on the undocumented college…

The low six-year graduation rate among American college students has been the focus of higher education research and practice for decades. At the same time, the increase in the societal focus on weight status has coincided with an increase in the experience of weight bias and weightbased discrimination in educational settings. However, little…

As the amount of online information continues to grow along with the changing landscape in higher education, academic libraries are facing changes where academic library leaders are navigating new challenges. Academic libraries provide different services depending on the institution. Institutions with fewer than 10,000 students were the target…

Systemic climates based on economic and social inequity continue to contribute to the marginalization of underrepresented groups across society and on college campuses. Campus diversity in U.S. higher education has expanded in recent decades, creating new challenges for university communities. Despite the increased diversity among student and…

The growing number of U.S. engineering jobs signifies a need for more students to pursue engineering degrees. To increase access to engineering education, in 2015, Texas A&M University established Engineering Academies (EA) in cooperation with selected community colleges. The problem addressed in this study was a lack of knowledge about why…

This study examined how students perceive the impact of a mandatory first-year seminar course on their success and persistence at a 2-year institution. Specifically, the study focused on the influence of the course curriculum and objectives to promote success and perseverance and how the campus community supports student success and persistence.…

Purpose: This research aims to understand university faculty, staff, and administrators' role in advancing institutional change in justice, equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging (JEDIB) at Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI).Background. JEDIB initiatives have recently expanded across many U.S. higher education institutions, while HSIs are…

Colleges across the country are striving to ensure student safety, promote cultures of consent, and maintain compliance with the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act (Campus SaVE Act) through sexual violence prevention programs and education (Cox, 2018). These concepts are already complicated, but colleges and universities often gear their…