This article traces the efforts made by Boise State's General Education program--University Foundations--and an undergraduate researcher to improve understanding of general education on campus. Undergraduate students often struggle to understand general education's goals. In order to improve this understanding, University Foundations committed…

This study aimed to understand how students with intellectual disability perceived mentoring relationships with nondisabled peers within an inclusive mentoring course. Data sources included a variety of course-related products created by mentoring partners as well as their reflections on the course and their mentoring relationships. Qualitative…

Since the early 1970s, exponential and unprecedented growth of incarceration rates of Black youths became a critical issue. One in twenty persons, or 5% of the total United States population serve at least six months in federal state prisons by age 40. Recidivism rates in excess of 50% compounded the problem. The purpose of this qualitative…

Purpose: Peer mentoring programs in higher education settings support incoming students in their transition and adaptation to college life. Mentoring program evaluation research primarily focuses on student outcomes and documents mentoring relationship quality (MRQ) as an important component of programs that facilitate change. The current study…

Adolescents' school engagement is associated with high school completion; yet, few studies have examined interventions to improve school engagement for English Learners (ELs). In this mixed-methods study, we conducted a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to examine the effects of two years of the "Check & Connect" intervention on…

Adolescents' school engagement is associated with high school completion; yet, few studies have examined interventions to improve school engagement for English Learners (ELs). In this mixed-methods study, we conducted a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to examine the effects of two years of the "Check & Connect" intervention on…

We describe the conceptual framework and practitioner-based study outcomes of a school-based substance use prevention intervention focused on strengthening student commitment to their personal vision. This study found increases related to goal clarity and identification of a mentor following the intervention. We suggest implications for future…

The purpose of this non-experimental study was to examine doctoral graduates' satisfaction with the mentoring provided by their dissertation chairs. The relationships between doctoral students and their dissertation chairs can positively or negatively influence a doctoral student's dissertation journey. The researcher developed and validated a…

Drawing on interviews with 70 college peer socialization agents (PSAs) across 42 U.S.-based institutions of higher education, this study explores how PSAs create "underlives" (Goffman, 1961) in response to their roles and expectations for communicating institutional messages about diversity. Findings from this study illuminate the ways…

Preparing graduate students for teaching careers in academia can involve myriad approaches. One such approach is facilitating authentic teaching opportunities for graduate students. The purpose of this multiple case study was to chronicle the perspectives of four humanities graduate students as they participated in a mentored teaching experience…

This paper draws from a collaborative project in which we piloted a Critical Multilingual Language Awareness approach (CMLA) in a preparatory class for recently arrived secondary school students in Sweden. We adapted material on Language Awareness from "We Are Multilingual" (https://www.wamcam.org). This adapted approach followed the…

This research study, which was conducted at a large, urban research institution in the Midwestern region of the United States, explored the influence of faculty support on first-time master's student satisfaction in graduate school. Alexander Astin's (1993) Inputs, Environment, Outputs (I-E-O) Model was used to guide the study. Data were collected…

This paper presents the results of participatory action research survey responses from doctoral students regarding strategic onboarding activities. Twelve first-year doctoral students in an inaugural doctoral program cohort responded to Likert Scale and open-ended questions during the first week of a two-week on-campus residency. Resulting student…

Peer group mentoring is a dynamic, relational learning experience. In this paper, the authors explore the lived experiences of seven peer group mentoring participants -- representing three different peer mentoring groups. All seven participants were NCAA Division III female basketball athletes on the same team at the same institution in a…

This study aims to develop a playbook of best practices for balancing academics and athletics among Black male student-athletes (BMSA), addressing the increasing rates of academic setbacks. A comprehensive review of research data on interventions and programs, including insights from Balfanz et al. (2007), highlights the urgency of this issue.…