International students' adjustment has been studied for many years. However, "first-generation" international students have not been adequately explored. International students and first-generation students both have many obstacles they must navigate and adapt to quickly to succeed in school. This study aimed to better understand who…

Latinas continue to be underrepresented in doctoral studies, and there are many barriers that they encounter while pursuing a doctoral degree. This qualitative phenomenological study documents the experiences, challenges, and life events that Latina doctoral students face while pursuing a doctoral degree. The primary research question guiding the…

This qualitative case study focuses on the pivotal role of an urban elementary school leadership team with a newcomer program. It aims to uncover how school leadership decisions, practices, and policies address the diverse needs of newcomer students. Challenges faced by newcomers, including economic and social needs, cultural adjustments, and…

This Education Leadership Portfolio (ELP) documents my efforts to enhance the transition experiences of international students at the University of Delaware by optimizing orientation programming. Orientation programming for international students consists of pre-arrival orientation, upon-arrival orientation, and extended orientation, which are…

Colleges may not be prepared to support veteran students transitioning from the military to higher education, resulting in more significant attrition levels for veteran students struggling to adapt to their new surroundings. This qualitative phenomenological study examined the experiences of post-9/11 veteran students as they transitioned from the…

Some effective components of effective transition programs include using a freshman academy or school-within-a-school model, teacher and peer mentoring and summer bridge programs. This study analyzed the effectiveness of the Gold Program, a middle to high school transition program for at-risk youth in a large urban high school in the southwestern…

The purpose of this study is to examine the perceptions of adult learners in a first-year seminar course at Columbia State Community College, located in middle Tennessee, to determine if the content of the course has an impact on the learners' adjustment to college. With the statewide initiative to reach a goal of 55% of the state's population…

The problem of practice focused on international students and their vital importance to U.S. colleges and universities. The purpose of this action research study was to discover and develop a way to better support international students at Sandy University, a large private higher education institution in the Northeast, allowing them to succeed in…

First-generation African American students often find it challenging transitioning from high school to college. Despite facing challenges, many of these students enroll and persist to degree attainment. The purpose of this study is to explore the lived experiences of first-generation African American college students at PWIs. This qualitative,…

This qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of first-generation Black male students attending a Historically Black University utilizing transition factors impacting their successful transition as perceived by the student. Schlossberg's Adult Transition Theory (Goodman et al., 2006), for the theoretical framework,…

This dissertation uses an ethnographic approach, observations, field notes, and interviews to analyze how Chicanx/Latinx students create counter-spaces to cultivate their epistemological needs and validate their identities within a predominantly white institution (PWI). The project uses the "Nopalera" Framework created by an artist…

The purpose of this study was to learn from the experience of adopting a deliberately developmental approach to delivering the co-curriculum to first- and second-year undergraduate students on a residential college campus to better equip them to navigate the increasingly complex future that awaits them. The project's goal was to create conditions…

Utilizing the Symbolic Cultural Theory as espoused by Deal and Kennedy (1982), Deal and Peterson (1999, 2016), Bolman and Deal (2003, 2013) and Harris (2005, 2015), this qualitative study explored how cultural symbols support academic and social needs of at-risk students in a selected alternative education setting. The study focused on the…

This qualitative study examined the perceptions of Caribbean immigrant college students on the teacher-student relationship on engagement. The study was conducted at a community college located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The study focused on the lived experiences of these students who have had schooling in the Caribbean and…

Increasingly, students with disabilities are attending college and using accommodations to ensure equal access to academics and college life. Students with disabilities have insight into their accommodations, have opinions on the instructional practices that support their learning, and have thoughts about the abrupt transition to remote education…