Despite more than four decades of extensive research on student engagement and campus climate, researchers still do not know how to create undergraduate learning environments that promote student persistence. Undergraduate student graduation rate in the US has consistently hovered at around the 50 percent mark. In fact, the field of student engagement research is yet to arrive at consensus on how to define and measure campus climate and student engagement. The combination of the lack of definitional clarity and extreme complexity of some of the current models have made it challenging to translate student engagement theory into practice. The present dissertation takes a pragmatic approach to student engagement. First, it re-conceptualizes student engagement as a moderator of the relationship between student characteristics that predict academic success and their educational outcomes. The new conceptual model positions campus climate as the only component of student engagement that is within academic institutions' control and thus should be leveraged by institutions to promote student engagement on their campuses. Campus climate encompasses many aspects of student lives, not only their academic experiences. Second, this dissertation contains a systematic literature review of how campus climate and its relationship to student engagement is defined, discussed, and measured in the literature. The literature review identifies a critical gap: campus climate is studied exclusively from students' perspective and institutional perspective is not included. Third, a pragmatic action research study was conducted at a particular university and showed that substantial progress on promoting a pro-student campus climate can be achieved through the dialogue of all campus stakeholders. The results of this localized study were shared with a group of outside college administrators with a long term view of creating a community of practice as well as further refining the localized initiative. The dissertation concludes by unifying all of the studies together and suggests that if arenas for dialog are constructed -- that is the perspective and needs of all stakeholders are integrated, progress in both the theory and practice of student engagement can be made and tangible improvements to student outcomes may come about. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]