Search Results

open access

Listening to the Freshman Voice: First-year Self-efficacy and College Expectations Based on High School Types

Description: This quantitative study used Astin's I-E-O theory to explore the relationship between a college freshman's high school background and academic self-efficacy. The Beginning College Survey of Student Engagement was used to measure academic self-efficacy across four types of high schools. Student gender and precollege experiences (dual-credit and communication assertiveness) were used as control. A total of 15,400 first-year students were included in this study. An ANOVA was used to examine the di… more
Date: May 2013
Creator: May, Paul B.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Lived Experiences of African American Community College Achievers in Developmental Education

Description: Developmental education courses are typically defined as courses offered at postsecondary institutions below college level instruction. More than 60% of community college students are deemed non-college ready and required to enroll in non-credit bearing developmental education courses. Research shows that developmental education can be either a bridge or barrier to degree attainment for racial/ethnic minority students, particularly African Americans, who require developmental education more tha… more
Date: May 2017
Creator: Hicks, Janice Marie
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Living-learning communities and ethnicity: A study on closing the achievement gap at Regional University

Description: This quasi-experimental study examined the impact of living-learning communities on GPA and fall-to-fall retention rates for college freshmen at Regional University (RU). The specific focus of this study was the effect of these communities on students of different ethnic groups and on the potential of these communities to reduce the academic performance gap. RU was a small public university that offered both undergraduate and graduate degree programs. RU required all freshman students to live o… more
Date: May 2010
Creator: Bewley, Jason Loyd
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Marianismo and Community College Persistence: a Secondary Data Analysis of the Educational Longitudinal Study 2002

Description: Hispanics represent the greatest U.S. population growth, yet Hispanic women are the least educated of all U.S. ethnic female groups and reflect the lowest college enrollment as a percent of their total population. Since nearly half of Hispanics enrolled in college are served by community colleges, this research sought to understand if marianismo, i.e., the cultural expectations that Hispanic women females must focus on caretaking and mothering while reflecting passivity, duty and honor, and se… more
Date: August 2014
Creator: LaCoste, Linda
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Master Therapists' Decision Making Process Concerning Adolescent Confidentiality: A Grounded Theory Approach

Description: Ethical codes and laws provide counselors with guidance for how to approach confidentiality, but there is a gap in the literature surrounding counselors' process of decision-making when managing confidentiality with adolescent clients. This study explored the decision-making process of master therapists concerning adolescent clients. I conducted semi-structured interviews with peer identified master therapist (N=10), all of whom were licensed professional counselors with 15 or more years of c… more
Date: May 2016
Creator: Michero, Emily
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Medical School Admissions Across Socioeconomic Groups: An Analysis Across Race Neutral and Race Sensitive Admissions Cycles

Description: While the relationship between academic variables and admission into medical school has been well documented, the relationship between socioeconomic background and admission has not been extensively examined. In 2001, the Texas Legislature passed HB 1641, which allowed for the use of socioeconomic variables in the admission of graduate and professional school students. Additionally, the Grutter v. Bollinger decision in 2003 removed a prohibition on the use of race or ethnicity in the admissio… more
Date: May 2010
Creator: Kennedy, Mike
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Mentoring in Higher Education Music Study: Are Good Teachers Mentors?

Description: This quantitative study examined the correlation between how college level music students rated their teachers on the Fowler/O'Gorman Mentor Functions Questionnaire and how they perceived two aspects of their private music lessons: 1) to what extent they perceived their relationship with their teachers as positive, and 2) to what extent they perceived their teachers as good. The respondents for this study were 295 undergraduate and graduate music majors studying at 5 private universities or mus… more
Date: August 2010
Creator: McCowen, Heather V.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Mentors' Perceptions of Online-Educated Principal Interns

Description: This qualitative study centered on perceptions of the quality and effectiveness of online-educated principal interns from the viewpoint of principal mentors. Six current principals who have served as mentors to both online and traditionally educated principal interns were asked to name characteristics of successful interns, to discuss to what degree those characteristics have been observed in online-educated principal interns and to share their perceptions of the quality and effectiveness of on… more
Date: May 2016
Creator: Coomer, Traci L.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Missing Piece of the Puzzle: A Study of How First-Generation Latino Male College Students Acquire Cultural Capital

Description: This study aimed to take asset-based approach and identify Latino male students who were persisting in college, and to identify what strategies made them successful. This qualitative study consulted Tinto's revised student departure model, Bourdieu's theory of cultural capital, as well as Yosso's theory of community cultural wealth. A phenomenological design was utilized to identify the shared experience of first-generation Latino male college students who had persisted in college and maintai… more
Date: December 2019
Creator: Portillo, Pedro Atilano-Molina
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

A Mixed Method Analysis of Undergraduate Student-run Public Relations Firms on U.S. College Campuses

Description: Student-run public relations firms are part of collegiate public relations pedagogy, and this study used a mixed-method approach to analyze such firms on U.S. campuses. A listing of campuses with student-run firms was created as part of this study. Through an online survey questionnaire, advisers from 55 of the 119 student-run firms provided data about firm characteristics and observations about student learning and career development. Multiple correspondence analyses was used to see if the fir… more
Date: August 2010
Creator: Maben, Sarah Kathleen
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

A Mixed-Methods Approach to the Experiences of Non-Offending Parents of Children who have Experienced Sexual Abuse Participating in Child Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT)

Description: When a child has been sexually abused, the non-offending parent and child may benefit from an intervention aimed at enhancing the parent child relationship. This mixed-methods study examined the process of child parent relationship therapy (CPRT) with non-offending parents of children who had been sexually abused. One purpose of the present study was to examine change in parent-child relationship, child behavior, and parent empathy of non-offending parents whose children have been sexually abus… more
Date: August 2010
Creator: West, Brooke E.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Motivating Factors for Philanthropy at a Ministry Preparation Graduate Institution

Description: A qualitative case study was conducted to determine whether major donors to an institution of higher education that existed to prepare ministers and missionaries were perceived by the institution's leaders as motivated by organizational effectiveness, financial efficiency, or evaluations by donor watchdog agencies. The case study was conducted with the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics. The interview process was utilized to gain information individually from the president, a developme… more
Date: May 2013
Creator: Reimer, Jay Paul
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Narratives on College Access and Academic Undermatch: Understanding Latinx Students and Their Families

Description: When students are academically qualified to attend a four-year college or university but instead enroll at a community college, they are considered academically undermatched. Research suggests that Latinx students are more likely to academically undermatch than their peers yet they remain the least likely to complete an upward transfer to a university and earn a baccalaureate degree. The purpose of this study was to explore the enrollment decisions of, and familial influences on, Latinx student… more
Date: August 2017
Creator: Olivarez, Catherine Prieto
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

NCAA Violations and Institutional Self-Sanctions: Assessing the Impact on Alumni Charitable Contributions

Description: The growing commercialism within Division I big-time athletics has raised the financial stakes for universities, as successful athletic programs benefit from increased opportunities for financial gain. This has contributed to a pervasive "win culture" that drives institutions to seek competitive advantages, and as a side effect, NCAA rule violations have become incentivized. Programs whose infractions go unnoticed may benefit from the competitive advantage gained, but for programs investigated … more
Date: May 2019
Creator: Thomas-Seltzer, Ashley
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

On Their Own: How Thirty-One Tribal Colleges Address Five Educational Concepts

Description: This qualitative research, specifically a content analysis of 31 tribal colleges' mission statements and curricula, examined how the colleges' curricula aligned with the five educational concepts suggested in the colleges' mission statements. Cajete's (1994) seven foundations to indigenous thinking proved to be a major theoretical framework which provided a worldview for tribal learning. The study concluded that whereas the five educational concepts aligned between mission statements and curr… more
Date: May 2010
Creator: Riding In, Leslie D.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Organizational Perspectives of Faculty and Administrators in a Southwest Community College District

Description: This quantitative study analyzed data from ModernThink’s Best Places to Work survey to describe if employees of different ethnic groups in a community college district held similar or different perspectives on aspects of the work place. ModernThink’s survey describes the perspectives of employees from the view of the individual, the workgroup, and the organization on the competencies of organizational: leadership, communication, respect, and alignment. The study analyzed responses from 457 fa… more
Date: August 2011
Creator: Jackson, Zena McClellan
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

A Panel Analysis of Institutional Finances of Medical Residencies at Non-University-Based Independent M.D. Granting Medical Schools in the United States

Description: Traditionally, medical residency positions have been primarily funded by the federal government. However, due to declining governmental funding support over time, medical schools have resorted to fund these programs through other means such as clinical fees and payments for services. This change has affected the number and types of residencies available to medical school graduates. The purpose of this study was to measure how the availability of fiscal resources shape mission-related outputs, p… more
Date: May 2017
Creator: Cho, Ah Ra
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Parental Rights: Curriculum Opt-outs in Public Schools

Description: The purposes of this dissertation were to determine the constitutional rights of parents to shield their children from exposure to parts of the public school curriculum that the parents find objectionable on religious, moral, or other grounds and to determine the statutory rights of parents to remove, or opt-out, their children from objectionable parts or all of the public school curriculum as set forth in the statutes of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Many pivotal federal court ca… more
Date: August 2010
Creator: Rogers, Tommy Kevin
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Perceived Effects of a Mid-length Study Abroad Program

Description: The focus of the study was the University of Dallas’ Rome Program, a mid-length study abroad program on the university’s campus in Rome, Italy. The program is designed to provide participants with the opportunity to encounter firsthand Western tradition by integrating the core curriculum through classroom teachings and class excursions, thus solidifying the foundation of the participants’ undergraduate education. Beyond this purpose, the Rome Program does not operate from established goals and … more
Date: May 2012
Creator: Corbin, Jill K.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Perceived Value Among Employers of College Study Abroad for Engineers

Description: Engineering graduates of the twenty-first century must be worldly and understand how to work with professionals from many cultures on projects that cross international boundaries. Increasingly, employers are finding that prospective employees who have studied abroad make better, more rounded candidates than those who have no life experience outside of their home region. The objective of this study was to determine whether engineering students who participate in a major-specific, study abroad ex… more
Date: August 2012
Creator: Heiden, Christopher H.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Perceptions of Policymakers on the Transfer Pathway in Texas Public Higher Education

Description: Community college students transfer to public universities experiencing a pathway filled with complexity and inequity. Transfer students are not able to graduate at the same pace as native students at the university and complete their baccalaureate degrees 18% below the rate of native students. Policymakers have attempted to address the baccalaureate gap. This qualitative study explored the perspectives of Texas policymakers and policy influencers on the efficacy of policies intended to impr… more
Date: May 2016
Creator: Faris, Kimberly A.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Persistence Patterns of Mathematics and Science Majors: A Profile of Highly Motivated Freshmen

Description: Despite an increasing demand for college graduates skilled in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics ("STEM") fields, a substantial number of students who choose these majors leave after taking their first-year "gateway" math and science coursework. Research has shown GPA to be a salient predictor of persistence in STEM majors: Students who earn high grades in gateway courses are more likely to continue, and those who earn low grades are more likely to leave. However, a small number … more
Date: August 2016
Creator: Gonzales, Erin E.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Personalities and Pipelines: Exploring the Role of Personality in Student Self-selection Into Stem Majors

Description: Despite all the national efforts to increase STEM enrollment in the United States, the gap between the U.S. and other developed countries in terms of STEM graduates has widened over the last 20 years. Researchers have studied factors such as gender, race, high school GPA, and the student’s socioeconomic status for their impact on STEM enrollment. This study offers another possible explanation of why students might choose, or not choose, to enroll in STEM majors by examining the relationship bet… more
Date: May 2012
Creator: Simpson, Patricia
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

A Phenomenological Exploration of Counselors' Experiences in Personal Therapy

Description: Professional counselors may choose to increase self-awareness and/or engage in self-care through the use of personal therapy. In particular, counselors may feel reluctant to pursue personal therapy due to stigma related to their professional identity. To date, researchers have paid limited attention to the unique concerns of counselors in personal therapy. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore counselors' experiences and decision-making in seeking personal therapy. I address… more
Date: May 2017
Creator: Bevly, Cynthia M.
Partner: UNT Libraries
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