Field experiences during teacher preparation are fundamental to helping teacher candidates understand their future roles and responsibilities and can effectively prepare them to meet diverse student needs across a variety of contexts. This multiple case study examined the perspectives of three special education dual certification teacher…

This dissertation describes a qualitative research study that grows our understanding of the career development experiences, supports, and barriers of social entrepreneurs who are gifted adults (SEGA) so that we may nurture the career development of future SEGA. Research questions for this study probed the career development experiences, supports,…

Today's globally-recognized servant leadership philosophy was born from a series of essays written by Robert Greenleaf in the 1970s. In his manifesto, Greenleaf underscored how through the precedence of a desire to serve and then to lead, servant leaders are motivated to help meet the needs of others. Researchers identify various dimensions and…

Today's globally-recognized servant leadership philosophy was born from a series of essays written by Robert Greenleaf in the 1970s. In his manifesto, Greenleaf underscored how through the precedence of a desire to serve and then to lead, servant leaders are motivated to help meet the needs of others. Researchers identify various dimensions and…

The ASCA National Model charged professional school counselors with supporting the social-emotional/personal-social growth, development, and success of all students. The public school need for DAEP placement was driven by problematic behavior displayed by students, which spoke to the inadequate social-emotional/personal-social development of those…

The purpose of this case study was to explore how two people with language-based learning disabilities, who have graduated from Masters of Fine Arts Master's (MFA) programs describe their coping mechanisms, career aspirations, and identity development as a result of being involved in the creative arts. This qualitative study was conducted with…

The purpose of this study was to explore the life experiences of individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This phenomenological study focused on adults ages 18 to 40. The research questions posed were: (a) What barriers or successful strategies do individuals with ADHD encounter as they make their way through the…

The focus of this basic qualitative research was to gain insight into the experiences of first-generation Hispanic students (FGHS) and faculty mentors to explore in what ways, if any, a faculty-student mentoring program at a four-year university was meeting the needs of FGHS. Reasons for early student departure served as the foundation for this…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was two-fold: to investigate the dialog about psychosocial aspects of health care in problem based learning (PBL) groups in a single medical school; and to describe the factors that learners and PBL facilitators identify as influencing dialog about these issues in PBL groups. Medical education is a…

Devastating life experiences continually plague many foster care youth throughout their entire lives on social, emotional, educational, psychological, and physical levels. Oftentimes, the cumulative effect of these events results in large numbers of individuals dropping out of school and becoming increasingly disconnected from people and many…

The Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) was founded in the 1950s to aid in the spiritual development of middle and high school student athletes. During the late 1990s a paradigm shift occurred when intercollegiate football coaches started to hire full-time team chaplains to become the spiritual coordinators for their student athletes. Athletes…

The advising relationship has been acknowledged as one of the most important factors in doctoral student persistence and attrition. Less researched are psychosocial factors that contribute to doctoral student persistence and completion. Preliminary research including measures of psychosocial factors on doctoral student success found…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore gifted alumni perceptions of how participating in an Enrichment Seminar course met their socioemotional needs as they related to identity formation, and whether or not their academic achievement was influenced. The researcher used interviews, narrative questions, and surveys to gather data.…

Given the call for change in medical school curriculum towards a more humanistic approach, it remains clear that there is an urgent need to study the effects of personal development classes on medical students' skill level. Using participants from an ethical influence communications class, this study explored the impact of the use of…

At-risk youth face many difficulties including higher dropout rates, lack of positive adult support, poor neighborhood conditions, exposure to violence, and a lack of parental support and family stability. Mentoring programs for at-risk youth may help mitigate these difficulties, but the quality of the mentor-mentee relationship is predictive of…