The growing concern of doctoral student persistence has increased exponentially in higher education over the past decade. The body of research presented in this dissertation examines the complex phenomenon of persistence and possible pathways to addressing the dilemma of deteriorating academic persistence for doctoral students. It explores and…

Healthcare education guides students in obtaining skills to promote health in others. In working towards this goal, graduate students in healthcare programs potentially suffer from increased stress while undergoing the rigor of a medically based academic program. The purpose of this study was to determine if the addition of a learning community…

Despite all ethnic and racial groups having a gender gap, the gender gap between male and female degree completion is most evident for African American students. This study focused on identifying factors that positively influenced African American women's academic persistence, resilience, and motivation. Three research questions guided this study:…

Latinas currently attain the lowest number of terminal degrees in the United States when compared to White, African American, and Asian American women. While Latina doctoral students share common struggles with other minority/female doctoral students, the unique cultural expectations associated with their racial/ethnic and gender related…

Research shows, despite an increase in underrepresented students completing their doctoral programs, there remains a significantly low rate of participation and completion amongst underrepresented minorities and females in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields of study. Growing ethnic diversity throughout the United States…

Schools of social work are facing a challenge of a lack of social workers with a doctorate to fill faculty positions expected to open due to faculty retiring. There is also a need for more ethnic diversity among social work faculty and schools are struggling to recruit and retain more faculty. This qualitative study used phenomenological methods…

This dissertation examines gender differences in career advancement outcomes among academic science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) scientists. In particular, this research examines effects of gender, PhD advisors and postdoctoral supervisors mentoring resources and gender homophily in the mentoring dyads on the career advancement…

To determine if demography impacted the success of graduate students in the online learning environment, this non-experimental study used age, gender, ethnicity, enrollment status, financial dependency, employment status, program (master's or doctoral), and marital status as the independent variables to determine their impact on four dependent…

The intent of this qualitative study was to better understand factors, which impacted Latin women's development of resilience and how they continued their education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The participants were enrolled in Ph.D. programs at 5 of the 10 University of California campuses currently designated as…

This qualitative comparative case analysis investigates the leadership approaches of the graduates of two educational leadership doctoral programs in Upstate New York--one a cohort-modeled program, the other a non-cohort program--with specific attention to collaboration. Responses from participants indicate key differences in Engaging Communities,…

The perception of time (the use of temporal categories to conceptualize experiences) affects human behavior. Students' time perspective predicts academic outcomes: those with future orientations tend to have better academic outcomes than those with past or present, according to Zimbardo and Boyd's psychology of time model, and may contribute to…

Although extensive research on the experience of international students in American higher education exists, little research has been done on international students from Latin America. Latin American students represent the second largest group of international students in the United States by world region after Asia (Institute of International…

African Americans have made great advancements in postsecondary education. Over the last thirty years, enrollment and degree attainment has increased over 65% at undergraduate and graduate degree levels (National Center for Education Statistics, 2008). Yet despite these gains, African Americans continue to severely trail behind other racial and…

Doctoral education is an aspect of higher education that can be both rewarding and challenging for anyone who attempts the journey. Thelin (2004) stated many graduate students obtain the necessary skills that their individual fields of study require in their master's and doctoral programs of study. Levine (2005), however, has found that the…

This study sought to determine whether clinical psychology doctoral students hold uniquely stigmatizing views of adults with substance use disorders (SUDs) compared to adults with other clinical disorders. Through the use of clinical vignettes and attitudinal measures, three hypotheses investigated clinical psychology doctoral students' attitudes…