This dissertation seeks answers to perplexing questions: 1) Why don't more students--particularly minority and other traditionally underserved students--participate in study abroad programming? 2) Does institutional culture play a role? In higher education, study abroad is almost universally perceived to be good for students. Research supports…

Students with emotional/behavioral disorders have identified disruptive behaviors that negatively impact their academic performance. The US Department of Education and the American School Counselor Association have supported the use of school-wide multitiered systems of support (MTSS) to reinforce pro-social behaviors for all students, but to also…

Public library storytimes have been well-established as informal learning environments that can support the learning and development of young children through interactive, intentional programming produced by storytime providers (McKechnie, 2006; Becker, 2012; Campana et al., 2014; Campana et al., 2016; Mills et al., 2018; Campana, 2018; Campana,…

Students with emotional and behavioral disabilities (EBD) endure adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and other traumatic experiences at higher rates than their non-disabled peers. Staff who work with these students can experience compassion fatigue, contributing to staff attrition and burnout. Trauma-informed care practices show promise in…

This dissertation explored the effectiveness of a well-researched social skills intervention for adolescents with autism spectrum disorder for ethnically and linguistically diverse families. The UCLA PEERS program (Laugeson et al., 2009; 2012) has largely been studied using predominately White and affluent populations; thus, the study explored…

Sport participation has been limited in marginalized communities due to socioeconomic factors such as access to facilities, cost of participation, and the overall lack of opportunity to engage in physical activity (The Aspen Institute, 2019). Sport Based Youth Development (SBYD) programs have been one avenue of providing sport and physical…

Parkinson's disease is a progressive movement condition and, after Alzheimer's disease, the second most common neurodegenerative disease. Parkinson's disease has no proven cure. However, efforts are being made to improve the quality of life of people with Parkinson's. Quality of life encompasses a variety of domains, including nutritional health.…

This study employed a qualitative research approach to evaluate how the Inland Empire Women's Business Center (IEWBC) is performing in regard to its goal of helping 353 women business owners to become successful by the end of 2018. The researcher assessed the organization, including staff members and volunteers, on its interactions with women…

Fieldwork is mandatory for students in counselor education programs accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counselor and Related Educational Programs (CACREP, 2016). As such, creating and maintaining relationships with field placement sites is essential for counselor education programs to offer quality field placements for their…

The human dimensions of ecological restoration have been considered with increasing focus over the past several decades. The Earth Partnership program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has presented an evolving model of restoration as education since 1991, with growing awareness of the need for multicultural approaches to learning about and…

Conventional punitive detention- and suspension-based correctional approaches to student disruptive behavior are widely considered ineffective and counterproductive. Instead of offering opportunities for change and growth, they punish students they deem incorrigible by excluding them from instruction. While effective alternative approaches and…

New graduate advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) face multiple challenges when entering an autonomous practice, including challenges acquiring clinical competency, gaining clinical knowledge regarding their specialty area, and expanding their clinical skills to perform the new job effectively. Some of this clinical knowledge and exposure…

Competency-based education (CBE) has gained popularity over the course of the past several years, and the North Carolina Community College System is now working to develop its first CBE degree path. Though a number of institutions have implemented CBE on the national scale, only minimal research has been conducted regarding faculty and…

The Digital Talking Books Program was developed between the 1990s and the 2000s to replace the Analog Cassette format, which had been developed during the 1960s to allow people with disabilities to access reading material. The Digital Talking Books Program was built around flash memory technology. The reasons for which the National Library Service…

According to the State University of New York-Oneanta (2013), "women's and gender studies is an interdisciplinary field of study that takes gender as its main category of analysis, and works to reframe the place of gender as essential to the workings of social, cultural, political, and economic systems." These programs, especially at…