In the following dissertation, I develop heuristics for collaboratively and sustainably contributing to community infrastructures through writing. Based on the findings of an observational study on how students enrolled in my first year composition and service-learning class created new media writing projects with community partners and were able…

Many rural North Dakota communities struggle with the loss of services, schools, and population due to a changing landscape, but does a strong sense of community help anchor residents to their town? The purpose of this study was to describe sense of community and its relationship to actions promoting social capital in rural North Dakota towns.…

African American males fail to graduate from colleges and universities as compared to any other demographic. The impact of this non-completion failure continues to touch the African American family structure, community stability, economic reduction at all levels, and an increasing situational hopelessness. The literature surrounding the struggles…

As rural communities experience rapid economic, demographic, and political change, program interventions that focus on the development of community leadership capacity could be valuable. Community leadership development programs have been deployed in rural U.S. communities for the past 30 years by university extension units, chambers of commerce,…

Combining social capital theory and immigration history and theory a qualitative study was conducted using a variation of Critical Incident Technique to identify the motivations of individuals in rural communities who championed community responses to the influx of large immigrant populations. Twenty-eight individuals identified as key champions…

A study of a three-year environmental curriculum project is documented with attention to the process of co-constructing and implementing the curriculum while exposing the hidden potential for thoughtfully aligned learning communities to strengthen curriculum construction. The curriculum project is integrated across all disciplinary subjects and…

Spanish is being lost at an alarming rate in the United States, for most immigrant families within two to three generations of arrival. Previous research indicates that the third generation of Hispanic immigrants typically becomes English monolingual (Veltman 2000; Appel & Muysken 1987; Fishman 1978). This investigation examines the role…

Many rural communities across America face several obstacles in the implementation of information and communication technologies (ICTs) initiatives and struggle with the best approaches for leveraging these elements into an economic development strategy. These obstacles include: lack of quality local ICTs infrastructure, funding, inability to…

Tourism is a growing and significant component of the world economy and competition for tourism revenues is intense. For countries or regions seeking community development through tourism, communication strategies are an essential element of success. The Internet plays an increasingly large role in how we communicate in the 21st century and with…

This dissertation examines the phenomenon of how communities can effect change in policy and practice to support greater ecological and cultural sustainability. The general purpose of this research is to examine selected local initiatives for ecological and cultural sustainability to better understand the role of adult education in those efforts.…

Practice and inquiry into school-community connections have been guided by problematic assumptions about the role of neighborhood schools, community based institutions, and local economic development policies in the evolution of urban communities. Formal relationships between schools and urban neighborhoods grounded in these assumptions have been…

This research contributes to efforts in assessment studies related to science and technology interventions. The work presented in this thesis focuses on understanding the effects of policies that influence science and technology interventions, and determining the impact of science and technology interventions themselves. Chapter 1 explores how…

The context of leadership in the public school has become increasingly complex with the pressures of high stakes testing and accountability, changing student demographics, and financial challenges. Stakeholders must work together to develop effective strategies to increase student academic performance. Successful superintendents must optimize…

The purpose of this case study was to understand the relationship between USAID and U.S. universities in the context of evolving foreign assistance policy. The formation of the partnership and the characteristics of how the partnership functions beyond the political call for this alliance was studied. My interest was to identify and study what…

This study examined how a rural school district and the communities in which the district belonged collaborated on a community development initiative. This dissertation examined the opportunities and constraints rural communities are facing and the role that a rural school system could play in increasing social and economic sustainability of rural…