This dissertation contains three empirical papers that quantify how institutional status hierarchies in postgraduate education relate to professionals' employment and earnings outcomes. Chapter 1 examines the effects of postgraduate educational program status hierarchies on earnings among recipients of postgraduate professional degrees in…

The literature of brand management in higher education lacks significant research in two key areas: 1) theoretical models of the evaluation of brand equity and its impacts on supportive behaviors, and 2) a focus on alumni as a critical stakeholder group to higher education institutions. The new model of alumni-perceived higher education brand…

Neoliberal advocates frame school choice as the solution to the many issues plaguing public schools, including not meeting state standards, the opportunity gap, and disengagement. This market-driven approach makes school reputation--ideas continuously made and remade about schools dependent on perceptions or experiences--a critical dimension that…

As it becomes more difficult to predict enrollment outcomes and the decline in high school graduates' looms on the horizon, the ability of higher education leaders to understand what characteristics of the university brand are most compelling for prospective students is important to ensure enrollment objectives are met. This mixed-methods…

In this dissertation, I present an examination of the economics of education through three chapters. In the first paper, I study the overrepresentation of elite university graduates in senior positions in public administration. Using rich administrative data from Chile, I employ a stacked fuzzy regression discontinuity design to estimate the…

The topic of the research study is published academic rankings and teacher efficacy. A need for the study was based upon a gap within the literature that showed little is known about the influence of published academic achievement rankings on teacher efficacy. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to investigate teachers' perceptions in…

A qualitative study was conducted to understand better how school principals respond in an environment of school choice and how this reform movement impacts their role as leaders. The principal is considered one of the most influential people in the development of the quality and character of a school. Reform policies have added to the traditional…

Considering the enrollment decline in university teacher preparation programs, this phenomenological study explored the experiences of seven southeastern Wisconsin public high school juniors and seniors, who were interested in a pursuing a teaching degree, but have changed their minds and dismissed their original career path. The purpose of the…

Higher education in the United States has evolved to expand its reach to various diverse student populations. The student cohort in higher education that has seen exponential growth over the past few decades at elite liberal arts colleges are students who served in the military. Veteran students can contribute greatly to communities of elite…

While university department heads are integral to the operation and culture of higher education institutions, they often experience little training or support to fulfill their complex and multifaceted role. At the same time, there is limited research on how heads come to understand their work or how such understandings shape their behavior. In…

The COVID-19 global pandemic was an unanticipated educational crisis (Reyes-Guerra et al., 2021) that forced international schools to close and leaders to contend with extreme volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) (Kaiser, 2020; Singhal, 2021). COVID-19 created opportunities to "re-focus, re-energize, and try new…

College choice is one of the most significant decisions a family will make. Families with high socioeconomic status often hire independent educational consultants (IEC) to assist their family in college search activities. A review of the literature indicated a gap in the literature regarding IECs' understanding of the factors which influence their…

Elite institutions have increased their efforts to enroll and support first-generation students, yet these students still experience socioemotional adversity at these institutions such as microaggressions, stereotype threat, and feelings of nonbelonging. Such adversity indicates that although elite institutions have expanded their support for…

This narrative inquiry qualitative study analyzed eleven community cultural wealth (CCW) capitals (cultural strength and assets) to determine whether they were utilized by first generation Mexican American students to thrive in their trajectories from high school to elite universities. The 11 explored capitals--"academic,"…

The comprehensive internationalization of higher education has long been viewed as important for student development and institutional global research engagement. The reasons for internationalization have been studied in-depth, but few studies exist linking higher education internationalization and institutional reputation, often measured through…