This phenomenological study sought to understand the lived experiences of graduate students engaged in STEM-related Academic Service-Learning (AS-L). For the purposes of this study, Academic Service-Learning is a form of experiential learning whereby students complete a service project as a component of a specific course. This study looked at…

Passage of the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) in 2008 expanded access to postsecondary opportunities for individuals with I/DD by establishing Comprehensive Transition Programs (CTP) for which federal financial aid can be used. Postsecondary enrollment of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) has increased…

There is limited research related to counseling the unhoused population. The purpose of this descriptive phenomenological study was to explore counseling trainees' experiences and self-perceptions of preparedness to provide counseling services to Black women experiencing homelessness. Guided by an intersectionality framework, 13 participants…

The American Occupational Therapy Association's (AOTA) Vision 2025 is a call to action for the occupational therapy profession to maximize the health, well-being, and quality of life of all people, populations, and communities through effective solutions that facilitate participation in everyday living (American Occupational Therapy Association,…

International service learning programs have continued to rise in popularity across U.S. institutions of higher education as a way of offering students comprehensive formats to engage with communities in other countries, learn how social issues of inequality impact people around the world, and strengthen student learning on global issues. However,…

"Current research in the United States has found only a small percentage of adolescents have developed a sense of purpose. This dissertation investigates how a 2-year 11th and 12th-grade residential multicultural values-based experiential program influences adolescents' sense of purpose. The participants for this research included 2023…

Professional advocacy is central to the counselor's professional identity and is essential for counselors to maintain the privilege of serving clients. Despite CACREP requirements for programs to provide training in professional advocacy, counseling students may need more training in this area. This quantitative study examined professional…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the factors that influenced the career decisions of school leaders who chose to serve as international missionaries. Specifically, the study focused around what led the school administrators to accept a position at a school on the mission field and why they decided to remain or to leave. The…

Service-learning is an educational innovation in schools and colleges across the United States of America (Billig & Waterman, 2013). Scholars agree that service-learning is defined as a form of experiential learning centered around community service (Celio, Durlak, & Dymnicki, 2011; Fertman, 1994; Shumer, 1994; Shumer & Belbas, 1996).…

This study aims to understand better how undergraduate students become civically engaged graduates. Three Pennsylvania-based institutions were identified to be the focus of this research. These institutions each have less than 5,000 undergraduate students, are part of a small city with under 100,000 residents, and have a civic-engagement component…

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…

Service learning (SL) is often considered a powerful way of reforming education practices by connecting communities and schools. The majority of colleges and universities in the U.S. offer students some form of SL experience during their undergraduate education. Students who take SL courses in college have demonstrated gains above and beyond those…

Research indicates that there are very few curriculum resources that empower parents and educators to teach social justice, resilience, and empathy. Using prior knowledge, experience, research, and theoretical frameworks, this research study aims to create an interactive workshop that encourages parents to use read-aloud and conversation to…

American Christian higher education has undergone a transformation in ideology since its inception in the Colonial Period. Christian service by students was originally attributed to the manifestation of one's love for Christ, but with successive eras, there has been a secular shift in worldview and discourse as well as service motivation from the…

Alternative Spring Break (ASB) is a college-based travel program in which students spend their traditional spring break vacation traveling to a new domestic or international city to complete a service-learning project such as community restoration in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. As a result of participating in Alternative Spring Break,…