This qualitative case study uses Wartman's (2014) Guiding Principles for High Level Searches to investigate the executive selection process. The study explores how members of the search committee, governing board, and search consultant perceive the method a community college used to select its permanent president. To examine the process, one…

Democratically choosing a single preference from three or more candidate options is not a straightforward matter. There are many competing ideas on how to aggregate rankings of candidates. However, the Gibbard-Satterthwaite theorem implies that no fair voting system (equality among voters and equality among candidates) is immune to strategic…

There is existing literature on college choice factors, as well as college choice factors specifically for students of color. However, limited literature exists on the college choice of students of color in the Deep South, an area historically plagued by racial tension and presently seeing an increase in racial diversity (Bankston, 2007; Adelman…

With the number of alumni of distance programs increasing, and the decline of public funding for higher education continuing, overlooking engaging these constituents both as active members within the alumni community and as donors will likely be progressively detrimental to institutions as time progresses. The purpose of this study was to…

The purpose of this study is to address the low participation of African American/Black students at private, predominantly White institutions (PPWIs), specifically exploring the influence the assumptions of administrators have of the current matriculation outcomes. The research question that drove the study is as follows: How do the assumptions…

The concept of branding holds the key to achieving organizational goals by determining the needs and wants of target markets (Nicolescu, 2009). The brand of a community college is influenced by the interactions these individuals have on campus or in public with college administrators, faculty, and staff (Black, 2008). As a result it is imperative…

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the perceptions, behaviors and decision making of deans and directors of university support services on the use of social media. University support services play a major role in meeting the personal and academic needs of students. How they serve students has changed in recent years due…

While several models of college choice currently exist, many are decades old and very few examine the process of choosing an MBA program. At the same time, the popularity MBA program rankings continue to grow, however, it is not well understood how influential MBA program rankings are in the business school choice process. Given the lack of…

Using correlational analyses and multiple regressions, this study uses "U.S. News & World Report's" ("USNWR") 2016 college rankings data and data from the National Center for Education Statistics' (NCES) Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) to examine variables that explain institutional peer assessment…

Most low-income, high-achieving students in the United States neither attend nor apply to selective universities despite research that shows that they are just as likely as their high-income peers to succeed if they do apply to those schools. Despite the fact that many universities have begun offering substantial financial aid packages that would…

Universities around the world are facing increasing pressure to perform well in rankings, and rankings results have been shown to impact institutional reputation, ability to secure funding, and recruitment of students and faculty. Faculty research productivity is one of the main factors impacting rankings performance, and the aim of this project…

The purpose of this study was to determine best practices of leadership communication during and after organizational crises at colleges and universities that threaten the safety of stakeholders. Crises that impact colleges and universities are increasing, and if the leaders in these organizations communicate improperly throughout crisis…

How do students at elite universities think about the economic and educational returns of their college education? Drawing on 29 interviews from first-year students at an elite university, I find that students think that attending an elite university will allow them to secure a high degree of social status, which they believe is integral to…

This research studies how brand identities, individually and communally, as read through websites are created among small and medium-sized enterprise breweries in western Pennsylvania. Content analysis through the frame of Kress and van Leeuwen was used as the basis for the codebook that reads each brand identity for the researcher. The…

Perceptions of prestige, status, and esteem of the teaching career were explored in this study. The population consisted of 1,127 high school seniors and college undergraduates. The study included 51 statements where participants rated their perceptions of teaching's prestige, status, and esteem on an 8 point Likert scale. The data was factor…