The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions and lived experiences of some low-income and first-generation students of color who participated in and graduated from the UB program. This qualitative study utilized the narrative inquiry research method to understand the lived experiences of seven former Upward Bound students. Program…

This study is centered on first-generation Latinx students at Sacramento State and their academic journey. The research explores the impact of community engagement through service learning, community-based learning, volunteerism, and civic engagement on these students and their degree completion. The undergraduate experience in higher education is…

This study aims to answer the following research question: How is participation in selected high impact practices (HIPs) that promote social capital associated with community college students' positive civic learning outcomes (CLOs) such as communication and listening, diversity, and consensus-building? This study analyzed responses to the 2019…

The 21st century world is increasingly globalized and interconnected, and migration is a reality that substantially impacts the US educational system, and often requires specialized services for migrant students to successfully transition to higher education. While higher education has many benefits, it also presents inherent risks and challenges…

Despite over thirty years of service-learning research, the vast majority of research in America conducted on service-learning in higher education, both within composition courses and across other academic disciplines, focuses on college students attending four-year universities, with little attention given to their two-year counterparts…

Young, predominantly White teachers enter culturally and racially diverse urban classrooms ill-prepared to teach. The resulting cultural mismatch contributes to educational disparities, including academic gaps and punitive imparities. Some colleges of education, aware of the obvious gap, aim to recruit more Black and Brown students to their…

This dissertation explores a community-based internship (CBI) program, a hybridization of internship and service-learning practices. CBIs are becoming more common in higher education, but literature on the practice of integrating internships and service-learning is scarce. The purpose of this study is to develop an understanding of a CBI through…

Alternative Breaks are service trips that occur at colleges and universities all around the United States, but little is known of their long-term impact on the participants. This study explored how alumni of Alternative Break programs were civically engaged in their communities post-graduation. The survey instrument, modeled on the Life After…

As the global need for unfilled cybersecurity positions is projected to reach nearly 3.5 million by 2021, cybercrime proliferates. Talent shortage in cybersecurity continues to reach widespread magnitudes and individuals are inadequately prepared to assume positions requiring significant responsibilities. The challenge of filling the cybersecurity…

"Toward a More Visually Literate Writing Classroom: An Analysis of Visual Communication Pedagogy and Practices" examines the teaching of visual communication in undergraduate professional and technical communication courses. Through an analysis of scholarship, textbooks, I argue that a situated visual communication pedagogy that…

Emancipatory nurses recognize social and political problems of injustice or inequity and participate in social and political change to improve people's lives. The recent spotlight on relationships among health, health inequity, social determinants of health, and structural institutional barriers, has led to demands that nurse educators integrate…

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore how Higher Education Institutions' (HEIs) instructors perceived the engagement of college learners with instructional practices online during the COVID-19 Pandemic at a college in New York. Underpinning the study was the engagement theory framework, which focuses on the use of…

Service learning and community engagement, pedagogical strategies combining work in the community with academic learning, have become near ubiquitous across U.S. higher education. While scholarship has demonstrated positive student learning outcomes of community engaged pedagogies and practices, there has been unequal consideration towards…

A wide body of literature supports the premise that leadership skills, behaviors, and practices can be developed by a motivated learner. From the adult learner's perspective, college administrators need to understand the personal and educational needs of individuals returning to public education. Dewey (1938) presented three distinct elements for…

There is a recent rise in demand for international rotations in medical school, during which U.S. schools send medical students to another country for an immersive educational experience, but there is little research surrounding the characteristics, ethics, and institutional support for these types of rotations. This study examines the types of…