With troop withdrawals in Iraq and the recent U.S. peace treaty with the Taliban in Afghanistan, community colleges can expect more veterans on their campuses in the near future. Many institutions are eager to serve these students but are not certain how to meet their needs. Veteran students contend with a range of issues, from the bureaucracy of…

The purpose of this quantitative study is to investigate the funding equitably across community college districts in Michigan. Pursuant to this investigation, the disproportionate effect that community college funding has on underserved populations was examined. This research utilized a quantitative approach, including descriptive statistics,…

There are more science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) data science and analytics (DSA) jobs than qualified individuals to fill positions, indicating a gap that could be addressed if more women entered the STEM professions. To determine why women are underrepresented in these fields, this quantitative research examines the lived…

First-year STEM students often interpret academic challenges as diagnostic of belonging. Studies demonstrate that a social-belonging intervention helps undergraduates reframe belonging uncertainty as temporary and universal. We implemented this intervention with first-year engineering majors. In Study 1 (N = 284), we analyzed data from engineering…

There is a national shortfall of women and minorities in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. Thus, it is imperative to understand the factors that impact students' decisions to pursue a STEM field of study. The purpose of this quantitative study was to assess the impact of science self-efficacy beliefs of female high…

This applied dissertation was designed to provide a better understanding of the lived experiences of African American women in STEM undergraduate degree programs at a 4-year degree granting institution in the southernmost part of central Virginia. The central problem is that there is disparity between the number of African American women with STEM…

The problem addressed in this study was that women experience barriers when pursuing an executive leadership role in the higher education setting. The purpose of this study was to identify barriers women have faced when pursuing or while currently in an executive-level position at college or university. The study utilized a conceptual framework of…

The diminishing number of African American teachers in our nation's classrooms is a growing concern. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine how African American public charter school teachers with full, partial, or uncertified status describe their experiences of equity and access regarding compulsory teacher licensure exams.…

Using secondary data from a NY Kids comparative case study conducted in 2017-2018 of two positive outlier high schools, the purpose of this dissertation was to learn more about their discipline practices and the role secondary school leaders play in shaping those discipline systems. Two positive outlier high schools were studied, as they were…

African American middle school students are more likely to find themselves in trouble in school and to end up being disciplined and suspended opposed to white students. Gauger-Cobbs Middle School is one of four public comprehensive middle schools in the Christina School District. African American students receive out-of-school suspension three…

Women are underrepresented in the field of computer science. The presence of female computer scientists has changed over time, with a downward trend in the past few decades, with only 18% of women compared to men earning their degrees in computer science. Increasing the numbers of female students who pursue computer science not only will lead to…

This thesis contains two areas of research. The first part contributes to the field of engineering mechanics. This research investigates the thermomechanical shape memory behavior of shape memory alloy (SMA) springs. As SMA springs undergo stress- and/or temperature-induced phase transformation, they experience varying combinations of axial,…

This qualitative study examined the role of institutional agents, defined as individuals with positional power within an institution that foster the advancement of those with limited or no power, in the entry, retention, and advancement of women of color leaders aspiring to be K-12 district leaders (i.e., superintendents, assistant…

As suggested by Briggs (2016), an analysis of the demographics, enrollment, and population of randomly selected STEM programs is needed to understand how successful they are. "Historically, underrepresented minority groups, which constitute about 25% of the US population and 17.9 of undergraduate students, make up only 2.5% of students in…

Using critical theory of technology and intersectionality, this study uses a mixed methods approach to investigate how power dynamics are embedded within the scholarship application of a two-year college in the United State. It also researches what might happen if the scholarship determination process was completed by machine learning and how that…