Successful Extension programming relies on strong relationships between campus-based Extension faculty/specialists and the field-based Extension agents they support (Shaklee et al., 2014). Strong connections facilitate bi-directional communication, enabling specialists to understand the needs of agents and their communities. The COVID-19 pandemic…

This study explored the experiences of undergraduate BIPOC students in leadership education and development programs at two predominantly white institutions of higher education. Informed by interpretative phenomenological analysis, interviews with 36 students in various leadership roles (including residence life, peer mentoring, student…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to understand how low-income Black male community college students who attend a male engagement program describe their experiences with the intersection of race and gender plays a role in their persistence towards graduating in Midwest, Ohio. Through 45-120-minute, semi-structured, open-ended,…

Barriers to education and training can have a generational impact on socioeconomic status and economic development. Post-traditional students have been shown to experience a variety of barriers to education and family-sustaining employment. Social capital has been shown to help alleviate some of the barriers for students, resulting in stronger…

Several factors contribute to the challenges community college leaders face in maintaining and sustaining noncredit workforce development programming. For example, these factors include funding reductions from state legislators and corporations using internal training departments for workforce development. There are community colleges that do…

For years, the vast majority of California's community college students had to take remedial courses that slowed down or halted their academic progress. In 2019, Assembly Bill (AB) 705 removed many of these barriers, making it much easier for students to access and complete gateway transfer-level courses in English and math--a key early milestone…

This study aims to understand the impact of a faculty development program emphasizing active learning (innovative teaching) attended by instructors of diverse disciplines at the University of Padova in Italy, which has had an 800-year history of using traditional approaches to teaching and learning. Using a community of practice theoretical…

The Professional Learning Community (PLC) model has been used to help faculty develop innovative teaching practices and diffuse effective strategies and resources throughout K-12 schools. Yet, whether and how PLCs influence research-focused higher education institutions remain unknown. Drawing on existing research on PLCs and the social network…

This quantitative study aimed to understand the association between different types of support from institutional agents and students' sense of belonging culturally and structurally at their respective institutions. We used one-of-a-kind primary survey data from a National Science Foundation grant that included nearly 1,000 international graduate…

The underlying assumption of this study is that writing as a process has profound implications for success and fulfillment both in and beyond the classroom. A second assumption is that electronic portfolios provide students a space to write, revise, reflect, share, and explore themselves as writers. Students who engage with and embrace the writing…

The purpose of this study was to examine ways that long-term interests in high school students could be inspired and facilitated in educational contexts. In particular, it explored how a high school Science Research (SR) program cultivated belonging and supported autonomy in ways that inspired and promoted well-developed individual interests. This…

This research used narrative inquiry to explore the experiences of neurodivergent students on the autism spectrum during transition and enrollment into community college. Furthermore, the research examined the development of identity for this population during this time. Students are being diagnosed on the autism spectrum at increasing rates, and…

Student retention has been an issue that has plagued college institutions for decades. Many researchers have conducted studies to investigate the challenges associated with students staying enrolled at their institutions. Although challenges in student retention exist, for-profit colleges have fared better in student retention than community…

This heuristic study explored student success initiatives and practices of select community colleges as implemented during students' pre- and post-matriculation periods and whether those colleges have united them into a cohesive design. The pre- and post-matriculation timeframe is the most critical segment of the student's entire academic career…

Transitioning adult education students to post-secondary programs and community college requires deliberate intervention and support services. This dissertation study was part of a larger action research study aimed at increasing transitions to college for non-traditional adult students by providing support and resources to adult education…