Doctor of Management, Case Western Reserve University, 2016, Weatherhead School of Management

As organizations contend with how to prepare the next generation of leaders amidst all the discourse about the challenges associated with the multigenerational workplace, important dynamics related to developing female leaders are being lost. The advancement of women presents a compelling opportunity for organizations. Women have been progressing their education and participation in the U.S. workforce, yet the number of women in leadership positions has been modest. Addressing the low rates of women in leadership roles is particularly important today as the millions of Baby Boomers retire and organizations contemplate how to prepare Generation X and Generation Y professionals to fill the leadership ranks. A mixed methods study of 691 U.S. professionals shows that generation affiliation does limit career commitment and reveals that mentorship provides Gen X and Gen Y women with specific leader development guidance that is different than their male peers in relation to building leader traits, growth areas, self-awareness, management style, and ownership. The results of this study can contribute to the development of more robust mentorship and succession planning programs.

Committee: Bo Carlsson, Ph.D. (Advisor); Stephan Liozu, Ph.D. (Advisor); Peter Whitehouse, M.D., Ph.D. (Advisor) Subjects: Gender Studies; Multicultural Education; Womens Studies

Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), Ohio University, 2025, Business Administration

This research aims to understand how the presence of a parasocial relationship with a social media influencer on the purchasing behaviors of an influencer promoted product. This research also observes how different personal norms of sustainability may impact purchasing behaviors. Information about average social media usage, impulse buying behaviors, spending, and social media influencers were also collected to see if there was any significant impact on purchasing behaviors. The three main dependent variables in this study were the Average Purchase Intention, Average Price Expectation, and Average Willingness to Pay. This study used a quantitative survey to collect answers from over 300 Ohio University College of Business Marketing students. Participants were split randomly into two conditions: the random-influencer condition (the control condition), where participants all saw the same post from the same influencer, and the parasocial relationship condition, where participants saw the same post from an influencer of their choosing. The stimuli in this study is a manufactured Instagram post about a new sweatshirt being promoted by the influencer matching the participant's condition. Participants were then asked questions about their purchasing behavior of the promoted product to measure the three dependent variables and the other variables above. The study revealed that the only significant purchase intention was made by participants with a high level of parasocial relationship and high levels of personal norms of sustainability. All other conditions proved that there was not a significant difference in purchase intention, price expectations, or the willingness to pay for the product. This research is a starting point for future researchers to help investigate how parasocial relationships, personal norms of sustainability, and other compounding factors impact the purchasing behaviors of an influencer-promoted product.

Committee: Raymond Frost (Advisor); Jessica Weeks (Advisor) Subjects: Business Administration; Marketing

Bachelor of Science (BS), Ohio University, 2024, Media Arts and Studies

Aesthetic trends have been rising in popularity amongst Gen Z young women online, promoting different personas and self-categorization consisting of clothing, hairstyles, makeup, color palettes, music taste, and personality. These trends are fleeting, and tend to manifest on social media platforms, namely Instagram and TikTok. Though there is some sincerity and fun behind these trends, there is also an underlying tie to consumerism, which women have been historically targeted by. This project presents outlooks of undergraduate young women and an expert in the field to explore the affects these trends may have on sense of self, as well as consumption habits. The general consensus to the popularity of aesthetic trends is an attribution to influencer culture and the need to fit in. Following discussions about this phenomenon, interviewees reflected on its unsustainable and unrealistic nature, and suggested that women should be seen as multifaceted. They encouraged the need to take inspiration from trending aesthetics while maintaining a sense of self and uniqueness.

Committee: Beth Novak (Advisor); Viktoria Viktorova Marinova (Advisor) Subjects: Mass Media

MFIS, Kent State University, 2024, College of the Arts / School of Fashion

From the fashion industry's clothing overproduction and subsequent negative impacts on the environment to the rise of Generation Z's interest in luxury goods, pre-loved luxury has emerged as a more approachable and growingly popular option for sustainable luxury purchases (Islam & Singh, 2020; Maiti, 2023). This study delves into the motivations that drive Generation Z consumers to engage with pre-loved luxury and the possible effects that pre-loved luxury has on individuals who have previously consumed these products. Through a quantitative approach, a self-administered online survey was sent to college-aged Generation Z participants and received 225 usable responses. The survey is comprised of nine sections which explore personal values, proximity of clothing to self, social embarrassment, along with attitude and behaviors toward pre-loved luxury. Principle factor analysis, reliability testing, and independent sample t- test were conducted to examine the differences and similarities of the research constructs between Generation Z consumers who have purchased pre-loved luxury and those who have not. The results showed that three hypotheses were supported: higher level of self-transcendence values among pre-loved luxury consumers, attitude towards pre-loved and behavioral intention towards pre-loved. The results have implications that will benefit the pre-loved luxury industry, Generation Z individuals, and academia.

Committee: Jihyun Kim-Vick (Advisor); Lauren Copeland (Committee Member); Kim Hahn (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Sciences

MFIS, Kent State University, 2024, College of the Arts / School of Fashion

For Generation Z, gender is a fluid term. As an increasing number of Generation Z consumers continue to express their gender fluid beliefs and opinions, they expect to express the same through their choice of clothing (Francis & Hoefel, 2018; Jones, 2022). Concepts described in social identity theory have allowed the fashion industry to successfully market clothing along the gender binary in accordance with heteronormativity for centuries (Gould & Stern, 1989; Palan, Gentry, Chun, Commuri, Fischer, Jun, Mcginnis, & Strahilevitz, 2011; Tajfel, 1982). Research indicates that the continued use of gender labels to describe and segment clothes in retail spaces could be limiting consumers in Gen Z in their clothing choices (Francis & Hoefel, 2018; Kaiser, 1990; Spencer, 2019). Particularly men are impacted by gender-related labels, as women have been dipping into traditionally masculine styling choices for decades, while men have been confined to a narrow styling scope (Akdemir, 2018; Bardey, Achumba-Wollenstein, & Chiu; 2020; Song, 2023). To empirically understand how male identifying consumers perceive gender-related labels on items of clothing and how they form opinions about the clothing brand, this study used an online experiment involving 310 male identifying Gen Z individuals from across the United States, to assess their intent to buy various clothing items with four different gender labels (men's, women's, unisex, and no label), as well as how their brand love and brand attitude were impacted. Results indicated that the use of gender inclusive labels or no gender labels on clothes causes male identifying consumers to have a higher intention to buy from the brand, as well as encourages them to have a positive opinion about the brand. The study results can help brands understand how to best navigate gender labels on clothing in order to appeal to male identifying Gen Z consumers.

Committee: Gargi Bhaduri (Advisor); Lauren Copeland (Committee Member); Noël Palomo-Lovinski (Committee Member) Subjects: Design; Gender; Social Psychology

MDES, University of Cincinnati, 2023, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Design

Environmental concerns continue to increase daily, leaving many wondering what they might do to minimize their impact on the planet. As a result, it is critical to educate the general public, particularly secondary school students, about embracing more sustainable practices. As these students will become our society's future designers and consumers, it is crucial to equip them with the necessary tools and knowledge to foster a more responsible future for our environment and climate. This starts with smart, responsible design. As the Ellen MacArthur Foundation says, “Waste and pollution does not exist by accident, it is the result of design decisions” (2021). To adequately equip our future decision-makers, it is crucial to educate them on the importance of Circular Design (CD), a way of designing products that fit into the Circular Economy (CE). The CE is an environmentally sustainable “system of closed loops, where nothing becomes waste, and everything has value” (Foundation, 2021). However, CD is rarely integrated into the curricula of public schools, with sustainable education predominantly offered within Montessori environments or at the university level. This usually means that public school students are left out of this important equation. There is little evidence to support that CD is currently widely taught in many schooling environments. This research study aims to understand how we might best educate Gen Z public school students on the foundations of CD. Additionally, it seeks to determine whether an elevated level of content regarding CD can influence these students to become more conscientious about their role in the world and how they can apply these practices to their daily lives. Through three phases of applied research methods, this study explores how we might dress this gap. The first phase relies on a literature review to create CD learning tools for students and teachers, which were then refined with Montessori educators in (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Brooke Brandewie M.S. (Committee Member); Ashley Kubley M.F.A. (Committee Chair) Subjects: Environmental Education

Bachelor of Science (BS), Ohio University, 2023, Journalism

This study aimed to investigate the news consumption habits of Gen-Z college students and how social media affects their news consumption. The research employed quantitative methods to analyze data gathered from a survey of 499 college students. The study found that trustworthiness significantly impacted news sharing. Women trusted national and global news sources more than men. Social media was a popular source for news consumption among participants, but those who do not trust the news were more likely to fact-check news seen on social media. Trust in news sources was found to influence the platforms used for news sharing. The study's mixed-methods approach provides a comprehensive understanding of the research topic and highlights the importance of trustworthiness in news sources and its impact on news sharing. The results of this study can contribute to improving news and media literacy among college students and promote informed and engaged citizenship in society.

Committee: Hans Meyer (Advisor) Subjects: Journalism

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2023, Apparel, Textiles, and Merchandising (Education)

Sisters are likely to be fashion consumption influencers to one another, but little research exists investigating this relationship. Therefore, in this research I examined, through interviews with nine sister pairs, their fashion influences on one another and investigated the interrelated roles of “sister” and “fashion consumption influencer.” The aim of this study was to understand the way that sister pairs, one of whom is a member of Generation Z (born between 1996 & 2015), influence one another with respect to fashion shopping and consumption. Results add support to family development and systems theory literature, fashion leadership literature, as well as providing helpful insight to fashion retailers and marketers. Content analysis of the qualitative data supports the role of sisters as fashion influencers and leaders, though to personalized and differing extents as revealed in the results presented in Chapters 4 and 5.

Committee: Ann Paulins V. (Advisor); Jennifer Chabot (Committee Member); Hyeyoon Choi (Committee Member); Ann Paulins V. (Advisor) Subjects: Educational Leadership; Families and Family Life

Doctor of Ministry , Ashland University, 2021, Doctor of Ministry Program

The purpose of this discovery project was to determine how to best foster a sense of belonging among Lutheran Millennials. This was accomplished through the application of a survey to a cross section of Lutheran Millennials including ELCA, NALC, LCMC, LCMS, and non-affiliated Lutheran Millennials. In doing so it was discovered that Millennials desire to be invited to participate in church via deep interpersonal connection and direct interaction. This participation includes a strong emphasis on engaging the contemporary culture. However, two distinct populations that share millennial characteristics and thought processes were discovered with opposing perspectives on engagement.

Committee: Jeff Stevenson Dr (Advisor) Subjects: Religion; Religious Congregations; Religious Education

MFIS, Kent State University, 2021, College of the Arts / School of Fashion

Drop marketing strategy is now being used by an increasing number of luxury brands to attract a new generation of young consumers. Concerning luxury consumption, research has shown that Chinese shoppers have penetrated the market. Notably, starting in 2018, Gen Z consumers began to penetrate the Chinese personal luxury market. Chinese Gen Z has a purchasing power of $507 a month, while 35% of respondents said they had a steady income source, such as part-time jobs and scholarships, in addition to their parents' money (Pan, 2018). Thus, this study aims to understand Chinese Gen Z consumers' attitudes towards drop marketing and researched the key drivers for Chinese Gen Z consumers to buy drop-marketed luxury fashion products. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 Chinese Gen Z consumers (born between 1997 and 2002) via email in this qualitative study. The study used thematic coding analyses to interpret data and found three major motivations for Chinese Gen Z consumers regarding luxury shopping through drop marketing: channel-driven motivations, product-driven motivations, and emotion-driven motivations. This study's findings will help fashion industries better understand Chinese Gen Z consumers' key motivations to buy personal luxury goods via drop marketing strategy and remind the academic community of the importance of drop marketing strategy in the luxury fashion industry.

Committee: Jihyun Kim-Vick (Committee Chair); Gargi Bhaduri (Committee Co-Chair); Meng-Hua Hsieh (Committee Member) Subjects: Marketing

PHD, Kent State University, 2020, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Foundations, Leadership and Administration

The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the newly developed measures entitled Decision-Making in College Course Selection (DMCCS), Satisfaction with College Course Selection (SCCS), and Importance of College Course Selection (ICCS) scales in a sample of current college students at a large public research university in the Midwest United States. This study also sought to explore the relationship between DMCCS, SCCS, and ICCS scales and college students' academic performance, after controlling students' demographics, the self-efficacy scale, and the engagement scale. The DMCCS scale focused on measuring undergraduate students' decision-making on the sources of information to help them decide which college courses to take. The SCCS scale focused on measuring undergraduate students' satisfaction with their decisions based on the sources of information that helped them to select their college courses. The ICCS scale focused on evaluating the importance of each source of information that undergraduate students use to decide which college courses to take. Data analysis techniques were employed to check the validity and reliability aspects of the newly developed scales. An online survey collected research data from 483 undergraduate students at a public university. First, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) analysis was used to explore the underlying factors of these newly developed scales. Second, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) analysis was used to explore and confirm the underlying factors of these newly developed scales. Third, Classical Test Theory (CTT) and Coefficient Alpha (CA) analysis were used to check the internal consistency reliability of these newly developed scales. Fourth, Hierarchical Multiple Regression (HMR) was used to find the relationship between these newly developed scales and students' academic performance, after controlling demographics and existing developed scales (i.e., self-efficacy and engagement (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jason Schenker Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Aryn Karpinski Ph.D. (Committee Member); William Bintz Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Statistics

BS, Kent State University, 2020, College of the Arts / School of Fashion

The fashion industry is driven by the consumer. The introduction of Generation Z to the retail marketplace brings a unique set of consumer preferences and expectations that must be met to ensure a brand's success with this soon-to-be largest living generation. Retail is undergoing a major evolution and research is essential to determine the “how”; how retail is changing and how retailers can adapt for the future. Learning the customer is an essential part of this process. Very few studies have directly asked Generation Z shoppers what they want from the retail environment. Moreover, none were identified that specifically asked fashion students—our future industry professionals—what they want to see from fashion retailers. To address this gap, these representatives of the cohort were specifically chosen for this study because of their curricular focus and first-hand experience in the retail and fashion industry. The purpose of this study was to provide a comprehensive view of what these educated consumers value most in the customer experience, the advantages and drawbacks of brick-and-mortar retail shopping today and changes they wish to see in the future. Findings of this research will inform initiatives related to technology, products, services and the customer experience that fashion retailers should adopt to meet evolving customer needs and ensure success long-term. Overall, the results supported the literature and added to understanding that Generation Z is not a homogeneous group when it comes to shopping behavior and preferences. The entire fate of retail is based on how well brands can adapt to the changing face of its customer.

Committee: Catherine Leslie (Advisor); Alison Smith (Committee Member); Pamela Grimm (Committee Member); William Hauck (Committee Member) Subjects: Demographics; Marketing; Social Research; Sustainability; Technology

BBA, Kent State University, 2019, College of Business and Entrepreneurship, Ambassador Crawford / Department of Management and Information Systems

Millennials are often scrutinized for what appears to be generational differences. However, the Millennials might not be as different as the older generations think, although they have one overwhelming challenge: technology. This paper analyzes the advantages and disadvantages that entrepreneurs have experienced across several generations. In addition, the paper discusses whether the influence of social media is harmful or helpful to Millennial entrepreneurs. Overall, it is difficult to determine whether Millennials are at a disadvantage compared to previous generations. Millennials face monetary challenges, education barriers, and unsupportive home lives just as entrepreneurs of older generations. Though the effects from overuse of technology can be negative, it offers Millennials certain advantages that previous generations did not have. Through new methods such as online businesses, franchising, and personal branding, Millennials are continuing the ingenuity that defines entrepreneurship.

Committee: William Daugherty (Advisor) Subjects: Business Administration; Entrepreneurship; Management

Master of Science, University of Toledo, 2019, Engineering (Computer Science)

The world is on the brink of an era of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), widely known to public as drones, where we will get to experience multiple UAVs flying in the national airspace carrying out diverse tasks such as monitoring, surveillance, product deliveries, law enforcement, fertilizing crop fields, aerial photography, and transport. In such scenarios, where multiple UAVs are flying in a smaller airspace, there is a possibility of collisions, path overlaps, mix-ups, and uncertainties as far as their flying routes are concerned. These flying routes could be inside constructed air corridors where the UAVs would be allotted to fly, similar to the air corridors of commercial aircraft. There is a growing need to identify and construct these air corridors for UAVs to fly in their respective corridors to avoid such mishaps as is what is done with commercial airplanes. The airplanes fly in their designated air corridors from one location to another without any uncertainty. It would be really useful to devise and design such a system for multiple UAVs as well, that would be able to construct air corridors for them to fly through. This served as the primary motivation behind proposing a novel approach to estimate and visualize air corridors for autonomous multi-UAV flights in an airspace. In addition to it, we studied various popular uncertainty visualization techniques and came up with a cutting-edge way to incorporate uncertainty into the visualization of the air corridors. Furthermore, we provide a standalone web application with a user-friendly graphical user interface (GUI) developed using HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript and an open-source JavaScript library for visualizing world-class 3-D maps called CesiumJS. Subsequently, we present the estimation and visualization results and discuss possible application areas where the proposed technique could be put to use. Finally, we discuss the summarized research findings and future research directions.

Committee: Ahmad Javaid (Committee Chair); Vijay Devabhaktuni (Committee Co-Chair); Devinder Kaur (Committee Member) Subjects: Computer Engineering; Computer Science

Master of Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, 2017, Systems Biology and Bioinformatics

In this study, we have explored the challenges present in piRNA functional annotation and regulation. We outline here the usage of genomic and transcriptomic references to define the properties and biogenesis of piRNA. We further examine possible methods for piRNA post-transcriptional regulation. This pipeline will help identify and classify both previously discovered and novel piRNA to help scientists define and research piRNA.

Committee: Gurkan Bebek Ph.D (Advisor); Yu Jennifer MD, Ph.D (Committee Member); Ahmad Khalil Ph.D (Committee Member) Subjects: Bioinformatics

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2017, Electrical and Computer Engineering

The advent of microgrids has shifted the focus from centralized power generation to a more distributed manner, involving a mix of different distributed energy resources (DERs). Reciprocating engine driven synchronous generators (referred as gensets) are a common DER used for distributed generation. One of the key concerns with such power networks is the aspect of frequency regulation under large disturbances, especially in an islanded mode of operation, without the support of the utility grid. This works looks at possible solution methods for mitigating large frequency disturbances in an islanded microgrid. Due to steep load changes, the gensets undergo large frequency swings and can be even vulnerable to stalling. The benefits of smart loads are analyzed in this work to prevent such occurrence by temporarily reducing the transient overload on gensets. Another solution to mitigate large frequency deviation is the integration of energy storage system (ESS), but the effectiveness depends on its operation as a grid-forming or a grid-following unit. Important metrics such as frequency nadir during load changes in the islanded microgrid are computed to show the usefulness of ESS in islanded microgrids. For this purpose, analytical methods using reduced-order models are developed and found to provide accurate estimates of frequency deviations under power system disturbances. Generally, ESS units are interfaced with an inverter and when operated in grid-forming mode can offer desired dynamic frequency behavior in an islanded microgrid. Similarly, other inverter-based DERs can also provide good frequency regulation as they share the larger portion of the transient overload compared to gensets. However, under certain scenarios the inverter-based DERs are found to collapse due to this large transient loading and can bring down the whole microgrid system as a result. A better coordination between the different DERs in a mixed source microgrid is facilitated in this work to gua (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Mahesh Illindala (Advisor); Jin Wang (Committee Member); Jiankang Wang (Committee Member); Alexander Lindsey (Committee Member) Subjects: Electrical Engineering

MDES, University of Cincinnati, 2013, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Design

Black type on a white background is a centuries-old conventional color choice for most of the reading materials, both for print and on screen, because it has the maximum contrast and optimum legibility. However sometimes, designers would like to use different colors on types or backgrounds to present specific themes. And sometimes using colors in different values could show the hierarchy between various texts in the web, newspaper, or signage. However, there are no standards established for visual communication design. Designers cannot find such references when making critical decisions about legibility. Since 2012, with the Apple iPadTM launch, not only young people, but also older people, have accepted the tablet-size device as a preferred tool for reading. A basic problem for older people in reading is the declining perceptual ability. Therefore I believed that there should be a systematic relationship, between word count and color contrast for foreground vs. background, which is legible and readable for readers. And the relationship would be different for older readers from that of young readers. So in this thesis, I did research to find out those relations for the two age groups, and the results could be standards for the other designers to refer to in designing more effective layouts for old readers or young readers.

Committee: Todd Timney M.F.A. (Committee Chair); Oscar Fernandez M.F.A. (Committee Member); Benjamin Meyer M.F.A. (Committee Member) Subjects: Design

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2011, Nuclear Engineering

The research presented in this paper is part of a project to help develop a risk-informed approach to the design optimization and licensing of a sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR). The objectives of this research include analyzing accident scenarios that occur in SFRs and assessing their offsite consequences. The reference plant design is similar to the ABR-1000 design using a 1000 MWth pool-type design with both metallic and oxide fuels and a dry containment. This paper uses a code developed at the Ohio State University called RCS to analyze the reactor kinetics and thermal-hydraulic behavior of accident scenarios and MELCOR to investigate radionuclide transport, deposition, and environmental releases. Offsite dose consequences are calculated at one-mile over a 24-hour time period using a spreadsheet for 95th percentile meteorology based on the approach found in Regulatory Guide 1.145. The WinMACCS code is also used to determine the probability of early fatality consequences one mile from the site boundary and latent cancer fatalities within ten miles. Several accident scenarios were investigated including those with non-energetic events, energetic events, and core uncovery situations. For each scenario, analysis was performed for when the containment was both failed and intact and whether or not a gross or limited failure of the primary system had occurred. This analysis and resulting offsite dose consequences were then compared to the Frequency-Consequence curve of the NRC's Technology Neutral Framework (TNF).

Committee: Richard Denning PhD (Advisor); Brian Hajek M.S. (Committee Member) Subjects: Nuclear Engineering

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2009, Botany

Chapter one is an overview of the entire dissertation. In this chapter, I provide background information about current understanding of polyadenylation [poly(A)], poly(A) signals and alternative polyadenylation (APA) in plants and other organisms.Chapter two presents a survey of rice polyadenylation landscape using 55,742 authenticated poly(A) sites. A substantial similarity was found between rice and Arabidopsis in term of cis-elements, suggesting that the polyadenylation machinery is conserved in higher plants. We also found an extensive APA profile in rice where 50% of the genes analyzed have more than one unique poly(A) site and about 4% of the analyzed genes possess alternative poly(A) sites that could result in different protein products. In Chapter three, we analyzed the nuclear mRNA polyadenylation mechanisms in the model alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii with 16,952 in silico authenticated poly(A) sites. We found an unique and complex poly(A) signal profile that is different from higher plants and mammals. A high level of APA was also found in the Chlamydomonas genome. In Chapter four, we used over 300 million Arabidopsis and rice sequence signatures by Massively Parallel Signature Sequencing (MPSS) and Illumina's GAII Sequence by Synthesis methods for the analysis of APA and its relationship with differential gene expression. We discovered a large number of genes undergo APA that have not been found previously by other methods. In both species, APA events upstream of stop codons are evident from about 50% of the signatures, corresponding to about 10% of whole transcriptome abundance. Chapter 5 concludes what was discovered in these studies and also gives some future perspectives for the research directions of mRNA polyadenylation in general, particularly in plants.

Committee: Qingshun Li PhD (Advisor); John Kiss PhD (Committee Member); Chun Liang PhD (Committee Member); Nancy Smith-Huerta PhD (Committee Member); Jack Vaughn PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Bioinformatics; Biology; Botany; Molecular Biology

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2012, Leadership and Change

There is a monumental changing of the guard that is currently taking place in organizations due to demographic metabolism. One of the largest birth cohorts or generations in history (Baby Boomer) is beginning to retire while their predecessor (Builder) is almost completely out of the workforce. Gen X is hitting stride and on the cusp of inheriting the proverbial organizational mantle. The three aforementioned age cohorts have learned to play in the organizational sandbox together. However, a new age cohort (Millennial, a.k.a. Gen Y), equal or greater in size to the Baby Boomer cohort started entering the playground approximately ten years ago and they are kicking up sand. The etymology of the Millennial story began with a discussion "about" Millennials. The conversation quickly moved to strategies for recruiting them. Talk then shifted to on-boarding and managing Millennials. I desire to broaden the dialogue by inviting a discussion with Millennials about how they are experiencing work life. As is the case with any transition, there is great potential for conflict and angst. The purpose of this qualitative study is to identify the challenges Millennials experience while trying to integrate into organizations and the skills that will help them make a successful transition into the workforce. The electronic version of this Dissertation is at Ohiolink ETD Center, www.ohiolink.edu/etd.

Committee: Alan Guskin PhD (Committee Chair); Carol Baron PhD (Committee Member); Roger Heuser PhD (Committee Member); Luis Calingo PhD (Other) Subjects: Demographics; Management; Organization Theory; Social Research