Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2014, Higher Education Administration

A student's first year of college study is marked by the transition of leaving a familiar routine of academic, social, and family commitments. Upon arrival at college, a student can learn how to negotiate personal responsibility for intellectual and community development during the first year. New college students are primed for such immense intellectual, intrapersonal, and interpersonal development, and it may include consideration of religious practice and spiritual values, their meaning and relevance, and determination of religious habits and spiritual identity. This study explored the experiences of spiritual conversion among first-year college students, and how the college environment may contribute to such experiences. Religious and spiritual conversion experiences may reflect a creation, diminishment, strengthening, or transformation of a student's spiritual identity, and this exploratory study sought to include any of these forms of conversion and the factors that challenge and encourage them. By studying the nature of these experiences in the postsecondary environment, educators may learn more about how the experience of college can affect students before, during, and beyond conversion experiences. Students were invited to share their stories to illustrate how their spiritual lives were created, diminished, strengthened, or transformed during their first college year. They shared insights into the related challenges and opportunities encountered through feelings of loneliness, community inclusion and exclusion, academic achievements in the midst of personal turmoil, and environmental influences that may have shaped their journeys. The findings of this inquiry suggested the need for additional opportunities for training for personnel in higher education and student affairs to be more attentive to and better able to support students who are searching spiritually and who may experience a spiritual conversion during the first year of college. The (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Education, University of Akron, 2018, Educational Leadership

Veterans are enrolling in higher education in increasing numbers. Many institutions are positioning themselves to receive these students by providing support services and personnel. Despite these efforts, the success rates of this student population have been called into question, and they report poor goodness of fit within the classroom. Professional development initiatives which specifically explore the needs of student veterans within the classroom environment have been limited, or not readily accessible to faculty. This study took place at a community college in the Midwest United States. The purpose of this qualitative study was to invite feedback from both student veterans and faculty who are veterans by asking them to provide context for, and direct input into, a proposed faculty professional development product. An interpretivist epistemology was used so as to capture the social reality of these stakeholders. This feedback served to validate and enhance critical content for three online training modules entitled The VET RESPECT CHECK. Each word within The VET RESPECT CHECK is an acronym for the content of three topic areas: first module: the veteran as student; second module: the classroom environment; and third module: resources. The development of these three modules was guided by Lawler and King's Adult Learning Model for Faculty Development, as well as Allen's CCAF best practice model for online learning. Both groups independently voted and agreed that content regarding the physical, emotional, and behavioral environment was the most important information for faculty to understand. Despite the fact that the topic of suicide was not directly brought forth within the program outline, both groups expressed clear concerns for the safety of veteran students. Furthermore, these groups believe that there is a need for faculty to be sensitive to the issue of veteran suicide and understand their role in facilitating access to resources.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2024, Higher Education Administration

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between life design and student leadership development at Bowling Green State University, a mid-sized, comprehensive public institution in Northwest Ohio. Life design was an institutional strategy used to increase student success and empower students with the tools and skills to design their college experience more intentionally and prepare for the next steps after graduation (Life Design, 2023). Life design is a creative problem-solving framework that empowers students to adopt design thinking mindsets and methods and apply them in their own lives to creatively solve problems (Burnett & Evans, 2016). Based on the literature, including research focused on Social Change Model and Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership, I suggested five main areas of overlap between life design and leadership: consciousness of self and others, collaboration, creative problem-solving, change, and innovation management. Utilizing Fall 2020 data from the Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership, multiple student subgroups who were involved in various life design and leadership experiences were compared across various leadership and life design scales. This study was meaningful as it contributed empirical evidence to the emerging research topic of life design and suggested preliminary signs of a relationship between life design and leadership. Findings suggested that students connected to life design and leadership experiences had higher levels of leadership outcomes than students who did not participate in life design or leadership experiences across all six scales in the Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership. Findings also provided evidence of increased life design outcomes for students in life design programs according to a prototype Life Design Capacity Scale. This scale was also a statistically significant variable within a logistic regression model as a predictor of a student's four-year graduation outcome, though t (open full item for complete abstract)

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2023, Leadership and Change

This study focuses on better understanding students and their internal worlds through conceptual metaphor theory and sensory language. Using a phenomenological and arts-based approach, I examined students' metaphorical constructions of their college experiences and the sensory language and information informing those constructions. By engaging participants in a multimodal process to re-see their experience through connoisseurship and criticism, I explored the following research questions: How do students metaphorically structure their college experience? What sensory language do college students use to describe the metaphorical dimensions of their college experience? How does sensory information shape the metaphorical structuring of their college experience? Through conversations centered on participant-generated images and chosen sensory language, I identified five complex metaphors that represented participants' constructions of their college experience: college is an unwieldy package; college is up, forward, and out; college is current and future nostalgia; college is a prism; and college is a movie and peers are the soundtrack. By considering these themes, it may be possible for educators to better partner with diverse learners to design personally meaningful experiences that support student development and success. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2021, Higher Education Administration

The purpose and value of higher education have been debated for centuries as proponents of technical or liberal ideals have advocated for their respective positions. Post-secondary art and design education has been affected by such debates, causing arts educators to justify their existence and demonstrate a return on investment for undergraduate students' degree attainment. However, quantitative measures of success through career and financial criteria fail to recognize the inherent value of arts education on the development of students as people and creators, which is an oft-espoused outcome of the arts. Further, student development in higher education is a well-researched field and student affairs practitioners use student development theory to inform their work. Yet such theories have evolved in waves marked by critique of the limitations inherent with theories past. Today's practitioners question the relevancy of student development theories on distinct student populations and within specific settings, including art and design contexts. The purpose of this study was to construct a theory of self-authorship based on experiences described by undergraduate students studying art and design and to understand what factors students describe as influential to such development. The research questions are: (a) How do art and design students describe their development toward self-authorship in college? and (b) What factors do art and design students describe as influential in their development toward self-authorship? Using constructivist grounded theory methodology, I developed a theory of self-authorship specific to the nuances of the art and design context that includes three components: (a) considering post-secondary study in the arts, (b) adapting to the arts environment, and (c) shifting from extrinsic to intrinsic orientations to develop a creative identity and live a creative life. Factors that influenced students' self-authorship development included pre-coll (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), University of Dayton, 2019, Educational Leadership

Understanding how individuals make meaning of their faith has been researched for generations, with some important studies (Fowler 1981; Parks, 2011) delineating how such individuals construct and develop their faith over a lifetime. Likewise, a great deal of studies have explored how college students approach faith (Astin, Astin, & Lindholm, 2011; Chickering, Dalton & Stamm, 2006), and how universities can support such exploration. However, little research has been completed to investigate how students transition from college experience to adult life (Fox, 2011), and no research to date explores how students make meaning of their faith in the post-college transition. To fill that gap, this dissertation presents a qualitative, phenomenological study aimed at providing insight into how recent college student leader graduates of a Christian institution make meaning of personal faith during the post-graduation transition. To better understand how these Christian college student leaders constructed their faith after college, the researcher employed one-on-one interviews, using the general interview guide approach (Patton, 2002), and a pre-interview questionnaire from 15 recent graduates from a religiously affiliated, liberal arts university in the Midwest. Participants provided rich descriptions of their current faith through personally chosen words and metaphors. They expressed a desire to build supports for their faith in the midst of transition by creating a place for their faith to be integrated in their new life experiences, seeking opportunities to practice their faith, and building connections to people who helped and challenged their faith. Finally, they detailed the faith challenges they faced as a result of transition out of university life. Through analysis of faith descriptions, the findings of the study revealed that the transition fostered reflection on the meaning of participants' faith, and the supports and challenges of their faith both in college (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts, University of Akron, 2015, Educational Foundations-Social/Philosophical Foundations of Education

The introduction of this thesis project will provide an overview of emerging adulthood and the context of higher education in contemporary society. In chapter two, a conceptualization of emerging adulthood will be provided. Given the social psychological nature of emerging adulthood, chapter two will explain the influence of identity development and social factors on emerging adults. In chapter three, self-authorship will be discussed as a theory for considering how emerging adults make meaning of their experiences, progress toward mature thinking, and assume responsible roles in adult life. Next, chapter four will provide an analysis of the relationship between emerging adults and higher education. An emphasis in chapter four will be the Learning Partnerships Model which articulates the potential for higher education to foster the development of self-authorship. This will provide one example of the way higher education cultivates individuals, and the implications for emerging adults. Lastly, a conclusion follows in chapter five to discuss the intersections between emerging adulthood, self-authorship, and higher education, with an emphasis on the social and cultural implications of emerging adulthood as a newly theorized phase in the human lifespan.

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2005, Leadership Studies

This dissertation explored the relationship between Emotional-Social Intelligence (ESI) and student leadership practices among college student leaders. Additionally, analyses were conducted to determine if these constructs related to student performance within a university-sponsored, cocurricular, four-year leadership development program (Program). The study of Emotional Intelligences and its relationship to effective leadership is evident in the literature; however, little if any research has applied this concept to student leadership practices and more specifically, student performance within a leadership development program. Eighty-Three students enrolled in the Program completed the Emotional Quotient Inventory, EQ-i (Bar-On, 1997) and the Student Leadership Practices Inventory, S-LPI (Kouzes & Posner, 2005). Additionally, the Program director completed a modified 360-degree assessment to help measure the extent that participants' self-reported scores (EQ-i and S-LPI) were supported by their performance within the Program. Pearson r correlations found that many S-LPI subscales positively correlated, either moderately or strongly, with the following EQ-i variables: overall ESI, the Intrapersonal subscale, Self-Actualization, the Interpersonal subscale, Social Responsibility, Empathy, Stress Tolerance, the Adaptability subscale, Problem Solving, the General Mood subscale and Optimism. Among leadership practices, Modeling the Way, Enabling Others to Act, and Inspiring a Shared Vision correlated most frequently with the ESI construct. Top Performers in the Program scored significantly higher than did other performance groups (Middle and Bottom Performers) in 11 out of the 21 ESI variables. Additionally, Top and Middle Performers scored significantly higher than did Bottom Performers in the following S-LPI subscales: Modeling the Way, Inspiring a Shared Vision, and Challenging the Process. In terms of demographic differences and ESI, significant differences were iden (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2013, EDU Policy and Leadership

The purpose of this constructivist narrative study was to explore how Asian American student leaders of ethnic student organizations (ESOs) experience their ethnic and racial identities in the context of their ESO and the classroom. The primary research questions guiding this study were: (a) How do Asian American student leaders of ESOs experience and make sense of their ethnic and racial identities within the context of their involvement with their ESO; (b) How do Asian American student leaders of ESOs experience and make sense of their ethnic and racial identities within the classroom? Data collection included semi-structured interviews with six participants. Data was analyzed through Clandinin and Connelly's (2000) three dimensional narrative inquiry space for elements of interaction, continuity, and situation. Restories of each participants' narrative were presented. Findings from this study include: (1) Complex and varied understandings and negotiations of ethnic and racial identities within the ESO context; and (2) Salience of ethnic and racial identity in the classroom associated with negative, challenging, and positive experiences.

Doctor of Education (Educational Leadership), Youngstown State University, 2025, Department of Teacher Education and Leadership Studies

This study investigated the effectiveness of systematic K-6 spelling instruction, exploring the historical context, instructional practices, and professional development necessary to support both novice and experienced teachers. Using qualitative methods, data were collected through surveys and interviews with 30 elementary teachers in a western Pennsylvania school district. Highlighting a reliance on informal strategies and digital tools, the findings reveal significant gaps in formalized spelling programs which often hinder the development of foundational spelling skills. Effective instructional practices, such as phonics-based and multisensory approaches, were identified as crucial for improving student outcomes. Challenges include differentiating instruction to meet diverse student needs and addressing systemic barriers, such as inconsistent resources and limited professional development opportunities. This study underscores the need for tailored professional development focused on explicit, systematic instruction to enhance teacher capacity and student learning. The implications of this research extend to designing robust training programs and standardized assessments to support effective spelling instruction. Future research could explore longitudinal impacts of these interventions across multiple districts and states.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), University of Dayton, 2023, Educational Leadership

This study was conducted to expand and contribute to the corpus of trauma-informed pedagogical knowledge and research. With the high prevalence of trauma in college student populations, it is critical for institutions to understand the experiences of faculty members who engage daily with traumatized students. Using an Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach, this qualitative inquiry explored the lived experiences of faculty members who teach traumatized students in higher education and the impacts those experiences have had. Eight faculty members from various institutions of higher education across the United States took part in hour-long, semi-structured interviews regarding their experiences of teaching traumatized students. The transcribed and coded data, viewed through the lenses of secondary trauma and crossover theoretical frameworks, revealed that teaching traumatized students, in combination with an absence of trauma-informed professional preparation, has impacted the wellbeing of faculty, negatively influenced their teaching self-efficacy beliefs, and resulted in negative perceptions toward employing institutions. The glaring need for trauma-informed pedagogical training for faculty members in higher education is successfully established in this study.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2021, Higher Education Administration

The fraternity and sorority experience has been well-documented in the media, research, and popular culture. Proponents of membership insist upon its positive impact and value, while critics question the continued presence of fraternities and sororities on college campuses. Critical analysis of these organizations is essential to move them forward and ensure their value. There is ample research on membership outcomes such as academic excellence, leadership development, civic engagement, and moral development. However, there is little research about how fraternity and sorority membership influences identity development, specifically gender identity development. The purpose of this case study was to examine the role fraternity and sorority membership plays in shaping the gender identities of members at a Midwestern, public, four-year research institution. The research questions are: a) How does fraternity and sorority membership influence the gender identities of members? b) How do fraternity and sorority members make meaning of their perceptions of and experiences with cultural gender norms? c) How do fraternity and sorority members perform gender? and d) How do fraternities and sororities both reinforce and challenge traditional conceptions of gender? This study was situated in a constructivist research paradigm because the research questions focused on how participants constructed meaning and understood the influence of their fraternity and sorority membership on their gender identity. An embedded single-case study methodology was utilized, using more than one unit of analysis and offering a discussion of themes both within and across cases. The findings of this study support the notion that fraternity and sorority membership has the potential to influence the gender identity development of members. From the data, five major themes emerged to indicate how participants made meaning of their fraternity or sorority membership in relation to their gender identit (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2021, Educational Studies

This dissertation explored how Black graduate womxn (BGW) who are matriculating or who have matriculated through The Ohio State University's (Ohio State or OSU) College of Education and Human Ecology (EHE) are located in both organizational sites with regards to professional socialization. The study is concerned with the relationship among BGW's locations, socialization, and abilities to access desired career pipelines upon degree completion. It is also concerned with BGW's locations in “epistemological third spaces” (Seremani & Clegg, 2016), as “outsiders within” (Collins, 2000) the academy who must create knowledge about academe in order to navigate it and attain career success. I conducted the study as a bricolage (Denzin & Lincoln, 2018), borrowing from constructivist case study (Merriam; 1998; Stake, 1995, 2000), and narrative inquiry (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990; Kim, 2019). Although the study examined BGW's socialization at specific organizational sites, it has broad implications for BGW with regards to their organizations as possible pathways into their desired professional fields. Embodiment was the epistemic frame that underpinned data collection and analysis. Data collection took place through interviews and focus groups via Zoom, because of the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic. I conducted thematic narrative analysis with the assistance of broadening and restorying processes (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990). Black Critical Race Theory (BlackCrit; Dumas & ross, 2016) and postcolonialism (e.g., Said, 1978; Bhabha, 1994) supported analysis as frameworks through which to understand exercises of anti-Black and colonial power during BGW's professional socialization while matriculating through EHE. I also presented findings as composite narratives (Orbach, 2000; Willis, 2019) to capture participants' responses to protocol questions in ways that supported answering the dissertation's study questions. Amid discussions about the lack of diversity in the profess (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2020, Individual Interdisciplinary Program

Global health experiences or global health abroad experiences (GHEs) are unique experiential learning opportunities to infuse and teach critical lessons on health disparities. These experiences aid in the promotion of social justice in healthcare and equip healthcare professionals to better serve the needs of the population. In this dissertation, I explore the role GHEs play in training and preparing the next generation of health professionals. Cultural education for healthcare professionals (HCPs), including the use of cultural competence training, has emerged as a requirement for several professional accrediting agencies in an effort to train health professionals to deliver better care across cultural lines and address health disparities. However, research in this area has not explored how GHEs may directly influence or impact healthcare student perspectives. Through immersive learning, GHEs could be an effective platform for deep understanding of social determinants to health. With a robust integration of pedagogical practices, GHEs have the potential to not only contribute to changes in attitudes, skills, and knowledge in the short-term, but to possibly shape the lifelong pursuit of intercultural competence. The purpose of this qualitative research is to understand student outcomes from GHEs by using such experiences as ideal conduits where students grapple with and realize disparities in health.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2019, Higher Education Administration

The purpose of this grounded theory study was to develop a theory that explains the process of self-authorship development of college students in China. Little research exists that explicitly explores the integrated development of college students in China and influences on that development from the educational environment. Despite the extensive research in U.S. higher education settings on students' development from an integrated perspective, little comparable research has been done in the context of college students in China. I interviewed 13 junior or senior college students from three institutions in one province in China via synchronous video conferencing. I utilized convenience sampling to choose the province, purposive sampling to select the three institutions with different rankings, purposive sampling to choose the first six participants, and then theoretical sampling to select the subsequent seven participants, until theoretical saturation was reached. I used constant comparative analysis to facilitate theoretical sampling and the data analysis process. An initial conceptual model of self-authorship development emerged from this study. The trajectory of development in the epistemological domain is from depending on external sources' knowing to beginning to construct knowledge. The trajectory of development in the interpersonal domain is from being subordinate or dominant in relationships to striving for mutual relationships. In other words, participants were becoming less dependent in relationships. The intrapersonal domain is comprised of three dimensions: self-defined goals, self-efficacy, and self-knowledge. The trajectory of development in the intrapersonal domain is from unclear self-defined goals to clear self-defined goals, low self-efficacy to high self-efficacy, and little self-knowledge to robust self-knowledge. In addition, I found four factors promoting participants' self-authorship development: absence of externally defined go (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2018, Arts Administration, Education and Policy

This dissertation discusses how engaging in arts-based identity exploration activities can help traditional-age undergraduates (ages 18-24) develop increased self-awareness and cultural sensitivity. The dissertation first explores the participatory inquiry paradigm and the roles of artistic/creative expression in holistic knowledge creation and transformative learning. It then provides an overview of the field of arts-based inquiry and its wide variety of approaches. The following chapters discuss traditional-age undergraduate identity development and how arts-based identity exploration activities can be used in undergraduate multicultural social justice courses to foster self-awareness and cultural sensitivity. Chapter 8 discusses the author's Spring 2016 in-class research at The Ohio State University, in which 50 students from a wide variety of majors engaged in various arts-based identity exploration activities. It was conducted within two sections of the general education course "Visual Culture: Investigating Diversity and Social Justice." The study was grounded in the participatory inquiry paradigm. It addressed these research questions: (1) Can engaging in arts-based identity exploration activities help the traditional-age undergraduates in this study increase their awareness and understanding of their own and others' individual and cultural identities and thereby increase both self-awareness and cultural sensitivity? (2) If so, which specific activities, utilizing which artistic modalities, do they find effective and in what ways? (3) Do study participants in non-arts/humanities majors react differently to various activities than do arts and humanities majors? If so, which activities and how? This mixed-methods study employed arts-based inquiry, qualitative, and quantitative methods. First, a qualitative questionnaire solicited students' views on whether and how arts activities could help traditional-age undergraduates further understand and devel (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2017, Educational Leadership

Literature suggests many graduate students receive inadequate, little, or no formal preparation for teaching in higher education. Most extant research on this topic shows preparation has positive outcomes for graduate students, yet few studies examine the process of graduate students' teaching preparation, which could lend important insights that yield better preparation. This study addresses this process, inquiring into how graduate students experience teaching preparation, and how interactions with peers and an instructor shape preparation, in a one-credit hour graduate pedagogy seminar. Situating graduate students taking the seminar as a collegiate subculture called prospective college teachers (PCTs), this 15-month study employed an ethnographic methodology grounded in an interpretivist paradigm. A symbolic interactionist theoretical perspective and framework guided approaches to both data collection and analysis. Data collection yielded fieldnotes from 21 seminar sessions, 18 interviews between seven graduate students (and the seminar instructor) hailing from various academic disciplines, and documents for review. Results showed the 60-minute seminar contained three sections: part one, transitional periods, and part two. Through interactions with peers and the instructor, PCTs generally experienced part one as stable, predictable, and transactional, as it primarily featured instructor lectures and notetaking by PCTs. Transitional periods, short periods of time bridging the gap between parts one and two, were less predictable and varied in terms of eventfulness. Regardless, PCTs' peer interactions in transitional periods were usually brief or planned by the instructor, making interactions somewhat rigid and scripted. PCTs' interactions with the instructor mostly related to adhering to the instructor's requests, creating a general PCT experience of compliance. In part two, PCTs had more opportunities for in-depth interactions with peers and the instructor (open full item for complete abstract)

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2017, Leadership and Change

This study developed a teacher self-assessment instrument in the form of six factors across two overarching constructs, resulting in one Positive Relationships scale with three factors; and three related, but separate, scales measuring elements of the Classroom Environment. Many teacher skills and qualities are known to contribute to effectiveness in the classroom, such as teacher self-efficacy, content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and instructional knowledge. The inclusion of affective dimensions of teacher effectiveness can complement the prevailing focus on other measures of teacher effectiveness, through the consideration of critically important, but relatively ignored, aspects of effective teaching. This study examined teacher attitudes toward building positive relationships with students and creating an empowering classroom environment, grounded in teacher effectiveness research. A survey was taken by 403 practicing elementary teachers in the United States. The results were analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The resulting factors were compared with a four-item classroom management subscale of the Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001) to determine convergent validity, measuring similar underlying constructs; and divergent validity, measuring attitudes versus efficacy. Participant demographic variables were compared using independent sample t-tests, one-way ANOVA, and tests for metric invariance to determine if the instrument performed similarly with all groups. Findings show good model fit, reliability, and validity for the factors related to each overarching construct, and most demographic variables showed no variance in the models. Significant differences were found for the Managing Conflict factor between teachers who taught grades K–2 and teachers who taught all elementary grades. Group differences on the Student-Centered and Positive Guidance factors were found between t (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2015, Leadership Studies

This dissertation explores the impact of formal staff training and field leadership on the ability of student leaders to correctly discern the appropriate styles of leadership for specific outdoor recreation-based situations. The relationship between the situational leadership model (Hersey & Blanchard, 1980) and group development theory (Tuckman, 1965) was explored through the integration research of Weber and Karman (1991) and was used as a framework for this study. In order to develop an applicable form of this research for this study, the researcher developed an integrated dynamic model to provide a visual representation of the blending of the two theoretical frameworks. In addition to the exploration of formal staff training and field leadership experiences, analyses were conducted to determine if age, gender, race, previous outdoor recreation experience, or outdoor recreation degree seeking significantly affected the students' awareness or their dominant styles of leadership. The literature study indicated a strong relationship between situational leadership and outdoor recreation (Breunig, O'Connell, Todd, Anderson, & Young, 2010; Shooter, Paisley, & Sibthorp, 2009; Sibthorp, Paisley, & Gookin, 2007; Sutherland & Stroot, 2010), but little, if any, research exists on the development of situational leadership in outdoor leaders. The quantitative nature of this study stemmed from the lack of research in the outdoor recreation field from this approach. As most previous research in outdoor recreation utilized small populations (i.e., a single group of people participating in an outdoor recreation activity), this study examined a larger group of participants utilizing a quantitative approach. In total, 106 student outdoor leaders from various Midwestern United States university outdoor recreation programs participated in a three-part study that tested their awareness of situational leadership through the Outdoor Leadership Survey (OLS), which utilized the Expediti (open full item for complete abstract)

PHD, Kent State University, 2015, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Foundations, Leadership and Administration

The purpose of this grounded theory study was to understand the process of leadership identity development experienced by traditional-aged female undergraduate college students. The findings led to a model for leadership identity development consisting of four phases. In Phase 1: Awareness and Exploration, students viewed leadership as external to themselves instead of something to which they aspired. In Phase 2: Leader Identified, students equated leadership with a title or position and saw themselves as leaders only when they were elected to a position. In Phase 3: Leadership Differentiated, students understood that leadership could derive from any source regardless of a position, yet they continued to see themselves as leaders because of their positions. In Phase 4: Generativity, students understood their responsibility to develop others as leaders. In this phase some students also realized a need to address change, specifically with regard to societal views of women and people of color. In the early phases of the model, the female students in this study saw gender as irrelevant to them as leaders even though they recognized societal views of female leaders as weaker or less capable. In later phases they understood how being female mattered, and by Phase 4 they recognized a need to take a stand on societal issues related to gender and race. This study provides valuable insights on the development of female student leadership identity to help leadership educators and student affairs professionals construct intentionally designed programs, yet much remains to be learned.