Master of Fine Arts, Miami University, 2024, Art

This study addresses a critical issue facing John Carroll University (JCU): the potential shortcomings in its on-site campus visit experience, which may not effectively foster engagement among traditional-aged prospective students. The research seeks to identify specific elements within the visit experience that, if changed, could boost students' post-visit engagement scores and increase their likelihood of enrolling. Grounded in experience, service, and interior design principles and framed by the concept of radical hospitality, this study explores how an intentionally crafted visit experience can distinguish JCU from competitors. The research also examines the role of technology, people, personalization, and impactful first impressions. Using a mixed methods approach, the study produced findings that led to a real-world project of redesigning the JCU campus visit service design blueprint. When portions of the new blueprint were implemented, post-visit prospective student engagement scores were measured and compared to a baseline, controlling for student cohort, time of year, and other factors. The study found that by improving the campus visit service design through tailored, immersive, and distinctive experiences, post-visit engagement scores did, in fact, increase. JCU can leverage these insights to foster deeper connections with prospective students, driving enrollment growth and long-term institutional success.

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Organizational Leadership , Franklin University, 2024, International Institute for Innovative Instruction

Research shows that the at-risk population entering college dropout or land on probation within their first year in college. Through a longitudinal comparative research design, this study examines at-risk students' academic standing, retention, graduation, and tutoring usage within a cohort program compared to a non-cohort initiative at a community college. The analysis focuses on the at-risk population, exploring community college attendance, online education, student involvement, and social and academic integration. The study yielded several insights relevant to the impact of cohort design on a comprehensive approach that includes educational and non-academic support contributing to the development of evidence-based practices to improve outcomes for at-risk students. The findings can assist in enhancing the academic success, retention, and graduation rates of at-risk students. The study results can also help policymakers and higher education institutions make informed decisions about the effectiveness and potential benefits of cohort and non-cohort programs for at-risk students.

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2024, Leadership and Change

In higher education, the focus on student success often takes center stage in research and the professor-as-teacher practice. While numerous empirical studies concentrate on the growth and development of undergraduate students, this dissertation delves into professors' relational and felt experiences in positive teaching-learning relationships. Four terminal-degreed professors from four different schools and three different disciplines–education, humanities, and leadership–engaged in photography and were then interviewed. Participants reflected on their photographs and their experiences in a teaching-learning relationship with their students. The present study aimed to illuminate the unspoken language of connection by utilizing interpretive phenomenology and photovoice to uncover professors' relational and felt experiences and how these moments energize and rejuvenate them. Research revealed two overarching themes: generativity and seeing students' humanity; and five group experiential themes: foundational influences, relational proximity, intentional presence, assessment as a learning conversation, and feeling aligned. The theoretical foundation of this dissertation weaved together a diverse array of theories and concepts, including relational cultural theory (RCT), somatics, and embodiment. The insight from the literature combined with the findings from this study offer understanding in how professor-student relationships in higher education can be places of mutual empowerment, empathy, and mattering. By grounding the research framework in human interaction's relational and fluid, alive, and pulsating bodies, this dissertation contributes to a more humanized and inclusive understanding of the intricate relationships that shape higher education. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.), Franklin University, 2024, Business Administration

This dissertation is a quantitative research study designed to investigate the influence of articulation agreements on completion of a baccalaureate degree by community college transfer students holding an associate degree. The research study examined the relationship between four variables (age, gender, associate degree completion, and transfer student type) based on an articulation agreement with the originating school. The use of quantitative research methods, particularly logistic regression, chi-squared analyses, and Fisher's Exact Test examined the relationships between variables seeking effect of articulation agreements based on the Theory of planned behavior, expectancy-value theory, social cognitive theory, and achievement goal theory regarding student expectations for bachelor's degree completion. The research study did not find a statistically significant correlation between articulated status of transfer students, age, or gender and bachelor's degree completion. A positive correlation between associate degree completion and bachelor's degree completion was found for these students at the target institution. Students with an associate degree had 1.94 times higher odds of completing the bachelors' degree.

Doctor of Education, Ashland University, 2024, College of Education

This dissertation investigates the factors influencing the matriculation trends of former College Credit Plus (CCP) participants to host institutions in Ohio, utilizing Perna's (2006) College Choice Model as a framework. The study examines variables such as course modality, geographical proximity to the host institution, course load, and grade point average, utilizing three postsecondary institutions: a private 4-year, a public 4-year, and a 2-year community college. High school cohorts from the past three graduating years (2021-2023) were analyzed to provide current insights into dual enrollment trends. Significant associations were found between matriculation and variables of course modality, course load, and proximity. The study's limitations include a restricted sample size, exclusion of homeschooled and online high school students, and a focus on a limited set of variables. Future research should explore additional qualitative and quantitative factors influencing dual enrollment students' college choices, including socioeconomic status, parental education levels, and institutional characteristics.

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2024, English: Composition and Rhetoric

This thesis explores writing center administrators' (WCA) policies, perceptions, and stances on mandatory visits. Despite longstanding anecdotal concerns about mandatory appointments from the writing center field, few studies investigate administrators' understanding and management of these appointments. To address this gap, this thesis explores findings from a national survey and in-depth interviews with writing center administrators from various institutions. A RAD (replicable, aggregable, and data-driven) approach provided comprehensive insights into administrators' attitudes surrounding mandatory appointments. The findings reveal that administrators hold ambivalent attitudes and inherent biases against required visits, primarily due to concerns about attracting seemingly unmotivated writers. Moreover, the findings suggest an overreliance on anecdotal lore rather than engagement with existing scholarship. These results ultimately suggest that the issues surrounding required visits are more administrative than student-related. The study contributes to the field by challenging the negative perceptions rooted in lore and advocates for a data-driven reevaluation of mandatory appointments to align our practices with empirical evidence better.

Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, 2024, Educational Administration

One of the challenges faced by Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) has been frequent turnover in crucial executive leadership positions. As of 2022, there were 99 HBCUs; two-year and four-year private and public institutions (NCES, 2024). In the fall of 2023, at least 18% of the HBCUs in the country were without a permanent president, institutions were being led by either an acting or interim president (Moody, 2023). Specifically focusing on HBCUs, this explanatory sequential research design was used to evaluate the organizational morale, climate, and culture of middle-management or what Lipsky's (2010) describes as, Street-Level Bureaucrats (SLB). In any organization in need of positive transformational change, effective and efficient communication from a place of cultural humility and servant leadership, could be beneficial. Using mixed-methods research, data were analyzed, and themes were identified; communication critical for effective collaboration among university members and communication and organizational direction from leadership. Through the findings, the THINK Communication Framework (Brown, 2023) was developed as the action plan/intervention to assist in strengthening the university's communication.

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2024, Educational Leadership

American universities are facing pressure to provide career services to international students, many of whom want to stay in the country to work after they graduate. Although some have created specialized roles to support international student career development, far more have continued to recruit international students without thinking about why they choose their study destination: career opportunities. To date, most research has focused on the student or alumni lens of looking for work. There has been little scholarship about the practitioner experience in providing career services to international students, and no meaningful scholarly attempt at overviewing models, methods, or service structures for global career services. This is the problem this study addresses. This qualitative-descriptive-interpretive study explores the models of career services at American international branch campuses (IBCs). These are some of the most internationalized universities, and they provided fertile ground for generating knowledge about what it means to provide global career services. The main research question addressed in this study is ‘What models of global career services exist at American universities' IBCs'? To a lesser extent, the dissertation also examines the relationship between the branch campus and its main campus. Semistructured interviews with 16 career services professionals from American IBCs across the globe were conducted as the primary data source. Career ecosystems theory frames the study and provides an informed understanding of practitioners' decision-making processes regarding which model of career service to deliver. The respondents were asked questions in three thematic areas: IBC context, home-host campus relationship, and career services model. The findings reveal that career services professionals at IBCs play a crucial but often unnoticed role in advancing globally oriented career services. These professionals operate within the unique realm of (open full item for complete abstract)

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)

Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, 2024, Educational Administration

This study examines the hazing motivations and anti-hazing training needs of fraternal chapter advisors at two, large, public institutions in the Midwest of the United States. Research has found that when hazing is happening with undergraduates, advisors and coaches are in the room over 40% of the time (Allan & Madden, 2008) and a new state law in Ohio, Collin's Law, requires all volunteers working with student groups to go through anti-hazing education. A mixed method, sequential explanatory study design was used to first determine the hazing motivations of chapter advisors by governing council. After the hazing motivations were identified, chapter advisors participated in individual interviews to expand on the survey results and provide context for what they wanted to see for anti-hazing education. From the study, statistically significant differences in instrumental education and hazing severity were determined between chapter advisors by council, and four themes for anti-hazing training emerged which were low-level hazing examples, university policies and procedures related to the conduct process, advisor responsibility and liability in reporting, and resource sharing to better educate their undergraduate chapters. The unique hazing motivations by the governing council coupled with the themes that developed were used to create an action plan for an anti-hazing training specifically for fraternal chapter advisors in compliance with Collin's Law.

Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, 2024, Educational Administration

Faculty are critical players to advance institutional mission in higher education (Clark, 1972). Hiring faculty who have an affinity for mission and who understand and support Catholicism in the spirit of an institution's founding charism can be a significant challenge for academic leaders and for the longevity of institutional mission in Catholic higher education (Heft, 2021). Faculty across disciplines may find it challenging to grasp or apply the mission of their Catholic university because mission-related criteria are not always understood or prioritized in faculty hiring processes (Breslin, 2000; Briele, 2012; Heft, 2021; Steele, 2008). Currently, there is no standard mission focused guide for faculty hiring at the University of Dayton (UD), a Catholic Marianist University. Given that hiring priorities and practical knowledge of Catholic Marianist principles of education differ among faculty across the university, hiring for mission criteria may not be well defined among search committees. This practical action research study used qualitative methods to explore how affinity for the University of Dayton's Catholic Marianist mission is assessed in faculty searches. Results showed that search committee members consider mission principles at least moderately important, but these have not been consistently identified in candidate assessment criteria. Still, participants discussed six mission-based criteria with twenty component elements that have been operative in some way in recent faculty searches. This knowledge, coupled with the principles of Marianist education, informed Hiring Faculty to Engage Catholic Marianist Mission, a practical intervention plan to strengthen hiring for mission practices through articulating the purpose of hiring for mission; developing criteria and assessment rubrics; standardizing the hiring for mission search process; and fostering faculty stakeholder participation. Anticipated results of the action plan and challenges in project lead (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, 2024, Educational Administration

This research identified a problem in practice at the University of Akron (UA) of declining international student enrollment, sense of satisfaction, and feelings of institutional support. To address the problem of practice we created an equity-based framework (L.O.V.E Change model) to bring international students as relevant stakeholders into organizational change processes. Fifty students were surveyed about their academic, cultural, and legal needs. Six students were interviewed to gain insight into the needs addressed by the survey. Survey results indicated a high need among international students for academic tutoring, cultural events, career planning, and assistance with immigration. The interviews illuminated themes of uncertainty and anxiety, lack of knowledge, career guidance, and educational guidance among international students.

Ed.D., Antioch University, 2024, Education

Beginning at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, higher education experienced a sea change in reduced enrollment, altered course delivery models, and increased need for student support. While observing staff's actual impact on the student experience during this time, this study will address the question, “How do professional staff in small private universities a) perceive their contributions to the retention of students and b) perceive their overall value to the institutions they serve?” Owing to gaps in research on professional staff experiences, the literature review synthesizes current trends related to enrollment, retention, and persistence, focusing on small, private, non-profit 4-year institutions; discusses the disparate impact of these trends; examines the context of academic staffing trends; reviews the experiences of professional staff, focusing on critical connections between student and institution, student learning within liminal spaces, gender, and relational practice; and, examining social justice leadership in postsecondary education staffing. This qualitative study employs a constructivist grounded theory method using an initial anonymous questionnaire and interviews with volunteers for a deeper exploration of themes. The pool of nine interview participants comprises mid-level professional staff with at least three years of experience in student-supporting roles from five private universities with under 5,000 students. Potential implications relate to improving student retention practices and eliminating barriers by rethinking staff structures, resource allocation, and investment in student support areas. Further implications are related to staff role satisfaction, socially just models for professional development, and training of the next generation of professional staff. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

Doctor of Organization Development & Change (D.O.D.C.), Bowling Green State University, 2024, Organization Development

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) professionals often serve as change agents tasked with leading university-wide EDI efforts. Charged with advancing EDI initiatives as part of the University mission, the Vice President of Equity Diversity and Inclusion (VPEDI) must navigate campus organizational and cultural barriers in order to effect change. In this study, 116 VPEDIs and campus community members working in EDI roles responded to a survey designed to investigate if EDI professionals believe they use constructive deviant behavior while engaged in University EDI roles. Constructive Deviance is defined as voluntary risk-taking behaviors that violate perceived organization or group norms with the intent of improving the well-being of the organization, its members, or both. The survey utilized the Constructive Deviance Behavioral Scale (CDBS), the Affective Commitment Scale (AC), and the Job Security Satisfaction (JSS) scale to test for an emotional component to constructive deviance use and measure affective reactions to perceptions of job security. Demographic variables of race or ethnicity and gender identity were tested for differences in perceptions of constructive deviance use. Data analysis found no significant difference in constructive deviance for racial or gender identity groups. Additionally, the results indicated no significant relationship between constructive deviance and affective commitment or constructive deviance and job security satisfaction. A negative relationship was found between affective commitment and interpersonal constructive deviance. Two open-ended responses allowed participants to share their views regarding the risks and benefits of constructive deviance and its use for change.

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

One of the most challenging times for campus communities is when a crisis occurs. It often causes higher education to question their policies, missions, and values. Additionally, the crisis managers and those affected by it may experience trauma as they navigate the crisis (Bataille & Cordova, 2014; Lynch 2023). Despite the research on crisis management, there are still gaps in knowledge. Because no two crises are alike, it is difficult to nuance how care is provided throughout a crisis and if communities transform post-crisis. This general descriptive-interpretive qualitative study aimed to understand how student affairs crisis managers incorporate ethics of care strategies in crisis management practices to aid social transformation. Two research questions guided this study: How do crisis managers provide care for those affected by a crisis? How have campuses and community members transformed after a crisis? Branicki's (2020) feminist crisis management framework underpinned this study. This framework considers the relationship between the cared-for and caregiver, the use of networks to provide care, and how the community recovers and transforms after a crisis. Twelve participants engaged in this general descriptive-interpretive study and participated in one semi-structured interview. They self-identified as middle managers during the crisis they discussed. All participants reported to a senior student affairs officer or the chief student affairs officer. Seven key findings emerged from this study. The first set of findings addresses how crisis managers provide care during a crisis and includes actions of care, provision of care, receipt of care, and influence on care. The second set of findings describes how campuses and their members transform after a crisis and includes middle managers reflecting on transformation. These findings contribute to a better understanding of how middle managers in student affairs provide care throughout a crisis. Furthermore, it (open full item for complete abstract)

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2024, Leadership and Change

COVID-19 changed how faculty members approached teaching in higher education in the United States. This study specifically looks at the changes in faculty-student interaction (FSI) during the COVID-19 pandemic. While extensive literature exists on the topic from the student perspective, the disruption in education necessitated a more extensive study of the faculty perspective. A multiple-case study methodology was employed to explore the experiences of a small cohort of faculty members at a single institution and how they fostered positive interactions with students from Spring 2019 through Spring 2023. The data collected included semi-structured interviews, course syllabi, teaching philosophies, and a pre-interview questionnaire with demographic data. The findings revealed that faculty initially faced hurdles engaging with students but swiftly devised strategies to adapt. Their approaches primarily emerged from internet searches and conversations with other faculty in their communities of practice. Additionally, faculty members who taught prior to the pandemic used their prior teaching experience but also credited having access to course materials designed for online learning as a strategy for positive interaction. Finally, returning to in-person teaching with social restrictions presented significant challenges in comparison to teaching online. A key implication for practice is requiring faculty to teach asynchronous courses periodically to ensure familiarity with best practices for online learning and access to updated teaching materials. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2024, Leadership and Change

This dissertation project used an interpretivist qualitative research design to study how the right-to-read claim made by seven teenagers attending Detroit public schools in 2016 reflects, addresses, or describes contemporary discussions about educational access. Using situational analysis (SA) as a theory/method, the entirety of the claim comprises the situation of the social phenomenon being studied, not the people. This research combines critical race theory (CRT) with Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems and uses situation analysis to map historical discourses to conduct a study that examines the history of a present situation of inquiry as presented by this question: How does the 2016 right-to-read claim made by high school students in Detroit, Michigan reflect, address, or describe contemporary discussions about educational access? The study collected data to allow me to construct a prosopography that articulates an answer to the question that claims access to literacy is a public school policy right. Because situational analysis (SA) is designed to open research data to aspects of a circumstance that may have been overlooked, marginalized, or silenced, I was not certain the research results would answer this exact question. Additionally, critical theory and SA were used to conduct this qualitative research, examining historical data that addresses the right-to-read claim as a Foucaultian programmatic social problem. As such, it seeks to understand the complexities of recurring and historically situated education practices that limit actualizing U.S. education policies that embrace access to basic literacy skills as a human right. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

Doctor of Healthcare Administration (D.H.A.), Franklin University, 2024, Health Programs

As of the end of the twentieth century, biological drug therapies were at the forefront of health research for treating life-threatening diseases. Despite their therapeutical benefits stemming from providing great treatment hope against lethal diseases, biological drugs end up placing a financial burden on the American healthcare system. In the last decade, biological drug skyrocketing prices have significantly impacted net drug expenditures. The biological drug market needs more competitors. This impacted the passage of the Biological Price Competition and Innovation Act in 2010, introducing biosimilars, the highly safe and effective but less expensive biological copycat alternative drugs. However, a decade after biosimilars introduction, healthcare administration barriers limit American pharmacists and physicians from adopting biosimilars. Hence, the current low American health care provider biosimilar adoption rate must be improved to realize significant healthcare savings. Although many literature studies have examined biosimilar clinical adoption hurdles among American pharmacists and physicians in their siloed medical care settings, they have yet to focus on creating a comprehensive un-siloed biosimilar adoption plan based on their inputs. Therefore, to determine the essential elements to boost biosimilar adoption, this qualitative exploratory study thoroughly examined the literature. It then gathered the viewpoints of pharmacists and physicians who were acquainted with biosimilars by conducting semi-structured question interviews with 13 pharmacists and 8 physicians for a total of 21 participants. The findings of this study suggest that to create a dynamic and competitive biosimilar comprehensive clinical adoption plan, increasing HCPP education, having sufficient healthcare reimbursement, improving the roles of essential stakeholders, and increasing communication among key stakeholders are all necessary to increase biosimilars' trust and adoption, facilitati (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts, Wittenberg University, 2024, Education

I conducted qualitative research utilizing a descriptive method while also conducting an historical comparison analysis. The purpose of this research was to uncover parallels and understand the economic, population and political similarities between the 1970s/80s and the United States today, while also discovering how the current economic, population and political realities impact the recruitment and enrollment of students to higher education today. I collected data through semi-structured interviews, focus group interviews and document content analysis of a small, institution in central Ohio's higher education enrollment trends from the past decade. I interviewed a total of 13 participants, with five identifying as females and eight identifying as males, and of the 13, 12 identified as Caucasian and one as African-American. From my research I discovered that there are numerous commonalities between the 1970s/80s and the United States today and that there is a lot of uncertainty that exists for the future of higher education. I also found that the economic, political and demographic events and conditions of society directly contribute the enrollment and recruitment of students to higher education.

Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, 2024, Educational Administration

This study focused on understanding the circumstances that led to students being placed on academic probation and the effect of a support program on their academic recovery. Understanding students lived experiences that lead to academic underperformance is vital to the development and implementation of academic support programs. Ensuring that the developed program meets student's needs and equips them to succeed is similarly vital. This study utilized a explanatory mixed methods design. A purposeful sample of students on academic probation were invited to participate in a survey and four semi-structured interviews to explore their lived experiences during their semester of academic underperformance and with the support program. A grounded theory approach informed by the survey was used to identify common themes and experiences. The four semi-structured interviews provided key insights into students lived experiences and perceptions. Shared themes around academic underperformance for nonacademic reasons such as loss, trauma, and isolation emerged alongside themes of support structures being passive and students being on their own to recover. Additionally, a strong support from participants for the growth of the support program emerged. These results form the basis of an action plan meant to make changes to the institution and better support students who are underperforming academically.