UMD Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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    “SCREAMING DOWN THE HALLWAY”, BUT NO ONE IS LISTENING TO ME: EXPLORING THE LIVED EXPERIENCES OF BLACK RESIDENTIAL STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS REGARDING OCCUPATIONAL WELLNESS AT HISTORICALLY WHITE INSTITUTIONS
    (2023) Dissassa, Di-Tu; Moore, Candace M; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Amid ongoing occurrences of racism in the United States, consideration of the campus climate for Staff of Color remains under explored in literature. Specifically, Black student affairs employees who both live and work on campus are an understudied population regarding how race intersects with their residential life roles and how their wellness is impacted through these intersections. Through this study’s use of critical frameworks, the coresearchers and I sought to uncover their lived experiences through interviews, reflections, and focus groups. Four themes emerged from the findings of this research: (a) The Live-In Experience as Socialized and Conventional, (b) Belonging as Dualism, (c) Physical Safety as an Impediment to Occupational Wellness, and (d) Performativity as Racism. The coresearchers articulated that they were socialized into their experiences, yet (a) felt little belonging on campus due to their race and (b) felt a misfit when living in residence halls. Although the sense of belonging findings were consistent with existing campus climate research, articulated aspects of physical safety-related occupational health theories regarding occupational wellness suggested the coresearchers felt occupational distress surrounding their physical safety. The coresearchers also highlighted clearly that they experienced high levels of performative antiracism efforts from their departments and institutions, leading to feelings of isolation. Despite these challenges, the coresearchers described finding solace in community with other Black people and People of Color to provide aspects of wellness their institutions could not provide. Further research is needed to truly understand the implications of departmental and institutional leadership around performativity and lack of belonging for Staff of Color.
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    A TALE OF TWO GROUPS: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MINORITY STUDENTS AND NON-MINORITY STUDENTS IN THEIR PREDISPOSITION TO AND ENGAGEMENT WITH DIVERSE PEERS AT A PREDOMINANTLY WHITE INSTITUTION
    (2009) Hall, Wendell Diedrik; Cabrera, Alberto F.; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which minority students and non-minority students differ in their predispositions to engage in campus-based diversity activities upon entering college and engagement with diverse college peers during college. These ethnicity-based interactional differences were examined under a revised version of the Transition to College Model (Locks et al., 2008). The Diverse College Student Engagement Model accounts for the joint influence of student pre-college characteristics along with collegiate experiences, in shaping engagement with racially diverse peers at a predominantly White college. Using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and Latent Means Modeling (LMM), this dissertation examined direct and indirect effects of factors that influence engagement with diverse students in college. Findings indicated that engagement with diverse peers does not take place in a vacuum; conditions and mechanisms that facilitate engagement also matter. Several pre-college variables and college variables were shown to influence predisposition to engage in diversity-related activities and engagement among diverse peers in college. Findings from testing the proposed model indicate that minority students were significantly higher in the latent factor Predisposition to Engage when entering college; however, no significant differences were found in the latent factor Engagement after the sophomore year of college. The differences appear to have been attenuated by some of the campus mechanisms the University of Maryland has in place to foster engagement among diverse students.