Teaching, Learning, Policy & Leadership Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2759
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Item The Certainty of Navigating the Uncertain: Resource Allocation Decisions of Business School Deans at Public and Private Research Universities(2024) LaRiviere, Kristin; O'Meara, KerryAnn; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Business school deans at public and private research universities today face particular fiscal challenges due to declining MBA enrollment, shifting student enrollment choices and changing international student enrollment trends. Social and political forces such as the COVID-19 pandemic and recent social justice movements also impacted college campuses as a whole. As a result, business school deans are pivotal decision makers who must make difficult choices, such as initiating layoff or eliminating programs. Given this milieu of factors, understanding how business school deans make resource allocation decisions provides value to understanding college-level leadership. This study examined how organizational factors impact business school deans’ resource allocation decisions. Decisions are also impacted by personal perspectives, which were explored in this study. Framed by Hackman’s Theory of Resource Allocation (1984) and Bolman and Deal’s (2017) Four Frames of Leadership, the findings from written artifacts and oral interviews with 13 business school deans indicated that business deans’ resource allocation decisions were motivated by a desire to increase revenue and generating prestige for their college. Resource allocation choices were also focused on mitigating conflict, managing their personal and college’s relationship with central university leadership, and adjusting their college’s structure to efficiently meet the college’s goals. As such, business school deans most often relied on Hackman’s (1985) environmental power and Bolman and Deal’s (2017) political and structural frames. Implications for preparation and professional development of business school deans emerged, as well as propositions for future research regarding college-level resource allocation decisions.Item STUDENT AFFAIRS AND INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT PARTNERSHIPS AT CATHOLIC COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES: A CASE STUDY(2024) Puma, Michael A.; O'Meara, KerryAnn; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Catholic institutions of higher education have continued to operate at a crossroads as challenges to long-term financial sustainability have intensified the need to reduce costs and increase revenue. Institutional personnel must find ways to streamline offerings in academic programs and student services while maintaining a commitment to their distinct Catholic identities. Given the primacy of academics to the educational enterprise, student affairs divisions are particularly vulnerable in an environment aiming to reduce operating expenses. For student affairs, fundraising may serve as an avenue to offset the impact of budget cuts, enhance cocurricular programs, and promote mission-specific strategic initiatives. Conversely, leaders of institutional advancement divisions may expand and diversify their donor base by partnering with student affairs colleagues. Student affairs initiatives may appeal to donors who value contributing directly to student success and well-being. The purpose of this multisite, case study was to understand how Catholic universities create third-space organizational partnerships between their institutional advancement and student affairs divisions. The third space of partnership was defined as “an emerging technical and sociocultural entity distinct from those within the partnership’s home organizations” (Hora & Millar, 2011, p. 16). The research design included 41 semistructured virtual interviews, three virtual focus groups, document analysis, and site visits at three Catholic institutions over a span of 18 months. Interestingly, the findings did not indicate a distinct third space was necessary to create and sustain partnerships between institutional advancement and student affairs divisions. Still, the following organizational practices supported the development of partnerships: presidential and divisional leaders supported the partnerships and were motivated by enlightened self-interest (Hora & Millar, 2011); leaders agreed on clear goals, scope, and objectives; and adequate resources were dedicated to the partnership. There were also similar characteristics of partnerships between the three institutions. Characteristics included the embrace of a mission-informed approach to the partnership; institutional advancement boundary spanners guiding the development of structures and routines governing the partnership; the creation of workflows around annual events; and consensus on how to communicate and use technology across divisions and with prospective donors. Definitions of success and effectiveness of the partnership varied by campus and constituent group. Institutional advancement participants defined success through traditional fundraising metrics such as dollars raised and increasing the number of donors who make annual gifts. Student affairs participants tended to conflate success and effectiveness as they were more focused on operational efficiencies, expanding student programs, and developing connections with alumni and parents. These findings led to the development of a best-practice model to inform future student affairs fundraising partnerships. Suggestions for future research on student affairs fundraising partnerships at both Catholic and nonreligiously affiliated institutions are included in the final chapter.Item “Doing the Indian thing”: The influence of contrasting cultural norms on the decision making and development of second-generation Asian Indian American college students(2021) Parikh, Roshan; Park, Julie J; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Current research on Asian American college students articulates the impact of different aspects of life on the decision-making and development of Asian American college students. However, Asian Americans are comprised of people of many different ethnicities. Much of the research related to the Asian American population tends to highlight the experiences of East Asian Americans and often fails to disaggregate findings in a way that could accurately explain the unique life experiences of other Asian American ethnicities. The purpose of this study was to use social constructivist grounded theory to explore how contrasting cultural norms influence the decision-making and development of Asian Indian American college students. This study helps bridge a significant gap in the current body of research on the Asian Indian American. Asian Indian American college students are an understudied student population, and thus, they are poorly understood.The research questions that guided this study were: (1) What are key aspects of Asian Indian American students’ lives that influence how they think about American, Indian, and Indian American cultural norms? (2) How do these cultural norms influence the way in which Asian Indian American students make decisions related to their college experience and major life choices? Ten currently enrolled Asian Indian American college students at the University of Maryland participated in this study. Participants were interviewed twice. The first interview focused on life and family history, experiences during K-12 years, and more. The second interview focused on aspects of their understanding of Indian and American cultural identity. During the second interview, participants also presented an artifact they felt was meaningful to them, which represented an aspect of their identity they cherish. Key findings in this study highlighted the influence of family, identity salience of Indian identity, building a hybrid Indian American identity, decision making processes, and assertion of autonomy within participants’ lives inside and outside of college. A theory emerged from the data, which explains the influence of cultural norms on students’ lives and decision making.Item AN ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTS OF RESPONSIBILITY CENTER MANAGEMENT ON COSTS AT TWO PUBLIC RESEARCH UNIVERSITIES IN THE UNITED STATES: A SYNTHETIC CONTROL APPROACH(2020) Gray, Steffon Montrell; Titus, Marvin A.; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study examines the effect of responsibility center management (RCM), a decentralized budget model, on total operating costs at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) and the University of Arizona (UofA). Both universities in the study implemented RCM with the primary goal of controlling costs, among other goals. To address the research question, this study draws from extant literature on RCM and higher education cost and is theoretically framed using the principal-agent theory and the revenue theory of cost. The synthetic control method (SCM) – an econometric technique used to estimate the causal effects of policies, programs, interventions, and idiosyncratic events – is employed to conduct the analysis. The main findings of the study indicate that RCM positively impacted total operating costs at UNH and the UofA. However, with regard to UNH, further analysis did not reveal a significant causal effect with respect to RCM’s impact on total operating costs. Additionally, as it relates to the UofA, the results revealed that RCM had a significant causal effect on total operating costs after the first year of implementation but not thereafter. The findings of this study contribute to research and practice. With regard to research, this study is the first to bridge the gap between the RCM literature and the higher education cost literature by providing empirical insight regarding RCM’s effect on total operating costs. Additionally, this study contributes to the use of theory in the RCM literature by using two theoretical frameworks to guide the inquiry. As it relates to practice, the results of this study – specifically that RCM positively impacted total operating costs – balance previous anecdotal claims regarding RCM’s utility by providing empirical insight on RCM at UNH and UofA to guide future decision-making. This study outlines several recommendations for future research to further develop empirical studies on RCM. Specifically, the study recommends the use of mixed methodologies to elucidate a fuller picture of RCM and ultimately help university leaders develop specific recommendations for policy and practice around resource allocation.Item HIDDEN FIGURES: AN EXAMINATION OF THE CAREER TRAJECTORIES OF BLACK WOMEN IN SENIOR ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS(2020) Staples, Candice L; Griffin, Kimberly A; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this qualitative study was to analyze and examine the career development of Black women in senior academic administrative positions. Although every senior administrator does not aspire to become a college president, there is a traditional pathway for those who reach the presidency. Women are underrepresented in college presidencies, but Black women in particular are underrepresented as presidents of predominately White research institutions. The theoretical frameworks guiding this study are Black Feminist Thought and Community Cultural Wealth, which both provide a better understanding of the diversity within Black female experiences and the unique capital they cultivate to proceed through the academy. Narrative inquiry was the methodology selected to conduct this nationwide study of 15 Black women who had the career titles of a chair, dean, or provost. Each participant was interviewed once for approximately 90 minutes in a semi-structured format. The transcribed interviews were hand-coded to highlight the emerging themes: participants were recruited into administration, the significance of faculty rank and the department chair position, support was largely found outside of the participants’ institution. Participants acquired capital through their parents, partners, and sister circles (friends). The women were able to leverage their capital to help mitigate some of the obstacles and to influence their career decisions.Item EXAMINING HOW TENNESSEE STATE MERIT AID INFLUENCES INSTITUTIONAL GRANT AID: A DIFFERENCE-IN-DIFFERENCES APPROACH(2018) Burczek Dreier, John Paul; Titus, Marvin; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The creation of the Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship (TELS) program provides a natural experiment where a difference-in-differences estimation design is employed to isolate how state merit aid funding may lead institutions to change their institutional grant aid. Principal agent and resource dependence theories together establish state and institutional context as well as inform potential institutional responses to the TELS program. Data are primarily observed at the institution-level from 2000 to 2009 and come from the Integrated Postsecondary Data System (IPEDS). The difference-in-differences estimation strategy incorporates multiple comparison groups and separate specifications by Carnegie Classification. The results indicated that the nine Tennessee public four-year institutions reduced their recipient average institutional grant post-TELS. However, institutional responses differed across Carnegie Classification. Tennessee Doctoral Extensive public institutions increased the number of students receiving institutional grant aid post-TELS. Tennessee Doctoral Intensive public institutions reduced their total institutional grant and number of recipients post-TELS, and thereby decreased their average institutional grant aid post-TELS. Tennessee Master’s College and Universities, excluding Tennessee Technical University, also reduced their institutional grant aid post-TELS. The results from this study provide some informative commentary for theory, research and policy. First, the combination of principal agent and resource dependence theories provide a more comprehensive set of potential responses that move beyond the Bennett hypothesis to suggest that institutions might not just reduce institutional grant aid. Second, this study created a comparison group of institutions subject to a state governing or coordinating board with budget authority, which produce more efficient estimates. Future research on financial aid or institutional finances may benefit from moving beyond the tradition governing board classification to include state coordinating boards with budget authority. Third, state policy on financial aid should better align new initiatives with existing institutional financial aid to ensure state funding is used effectively. With better goal alignment between state governments and institutions, it could reduce the agency problem that develops and ensure state does not duplicated existing financial aid strategies.Item NARRATIVES OF FIT: UNDERSTANDING WOMEN FACULTY STORIES OF MAKING SENSE AND FINDING PLACE IN GENDERED ORGANIZATIONS(2017) Bennett, Jessica; Griffin, Kimberly A; O'Meara, KerryAnn; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)“Fit” is used widely in academia to indicate whether someone is admittable, hirable, or tenurable, despite concerns that fit is poorly defined and could serve as a covering term for bias. The small body of literature on faculty fit focuses primarily on the complementary attributes that exist between research institutions and their academic staff, and the role of fit as a predictor of outcomes such as intention to leave, productivity, stress, vitality, and satisfaction. Little is known about differences in fit for women and people of color. The majority of literature in the higher education and business labor sectors does not account for how organizational practices and changes over time shape members’ experiences of fit. This study centers women’s experiences of fit at a small liberal arts college by exploring how their sensemaking about themselves and their experiences in the organization have shaped their choices. Employing narrative and institutional ethnography research methods, the organizational experiences of seven tenured women faculty members at a highly selective, private liberal arts college were documented through interviews, observations, and document analysis. A narrative theory of fit as embedded in time was paired with feminist theories on inequality regimes, standpoint, and intersectionality to guide analysis. Faculty members’ narratives of fit chart how they came to enter the institution, their experiences pre- and post-tenure, and how they accommodated, resisted, and engaged the organization to cultivate a sense of fit. Cross-narrative analysis identified salient institutional events, narratives, and inequality regimes that contributed to faculty narratives of fit. These included the effects of the 2008 recession, the deployment of student evaluations of teaching in the tenure review process, and anticipated changes in leadership and policy at the college. Overall, fit for faculty emerged as a process of sensemaking influenced by institutional inequality regimes, faculty members’ organizational and identity standpoints, and their resulting agentic choices. This study enhances understanding of women’s experiences of fit, faculty experience at the liberal arts college, and the role of inequality regimes in higher education organizations. Recommendations for practice focus on mitigating the effects of inequality regimes for pre-tenure faculty.Item Adoption of Restorative Justice Practices in Student Conduct(2017) Kimball, Heather Renee; Espino Lira, Michelle M; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study examines the growing trend of colleges and universities adopting restorative justice practices in student conduct. Employing a diffusion of innovations framework and a multiple case study approach, the author offers an in-depth understanding of the decision-making processes and influences at two institutions that have adopted restorative justice in their student conduct practices. The findings of this study have implications for advocates of restorative justice seeking to understand how colleges and universities are deciding to adopt restorative justice and what conditions affect that decision, as well as for individuals who are assessing whether their institution is a good fit for adopting restorative justice principles. The study also contributes more broadly to diffusion of innovations literature through its application of the theory to organizations, specifically higher education institutions.Item Return on Investment: An Examination of the "Spillover Effect" of State Funding For Higher Education On State Economic Performance, A Spatial Analysis(2017) Williams II, David S.; Titus, Marvin A.; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Utilizing a conceptual framework that includes the endogenous growth theory and principal agent theory, this study investigates the relationship between state economic performance and state appropriations for public higher education, both within and across states. This examination is conducted utilizing advanced statistical modeling and data from the 48 contiguous United States over a period of ten years. The analytic model utilized in this study is a dynamic fixed effects panel (DFEP) which is estimated utilizing a Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) technique. Combining the DFEP model with GMM techniques facilitates an ability to account for issues such as unobservable state characteristics, endogeneity, serial correlation, heteroscedasticity, and time-specific effects. This technique utilizes lags of the dependent variable and independent variables to address the aforementioned issues. This study adds to the literature surrounding the relationship between state economic performance and state appropriations for public higher education, by not only examining this relationship in the economic performance of neighboring states but also utilizing advanced statistical methodology. The results discussed herein indicate that while using simpler statistical methods e.g. ordinary least squares regression, there is a positive statistically significant relationship between state economic performance and state appropriations for public higher education. However, this relationship becomes insignificant when utilizing the DFEP model estimated with GMM techniques. Furthermore while the results of this inquiry indicate that there was no statistically significant relationship between state appropriations and neighboring state economic performance, there is spatial correlation of state appropriations and gross state product across neighboring states. There were several implications as a result of this study. One implication is that though the relationship between state appropriations for public higher education and state economic performance was insignificant this research provides a foundation for further research in this area. By introducing advanced methodology and suggesting a redefinition of how one measures the relationship between higher education funding and economic performance this study may inspire new research. Another implication is utilizing two disparate theories to develop a conceptual framework. Scholars who wish to examine relationships between other forms of state funding and state economic performance might also consider employing these theories as a foundation for their study. Lastly, spatial correlation was discovered in both state appropriations and state economic performance. The discovery of spatial correlation indicates that further research is needed regarding the influence of higher education institutions and policy beyond state and regional borders.Item “Never Give up:” The Strengths and Strategies Used Among Undocumented College Students From Central America to Access and Persist in U.S. Higher Education(2015) Hernandez, Belkis Pamela; Espino, Michelle M.; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this study was to identify the strengths and strategies that undocumented college students from Central America used to access and persist in United States higher education. A multiple-case study design was used to conduct in-depth, semi-structured interviews and document collection from ten persons residing in Illinois, Maryland, Ohio, Texas, and Washington. Yosso’s (2005, 2006) community cultural wealth conceptual framework, an analytical and methodological tool, was used to uncover assets used to navigate the higher education system. The findings revealed that participants activated all forms of capital, with cultural capital being the least activated yet necessary, to access and persist in college. Participants also activated most forms of capital together or consecutively in order to attain financial resources, information and social networks that facilitated college access. Participants successfully persisted because they continued to activate forms of capital, displayed a high sense of agency, and managed to sustain college educational goals despite challenges and other external factors. The relationships among forms of capital and federal, state, and institutional policy contexts, which positively influenced both college access and persistence were not illustrated in Yosso’s (2005, 2006) community cultural wealth framework. Therefore, this study presents a modified community cultural wealth framework, which includes these intersections and contexts. In the spirit of Latina/o critical race theory (LatCrit) and critical race theory (CRT), the participants share with other undocumented students suggestions on how to succeed in college. This study can contribute to the growing research of undocumented college students, and develop higher education policy and practice that intentionally consider undocumented college students’ strengths to successfully navigate the institution.