Theses and Dissertations from UMD
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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 give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
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Item AN EMERGING GROUNDED THEORY OF FACULTY HIRING PROCESSES IN UNIONIZED COMPREHENSIVE UNIVERSITIES(2015) Lounder, Andrew; O'Meara, KerryAnn; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)ABSTRACT Title of dissertation: AN EMERGING GROUNDED THEORY OF FACULTY HIRING PROCESSES IN UNIONIZED COMPREHENSIVE UNIVERSITIES Andrew D. Lounder, Doctor of Philosophy, 2015 Dissertation directed by: Professor KerryAnn O'Meara Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education Growth in part-time faculty workforces in U.S. higher education since 1970 has been remarkable. Part-time faculty growth as a percentage of the whole has occurred most rapidly in comprehensive universities in recent years and carries with it important implications for student instruction. Comprehensive universities are of critical importance to the realization of higher levels of educational attainment by underserved and nontraditional college populations. The purpose of this study is to understand instructional faculty hiring processes in comprehensive universities. The study is derived from an application of grounded theory research methods within and across three university settings. Analysis shows administrators at all levels of the organizational chart (i.e., department chair, dean, and provost) follow a cycle of activities that results in both direct and indirect (or systemic), outcomes in faculty hiring. First, they scan the environments in which they are situated for possible risks to their work including faculty hiring. Second, they perceive risks, including risks of opportunity, from their own viewpoints. Third, and of central importance, they assert decision role changes in response to the risks they perceive. That is, they take action. Finally, they establish ownership of new decision responsibility. A visual model depicting the grounded theory is shared. Findings position faculty hiring as an outcome of rule following decisions and risk response rather than rational choice. Part-time faculty hiring is found to function as an organizational release valve, which circumvents role tension of the sort experienced among department, college, and university administrators in full-time faculty hiring. Implications for university-level faculty hiring policy and practice, as well as for future research, are discussed. One conclusion is that university decision makers should be more strategic about faculty hiring by aligning the process with desired outcomes.Item Navigating Multiple Worlds: A Grounded Theory of Latina Students' Identity as Latina First-Generation College Students(2011) Alvarez, Patricia Lynn; McEwen, Marylu K.; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this study was to explore Latina students' identity as Latina first-generation college students. Constructivist grounded theory (Charmaz, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006) was used to explore two research questions: (a) For Latina students who are the first in their family to go to college, what is their understanding of being a Latina first-generation college student? (b) What strengths do Latina first-generation college students associate with being a Latina first-generation college student? A grounded theory of Latina students' identity as Latina first-generation college students was an outcome of this study. Two interviews were conducted with 12 Latina first-generation college students enrolled at the University of Maryland. Participants were considered first-generation college students if their parents' educational background did not exceed high school in the U.S. or some postsecondary education outside of the U.S., and if a sibling had not preceded them in attending college. Participants were racially/ethnically diverse, with the majority of students identifying as Central and South American. The metaphor, navigating multiple worlds, particularly the Family Environment and the University Environment, describes the negotiation of experiences that inform Latina students' identity as Latina first-generation college students. Core identities of Race/Ethnicity, Gender, Role as College Student, and Role within Family represent multiple and intersecting dimensions salient to Latina students' identity as Latina first-generation college students. Latina first-generation college students negotiated Latino/a Values and Expectations, "American" Values and Expectations, College and Family Responsibilities, Pioneering Higher Education, Responsibility to Give Back to Family and Latino/a Community, and Pressure and Pride. Living at the intersection of multiple worlds, including experiences as "the first" to attend an institution of higher education and engaging both in Latino/a culture and in "American" culture, contributed to the pressure that Latina first-generation college students experience. Latina students also received support from these distinct environments that enabled the participants to engage in culturally and educationally distinct worlds. Participants associated six strengths with being Latina first-generation college students: Family, Latino/a Culture, Spanish Language/Being Bilingual, Determination, Support Network - Prior to College and During College, and Sense of Responsibility to Help Others. This study has implications for research, theory, and practice.Item "Figuring it Out": A Grounded Theory of College to Post-College Transition(2011) Fox, Kirsten Freeman; Komives, Susan R; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Before colleges and universities can be truly effective in preparing students for a post-college life, an understanding of the college to post-college transition process for recent college graduates is needed. Although there is extensive literature characterizing the college experience, little research exists surrounding the experiences of recent college graduates, especially during the transition out of college. The purpose of this study was to understand the transition from college to post-college life for recent college graduates. Conducted from a constructivist epistemological paradigm, this study employed grounded theory methods to understand how participants interpreted their post-college transition experience. Specifically, this study aimed to understand the post-college transition process, the experiences most salient during the transition, and how recent graduates make meaning of post-college life. In-depth interviews were conducted with a diverse sample of 13 recent graduates from a large, Mid-Atlantic research institution over 18 months. The result was the emergence of a theory of college to post-college transition grounded in the perspectives and experiences of the participants. The grounded theory of college to post-college transition builds upon three findings: the process of post-college transition, the construct of transitioning adult, and how recent graduates approach the transition. The post-college transition process was characterized by navigating a series of realizations about self and what matters. This process of "figuring it out," incorporated four active and overlapping characteristics germane to the transition: managing loss, establishing place, focusing on self, and searching for purpose. The transition process was also enhanced by participants' ability to negotiate external influences and internal coping strategies. Through the stories of the participants, it also emerged that recent college graduates equate the post-college transition with the transition to adulthood. The "transitioning adults" navigated the post-college transition through one of five distinct approaches: Initiator, Instrumentalist, Observer, Adaptor, and Traditionalist. The findings are relevant for recent college graduates and college students preparing to graduate, as well as for employers, parents, faculty, and college administrators. This research also has implications for student affairs practice and workforce preparedness. Finally, the findings inform both theory development and future research, particularly on lifespan development and transition theory.Item SQUARING THEIR ROOTS: LEADERSHIP PERCEPTIONS AND PRACTICES OF SOME U.S.-TRAINED AFRICAN PROFESSIONALS IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR(2010) Dant, William Patrick; Herschbach, Dennis; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This qualitative study looks at the leadership perceptions and practices of career professionals in the public sector across three countries of sub-Saharan Africa (Ethiopia, Ghana and Madagascar). All participants were alumni of the Humphrey Fellowship program, a year-long mid-career fellowship in the United States for professional development and leadership. The study sought to understand the participants' perceptions of leadership and how they apply it in their professional practice. The research questions were How do U.S.-trained Africans perceive the relevance of their U.S. leadership training in their home-country practice? To what extent can they incorporate U.S. leadership approaches into their leadership practice there? The literature review includes the history and current state of leadership research and theory, the field of intercultural communications and recent scholarship and program evaluations on leadership and leadership training across cultures. Noteworthy are the lack of recent scholarship on public sector leadership in Africa and the transference of western-developed models in most international training. Data collection consisted of in-depth interviews with 16 primary research participants who were mid- to upper-level career professionals in their respective countries' public service. Additional related data were gathered from participants' fellowship documents; data gathered from primary participants were reviewed with focus groups including primary and secondary participants. Data analysis followed a grounded theory method, allowing themes to emerge directly from the data collected. Findings were compared across participants within and across research sites considering professional sector, gender, cultural and educational background and political/economic contexts. The substantive grounded theories emerging from the study identified as the central theme the importance of "operating space" as an environment around individual capacity to exercise leadership practices, and its interaction with issues of culture. Results reflected the importance of the macro-context and levels of democratization within which participants operate on the micro-context of their own professional leadership practice. The study recommends that future research on leadership in Africa pay more attention to the importance of macro-context and culture in developing leadership capacity in such individuals, and recommends specific approaches for enhancing leadership training for individuals from such backgrounds, including peer mentoring, case study and experiential exercises.Item Integrative Learning as a Developmental Process: A Grounded Theory of College Students' Experiences in Integrative Studies(2007-05-16) Brown Leonard, Bonne Jean; McEwen, Marylu K.; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this grounded theory study was to learn how students in an explicitly integrative learning environment make meaning of and understand integrative learning. The research questions that guided this study included: Do students experience integrative learning? If so, how do students experience integrative learning, and which experiences do students identify as contributing to their ability to integrate? What challenges and successes do students experience with integrative learning? Consistent with constructivist grounded theory methodology (Charmaz, 2000, 2006). I developed an emerging theory about students' experiences with integrative learning that is grounded in the data. I interviewed 10 students enrolled in an Integrative Studies program at a university in the greater Washington, DC region. Students in this study defined integrative learning very broadly. To capture the range of learning described by students, I created a continuum of different forms of integration that vary by complexity: application, comparison, understanding context, and synthesis. A developmental theory of integrative learning emerged from this study. Students engaged in the least complex form of integration, application, by finding their coursework personally relevant and applying what they learn to their own lives. Through class discussion and reading students identified multiple perspectives, which led to integration as comparison. When different perspectives are in conflict, students began to engage in integration as understanding context. Context is an important consideration when evaluating competing claims and evaluating arguments. By reconciling conflict, students may reach the most complex form of integration: synthesis. Students needed to wrestle with the ambiguity and complexity and resist automatically adopting an externally provided solution from a trusted authority figure. Students in this study rarely if ever reached synthesis, but they agreed that it was an ideal. Students' level of cognitive complexity as well as their pattern of Integrative Studies course work affected students' progress with integrative learning. By listening to student voices, I learned about the Integrative Studies program as students experience it and compared it to faculty expectations. This study both celebrates program strengths and offers recommendations for improvement. I discuss the implications of this for future research and higher education practice.