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 Crossing the Cultural Bridge: Examining the Cross-Ethnic Interactions and Relationships Between Black Immigrant and Black American Students at a Predominantly White, Public, State Flagship Institution(2024) Ogwo, Ashley; Fries-Britt, Sharon L; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The discourse surrounding Black immigrant and Black American student relationships in higher education has often centered tensions between the two groups related to their enrollment in private elite institutions (e.g., Bennett & Lutz, 2009; Charles et al., 2008; Massey et al., 2007). However, both inside and outside of the private elite context, there is little research that intentionally examines the cross-ethnic interactions and relationships between Black immigrant and Black American students (Awokoya, 2012; De Walt, 2011; George Mwangi et al., 2016; Jackson & Cothran, 2003). Existing literature’s primary focus on circumstances surrounding Black immigrant and Black American undergraduates that are out of their control, such as their respective over- and underrepresentation at elite colleges (Bennett & Lutz, 2009; Charles et al., 2008; Jaschik, 2017; Massey et al., 2007), has left a significant gap in the knowledge base regarding the actual communicative experiences of these student populations across ethnic lines. Few studies have ventured beyond the private elite institutional context to explore these relational dynamics, resulting in limited scholarly understanding of the benefits and challenges of Black immigrant and Black American interactions and relationship-building from the perspectives of students themselves. This study aims to address these knowledge gaps by examining the cross-ethnic relationship dynamics between Black immigrant and Black American undergraduates in the institutional context they more frequently attend: a predominantly white, moderately selective, public, state flagship institution (U.S. Department of Education National Postsecondary Student Aid Study, 2016, as cited in Espinosa et al., 2019).Utilizing communication theory of identity and case study methodology, this study empirically unpacks the cross-ethnic interactions and relationships between Black immigrant and Black American undergraduates at a predominantly white, public, state flagship institution in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. This study was guided by the following two research questions: 1) What do Black immigrant and Black American students at a predominantly white, public, state flagship institution perceive to be the role of their ethnic identities in their cross-ethnic interactions with one another? And 2) What do Black immigrant and Black American students at a predominantly white, public, state flagship institution perceive to be the benefits and challenges of Black cross-ethnic interactions and relationship-building? My study uncovered six themes that were prevalent across participants’ case narratives, including three challenges and three benefits to cross-ethnic interactions and relationship-building between Black immigrant and Black American students: 1) Challenge #1: “I Don’t Really Have Time”: How Students’ Schedules Limit Their Cross-Ethnic Engagement; 2) Benefit #1: “For the Sake of Community”: Developing Strong Cross-Ethnic Bonds to Support One Another at the PWI; 3) Challenge #2: “Instilled from Childhood”: The “Cycle” of Passing Down Cross-Ethnic Stereotypes and Preconceived Notions; 4) Benefit #2: “Breaking Generational Curses”: Combatting Instilled Interethnic Stereotypes through Cross-Ethnic Communication and Relationship-Building; 5) Challenge #3: “Trying to Reach and Understand the Other Side”: How Lack of Cultural Knowledge Limits Cross-Ethnic Interactions and Relationships; and 6) Benefit #3: “There’s So Much to Learn and Love”: Building Cross-Cultural Understanding through Cross-Ethnic Interactions and Relationships. The study’s findings provide critical insight into existing relational dynamics between Black immigrant and Black American undergraduates, detailing how these students perceive, describe, and make meaning of the relationship between their ethnic identities and their cross-cultural communication experiences with one another as well as the utility of their cross-ethnic interactions.Item To Be in the Middle: A Collective Case Study Exploring Neoliberalism, Learning Analytics, and Middle Management in Academic Research Libraries(2024) Gammons, Rachel Wilder; Espino, Michelle; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation explores the intersections of neoliberalism, learning analytics, and middle management within academic libraries. Utilizing a qualitative collective case study methodology, it examines how nine women-identified academic librarian middle managers at U.S. public research institutions interpreted and responded to the integration of library metrics with learning analytics. The study addresses the interplay between professional values, gender identity, and faculty status, revealing five core assertions drawn from the experience of participants: the pervasive sense of “middle-ness” in organizational hierarchies, psychosocial tensions of dual roles as administrators and practitioners, systemic setup for failure within the system, personal sacrifices required to maintain professional standards, and the high costs of resisting neoliberal directives. By positioning learning analytics as a manifestation of neoliberal ideology, this research provides critical insights into the impact of market-driven policies on academic librarianship, emphasizing the need for ethical considerations and a balanced approach to integrating learning analytics while preserving traditional library values. The findings have significant implications for library policy, practice, and future research, highlighting the importance of ethical leadership amidst evolving market dynamics.Item INTERNATIONAL VIRTUAL EXCHANGES AND GLOBAL CLASSROOMS: EDUCATING GLOBAL CITIZENS FOR PEACE(2024) Weaver, Gregory; Lin, Jing; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The outbreak of a global pandemic in the form of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the ever-increasing xenophobia on immigration policies have called for a need to reexamine how universities can internationalize beyond traditional classroom instruction methods. Virtual exchanges have been shown to provide students with a more equal opportunity to develop their global competencies and cultural skills than study abroad. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of virtual classroom exchanges in higher education for global citizenship development and peace education at a public institution in the United States. It examined university administrators, faculty, and student experiences, perceptions, and voices on global citizenship and peacebuilding within virtual exchange/global classrooms. The study utilized a qualitative case study approach. The qualitative approach consisted of interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis allowing for students and faculty to share their experiences of learning and teaching in the virtual global classroom respectively, and administrators managing the virtual global classroom. The research found that university and departmental administrators served as curators of virtual exchange enabling global citizenship development by providing support via funding, pedagogy models, and navigating several of the international partnerships. Faculty served as facilitators of global citizenship development both within the classroom and outside of the classroom, shaping the project-based projects and challenging their students to think in a non-local mindset. The student participants in the virtual exchanges experienced development of cultural competencies for global citizenship by gaining direct, collaborative experiences working with students of other countries. Promotion of peace education within the virtual exchanges can happen. Albeit as unintentional outcome, students were able to develop much-needed peacebuilding skills that otherwise would not have been possible due to this being the sole form of internalization open to them and their community at the time of the study.Item WHITE RACIAL ALLYSHIP AMONG STAFF AT TRADITIONALLY WHITE INSTITUTIONS(2024) McGuire, Teon Donté; Fries-Britt, Sharon; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Interrupting Whiteness at Traditionally White Institutions (TWIs) is first and foremost a White problem. Those who have been unjustly privileged due to their race (i.e., White people) have both the resources and primary responsibility to challenge and interrupt the very systems that unjustly oppress People of Color. This study sought to understand the experiences of White staff members at TWIs who intentionally challenge racism and interrupt Whiteness. This study used a multiple case study design with White staff members as the unit of analysis and data were collected through semi-structured interviews and journals from seven White staff members at working at TWIs across the U.S. White staff member practiced racial at the intrapersonal (i.e., working on themselves), interpersonal (e.g., educating students, serving as a resource Students of Color, and being an amplifier), and organizational and institutional (e.g., via hiring and participating in DEI initiatives) levels. Additionally, their actions revealed multiple forms of Whiteness such as, preference of White centric course content, tokenizing People of Color, shifting the blame from racism to those challenging racism, and unfair reward processes.Item The Laboring Scholar: Community College Geographies and the Politics of Care(2024) Hofmann, Anne Elizabeth; Guerrero, Perla; American Studies; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)"The Laboring Scholar: Community College Geographies and the Politics of Care" is an institutional ethnography that investigates the personal, political, and economic costs to student caregivers seeking a college degree. Through a critical analysis of student interviews and a close examination of community college structures and histories, I deploy an interdisciplinary, qualitative methodology that seeks to topple and contest previous ways of researching two-year collegiate structures in the U.S. I argue that, internally, community colleges offer intermittent respites from the physical and emotional labor of caregiving by being locations of intellectual invigoration and professionalization for students; however, I also address how community colleges’ positioning within larger regional and global political economies ultimately renders them stations of stagnation for many students, especially those with the most overlapping needs and markers of difference. To analyze these concepts, I use an interpretive framework that threads theories of disinvestment, structural exclusion, and predatory inclusion, to explore the use of the term “care,” which is used flexibly across institutional and everyday life to recruit students and animate collegiate recruiting and retention initiatives. I trace the link between two-year schools’ reputation as both places of “opportunity” and “second chances,” and as a stigmatized alternative to “real college.” I do so by examining the language and visual arguments deployed by colleges’ public-facing websites, as situated within broader historical-political narratives about community colleges, and by conducting in-depth interviews with caregiving students. I find that political and popular beliefs regarding studenthood and care work are internalized by students, particularly those with the fewest financial and time resources. Additionally, the overlap between race, gender, and unpaid care work aligns with those students who are the least likely to graduate from college and the most likely to accrue significant debt and physical or mental distress due to their attempts. The study triangulates institutional histories, neoliberal rhetorics of education and success, and student caregiver testimony to conclude that unpaid care labor for biological or chosen family is simultaneously a primary barrier, a fundamental source of personal joy, and a possible location of subversive power for community college students seeking a post-secondary credential.Item “LIBERATING MY MIND... DECOLONIZING MY PHYSICAL BODY”: EXPLORING AFROLATINE/A/O ACTIVISTS’ CRITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS USING PLÁTICA METHODOLOGY(2024) Martinez-Benyarko, Marinel; Espino Lira, Michelle; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)My dissertation, “Liberating my mind...decolonizing my physical body”: Exploring AfroLatine/a/o activists’ critical consciousness using plática methodology, aimed to understand the experiences of 11 AfroLatine/a/o activists in the United States. Scholars have studied AfroLatine/a/os racial/ethnic identity development and activism separately, but this dissertation highlighted the critical consciousness that both these identities possess. Through a “me-search” process, a form of critical consciousness, AfroLatine/a/os assert agency and resilience to make meaning and reflect upon their Blackness and Latinidad (García-Louis & Cortes, 2020). Additionally, those who identify as activists also engage with critical consciousness in understanding social inequities and oppression (Freire, 1970a). My dissertation explored the critical consciousness that AfroLatine/a/os activists possess using plática methodology. Using a plática methodology, I cocreated knowledge, fostered healing and vulnerability, offered collaborators validation, and incorporated life experiences and community building. Pláticas also “constitute a method that recognizes and values familial and cultural knowledge, and platicando becomes the process of drawing on that knowledge and making meaning across experiences” (González Ybarra, 2018, p. 511). Through pláticas, cuentos, chismes, charlas, regaños, and consejos are shared (Fierros & Delgado Bernal, 2016; González Ybarra, 2018; M. Guajardo & Guajardo, 2007). To accomplish this work, I developed a conceptual framework titled, “Exploring AfroLatine/a/o activists critical consciousness,” that brings together (a) Latino critical race theory, (b) Daché et al.’s (2019) Black-imiento, and (c) Freire’s (1970a) conscientization to illuminate the experiences of AfroLatine/a/o activists in a way that highlights their embraced Blackness, heightened knowledge and critical action, and lived experiences. Data were collected via a survey (46 participants), a one-on-one plática (11 collaborators), and a community plática (11 collaborators). Data were analyzed first by collaborators during the community plática. Afterward, I conducted initial/open coding and focused coding strategies. The findings of this study showed that AfroLatine/a/o activists asserted agency and engaged in critical reflection through a continuous process of learning and unlearning to understand their own AfroLatine/a/o identity, country of origin history, colonization, white supremacy, anti-Blackness, and internalized racism. The second finding described the racialideologies that AfroLatine/a/o activists created, which included (a) embracing Black identity by taking pride in their physical appearance, hair, and skin color; (b) centering their resistance in language; and (c) rejecting stereotypes and generalizations of Latine/a/o as a monolithic group. Additionally, this study found that AfroLatine/a/o activists defined their activism as community, advocacy, and compassion. Lastly, the collaborators shared how their AfroLatine/a/o identity was a form of existence as resistance, a form of activism. This study presents various contributions to higher education theory, praxis, research, policy, and AfroLatine/a/o activists. My dissertation makes the following contributions: (a) understanding how marginalized communities navigate and resist oppressive systems, (b) validating the experiences and knowledge of AfroLatine/a/o activists, and (c) challenging a monolithic perspective of Latinidad by showcasing how AfroLatine/a/os embrace their Blackness.Item No Loans, No Problems? Exploring the Post-College Career Choices of No-Loan Program Students at an Elite University(2023) LaFave, Allison; Galindo, Claudia; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation examines the post-college career choices of no-loan program alumni at Harvard College. Using a conceptual framework informed by elements of social cognitive career theory (Lent et al., 1994) and Perna’s (2006) model of college choice, it identifies what careers alumni chose after college and how and why they chose them. I approached this single case study from a constructivist perspective, collecting data from diverse sources (i.e., documents and artifacts, informational interviews, a brief screening survey). These data were used to answer two key research questions: 1) What are the post-college career trajectories of no-loan program students at elite colleges and universities? and 2) How do the college experiences of no-loan program students at elite colleges and universities influence their post-college career choices? My data revealed that the professional paths of Harvard Financial Aid Initiative alumni fit into six distinct career archetypes: High-Impact (38%), Hybrid - Pay and Impact (29%), Passion Pursuers (13%), High-Paying (8%), Switchers - Pay to Impact (8%), and Switchers - Impact to Pay (4%). The vast majority of HFAI alumni (75%) have pursued careers that make a positive social impact, often in well-compensated positions (e.g., medicine). Major college influences on their post-college career choices include the following: undergraduate employment experiences, academic performance (both positive and negative), interactions with faculty and administrators (both positive and negative), undergraduate social networks, extracurricular activities, a lack of undergraduate debt, and the signaling effects of their undergraduate degree.Item Learning Together: The Lived Experience of Bridging in Scholars Studio(2023) Nardi, Lisa; Hultgren, Francine H; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This hermeneutic phenomenological investigation tends to the connections made in Scholars Studio—an interdisciplinary learning community for first-year students at a public Historically Black College and University (HBCU). In this study, I ask, What is the lived experience of bridging in Scholars Studio? I conceptualize bridging as a pedagogical orientation characterized by making connections across disciplines, between theory and praxis, across time and distance, and with one another. Bridging creates dynamic spaces that resist binary relationships, thus creating the potential for transformation. This study is grounded in the philosophy of Martin Heidegger, Mariana Ortega, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Edward Casey, and David Michael Levin, and follows the methodological structure set forth by Max van Manen. This research captures conversations that bridge the experience of twelve participants—including faculty, students, and staff—who partook in a learning community focused on Black men in education. Through these conversations, the participants affirm the importance of curricula grounded in African American and African history and culture. As participants cross the metaphorical bridge, they consider the “edges” they encounter that are both full of risk and possibility. These edges push them outside of their comfort zones in search of wholeness and create potential sites for improvisation. I end by opening new possibilities for Scholars Studio, including grounding the work in African principles and considering future directions.Item A CRITICAL FEMINIST METHODOLOGY OF UNDERGRADUATE BLACK WOMXN AT HWIs & HOW THEY DEFINED, CREATED, AND SUSTAINED COMMUNITY AND SUPPORT DURING BLM, COVID-19, AND VIRTUAL LEARNING(2023) Greene, Patrice; Kelly, Dr. Bridget Turner; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The simultaneous impact of COVID-19, BLM racial uprisings, and virtual learning caused a societal shift as a global pandemic, global protests, and widespread campus closures placed the world in unprecedented times. Though these societal events had a profound global impact, how undergraduate Black womxn experienced and navigated these times is understudied throughout literature. This study explored how undergraduate Black womxn at historically white institutions (HWIs) defined, created and sustained community and support during the societal context of Black Lives Matter (BLM), COVID-19, and virtual learning. Utilizing Black Feminist Thought and critical feminist methodology, eight collaborators shared their experiences through individual interviews, artifact reviews, and a focus group. The study focused on two guiding questions: 1.) How are undergraduate Black womxn at historically white institutions defining community and support in the context of COVID-19, BLM, and virtual learning? And 2.) How have undergraduate Black womxn at historically white institutions supported and built community with one another during COVID-19, BLM, and virtual learning? The findings revealed these emergent themes: (1) Defining and (Re)Defining Community and Support, (2): Navigating COVID-19, BLM, and Virtual Learning: Emotional Processing, (3): Seeking and/or Continuing Inclusive Curricular Co-Curricular Experiences, (4) BLM & The Pandemic: An Opportunity for Understanding Within and Across the Diaspora, and (5): The Role of Social Media and Technology in Creating and Sustaining Community and Support. The findings illuminate how Black womxn undergraduate students ascribe meaning to community and support and how they traversed the emotional impact of the societal shift.Item EXPLORING BLACK WOMEN’S HESA DOCTORAL EXPERIENCES AT HWIS: AN ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT USING CRITICAL NARRATIVE INQUIRY(2023) Clarke, Ashley Hixson; Kelly, Dr. Bridget T.; 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 Black women’s experiences in higher education and student affairs (HESA) doctoral programs at historically white institutions (HWIs). More specifically, this study explored how Black women connected their HESA doctoral experiences with their social media engagement. Limited literature has captured Black women doctoral students’ experiences in the academy broadly, and there exists even less for Black doctoral students in HESA. Nascent research highlighted Black women’s colleges experiences, undergraduate and graduate students (master and doctoral), with strategies for navigating HWIs. One strategy for navigating HWIs is through community building with other Black women. Through digital technology, such as social media, community building has a wide reach to connect with other women, and other Black women college students. As such, social media was explored to understand how Black women college students connected their education to social media engagement. Employing digital Black feminism as the theoretical framework, this study contributed new knowledge for understanding how Black women connected their HESA doctoral experiences and social media engagement. This study complicated notions of agency and authenticity in Black women’s HESA doctoral programs and their social media engagement. Additionally, this study highlighted the complexities in how Black women doctoral students are socialized in the academy, specifically in HESA graduate programs at HWIs. Using critical narrative inquiry, eight Black women HESA doctoral students engaged alongside the primary researcher for an individual interview and a collective co-analysis. The interviews were guided by a co-constructive protocol where the co-researchers provided their input on topics to discuss individually. The co-researchers also met for a 1-hour co-analysis process as a collective group to share their insights on the findings. The findings revealed the following themes and subthemes: (a) Censorship at the HWI, followed by the subthemes of Researcher Socialization in the Academy and Reconciliation with HWIs; (b) Censorship on Social Media, followed by the subtheme of Scholar Tensions on Social Media; and (c) Presence of Doctoral Experiences when Engaging on Social Media. The findings illuminated how Black women doctoral students named their socialization process in their HESA doctoral program, how they navigated multiple spaces, and the advantageous ways they used social media as HESA doctoral students.