Theses and Dissertations from UMD
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2
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 The Issue with Issues Management: An Engagement Approach to Integrate Gender and Emotion into Issues Management(2016) Madden, Stephanie; Sommerfeldt, Erich; Communication; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Using sexual assault on college campuses as a context for interrogating issues management, this study offers a normative model for inclusive issues management through an engagement approach that can better account for the gendered and emotional dimensions of issues. Because public relations literature and research have offered little theoretical or practical guidance for how issues managers can most effectively deal with issues such as sexual assault, this study represents a promising step forward. Results for this study were obtained through 32 in-depth interviews with university issues managers, six focus groups with student populations, and approximately 92 hours of participant observation. By focusing on inclusion, this revised model works to have utility for an array of issues that have previously fallen outside of the dominant masculine and rationale spheres that have worked to silence marginalized publics’ experiences. Through adapting previous issues management models to focus on inclusion at the heart of a strategic process, and engagement as the strategy for achieving this, this study offers a framework for ensuring more voices are heard—which enables organizations to more effectively communicate with their publics. Additionally, findings from this research may also help practitioners at different types of organizations develop better, and proactive, communication strategies for handling emotional and gendered issues as to avoid negative media attention and work to change organizational culture.Item Examining the Influence of Selectivity on Alumni Giving at Public Universities: A Dynamic Panel Modeling Approach(2009) Simone, Sean Anthony; Titus, Marvin A; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study examines the influence of institutional selectivity on alumni giving among public research universities, using a conceptual framework based on the economics of nonprofit organizations. This study introduces a dynamic panel modeling technique, which addresses many limitations that more traditional statistical models have when applied to panel data with lagged or "dynamic" variables. Using panel data from 147 public universities over 11 years, the analysis for this study compares the results from ordinary least squares (OLS), fixed effects, and instrumental variable (2SLS) regression with a dynamic fixed effects panel model using a procedure proposed by Blundell and Bond (1998). This dynamic panel modeling technique allows researchers to simultaneously discern the relationship between variables and take into account the possible endogeneity and omitted variable biases, as well as determine conditional convergence or divergence of the values of key observed variables over time.
The results indicate that ordinary least squares, fixed effects, and instrumental variable regression models yield different coefficients, standard errors, and probability values for hypothesis tests. Results from the most robust technique, a dynamic panel fixed effects model using system generalized method of moments, did not indicate that a statistically significant relationship exists between student selectivity and alumni giving. However, the presence of a law or medical program and institutional wealth were statistically significant. Additionally, there is no evidence of convergence or divergence of alumni giving rates.
The results from this analysis have a number of implications. First, the statistically insignificant relationship between selectivity and alumni giving challenges a major paradigm in the literature regarding the influence of this measure of prestige on alumni giving. Future studies should test the influence of other conceptions of prestige and donative support, using dynamic panel modeling, to see if the results are similar. Second, this analysis shows that statistical models prominent in the literature can yield misleading results when applied to panel data. Researchers, therefore, must take great care in using the most appropriate technique when examining dynamic panel data. Finally, this analysis indicates that more complex modeling techniques are required to study alumni giving over time.
Item Living Feminism in the Academy: South African Women Tell Their Stories(2009) Corneilse, Carol; Klees, Steven J; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Studies about North American and European women predominate the literature on gender issues in higher education, particularly research that focuses on female academics who are self-described feminists. The literature tells us that there are differences between the institutional experiences of feminist faculty, as opposed to female faculty in general. Most universities are male-dominated institutions and inequalities in status, rank, and salary persist, although the gaps have shrunk over time. Female faculty who self-identify as feminists are more likely to challenge discriminatory institutional practices, because feminism, by its nature, challenges the status quo. And they are more likely to be ostracized and ridiculed when they confront unequal treatment. Yet the presence of feminists in the academy signals their belief in its value as an institution. Universities offer the intellectual space to theorize about women's position in society, to generate knowledge that brings about greater understanding of women's lives, and to develop strategies for change. There is a small, but growing, body of literature documenting the experiences of female faculty in South Africa's higher education institutions. Few studies have focused on feminist faculty, however. In this qualitative study, six diverse women share their experiences of being feminist faculty in South African universities over a thirty-year period, beginning in the early 1970s. Their personal narratives begin in their formative childhood years when they first become aware of social injustice. The study documents their growing feminist consciousness, their initial encounters with feminist theories, their struggles as university and community activists, and as young faculty. The women recall pivotal events and experiences that have shaped them, and describe what it has been like to live out their feminist values on a daily basis in South Africa's universities.