College of Education
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The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations..
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Item SHATTERING THE COLLEGIATE GLASS CEILING: UNDERSTANDING THE EXPERIENCES OF WOMEN STUDENT GOVERNMENT PRESIDENTS(2019) Davis, Kristen Rupert; Griffin, Kimberly A; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In the last few decades, leadership skills have arisen as a core part of undergraduate education. The general outcomes associated with leadership skills in college include decision-making skills, increased cognitive complexity, and navigating group dynamics and relationship building (Kouzes & Posner, 2012). While leadership skills are derived from a variety of experiences on campus, positional leadership experiences help students develop concrete and specific outcomes associated with self-confidence, the development of a sense of competence higher levels of psychosocial development, a stronger ability to clarify their purpose in life, and greater aptitude for career planning and life management (Astin & Leland, 1991; Foubert & Grainger, 2006). In particular, serving as the president of a student organization has been associated with increased self-efficacy and growth in perceived leadership ability specifically for women (Bardou, Bryne, Pasternak, Perez, & Rainey, 2003; Dugan, 2006; H. S. Astin & Kent, 1983). However, women less likely to reap these gains, as they are less likely to take on positional leadership roles in college (Stevens, 2011). This is especially apparent in high-ranking leadership role like student government president. The purpose of this study was to better understand women college students’ journey to and through being a student government president, and whether and how gender and sexism influenced their presidential experiences. Case study methodology and a narrative approach to data collection was used to answer four research questions. Participant interviews garnered 5 themes including: (a) Systemic Issues of Diversity and Inclusion on Campus, (b) Catalysts, Influencing Factors, and the Impact of Identity on Running for Office, (c) Impact of Leadership Style, Assumed Biases, and External Feedback on Women Leaders, (d) External Expectations of Image and Presentation, and (e) Relationships with Administrators. Findings from this study suggest that more research on women in leadership in both college and in the workforce is necessary. They also suggest that administrators and campus community members need to be cognizant of bias and stereotypes when engaging with women student leaders. Lastly, findings indicate that issues of inclusion and diversity on campus impact how women engage in leadership roles on campus.Item Examining How Undergraduate STEM Degree Production is Influenced by State Higher Education STEM Policies Across States: A Panel Data Analysis(2019) Knepler, Erin Denise; Titus, Marvin A.; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The United States is not producing enough college graduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields (Kuenzi, Matthews, & Mangan, 2006; Chen & Weko, 2009). By 2025, there will be over three million STEM jobs to be filled in the United States and more than two million may remain unoccupied (Giffi et al., 2018). This study explores how undergraduate STEM degree production is influenced by state higher education STEM policies, and uses a microeconomic conceptual model rooted in two theories derived from economics and political science: principal agent theory and production function theory. Panel data over a 17-year time period from all 50 states were analyzed to address two questions: 1) How is undergraduate STEM degree production within a state related to state economic and higher education finance variables? 2) Controlling for state economic and higher education finance variables, how are states’ undergraduate STEM degree production influenced by state higher education STEM policies? The study found that state undergraduate enrollment per full-time equivalent (FTE) and state expenditures for need-based aid per undergraduate FTE influence state STEM degree production. Different time lag models were used to analyze the effect of state STEM policies. Two variables representing state STEM policies, incentives for STEM and articulation agreements in STEM influence STEM bachelor’s degree production in a state when no time lag is applied. Three variables representing state STEM policies (i.e., incentives, articulation agreements, and scholarships), however, influence STEM degree production in a state when lagged by five years. Results from this study contribute to both literature and policy. The conceptual model combines two theories to higher education literature providing a useful framework for analyzing the effects of various state actions on STEM degree production. Potential policy implications also emerged: 1) policy-focused research can inform stakeholders and the public of what are the influencers of STEM degree production and the impact of policy on STEM degree production; 2) data can be used to drive policy development focused on meeting state completion objectives and economic goals; and 3) understanding what drives policy adoption is useful context for states looking to affect STEM policy development.Item TRANSFER EFFICACY: EXPLORING A SUCCESS ORIENTED NARRATIVE OF THE TRANSFER STUDENT EXPERIENCE(2019) Hayes, Shannon; Cabrera, Alberto; Park, Julie; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this dissertation study is to understand the extent to which self-efficacy is present in the transfer process for community college students from different racial and sociocultural backgrounds. Specifically, this research borrows from Bandura’s (1994) construct of self-efficacy in order to introduce Transfer Efficacy, which is a framework developed to describe the way in which students’ develop self-efficacy beliefs around their ability to transfer and navigate the transfer process. This study employed a nested qualitative case study methodology, which took an in-depth look at 15 community college students who had transferred from a two-year to a four-year institution. The student participants in this study, who served as the nested cases, were interviewed individually in order to understand their transfer experiences. In addition to the individual interviews with student participants, the other data collected included the analysis of various documents and interviews with four administrators who worked on the two-year and four-year campus. Findings from this study provide a number of implications for future consideration. In particular, this dissertation suggests that Transfer Efficacy may be a useful framework for understanding transfer student narratives. Further, the findings point to the importance of internship experiences for students while enrolled in community college, the significance of pre-transfer advising, and the need for stronger transfer articulation agreements. Also worth noting is the possible connection between institutional commitment, the development of self-efficacy for transfer, and transfer student identity. This study is significant in three main ways. First, this study contributes to the transfer student narrative by providing a new perspective regarding the positive outcomes of transfer. In particular, this study contributes to current transfer student research by unpacking the role of self-efficacy. Second, this research provides practical implications for higher education practitioners so that the transfer student pipeline may become a more solid path for students seeking to graduate with a baccalaureate degree. Finally, this research will shed light on the contextual nature of the transfer process.Item Exploring Identities and Relationships: Narratives of Second-Generation, Black, West Indian College Students From Boston(2019) English, Shelvia R.; Griffin, Kimberly A; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the collegiate experiences of second-generation, West Indian college students from Boston. Too often, Black students are treated as a monolith in education research and practice. This study provides new knowledge regarding how second-generation West Indian college students communicate and enact their racial, ethnic, and immigrant identities in their relationships with faculty, staff, peers, and family while in college. The theoretical framework guiding this study was Communication Theory of Identity, which centered the connection between identities and relationships. Through the use of narrative inquiry, seven West-Indian participants from Boston completed a demographic questionnaire and shared their narratives through two, semi-structured, in-person interviews. Through hand coding methods and inductive and deductive analysis of the data, five themes emerged: (a) Proving Cultural Authenticity, (b) Defining a West Indian Identity, (c) Differences Exist, but Race Still Matters, (d) Homophily in Friendships, and (e) Representation Matters: Faculty and Staff Relationships. The findings offer insight of how participants viewed themselves, communicated their identities to others, and whether their relationships affirmed who they viewed themselves to be. Participants encountered disparate messages about their race, ethnicity, and generation status, compelling them to respond depending upon their audience and context. In particular, the shift from and contrast between participants’ Boston neighborhoods to predominantly white campuses across Massachusetts contributed to a difference in how participants perceived themselves. In college, participants confronted the racialized component of their ethnicity and grappled with how they were viewed as Black and West Indian. Friendships provided the optimal space and relationship in which participants most easily navigated their racial, ethnic and immigrant status identities. In contrast to their friendships, participants minimally shared about themselves outside of close relationships with Black faculty or staff. The shifts in the racial composition of participants’ environments, coupled with the types of messages they received in their interactions and relationships, demonstrates the connection between relationships, context, and identities.Item THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME: THE LIVED EXPERIENCE OF MILITARY BRATS OF COLOR IN COLLEGE(2019) Peralta, Alicia Marie; Hultgren, Francine; Fries-Britt, Sharon; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Military children of color live in various cultural contexts, often outside of mainstream U.S. society, leading to questions about their experiences as young people of color in college settings. To this end, this dissertation asks: What is the lived experience of military brats of color in college? This dissertation explores the experiences of seven military children of color in college settings as they navigate leaving their unique military context, encounter identities they did not know they had, and individuate from their families and the military context. The phenomenological questioning of identity coupled with conceptions of home and belonging shine a light on the bittersweet experience of the military brats of color feeling like strangers in their own country. These experiences are uncovered using Gadamerian (1975/2004) horizons and Heidegger’s dasein (1927/2008b) in addition to O’Donohue’s (1997, 1998) philosophical writings on belonging and home. The thematizing process brought forth experiences of attempting to forge an identity in the midst of preconceived ideas about who and what you should be as a person. The process of forging identity includes the transition from the military community to college; a settling into college; and a choosing of identity. Pedagogical insights include a critique of identity and how it is constructed, specifically because military children of color are never of a place, but move with and in spaces. I also consider concepts of home, and how higher education practitioners can work with military students of color while respecting their lived experience.Item THE PERSISTENCE AND SUCCESS OF UNDERGRADUATES IN REMEDIAL MATHEMATICS: A MIXED METHODS STUDY ON MATHEMATICS SOCIALIZATION AND SEGREGATED SPACES IN UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION(2019) Stoltz, Angela; Brantlinger, Andrew; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This explanatory sequential mixed methods study (QUAN-QUAL) was developed to investigate the question: “How do sociohistorical, intrapersonal, and institutional factors relate to the persistence and success of undergraduates enrolled in remedial mathematics classes at a four-year university?” To understand this complex phenomenon, I employed Martin’s (2000) Multilevel Framework for Analyzing Mathematics Socialization and Identity Among African Americans for both streams of data collection and analysis. I collected and analyzed departmental and survey data quantitatively, to identify broader patterns of relationships that existed among the participants’ intrapersonal factors, demographic characteristics and their persistence and success (n=316). The participants’ high rates of persistence (92%) and success (68.4%) could partially be explained by enrollment in a corequisite versus emporium remedial mathematics course, but also institutional (non-randomized sorting and placement into course type by placement test score), sociohistorical (primarily advanced high school mathematics course-taking) and intrapersonal (perceptions of the teacher) factors. Age, gender, African American identity, first-generation status, and high school mathematics course-taking all contributed to persistence and success to some degree, but gender was a stronger predictor of persistence and success than minority or first-generation status, and high school mathematics course-taking was the most influential demographic predictor of persistence, when course enrollment was excluded from the regression model. The intrapersonal factor, perceptions of the teacher, was also a significant predictor of persistence, and to a lesser extent, success. This finding led me to select extreme perception of teacher cases (n=5) for the qualitative portion of the study. The qualitative data revealed that several institutional and classroom factors impacted the emporium participants’ experiences, beliefs and perceptions and ultimately, their persistence and success. These participants presented negative perceptions of their emporium course’s online instructional platform and revealed the negative impact the course structure had on teacher behaviors, their relationship with their teacher and the classroom environment overall. The three STEM majors had more negative socio-academic experiences at the university than the two non-STEM majors because their placement into remedial mathematics was a barrier that prevented them from declaring and pursuing coursework for their STEM degree. Socio-economic factors, such as not having the financial means to live on campus and having heavy work and family responsibilities, compounded the adverse effects of remedial mathematics placement for two of the STEM majors, and the two female STEM majors were diverted out of STEM altogether. The two non-STEM participants who persisted through their emporium courses reported leveraging a variety of intrapersonal, academic and social assets, such as their financial motivation, the socio-academic support of their peers and advisors, their parents’ positive perceptions of their academic abilities, and university academic supports, when they were faced with challenges in their emporium classes. Although the STEM majors did not persist, they were nonetheless actively engaged in agentive behaviors dedicated to their degree attainment.Item "Wait, Are You Jewish?": Jewish Culture on Campus(2019) Reich, Madeline Brooke; Moore, Candace M; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)With a number of recent high-profile anti-Jewish hate incidents on college campuses and across the United States, a deeper understanding of Jewish student culture is necessary for practitioners and scholars to better understand Jewish students. The purpose of the study was to gain an understanding of Jewish college students’ perspectives on Jewish student culture during college. Two research questions were examined: 1) How does an undergraduate Jewish student’s understanding of self, context, and their pathway to Judaism influence their cultural tool kit during college? and 2) In what ways do Jewish students use basic knowledge as part of their tool kits? Five Jewish college students engaged in semi-structured interviews. Through dialogical narrative analysis, four story types emerged: pre-college Jewish experiences, connection to other Jews, rituals and religious services, and basic knowledge.Item WOKE LIKE ME: EXPERIENCES AND EXPECTATIONS OF WOKENESS AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS(2019) Zewdie, Hana; Moore, Candace M; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Woke, generally referring to awareness of social issues, has become commonplace language in American popular and political cultures. The lengthy and culturally embedded history of wokeness, and its implications for higher education reveal that this is not merely a fad. Using the framework of critical consciousness and intersectionality, the purpose of this thesis is to gain an understanding of the meaning of woke as understood by college students who identify as such, and to explore associated intra-group expectations and experiences. Five themes emerged describing how participants came to understand wokeness as a series of expectations through an internal process heavily facilitated by engagement with others. Students were willing to engage outside of their woke communities, but only so far, and often held different expectations for themselves than others.Item WOMEN FACULTY AGENCY: A CASE STUDY OF TWO UNIVERSITIES IN RUSSIA(2019) Kuvaeva, Alexandra; Stromquist, Nelly P; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of the study was to explore professional and personal challenges experienced by women faculty in Russia and analyze organizational factors that influence their sense of agency. Expanding on O’Meara, Campbell & Terosky (2011) theoretical framework on agency, this research suggests differentiating two forms of agency experienced by women faculty in Russia, professional agency and personal agency. Professional agency is shaped by a woman’s strong confidence in her capacity in professional fulfillment. Personal agency reflects a woman’s confidence to build relationships in her family that help her manage multiple roles in her personal and professional life, therefore, producing a strong mediating effect on professional agency perspectives and behavior and work satisfaction. The use of structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed strong positive effects of organizational factors such as promotion procedures, collegiality, workload distribution policies and practices, resources and support, and work-family balance factor on women’s agency perspectives and behavior, and a strong effect of agency behavior on faculty outcomes such as academic rank promotion and leadership opportunities, research productivity and overall satisfaction with their careers. The SEM model did not find gender differences in the above relationships, suggesting that the effect of organizational factors on faculty agency and outcomes is significant regardless of gender. Survey data also provided a broader picture of work environments of the two institutions and helped to gain understanding of which aspects of faculty work reveal significant differences by gender, rank, discipline, and type of institution, and whether women faculty in Russia feel more or less agentic than men faculty. In addition to pre-defined categories of organizational factors that influence faculty career, interviews with women faculty created space for emerging themes of issues shaping women experiences in their work environments and helped to identify what agentic perspectives and behaviors women faculty assume in their career that are pertinent to the Russian context.Item A GENDER ANALYSIS OF ENGINEERING PHD STUDENTS’ CAREER DECISION-MAKING PROCESS USING A BOUNDED AGENCY MODEL(2019) da Costa, Romina Bobbio; Stromquist, Nelly P.; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This qualitative research study applies a bounded agency model in investigating the career decision making process of engineering PhD students at a large, public research university in the United States. Through a gender analysis of the career decision-making of men and women PhD students in engineering, this study sheds light on the reasons why men and women choose different career trajectories in engineering, with implications for diversifying the professoriate. This study highlights the ways in which men and women PhD students in engineering experience the university as an institution differently, and form different impressions of the academic career. The bounded agency model allows for a holistic examination of the organizational barriers, as well as the individual level dispositions and characteristics that work to limit the range of feasible alternaives and choices for men and women as they make their career choices. The findings provide insight into the career decision-making of men and women PhDs as an iterative process of information gathering, crystallization of values, and narrowing down of options. Gender differences are outlined at each stage in this process, providing a framework for furthering understanding of other underrepresented populations in the professoriate. Additionally, the findings have implications for graduate education in engineering, and for PhD student career development and choice, both in the United States and beyond. keywords: agency, bounded agency, career choice, career development, diversity in STEM, engineering education, gender, graduate student agency, graduate student experience, higher education, STEM