Higher education in America is resilient; in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges, higher education manages to weather the storm of change, pressure, doubt, and criticism. Consider the following challenges: shifting demographics, escalating tuition, decreased state funding, retention and graduation rates, flat tuition revenue,…

The purpose of this qualitative, interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) study was to understand how higher education leaders experienced succession planning programs in their organizations, and how they experienced the development and preparation of internal leaders promoting into vacant leadership roles after turnover occurs. There is…

This dissertation provides interdisciplinary insights into the role of client's internal collaborative experience in managing communication during a complex outsourced project, building a quality client-vendor relationship and ultimately achieving success in the project. Each of the three studies in this dissertation identifies a gap in…

There is not an organization in the world immune to crisis (Coombs, 2015). From for-profit corporations to the non-profit sector of higher education, research on various crises, and the communication surrounding them, has attracted the attention of scholars and practitioners over the years. This study contributes to literature surrounding…

In this dissertation in practice, the background of middle grades mathematics acceleration detailed why the organization benefited from a program analysis. Middle grades mathematics acceleration encourages students to take high school Algebra I in eighth grade so they can earn college-level math credits for free in high school. Often acceleration…

This study explored how a community college president used strategic planning concepts to advance an institution's completion agenda initiatives. The research method was a qualitative single case study design. Keller's (1983) academic strategy served as the conceptual framework to conduct the investigation. Four research questions guided the…

This study stemmed from the need to develop an instrument for assessing the characteristics of an organization in terms of internal consistency of leadership behavior, interaction-influences between colleagues, communication processes, and employee motivation in institutions of post-secondary education. Commonly used surveys for educational…

While the likelihood and probability of school districts encountering major crises remain unknown, superintendents need to anticipate and prepare for such events that have the potential to threaten their organization. The purpose of this phenomenological study is to explore the behaviors and actions of New York State public school superintendents…

This qualitative study used phenomenological research methods to explore the lived experiences of single parents attending community college. The phenomenological research design was used to better understand participant experiences by examining the participant's view of their situation. Thirteen single-parent students in community colleges in the…

This dissertation explores the relationship between how teams form and what they need to perform. It adopts the perspective that technology is fundamental to organizing in modern workplaces and examines how technology may both enhance and constrain teamwork. By adopting this perspective, two questions naturally follow. First, how do teams organize…

School principals are responsible for balancing the logistical demands of running a school while simultaneously supervising instruction. Additionally, in the Texas school system, they must contend with rising academic standards for students and an increasingly complex accountability system that focuses on traditionally underserved student…

Technology has become a fundamental aspect of learning, yet many course instructors are hesitant to incorporate various forms of technology into their instructional design. This study sought to determine how course instructors can be assisted and supported to incorporate various asynchronous and synchronous technologies and strategies to course…

The problem examined in this study was that student progression suffers from the lack of structured pathways for noncredit health science college students to credit-bearing health science programs. The problem is compounded by inconsistencies in reporting funding and enrollment data at the state level and the lack of existing research on noncredit…

Speech is highly variable and systematic, governed by the internal linguistic system and socio-indexical factors. The systematic relationship of socio-indexical factors and variable phonetic forms, referred to here as "socio-indexical structure," has been the cornerstone of sociophonetic research over the last several decades. Research…

Alignment of revenues and expenses at small, private, nonprofit colleges and universities is a growing challenge for leadership at these institutions. The purpose of this action research study was to investigate what strategies the researcher's university has implemented to potentially lead itself to financial sustainability. Participants and data…