Critical scholars have asserted for decades that effective educational programming for black students and communities requires the guidance, governance, and leadership of African American professionals who can understand and affirm the identities of those being served (DuBois, 1935; Lomotey, 1989; Lomotey, 1993; Lightfoot, 1983; Sowell, 1976;…

Public Master's granting universities have long been viewed as a sector "caught in the middle" between their much more prestigious research university counterparts and the more numerous community colleges. The little research that exists on this sector of institutions has suggested that the Master's university classification merely…

Despite nonnative English-speaking teachers' (NNESTs) professional qualifications and increasing contributions to research in TESOL, the native speaker (NS) myth (Phillipson, 1992) continues to undermine these teachers' sense of professional legitimacy and pedagogical efficacy. Thus, due in great part to the notion of an idealized NS teacher of…

The Department of Defense (DoD), like most very large organizations rightly have concerns over the functionality of their Cybersecurity employees and their ability to perform core duties in a professional manner. To validate this ability, the DoD imposed a mandatory certifications policy based upon positions within the organization. The DoD…

Students moving from high school writing to college writing are, from a sociocultural perspective, transitioning from one "community of practice" to another, from one "Discourse" to another (Gee, 1992; Wenger, 1998). This process can be difficult, not only for basic writers (Bartholomae, 1985; Shaughnessy, 1977) but also for…

Culturally adapted psychotherapy has potential to improve psychotherapy outcomes for ethnic and racial minorities and solve a decades-long conundrum that alteration of specific ingredients does not improve psychotherapy outcomes. Adaptation of the cultural explanation of illness, known as the anthropological Myth in universal healing practices…

Many universities and colleges across the country and around the globe are concentrating on becoming increasingly international. The extent to which they are internationalizing varies widely and depends greatly on strategic initiatives and priorities on the part of university administration, faculty, staff and students alike. Despite the many…

Student loans have become a cornerstone of democratized access to higher education. This dissertation contributes a novel approach to conceptualizing the student loan issue: students as consumers--both of college and of the student loans themselves. Through a mixed-method in-depth study of a graduating cohort at a public flagship university, I…

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 ushered in a period of change in higher-education systems across the former Eastern bloc. Reform-minded leaders in the region sought to introduce western models and policies promoted by foreign development aid agendas. Private higher-education institutions emerged. This qualitative multiple case study examines…

Much has been written in academic and popular publications about organizational change. Topics have ranged from case studies to anecdotal stories of how leaders can change an organization. There is little written on changing the culture and vision of a profession at the macro level. This dissertation shows that one key to effecting change within a…

The 21st-century job description for school principals requires greater areas of leadership and accountability utilizing student data to improve instruction as mandated by state legislative reforms. The Principal's accountability is measured using the principal evaluation system. The general problem is that many principal evaluation systems are…

The MENA region has witnessed unprecedented political and social events that started with a youth revolt in Tunisia in December 2010 and was followed by a series of uprisings spanning the whole region in the following months. Historians, political scientists and sociologists have attempted to study this so-called "Arab Spring" each from…

The purpose of this study was to understand the organizational functions of student-affairs at Indiana University and to understand the nature of the conflict between student-affairs and the larger organization. This study utilized the case-study research design. Much of the data collected and analyzed during this case study were of a historical…

In higher education, the number of service-based courses and student experiences has increased considerably over the past few years, especially those with the purpose of developing global citizenship skills (Bringle, Hatcher, & Jones, 2010; Hunter, White, & Godbey, 2006). Indeed, advocates claim that service-learning facilitates two…

Scholars have argued that athletics are utilized by universities to advertise their school to all individuals (Collins, 2012; Dwyer, Eddy, Havard, & Braa, 2010; Toma & Cross, 1998; Washington & Ventresca, 2004; Weaver, 2010). Expectedly, university officials are willing to contribute resources in order to develop an effective athletics…