The purpose of this study was to explore the phenomenon of community colleges creating pathways to degree completion in professional-technical programs by breaking degree programs into smaller portions, referred to as "chunks." The purpose or possible advantage of chunking was that it would improve the rate of degree completion among...
Community colleges are experiencing a decline in state allocated funding. Traditionally, college administrators look for ways to cut expenditures and raise tuition and fees to make up for the shortfall. Using available land resources to generate a revenue stream may provide revenue for community colleges.
The purpose of this study...
The purpose of this dissertation was to explore the experience of gifted girls transitioning from elementary school to sixth and seventh grade. The current counseling literature in this area found that gifted girls often struggle emotionally when transitioning to sixth and seventh grade. The bulk of this literature was based...
The primary responsibility of electric utilities is to supply consistent, dependable, and affordable energy to private customers, businesses, and industries. As with many businesses, electric utilities are experiencing the effects of an aging workforce and expending considerable resources to train their current and replacement workers. Community colleges can partner with...
This research addressed the complexities of identity development in the lives of seven elementary and middle school preservice literacy teachers during their graduate teacher education program at a private western university using a poststructural feminism theoretical lens. This research investigated two questions: 1) How do preservice teachers develop their identity...
This autoethnography explores issues that impact educational leadership by examining individual reflections, perceptions, and responses developed through the lens of a principal of two elementary schools. The main data source involves journal entries collected over a period of one year. Theories of educational leadership styles and effective school practices form...
Research mentorship is a new construct emerging in the literature, but remains inadequately defined and scarcely researched. This topic is of relevance to counselor education because of the paucity of literature on the topic, and because of our professional commitments to diversity, wellness, and scholarship. Effective mentorship has been shown...
There is a growing movement within the counseling profession calling on counselors to integrate a social justice perspective into counseling theories, paradigms, and practices. However, there are no empirical studies illustrating how counselor preparation programs accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) are preparing...
The community college, now over 100 years old, began with the singular mission of preparing students for transfer to the university. Throughout the 20th century, the community college has expanded its missions to serve increasingly complex and comprehensive community needs. Through a textual analysis of community engagement within seven seminal...
The purpose of this study was to explore, from current Native American and Alaskan Native undergraduate students, what their experiences were as first year college students on the Oregon State University campus. In addition, it was important to learn how these experiences contributed to their success, satisfaction or dissatisfaction, and...
The purpose of this study was to understand how refrigeration, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (RHVAC) service technicians (techs) learned from troubleshooting. This understanding resulted in instructional and curricular strategies designed to help community colleges prepare vocational students to learn more effectively from informal workplace learning. RHVAC techs were studied...
College governance is a function of structure and of how people act within that
structure. Organizational strategies no longer identify administrations as monopolies
that possess all of the good ideas. Recent organizational management approaches to
governance promote inclusiveness in decision-making and are at odds with the
community college's historical structures,...
Title: African-American Women Faculty Teaching at Institutions of Higher Learning in the Pacific Northwest: Challenges, Dilemas, and Sustainability
Institutions of higher learning in the Pacific Northwest have successfully recruited African-American faculty, yet these institutions have difficulty retaining African-American faculty for at least five years. African-American women faculty experience problems obtaining...
Community college and university degree partnership programs allow students to tailor their educational experiences to fit personal goals and preferences while transitioning back and forth seamlessly between a community college and four-year university. This qualitative research study, telling the stories and lived experiences of six students participating in a community...
Two decades of literature from national college student climate reports measuring student attitudes toward people who are lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender (LGBT) indicate, “anti-GLBT intolerance and harassment has been prevalent” (Rankin, 2003). This study seeks to explore the determinants of such attitudes and explore the life contexts of students’...
This phenomenological inquiry explored dimensions of reflection for older adults in a developmental oriented adventure education experience. Data were gathered from emergent interviews with four individuals while participating in a multi-day, self-contained experiential education program conducted in a rugged environment, and led by a Navajo leader. Two principle research questions...
This qualitative study examined the experiences and perceptions of males aged 16 – 19 who did not complete a traditional high school diploma program because of feeling alienated from the school system. Five participants described their school experiences from elementary school through the point in high school when they decided...
Many White social scientists and educators are unaware of and/or
detached from the realities of racism and conduct social research that 1.)
perpetuates stereotypes, falsely setting People of Color as inferior and
White people as superior and/or 2.) explains the differences of White
people and People of Color in terms...
There is a wealth of research on issues surrounding teacher burnout and school reform. The literature on burnout, however, does not provide information on system-based burnout prevention models. Comprehensive reform, although intended to improve schools as a whole, does not look at reform models developed as sources of teacher support....
The purpose of this research project was to gain a deeper understanding of the
lived experience of faculty of color. More specifically, this project explores how
diversity-related workload expectations impact faculty of color who work in
predominantly white community colleges. Known by various descriptors, the term
used in this research...
Multicultural competency has been established as important component of communicating within a cross-cultural ecology. Yet, there is evidence that many counselors struggle to communicate and interact outside of their own cultural communication norms. Until this study, no one has attempted to integrate culture and intelligence as a unitary counseling construct....
This phenomenological inquiry explored the experiences of library leaders and discipline faculty members engaging in a collaborative instructional change initiative focused on a process-based learning pedagogy and led by an academic library. The investigation’s purpose was providing insight and understanding concerning the: (a) library’s role in instructional leadership; (b) experience...
This dissertation presents the Graham Model of Bibliosupervision (GMB). The purpose
of this study is to examine the efficacy of the GMB and its influence on the supervisory
working alliance. Specifically this study examines the effectiveness of a non-linear
approach to counselor supervision that employs children’s literature as part of...
Individual supervision is a widely accepted practice in the counseling profession, yet the tasks and focus of individual supervision in an agency setting remain largely uninvestigated. The tasks and focus areas inherent to agency supervision are especially important to counselors, counselor educators, agency administrators, and licensing boards, all of whom...
Prior research has noted the changing demographics of higher education since the Civil Rights Movement and the expanded need for multicultural education. Armando Hernandez Morales (2003) wrote that, “A multiculturally competent person is aware of and knowledgeable about cultural differences, their own cultural identity, and the history and contemporary struggles...
The purpose of this study is to explore the lived experience of courage among community college leaders across the United States. The following questions guided the research: (1) What is the courageous experience like for a community college leader? (2) What is the process of courage development? (3) What are...
This research addresses the complexities of White racial identity development in the lives of five elementary and middle school preservice teachers during their graduate teacher education program at a private Christian Pacific Northwestern university. Using a poststructural framework, this research investigated three questions: 1) How do the aspects of subjectivation...
School counseling site supervisors provide a critical contribution to the professional
development of master's program school counseling interns; however, their training
needs remain unidentified in the literature. To that end, the purpose of this quantitative
study was to explore the training needs of site supervisors of master's program school
counseling...
Bullying prevents its targets from enjoying a safe, stress-free living, learning, and working environment. For most children, bullying experiences will be merely unpleasant childhood memories. This remains the same in adult's working environment. During the past decade, the concept of workplace abuse has had an increasing resonance within western countries....
The two-fold purpose of this study was to identify critically important factors that affect the
meaningful assessment of student learning outcomes and study why they were critically
important. A three-round Delphi process was used in both a pilot project and in a full study to
solicit the opinions of individuals...
The focus of this research was to examine the relationship between the Oregon secondary agricultural education teachers’ level of computer-based technology integration, perceptions of barriers to computer-based technology integration, and learning style preferences. Additionally the correlational analysis of the level of computer-based technology integration and the following demographic variables was...
There are more than 6,900 known living languages in the world, half of which could be extinct within one hundred years. Approximately 150 indigenous American languages are still spoken in the United States; however, it is estimated that by the year 2050 only twenty of them will remain.
Language preservation...
Millions of children are exposed to various types of violence throughout their school years. American children, by the time they are 18 years old, have seen more than 100,000 acts of violence on television alone. The effect of exposure to violence becomes a part of a child's life experience and...
This research addressed the role of educational technology associations as change agents within education with particular emphasis on issues of advocacy and leadership. Using a poststructural feminist lens and the metaphor of interview and analysis as storytelling, it explored the perspectives of nineteen individuals belonging to a national level educational...
The purpose of this study is to explore, through their own voices, the higher
education experiences of selected urban American Indian females in California
community colleges. This study is an attempt to identify pathways to academic
success by teasing out college practices and support systems that help Native
women navigate...
There is substantial interest in the application of mindfulness in counseling and psychotherapy. The appeal of mindfulness training and mindfulness-based interventions has increased as research continues to demonstrate benefits. Mindfulness practice has not only been effective in clinical applications with clients, but has also been conceptualized as beneficial for counselors...
This qualitative narrative inquiry study explored the experiences and perspectives of five Asian American females who have sought presidencies and/or vice presidencies in community colleges. All five of the participants are currently either a president or vice president in community colleges. This study found nine themes that capture the barriers...
The purpose of the study was to provide a method for evaluating the effect, impact or role that (as perceived by automotive, diesel, automotive collision faculty and administrators) the nationally recognized industry training standards developed by Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) and National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation (NATEF) have on the...
The purpose of this dissertation is to ascertain if there is a significant difference in the counselor rating of the bond component of the Working Alliance between Theist clients and their counselors and Atheist/Agnostic clients and their counselors. Measures of client religiosity, Working Alliance, and Treatment Arm from the Project...
The purpose of this study was to better understand the relationship between selected academic factors and the persistence of GED recipients in community colleges in the state of Oregon. With this purpose in mind, the study addressed the following research question: Is there a relationship between selected academic variables and...
The purpose of this study was to learn about the experiences of Generation 1.5 Hispanics in developmental English in community college. A qualitative comparative case study design was used for this social critical study. The key findings fell into three categories: road blocks, motivators, and actions. The road blocks included:...
This study examined the relationships between business, education, and the economy, and specifically addressed the significant impact that business has had on education and educational policy. A large amount of research exists on the history of school reform and the development of educational policy, but none of the research examined...
The purpose of this phenomenological study is to describe how Oregon governors
Barbara Roberts and John Kitzhaber, whose tenures both coincided with the passage
and implementation of property tax limitation measures, determined the community
college budgets within their recommended state budgets. The stories of Robert’s 1993
and Kitzhaber’s 2001 decisions...
The purpose of this ethnographic study was to explore White, female teachers’ attitudes and perspectives towards their African American students, the Black/White Achievement Gap, and their teaching practice in regards to their students’ achievement, through the use of focus group discussions. The target group for this study was White, female...
This study examines the relationship between organizational absorptive
capacity and organizational responsiveness to changes in their environment exhibited
by growth-oriented SMEs in Russia. Adopting the theoretical framework and
methodology used by Liao, Welsch and Stoica in their 2003 study of the absorptive
capacity and organizational responsiveness of U.S. growth-oriented SMEs,...
This research study focused on the ways that reading poetry in print differs from viewing poetry in performance and the effect this had on comprehension and appreciation. Videotaped poetry readings provided students with opportunities to experience poetry in performance. Because very little had been researched in this area, a grounded...
With the rapid development of technology, online learning is increasing
significantly and becoming a popular method of education for many universities and
colleges around the world. Because of computers and the internet, most online
learning today is interactive, and sometimes more interactive than the traditional
classroom. Students can interact on...
This research examines two questions: 1) What stories do Christian teacher educators tell about their own White racial identity development? and 2) Is there an impact of studying White racial identity development on the praxis of Christian teacher educators? If so, in what ways? The researcher began the project with...
The purpose of this study is to explore through their own stories and journeys (storjourns), how lesbian leaders influence and transform dominant community college culture. Five lesbian leaders participated who held the position of Director, Associate Dean, Dean, Executive Vice President, and President/Executive Dean. This microethnographical inquiry divulges and makes...
The purpose of this study was to discern the nature of legislators' perceptions about community colleges' abilities to generate revenues through alternative funding sources and the resultant effects on state allocations to these colleges. Selected community college-related staff members and legislative staff members in Idaho and Oregon were asked to...