As many colleges and universities continue to increase their enrollment and diversification of their student body, the number of first-generation college students of color will continue to rise. Colleges have been charged with the challenge of not only enrolling this student population but also ensuring that they are connected to the university and persist to graduation. The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to examine the lived experiences of first-generation college students of color at a Predominantly White Institution (PWI). This study utilized individual in-depth interviews and a focus group to examine how first-generation students of color experienced college at a PWI. Four major themes were revealed: a college degree is a means to a better lifestyle; money always matters; a heightened sense of safety concerns exists; and there is a desire for a supportive multicultural campus environment. The findings of this study may aid institutional leaders in understanding the first-generation college student of color experience at a PWI and assist in establishing and maintaining academic and social support programs that are geared towards these students.

Based on the shift in higher education from providing access to improving student outcomes, the purpose of this study was to examine institutional conditions community college students perceived as contributing to success in terms of identifying and making progress toward or achieving their educational goals. Institutional conditions were categorized as the campus environment and institutional agents (faculty, staff, and administrators). The study employed a qualitative and explanatory, multiple-case study at Grace Home College (GHC), a pseudonym. GHC is a multi-campus, nonresidential, limited-access state college in the southeastern United States. Data were collected through review of documents, archival data, artifacts, direct and participant observations, and semi-structured one-on-one interviews. Comparisons were made to identify commonalities and differences between aligned processes at two different sites at GHC. The results revealed similar findings at each location in that students identified three themes that addressed their educational goals including institutional characteristics, environment conducive for learning, and meaningful interactions with institutional agents. These findings led to the creation of a new model denoting the hierarchy of meaningful student interactions with institutional agents, which could be used by other institutions as a replicable or modifiable model to attain student success. The results from this study could contribute to the body of literature noting the importance of meaningful relationships that develop over time between students and institutional agents that lead to students’ success.

This study examined school leaders' self-efficacy in relation to time spent on school instructional leadership and managerial tasks. Descriptive statistics yielded a mean score for leadership self-efficacy of 4.1/5.0. For every unit increase in time spent on instructional tasks, leadership self-efficacy scores increased and for every unit increase in time spent on managerial tasks, leadership self-efficacy decreased. In addition, 7% of school leaders spent more than 50% of their time on instructional tasks and 93% spent less than 50% and 45% of school leaders spent more than 50% of their time on management tasks and 55% spent less than 50%.

Collaboration between academic and student affairs professionals is an important means of increasing student success; however, historical divides between these units have made implementation of these efforts challenging. This quantitative study sought to evaluate the perceptions of faculty and student affairs staff towards collaborative efforts and toward one another within a single campus of a comprehensive regional university within the southeast. Findings show that while both faculty and staff value collaborations and believe they positively impact student success, these units do not experience equitable voice and responsibility within collaborative efforts when conducted. Additionally, differences were found in enjoyment of collaborative efforts and how various traits impacted willingness to collaborate. Significant differences were also found in the perceptions faculty and staff hold toward one another, both in perceptions of the roles and within relational descriptors. Finally, this study identified that interpersonal relationships and perceptions do in fact relate to willingness to collaborate, but do so in differing ways for the two employee classifications. Implications for institutional leadership and recommendations for future research are provided.

An international association advancing the multidisciplinary study of informing systems. Founded in 1998, the Informing Science Institute (ISI) is a global community of academics shaping the future of informing science.

Student teaching is a pivotal event in teacher education preparation programs, and there is a need to investigate emotions in teaching. This study examined how one elementary program navigated the emotional dimensions of teaching. Findings revealed that the emotional dimensions of student teachers were influenced by individualized factors unique to the teacher; certain emotions were perceived as more acceptable to express; and supervisors needed to support student teachers to manage and respond to the emotional dimensions of teaching. The recommendation is to go beyond the technical and academic aspects of teaching and address the emotional dimensions to best prepare the whole teacher.