Financial literacy is an area of knowledge with which many Americans struggle. For students transitioning from a free public K-12 system to a pay-to-attend system in higher education, understanding the actual cost of college becomes vital so they can persist to graduation. This study focused on low-income, campus-housed first-year students in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence at Arizona State University. Incoming students were provided with early college financial coaching during the summer prior to their fall semester to investigate how the program might affect participants’ college cost financial literacy, the level of outstanding balances, and intent to register for the spring semester post-intervention. The students participated in Smart Start, an early college cost financial coaching program. The program included three one-on-one coaching sessions encompassing an in-depth overview of mandatory and flexible college costs, setting and updating a college budget, and constructing financial SMART goals. In this mixed methods study, participants took a pre-and post-survey and participated in a culminating interview. The study results demonstrated an improvement in college cost financial literacy, inconclusive results regarding participant balances owed to the university at the beginning of the fall, and no immediate impact on how students describe their intent to persist.

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to explore how students experience the New Student Orientation Experience (NSOE) and how they perceived it prepared them for their 1st semester of college at a large public university in the United States, Arizona State University (ASU). Institutions of higher education are under pressure to operate more efficiently, reduce costs, and achieve higher student performance outcomes. Student retention models provided the framework for this study as orientation programs have long been considered an impactful component of first-year programs. This study aimed to learn more about student experiences, the value of their experiences, and their preparation for ASU based on attendance. Data were collected from surveys completed following participating in each of the three modules in the NSOE: (a) ASU Essentials, (b) Academic Orientation Session, and (c) ASU Ready. Over 3,000 students responded to survey questions. Though accelerated by the COVID-19 global pandemic, the concept of leveraging technology to deliver orientation to supplant in-person programs is still an emerging approach. This study added to the limited body of literature exploring the experience of in-person students going through an online orientation and can be replicated at any 2- or 4-year institutions. When student participation in online orientation results in outcomes that are commensurate with traditional in-person orientation models, universities will have a viable strategy to deliver a key component of the first year transition programming at scale.

For decades, racial campus environments, campus climate, and sense of belonging research have discovered that Black, Indigenous, and people of color students experience inequitable and racist college experiences. These experiences impact college student outcomes such as retention, persistence to graduation, and post-college career opportunities. Researchers have recently explored these theoretical concepts based on students’ experiences in their academic disciplines. However, there is a lack of research within design and the arts (including, but not limited to, dance, design, digital culture, film, fine arts, music, and theatre). This research examined whether race-based differences in the sense of belonging between White and BIPOC students exist and how BIPOC students uniquely experience a sense of belonging. The culturally engaging campus environments model and its indicators of cultural relevance and cultural responsiveness, and sense of belonging provide the theoretical framework. Mixed methods of inquiry using surveys, focus groups, and photo-voice, a participatory action research method, shed light on this budding area of research. After examining the differences between BIPOC and White students and how BIPOC students uniquely experience culturally engaging campus environments, and a sense of belonging, this research determines that most BIPOC students experience lower cultural relevance, cultural responsiveness, and sense of belonging compared to their White peers. This study also found unique ways a design and the arts education can positively or negatively impact the campus environment and sense of belonging for BIPOC students. Adverse impacts on BIPOC students' cultural relevance, cultural responsiveness, and sense of belonging include a lack of people-based diversity in design and the arts, racial diversity within the curriculum, visible equity reforms, and faculty and staff hindering their experience. Conversely, student community and supportive faculty and staff increased these components.

As an administrator, it is essential to understand the varying theoretical perspectives and frameworks surrounding leadership and organizational development that support employee and student success. After conducting the first two cycles of action research, it was confirmed that there was a need for an intentional focus on the employees’ experience and their professional development. This focus led to administering a distance mentoring program for higher education administrators. The distance mentoring program was a mixed-methods action research project that ran a total of eight weeks with an orientation, mentoring sessions and individual activities during the first five weeks, and individual interviews three weeks following the intervention. There were eight participants in the study who were paired into four groups of two in order to foster a mentoring relationship using the “other” mentoring model. The purpose of the study was to determine the effectiveness of the distance mentoring program with respect to increasing educational outcomes, innovation, job satisfaction, productivity, and strategic action planning for higher education professionals. The distance mentoring program was successful in generating innovative thoughts relevant to the participant’s workplace challenge, increasing job satisfaction, stimulating better solutions for strategic action planning, and creating in a positive impact on the mentoring relationship. Results surrounding productivity were mixed and inconclusive. The implementation of the distance mentoring program was designed to initiate dialogue, brainstorming, planning, and supportive measures by each participant and delivered the social and strategic elements necessary to achieve a more positive, productive, and successful work environment.

The function and purpose of higher education has changed over the last decade. COVID-19 exacerbated that change, but well before Coronavirus exploded on the world stage, standard operations at most colleges and universities were in flux. In 2013, a New York Times article predicted many colleges and universities would shutter their doors or merge with another institution. A new paradigm for post-secondary education is emerging akin to what American community colleges have been doing since their inception; they work closely with industry and the community in which they are situated to ensure they teach skills students need to receive a living wage job upon graduation. Change and disruption have engendered problems at times tantamount to chaos in the higher education space. To make meaningful modifications in higher education, the chaos of change should be harnessed to devise a better system, as transformative chaos works its power to create a more cohesive model. Moreover, if change is not managed with expertise, it has the potential to run amok, leaving organizations in ruins. The purpose of this study was to examine how a nine-week workshop based in mindfulness and gentle movement affected College of Eastern Idaho staff members’ ability to manage constant change to see if it might augment their coping, competence, self-efficacy, resiliency and reframe the chaos of change to opportunity for their careers, their department, and the college. Mixed methods of inquiry were utilized; data sources included two pre- and post-intervention staff surveys, a focus group interview with four participants, participant journals they kept throughout the nine-weeks, and the researcher’s field notes from individual one-on-one check-ins with participants. This study demonstrated that staff members at College of Eastern Idaho had difficulty efficaciously performing their jobs because of the constant change and initiative fatigue. The study found that a nine-week Mindfulness from the Mat workshop positively impacted staff members coping, competence, self-efficacy, resiliency, and their attitudes about change. Moreover, the workshop had unexpected benefits of positively impacting participants personal lives, too. The discussion includes implications for future practice and research and potential explanations for the findings.

Student voice has been an inactive component of public education since its conception. Educational practitioners and stakeholders create, define, and uphold federal, state, and local policy centered on growing student educational outcomes. However, most often students are not provided space or opportunities to actively engage with policy or decisions that directly impact their educational experiences. To boost student voice, this action research study explored school participatory budgeting’s impact on student engagement with school decision-making, civic engagement, and leadership development at Arcadia High School. School participatory budgeting (SPB) is an innovative civic learning tool designed for students to learn democracy in action through the process of participating in the student voice committee on campus, developing proposals, and voting to fund improvement projects that build a stronger school community. This study utilized a parallel-results convergent MMAR that involved collecting both qualitative and quantitative data simultaneously, analyzing them separately, and integrating results into study findings. Participants included eight students that were members of the student voice committee. Study participants completed pre- and post-surveys as well as participated in a focus group. The study and intervention were supported by Mitra’s Pyramid of Student Voice and The Social Change Model. Results of the study indicated that school participatory budgeting had a positive impact on students’ engagement with school decision making, civic engagement, and leadership development. Results also revealed that participants were able to lead change for collective student voice, engage civically through real world application, encourage participatory democracy over elite democracy, and increase both communication and collaborative skills. Furthermore, an integration of quantitative and qualitative data was presented, along with connections to the existing research questions and literature. Additional discussion centered on the limitations of the study, implications for practice, future cycles of research, and recommendations for educational practitioners.

Data use in higher education continues to increase as college and university leaders aim to meet accreditor and governmental expectations to use data to improve student outcomes. However, the steady increase in data use over the past decades has not been accompanied by an increase in employee data literacy in order for employees to use the data effectively. Further, inequitable student outcomes continue to persist in higher education, and more specifically at two-year community colleges, as potentially exacerbated by a lack of employee equity-mindedness. These concurrent problems—inadequate employee data literacy and persistent inequitable student outcomes—provide an opportunity to address both with one intervention. In this critical race, mixed-methods, action research study, I piloted an online professional development course, aimed at community college employees with the purpose to build data literacy and equity-mindedness. I used Bandura’s (1989) Social Cognitive Theory as a guiding theoretical framework paired with a quasi-experimental, delayed-start research design to study the effectiveness of the course in building employee data literacy and equity-mindedness, in addition to better understanding the impacts of environmental factors (i.e., organizational culture) on the implementation of the course. Using pre- and post-intervention surveys, pre- and post-intervention knowledge assessments, and post-intervention participant interviews, I determined that the professional development course contributed to improvements in employee data literacy and equity-mindedness. In particular, the course helped increase employee self-efficacy for data use, increased employee knowledge of data use and equity-mindedness, and increased employee intent to use data in the future. I also found that the organization’s culture related to data and equity to be complex and evolving, both hindering and facilitating data use, in general, and data use specifically, to address inequitable student outcomes.

Through the past quarter century, universities and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) have experienced increased participation from student-athletes, along with increasing academic and career advising needs. Student-athletes can find themselves getting lost within scheduling demands of their sport and identifying closer with their athletic identity. Without a universal model to address student-athlete career advising needs, assertions presented the opportunity for more examination into processes and resources provided to NCAA student-athletes. The purpose of this study was to share valuable information for stakeholders involved in the career advising dynamic. The study’s intervention provided the ability to bridge gaps in student-athletes’ athletic and academic careers, establish balance, and provide a foundation to build a successful career during and after-sport. Furthermore, facilitating collaborations between stakeholders provided increased engagement within the career advising process. To further explore outcomes within the study, participant data were analyzed separately and integrated into study findings. Participants included 10 student-athletes and 10 coach/faculty/staff, who completed surveys and post-focus groups. Participants were also provided the opportunity to engage in the intervention through career advising meetings, student-athlete success worksheets, a career advising directory, and the instruments listed. The study had three goals: to understand identified outcomes for student-athletes, to understand how and to what extent new processes and resources assisted them, and to understand perceptions regarding new processes and resources that were made available. The study and intervention were supported by the Self-Efficacy Theory, Self-Worth Theory, Attribution Theory, and Gordon’s 3-I Process. Results of the study indicated that a collaborative and inclusive career advising process for student-athletes promoted successful outcomes for participant groups. Results also revealed that participants were able to expand their support systems, enhance their knowledge/resource development, and build more relationships. Additionally, variations of engagement and understanding by participants within the study expanded on these three emerging themes, which collectively led participants to see the broader purpose encompassing the career advising process. Furthermore, an integration of quantitative and qualitative data was presented, along with connections to the existing literature and research questions. Additional discussion included lessons learned, limitations of the study, implications for practice, and implications for research.

Peer coaching is an emerging approach higher education institutions are using to increase student success outcomes for first-year students. This study examined how peer coaches use their community cultural wealth with the students they coach and how coaching encouraged first-generation students to access the community cultural wealth they bring with them to college. The theoretical framework guiding this study was Yosso’s theory of community cultural wealth. I used a qualitative approach and interviewed five peer coaches and conducted focus groups with 15 first-generation, first-year students who had received coaching. Findings indicate peer coaches used the six dimensions of community cultural wealth with students they coach, including aspirational, familial, linguistic, navigational, resistant, and social capital. Students also reported peer coaching helped them access their community cultural wealth, especially as compared to advising and faculty interactions. Three key differentiators emerged when comparing coaching to other forms of support: relatability, sense of belonging, and self-confidence.

It is widely accepted that mentorship between people of similar backgrounds and slightly different ages is a mutually beneficial partnership (e.g., Angelique, Kyle, & Taylor, 2002; Yomtov, 2017). Mentoring relationships exist in many forms across the education spectrum, from middle school students interacting with their younger peers to the popular “Big-Little system” adopted by fraternity and sorority groups in U.S. colleges and universities, and beyond educational settings throughout the working world. However, one place where mentoring has received relatively less attention, from researchers as well as from practitioners, is in undergraduate student leadership-focused organizations at the college level.