VTechWorks Repository :: Browsing by Author "Ridgwell, Diana M."

Browsing by Author "Ridgwell, Diana M."

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An Exploration of Senior Student Affairs Officers' Career and Life Paths
Stimpson, Racheal Lee (Virginia Tech, 2009-04-02)
The purpose of this study was to explore the career and life paths of male and female Senior Student Affairs Officers (SSAOs). The study used Super’s components of Work Salience and Career maturity to examine gender differences and commonalities of individuals in their climb to a SSAO position. Specifically, the study examined the role of family and personal life and the intersection with career. Employing qualitative methods in the form of semi-structured interviews, this study investigated the following research questions: 1. How do female SSAOs describe their life and career development according to Super’s factors of Work Salience and Career Maturity? 2. How do male SSAOs describe their life and career development according to Super’s factors of Work Salience and Career Maturity? 3. How do male and female SSAOs life and career development experiences compare to one another according to Super’s factors of Work Salience and Career Maturity? The transcripts were analyzed using open and focused coding to find themes present in the data. The coding process was reviewed by a peer as well as a panel of experts to ensure trustworthiness. The findings of the study indicated themes regarding caregiving, work experience, leisure activities, marital status, scheduling, and career planning.
Factors Influencing Undergraduate Women's Educational Aspirations
Davis, Sharrika D. (Virginia Tech, 2009-04-02)
Education is one key to economic prosperity and a predictor of overall life satisfaction. The further one progresses through the educational pipeline, the more likely it is that she may prosper. However, in a society bolstered by patriarchal systems, economic and educational inequalities exist among the genders. Educational aspirations are influenced by students' socialization experiences. Faculty teach students about their discipline. Families influence educational pursuits. Peers serve as reinforcements or challenges to academic progress. All three groups are socialization agents to students pursuing higher education. Research indicates that various socialization agents influence whether students pursue an undergraduate degree. However, there is little literature specifically focused on women and less on the relationship between women's undergraduate socialization experiences and their decision to enroll in graduate studies. The purpose of this study was to determine whether certain collegiate experiences (with family, faculty and peers) predict undergraduate women's expectation to enroll in graduate study and to determine if the experiences influence expectation to enroll by race. The sample included women who completed the College Student Experiences Questionnaire (CSEQ) Fourth edition. The study employed logistic regression to explore the relationship between undergraduate women's educational aspirations and family, faculty and peer influences. In addition, I examined whether the associations between family, faculty and peers differed by race/ethnicity. The results of the logistic regression revealed that academic ability (GPA) and peer experiences influenced advanced degree aspirations. In addition, race/ethnicity does matter, i.e., being of African-American or Latina decent is associated with a higher level of advanced degree aspiration. Also, as frequency of interactions between faculty and African-American women increase — aspiration decreases. These findings suggest that it is important to consider the various factors that influence advanced degree aspiration. This is especially important since advanced degrees can be elemental to economic prosperity.
Fraternal Leadership: Differences in Leadership Practices among Four Governing Greek Councils
DiChiara, Anthony Nicholas (Virginia Tech, 2007-05-01)
The purpose of this study was to examine the leadership practices of students affiliated with fraternities and sororities. In addition, this study explored the differences in leadership practices among members of the four governing councils of the fraternities and sororities present at the host institution. Data were collected by administering the Student Leadership Practices Inventory (SLPI, Kouzes & Posner, 2006) to affiliated members of fraternities and sororities enrolled at a major research institution located in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. This study was designed specifically to address the following research questions: 1. What are the leadership practices, as measured by the SLPI, of affiliated members of the Greek community? 2. What are the leadership practices, as measured by the SLPI, of the affiliated members of IFC chapters? 3. What are the leadership practices, as measured by the SLPI, of the affiliated members of NPC chapters? 4. What are the leadership practices, as measured by the SLPI, of the affiliated members of NPHC chapters? 5. What are the leadership practices, as measured by the SLPI, of the affiliated members of UCFS chapters? 6. What are the differences that exist in leadership practices, as measured by the SLPI, among the four governing councils?
How First-Generation Students Spend Their Time: Clues to Academic and Social Integration
Rudd, Heather Renee (Virginia Tech, 2006-04-19)
This study explored the activities in which first-generation students engage that might promote academic and social integration. Additionally, differences in activities by race were examined. Participants included fifteen Caucasian and fifteen Multicultural first-generation, first-year students. Respondents maintained logs of their daily academic and social activities for a two-week period during their first semester on campus. The logs yielded both quantitative and qualitative data. The results revealed several interesting findings. First, first-generation students engaged in a number of academic behaviors that often contribute to academic integration and success. Although they were not always confident in their abilities as a student, first-generation participants attended most of their classes, completed assignments, participated in class discussions, and visited their professors to seek assistance. Second, although informants seemed to devote more time to academic pursuits, they did take time to enjoy conversations and activities with peers and attend meetings and events on campus. Third, Caucasian and Multicultural first-generation students were nearly equally involved in academic pursuits. However, Caucasian students focused on developing personal relationships with those who support their success, while Multicultural students focused more on results and achievement. Fourth, both Caucasian and Multicultural students found ways to be involved socially on campus, but Caucasian students were more comfortable describing their time spent out of the classroom. In general, the students in this study were not as much at risk as results from prior research on first generation students has suggested they might be. In their first semester, they found ways to participate successfully in the academic and social environments of college.
Online Academic Advising: Student Needs and their Satisfaction
Shank, Jason Edward (Virginia Tech, 2006-04-19)
The purpose of this study was to examine the type of advising conducted (prescriptive v. developmental), the type of information sought, and the level of participant satisfaction gained through online academic advising. For purposes of this study, online academic advice was defined as advice or information provided by an academic department obtained via the Internet to improve the student's academic experience. The three types of online academic advice considered for this study included (a) email correspondence with an academic advisor, (b) instant messaging or chat based conversation between a participant and an academic advisor, (c) and obtaining academic information from a department supported web page. To obtain a sample for this study, academic deans were contacted by email and asked to distribute a link for an online survey to their respective undergraduate student populations. Data was collected by administering a version of Winston and Sandor's (1984) Academic Advising Inventory (AAI) modified specifically for this study. Participants were asked to complete the multiple-choice instrument online. The researcher conducted t-tests, ANOVAs, and Tukey post-hoc tests on the data in an effort to examine the mean scores between four groups: (a) gender, (b) type of residency, (c) race, and (d) academic college. The data revealed significant results pertaining to several key differences between groups including gender, race, and academic college. The findings shed light on needs and satisfaction of students who receive academic advice online. The results suggest ways to provide consistency among the online academic advising methods of different academic colleges and ways to better meet the needs of students in an effort to increase retention.
Perceived Impact of Institutional Culture on Advanced Degree Aspirations of Students Attending Two Southern Women's Colleges
Ridgwell, Diana M. (Virginia Tech, 2002-07-22)
Women's college culture has been found to have qualities that promote the success of the women who graduate from these institutions. This research sought to identify aspects of women's college culture that students perceive as having impacted their aspirations for an advanced degree. Fifty-eight women at two southern women's colleges were interviewed. The participants were members of each college's senior class and had spent their entire undergraduate years at the same institution. After an email solicitation was sent to all members of the senior class, participants were accepted until there were eight women in each of the three categories. These three categories; Keepers, Droppers, and Aspirers; were developed in order to study participant perceptions by whether they maintained or dropped their previous educational aspirations or had developed new aspirations for an advanced degree while attending a women's college. The interviews were completed over a two-month period with each interview lasting from 45 to 60 minutes. Participants were asked about the importance of aspects of women's college culture on their aspirations for an advanced degree as well as other factors that they perceived as having influenced their decision whether or not to pursue an advanced degree. The majority of the White women in this study confirmed the positive impacts of women's college culture including high academic expectations, a mission and history that supports women, more female role models, a caring, supportive environment, and an abundance of opportunities for involvement and to learn about oneself. In addition, participants confirmed the importance of peer relationships and romantic relationships on their educational aspirations. Some women, however, perceived these same factors as having a negative impact on their degree aspirations. These negative impacts included the Bubble effect, in which women felt that the women's college experience had sheltered them from the realities of the world outside of their present environment, the Burn-Out effect from over involvement in extra-curricular and academic activities, and confusion over field of study interest due to the many opportunities to learn about oneself offered by a liberal arts curriculum. Other findings indicate that despite the supportive environment of women's colleges, women's college students still perceive romantic relationships as negatively impacting their or their friend's aspirations for an advanced degree. In addition, the need to be taken seriously, whether their families are supportive of further education, and how well informed they are about financial aid issues, all were reported to impact educational aspirations. Unexpectedly, male role models were found to have a positive impact on women's aspirations despite the many female role models at women's colleges.The African American women college students in this study reported their experiences of attending a women's college much differently than did the White women. Although they felt they had received a quality education, the African American women were dissatisfied with the lack of representation of the African American culture at the women's college they attended. They felt the women's college culture had negatively impacted their aspirations for an advanced degree because of the lack of representation of African American culture in the women's college environment. Almost all African American women in this study dropped their previous aspirations for an advanced degree because of the discouraging effect of the overwhelmingly White culture of the colleges they attended.Overall, this study found that college culture was perceived to have a clear positive impact for one group of students, no significant impact for another, and a negative impact for the third group of students. In addition, based on the perceptions of the students and the researcher's limited observations, the two colleges were found to have institutional cultures that differentiate themselves from each other. This finding challenges previous researchers' assumptions that all women's colleges share a single culture.This study adds to previous literature about women's college culture and aspirations for an advanced degree in a number of important ways. Key findings include the identification of negative, as well as positive, impacts of women's college culture for some women, the importance of male role models for women's college students, and the dissatisfaction of the African American women in the study with their experience at a woman's college.
The Relationship Between Wellness and Academic Success in First-year College Students
Ballentine, Howard Monroe (Virginia Tech, 2010-04-20)
Persistence is an important issue in higher education (Tinto, 1987a). Although social and economic benefits of a college education are well documented (Baum & Ma, 2007; Institute for Higher Education Policy, 2004), during the last 100 years the college graduation rate has remained at approximately 50% (Education Policy Institute, 2004). While prior academic achievement has proven to be a successful predictor of success in college (Camara & Echtnernacht, 2000; Sadler, Cohen, & Kockesen, 1997; Tinto, 1993), it does not account for all the variability in student retention. Research has shown that other factors, including social adaptation, physical fitness, and emotional stability can contribute to whether an individual continues to persist past the first year of college (Astin, 1993; McClanahan, 2004; Tinto, 1987b). The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between self-reported wellness and academic success in first-year health science college students. In addition the study sought to determine if the relationship between wellness and academic success differs by gender, academic program, or ethnicity. Also examined was whether the factors of wellness could be used to predict academic success. Wellness was defined using the Myers and Sweeney (2005) conceptual framework, as measured in a series of constructs, including the coping self, creative self, essential self, physical self, social self and an overall wellness score. Academic success was defined as first semester grade point average. The study also controlled for high school grade point average (HSGPA) and scholastic aptitude test score (SAT) as factors of prior academic achievement that may affect academic success in college. The findings suggest that the impact of wellness differs by ethnicity and academic program. In addition, certain factors of wellness can be used to help predict academic success in the first semester of college. Finally, overall wellness had little if any bearing on academic success in first-time, first-year students.
Study Abroad Length of Program Influence on Cross-Cultural Adaptability
Zielinski, Beth Anne Z. (Virginia Tech, 2007-04-24)
The literature available on study abroad addresses reasons students chose to study abroad, outcomes of participation in study abroad, and study abroad program characteristics. However, there is a lack of research linking outcomes of study abroad to program characteristics. The present study will add to the literature by providing information about study abroad program characteristics and their relationship to one possible outcome of study abroad, cross-cultural adaptability. In this study, four factors were used to measure cross-cultural adaptability: (a) emotional resilience, (b) flexibility/openness, (c) perceptual acuity, and (d) personal autonomy. Data were collected using the Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory (CCAI) (Kelley & Meyers, 1995). The target sample for this study was undergraduate college students that have participated in study abroad programs of varying lengths. The findings showed significant differences in all five areas: emotional resilience, flexibility/openness, perceptual acuity, personal autonomy, and total CCAI score. These findings suggest that researchers need to take a further look at study abroad program characteristics and their relationship to beneficial outcomes.
The Transition Experiences of Middle Eastern Graduate Students in the U.S.
Marsh, Fulya Aydinalay (Virginia Tech, 2012-08-06)
The number of international graduate students coming to the U.S. to attend American colleges and universities is growing. In 2010 alone, over 20,000 Middle Eastern Graduate students (MEGS) were studying in U.S. universities (Bhandari & Chow, 2010). The purpose of this phenomenological study was to gain an understanding of how MEGS experienced the transition from their home to the host culture and recommend how to help them with it. The conceptual framework used in this study was a comprehensive transition model incorporating Schlossberg et al.'s 4S Transition Model (1995) with the main ideas from Chickering's Vectors of Adult Development (1969), Furnham and Bochner's Social Skills and Culture Learning Model (1986), Tinto's Theory of Doctoral Persistence (1987), and Taylor's Cultural Learning Model (1994). The following questions guided the research: 1. How do Middle Eastern graduate students describe the academic and social environment in which they find themselves? (situation) 2. How do Middle Eastern graduate students experience the academic and social transition to graduate school in the U.S.? (self) 3. How do Middle Eastern graduate students describe adapting to graduate school in the U.S.? (strategy and support) Answering these questions was accomplished through Seidman's (2006) three in-depth interview approach. The sample consisted of eight MEGS who were enrolled in a U.S. university. The study's findings showed how MEGS described their environments by focusing on the differences, challenges, role changes, and what caused them stress. Specifically, (a) male participants in this study were not educated in a co-ed education system; (b) most participants had been living with their families until moving to the host country; and (c) they were not aware of the importance of social support systems and the social environment. MEGS also experienced feeling proud, overwhelmed, conflicted, homesick, lonely, and finally, changed as a result of this transition. Finally, they described adapting to graduate school by using strategies such as (a) consulting others when faced with challenges, (b) observing then acting when they could not consult; (c) being self-reliant when faced with academic challenges; (d) getting involved socially to experience the host culture; and (e) receiving different support from others.

Browsing by Author "Ridgwell, Diana M."

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