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The role of references to the literature in a scholarly publication is conceived principally in terms of its foundational role in establishing the need for a study and framing its contribution. This methodological inquiry used content analysis to examine how authors of mixed methods exemplars deployed references to the literature in the discussion section of their manuscripts. These authors also deployed references to literature in the discussion section to support statements about the implications and significance of the research or to explain unexpected findings. Immersion in a broad range of relevant literature may be particularly important in mixed methods research where a strong emergent strand often introduces heightens awareness that a phenomenon is more complex than initially conceived. The role of references to the literature in a scholarly publication is conceived principally in terms of its foundational role in establishing the need for a study and framing its contribution. This methodological inquiry used content analysis to examine how authors of mixed methods exemplars deployed references to the literature in the discussion section of their manuscripts. These authors also deployed references to literature in the discussion section to support statements about the implications and significance of the research or to explain unexpected findings. Immersion in a broad range of relevant literature may be particularly important in mixed methods research where a strong emergent strand often introduces heightens awareness that a phenomenon is more complex than initially conceived.

Presentation Overview- Assess change in perceptions of climate between 2005 and 2008 surveys for tenured and tenure-track faculty- Identify areas of significant difference between groups (gender, tenure status, race/ethnicity)- Examine the relationship between departmental climate and other important aspects of faculty life Dr. Elizabeth Creamer, Director of Assessment, AdvanceVT Leigh Harrell, AdvanceVT Graduate Fellow, Statistics Instructor

Overview of the Presentation: 1. What is climate? 2. How is climate measured? 3. What are key indicators of climate change? 4. What have we learned from ADVANCE? about improving departmental climate? 5. What role do department heads play in climate change?

There has been increased attention given to the status of ethnic minority faculty members in American higher education over the past few decades. While minority faculty continue to increase their presence in the professoriate, they represent approximately 15% of full-time faculty members in American colleges and universities. Of this figure, 6.6% are Asian American, 3.2% are Hispanic, and 5.3% represent Black faculty members (Cook & Cordova, 2006; Chronicle of Higher Education, 2006). Because ethnic minorities are underrepresented in the academy, work life issues, including quality of life, impacting this population have become a national issue (Holcomb-McCoy & Addison-Bradley, 2005; Tack & Patitu, 1992). Perceptions about the work environment have been linked to overall satisfaction with work. For example, factors such as non-supportive colleagues, unwelcoming institutional and departmental climates, and departments lacking diversity contribute to an individual’s perception of the work place being collegial (Cooper, Ortiz, Benham, & Scher, 2002; Tack & Patitu, 1992). Such factors (among others) have been found to be directly related to predicting satisfaction with work environments for faculty members regardless of ethnicity (Saddler & Creamer, 2006).This report examines factors associated with the satisfaction of ethnic minority faculty members at Virginia Tech. Data from the 2005 AdvanceVT Work-Life Survey provide insight about ethnic minority faculty members’ perceptions about university and departmental climate at the institution. Most of these data were shared in presentations during spring 2007 to the Task Force on Race and the Institution and the Black Caucus. The report is intended to generate dialogue about items to add to the AdvanceVT Work-Life Survey when it is re-administered in fall 2008.

Environmental educators work to create an environmentally literate citizenry that is willing and able to tackle complex environmental problems such as climate change, potable water availability, and biodiversity loss. Environmental education (EE) research is a robust field that links practice and research, but lacks a comprehensive model connecting practices and outcomes. The goal of this grounded theory systematic review (GT-SR) was to create a model that identifies the context, strategies, outcomes, and core category associated with EE for secondary students in the United States (U.S.). Systematic review methods were used to locate and screen relevant, peer-reviewed research indexed in academic databases. The first search term, "environmental education," identified studies about EE. To narrow results to those focused on secondary education (grades 6–12), twelve search terms related to middle school and high school were used. After limiting the search to studies published between 2011 and 2018 and in English, 1,009 unique citation records were identified. A screening process for relevancy and quality excluded 982 records leaving 27 studies in the initial final sample. Theoretical sampling identified an additional 12 studies through a second database search and ancestry searching. Data from the 39 studies were analyzed through initial, focused, and theoretical coding using the constant comparative method. During initial coding, descriptive and In Vivo codes were used to organize the data into meaningful chunks. Focused and theoretical coding were used to further abstraction and identify categories. "Authenticity" emerged as the core category suggesting that, in order to be effective, EE for secondary students in the U.S. must be viewed as authentic in the eyes of the participants. The coding process informed the development of the Implementation of Authentic Environmental Education Programs (IAEEP) model. Although not designed to be applicable to all contexts, the model will aid EE practitioners in developing and implementing EE programs for secondary students in the U.S. and guide researchers as they evaluate EE programs. The development of the model also supports the use of a GT-SR as an appropriate and useful method for identifying, screening, and analyzing existing research to create a theoretical model. Doctor of Philosophy Environmental educators work to create an environmentally literate citizenry that is willing and able to tackle complex environmental problems such as climate change, lack of potable water, and loss of biodiversity. Environmental education research is a robust field that links practice and research, but lacks a comprehensive model that connects practices with agreed-upon outcomes. This systematic review used a grounded theory approach to create a grounded theory model that identifies the strategies, context, conditions, core category, and outcomes associated with environmental education for secondary students in the United States. Systematic review methods and theoretical sampling were used to locate and screen relevant, peer-reviewed environmental education research. Data from the primary studies were analyzed using initial, focused, and theoretical coding using the constant comparison method. Integration of data from the systematic review and theoretical sampling informed the development of the Implementation of Authentic Environmental Education Programs (IAEEP) model. This model will aid practitioners in developing and implementing environmental education programs for secondary students and guide researchers as they further evaluate environmental education programs.

Sense of community (SoC) positively promotes persistence and graduation rates of college students by helping them to feel cared about by others, accepted as members of the campus community, and that they matter to their peers and other community members (Cheng, 2004; Harris, 2007a; Schlossberg, 1989). The college union is one of the most influential settings in developing SoC (Barrett, 2014; Janisz, 2014; Maxwell, 2016; Smyth, 2016) and improving student persistence (Tierno, 2013). However, scholars and educators lack understanding of the ways in which the physical and organizational environments of college unions contribute to SoC development among students. The purpose of this narrative study (Clandinin, 2013) was to understand the role of the college union in developing SoC among college students. Anchored in a modified version of Strange and Banning's (2015) campus ecology framework, the study explored how physical and organizational environments within a college union influenced the community conditions necessary for supporting the educational purposes of student engagement and learning. To understand the role of the physical and organizational environments of the college union in students' SoC development, this study used photo-elicitation methods and semi-structured interviews with seven participants from one large, public, historically White university with high research activity. Students' stories revealed a College Union Sense of Community (CU-SoC) Actualization Model in which students progressed through developmental stages: feeling overwhelmed initially, connecting with campus sub-communities, building localized community, and deepening connections and strengthening bonds with administrators and peers. By progressing through these stages, students developed a SoC toward the institution. The data also highlighted how the college union's physical and organizational environments advanced the SoC development process by creating a home-like feeling, encouraging and enhancing interactions through design, cultivating lasting memories, and nurturing a student-centered culture. These findings represent a narrative account describing the students' personal experiences in relation to how the college union shaped their SoC. Ph. D.

There is national attention and concern from industry leaders, educators and politicians that the United States will not be able to maintain its competitive edge due to the lack of students prepared for careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) (Hurtado et al., 2008; Kuenzi et al., 2006; Kuenzi, 2008; Laursen et al., 2010). Student-faculty research, such as is done during an undergraduate research experience (URE), has been shown to be a high impact activity leading to greater student interest in STEM careers. A closer look is needed to get an idea of what types of experiences during UREs impact a student’s interest in persisting into a STEM field career and to understand what are the key mechanisms of the experience that make it meaningful. The findings in this study add to the literature by exploring participants views of the undergraduate research experience at non-doctoral-granting universities and by supporting the idea that UREs can be effective in these settings as well. Further, this study puts forward a theoretical explanation about how and why UREs promote a student’s interest in persisting to a STEM field career. The purpose of this qualitative study using critical incidents was to identify experiences during a URE that students perceived to encourage or deter their interest in pursuing a STEM field career following graduation and to identify causal mechanisms for why these experiences made a difference in their interest. This study was designed to use a qualitative approach consisting of individual interviews and a focus group with a total of 31 participants from three institutions to identify and come to a more complex, multi-layered understanding of the undergraduate research experience. A card sorting technique where participants assigned each card to the encouraged an interest, deterred an interest, neither encouraged nor deterred an interest, or did not experience category was used initially to generate a conversation about what individual experiences that students perceive encourage or deter them from pursuing a STEM field career following graduation. Follow-up interview questions guided the participant in explaining the incident and how and why it impacted their interest in a STEM field career following graduation. Findings of the study indicate that all participants began their URE with an interest in science. No one set of critical incidents was identified to encourage or deter an interest as the same incident could have positive and negative outcomes. Because of the initial strong interest in science, incidents identified in the literature as deterring an interest in STEM often served to help participants refine the field or topic in STEM they wanted to pursue rather than causing them to leave STEM altogether. The individual critical incidents during the URE in totality, not individually, had an impact on participants’ interest in pursuing a STEM field career. It is a combination of multiple experiences or events that help students gain a greater sense of self and to refine career and research opportunities. The main contribution of this study is a theoretical model of the mechanisms by which a variety of incidents during a URE can impact an interest in STEM. This model identifies underlying causal mechanisms on how UREs can promote an interest in STEM. The model is similar to a grounded theory model in that it highlights student characteristics, contextual factors, mechanisms, and outcomes that help to refine STEM field career interest. The URE incidents in totality provide mechanisms resulting in outcomes that refine a career interest in STEM. As all participants were still involved in their URE, this study is limited in that we do not know with any certainty if the participants will enter a STEM field career. Future research designed with a longitudinal time frame could follow participants throughout the URE then into their career thus allowing greater understanding as to why some students may choose to leave the STEM pipeline. In-depth case studies would allow for testing of the conceptual model to identify turning points in an interest in a STEM field career and how interests in a STEM field career are refined. Further, case studies would allow researchers to compare the conceptual model in different settings. The goals of UREs can be advanced in settings where there is a central organizing office on campus that makes visible that the institution values research and STEM and creates opportunities where students can to connect to a wider community of researchers. Faculty mentors guiding UREs can advance a commitment to pursue science by continually articulating the importance and wider social significance of the research. Further, faculty mentors play an invaluable role by providing information about the range of opportunities to pursue research, connect students with other research, and encourage URE student attendance at professional conferences in order to begin identification with a wider community of like-minded individuals. Ph. D. Educators, industry leaders and politicians are concerned about the lack of students prepared for STEM field careers and the United States being able to maintain its competitive edge globally. One opportunity to prepare students for STEM field careers is through student-faculty research, such as is done during an undergraduate research experience (URE). This study was designed to identify and understand critical incidents in undergraduate research experiences that students perceive to encourage or deter their interest in pursuing a STEM field career following graduation and to identify why these experiences made a difference in their interest. An incident sorting process was used to identify individual experiences that students perceive encourage or deter them from pursuing a STEM field career following graduation. Participant interviews and a focus group were conducted to understand how and why the identified experiences had a bearing on the student deciding to pursue a STEM field career following graduation. Findings of the study indicate that incidents during the URE combined, not individually, had an impact on participants’ interest in pursuing a STEM field career.

Academic freedom is a much-discussed topic in the literature. However, little empirical research has been performed that describes the faculty perceptions of academic freedom at Christian colleges and universities, a unique segment of institutions within US higher education. Specifically, little recent research has shown how faculty members at Christian colleges and universities define academic freedom, how they describe experiences where they encountered issues of academic freedom, and how they navigate the interaction between academic freedom and institutional religious doctrines (as found in official statements of faith). The purpose of this study was to describe and analyze how faculty members at Christian colleges and university perceive academic freedom. For this qualitative study, I employed the Critical Incident Technique (Flanagan, 1954) to collect data from full-time faculty members of Christian institutions. I present the findings discovered through this study, discuss their ramifications, offer recommendations, and draw conclusions. Ph. D.

Extending far beyond migration to a new home, the cultural, emotional, and mental plight of immigration plagues immigrants and refugees of all ages. Nonetheless, immigrant youth are commonly overlooked in acculturation studies. This mixed methods approach to arts-informed research examined the acculturation strategies adopted by immigrant and refugee youth attending community-based programs. Through the use of participant drawings, the think-aloud technique, and the Acculturation, Habits, and Interests Multicultural Scale for Adolescents (AHIMSA) instrument, this research also examines the ways in which immigrant and refugee participants communicate their cultural paradigms. The findings emerging from this study illustrate that immigrant and refugee youth cope with cultural transitions through varied approaches that integrate expressions of individuality and cultural behaviors. By exploring six key findings, this study contributes to literature examining acculturation in youth populations as it provides an analysis of cultural transition that expands beyond traditional examinations of cultural behaviors, and highlights the importance of expressing individuality, values, and interests, in the acculturation process of immigrant youth. Ph. D.

This study examined the process of design for general classroom facilities in American four-year public higher education institutions. Combining grounded theory, case study methods, visual methods, and portions of the Authentic, Action-Oriented, Framing for Environmental Shifts Method (Watt, 2015), I was able to address the four research questions posed in this study. I conducted interviews with participants involved in specific general classroom facilities design/construction while asking participants to co-create a diagram of the steps of the process. The data collected from this process produced the Train Model of Design for General Classroom Facilities. The process begins with the specifics of the institution or college and its chosen direction. The conditions specific to the institution act as a departing station for the process. The conditions specific to the wider context function as the rails on which the train moves. The rails are held together by crossties consisting of the constant collaboration of the triumvirate and stakeholders. A triumvirate consisting of the project manager, the construction manager, and the representative from the academic department move the project through each phase of the design process. These decision-makers functions as the conductor of the train, driving the process while feeding it two distinct types of fuel: budget and time. The triumvirate must continuously monitor the fuel supply to reach the end of the process. In addition, the triumvirate continuously monitors the passengers, to incorporate their feedback into the trip. The stages of the process function similarly to boarding and disembarking on a train. In Stage 1 you prepare to leave the station. You make a case for what travels on the train with you and what gets left at home. You also determine the fuel needs of the train by setting the project budget and schedule. Stage 2, or Making the Space, consists of the travel to the final destination, carrying along those well-laid plans from Stage 1. The triumvirate drives the train while carefully monitoring the fuel levels. You can make a few minor adjustments once you have left the stations, based on feedback from the passengers, but drastically altering the plans is not a viable option. The type of train you drive represents the different ways in which the process can play out at specific campuses. A passenger train works differently compared to a freight train. The number and sequence of steps in the process of design will vary depending on the type of project you are undertaking (new construction vs. renovation), the available state procedures, and the timing of your procurement of a construction management firm (i.e. the different types of trains you can take). The final destination of the train is the completed general classroom facility. Ph. D.

As evidenced by a large body of research within the engineering education community, those individuals who do not maintain a sense of belonging, identify with engineering groups, or perceive themselves as engineers are more likely to leave the profession. However, little is known about the ways in which engineering students construct or develop their personal and professional identities as influenced by the disciplinary values, behaviors, and practices learned during the undergraduate education experience. In order to deepen the understanding of professional identity formation within the engineering disciplines, a grounded theory study was conducted to explore the experiences of 31 sophomore, junior, and senior level undergraduate students enrolled in a civil engineering program. Upon conducting an iterative process of data collection and analysis, a theory of professional identity negotiation emerged from interviews depicting participants' experiences. This theory titled Negotiating Equilibrium: Advancing from Outsider to Insider or the AOI Model, captures the identities negotiated by students as they iteratively define, adjust, and readjust definitions of self and profession to maintain a balance between their personal self and the learned disciplinary identity of the civil engineering profession. As participants gained this balance, they began to see themselves as professionals and advance from an outsider (i.e., one not belonging to the civil engineering profession) to an insider (i.e., one belonging to the civil engineering profession). The AOI Model provides a framework for researchers to further explore professional identity formation, promotes the development of identity-influencing coursework and instructor teaching approaches, and inspires future research trajectories in engineering and civil engineering education. Ph. D.