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Prospective Students
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Faculty and Staff
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Current Students
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Alumni and Friends
This study used an in-depth qualitative multi-interview approach to explore the lived experience of associate in applied science (AAS) students at a community college in North Carolina. The purpose of this study was to explore the aspirations of community college students enrolled in career-focused AAS programs to understand their stated goals, the social forces that influence them, and how that data might serve as implications for measuring institutional outcomes using an approach informed by Seidman (2019). After completing a series of interviews with each participant, all data were transcribed and synthesized using a six-phase thematic analysis approach (Braun & Clarke, 2006, 2012). This research features four themes that emerged across their responses. The generated themes highlighted how social interactions, socioeconomic conditions, and labor market requirements affected students' aspirations. The findings provide insight into where students stated goals may or may not involve earning a credential and instances when their goals align or not with existing performance funding outcome metrics. Labor market requirements played a substantial role in whether students desired to earn a credential. Participants were highly motivated to use community college education to explore possible careers and establish social networks. Three conclusions were reached: (1) labor market demands highly influence AAS student aspirations; (2) aspirations fluctuated based on whether students saw AAS training as an apex or stepping-stone; (3) students possessed personalized layered goals that partially aligned with performance funding and outcome metrics.
ABSTRACT
TITUS L. HOPPER. Motivational Factors Affecting Black Male Principals in Rural North Carolina. (Under the direction of DR. REBECCA SHORE)
Many Black educators and principals led the nation’s schools in the early-to-mid-1900’s, when American public education was racially segregated. Black male principals leading predominantly Black schools was commonplace before the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education that ruled that the practice of separate was no longer equal. The number of Black male principals serving in North Carolina schools today is disproportionately low. Research on rural schools is scant and there is even less research about Black male principals leading these schools. This study focused on the motivational factors affecting Black male principals working in rural North Carolina school districts. The purpose of this basic, interpretive qualitative case-study was to explore the lived experiences of these principals. As part of this exploration, the researcher examined factors that motivated Black male principals to work in rural North Carolina counties. All five participants in the study expressed that they embraced their profession and work as a major component of their identity; four were native to their rural communities. They believed they had a moral obligation to serve as a mirror, a window, and an advocate for rural North Carolina students and prove that Black male principals were educational leaders and more than disciplinarians. Job dissatisfaction factors included the low expectations and deficit perceptions of schools and students from rural counties in North Carolina, as well as the inequitable distribution and access to human capital and resources. The researcher’s hope is that insight gained from this investigation would positively impact recruiting, mentoring, coaching of Black male principals, and aid in their retention not only in rural districts, but potentially all districts.
The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the perceptions surrounding equity and access for seven Black male teachers in a North Carolina secondary public school district. The research focused on two components of the secondary public school setting experienced by the seven participants: social context and instructional leadership. For purposes of this study, the researcher defined social context as workplace interactions between participants and their administrators and teacher colleagues. Instructional leadership roles were defined and excluded athletic director, coach, dean of students and administrator in this study. Seven of the seven participants possessed overall feelings of acceptance by administrators and colleagues. However, six of the seven participants believed that administrators expected them to manage primarily Black male student behaviors. Also, three of the seven participants neither felt heard nor felt that their cultural identity was valued in the workplace. Organizational barriers challenged Black male teachers’ preparedness for instructional leadership, and some experienced obstacles accessing instructional leadership opportunities and as instructional leaders. This study concluded with recommendations for future research as well as potential ways to address equity and access issues presented. One recommendation included restructuring of the assignment of Black male teachers as mentors to Black male students to include a criteria-based selection process from a more racially diverse teacher pool. Whereas six of the seven participants became teachers through the alternative licensure pathway, a recommendation was also presented to address the inconsistent beginning teacher support for teachers entering the profession through the alternative licensure pathway.
Students experience many stressors that impact their academic achievement and overall well-being. Therefore, schools must explore methods to help students address stressors and to focus on academic learning. In the age of school accountability for academic growth and stagnant or shrinking budgets, schools must explore options that are fiscally possible and have a limited impact on school schedule. Mindfulness is a practice that claims to help students focus in on the learning environment at school in cost-effective and manageable ways.
The purpose of this quantitative study was to analyze the impact of participation in Inner Explorer, an audio-guided, online, mindfulness-based intervention on the academic growth of students. Specifically, the researcher aimed to examine the impact of Inner Explorer on elementary school students in traditional classrooms and to also analyze the impact on students with disabilities. The study consisted of 378 students in second through fifth grades across two schools. A split-plot analysis of variance was used to gauge the impact of Inner Explorer on academic growth for all students and to focus on students with disabilities. Findings suggest that student participation in the Inner Explorer program did not have a significant impact on academic growth. In addition, students with disabilities did not gain academically because of participation in the Inner Explorer program. While previous research suggested a positive relationship between mindfulness and students’ well-being, results of this study did not demonstrate a large-scale impact on academic growth. However, there were aspects within the data that can be attributed to participation in the Inner Explorer program. Further analysis of the impact of mindfulness on academic performance would require a more in-depth research approach spanning a longer timespan than that used in this study. In addition, the concept would best be researched using a larger sample to explore the impact on sub-groups of student populations.
Resident CNS cells, such as astrocytes and microglia, are known to produce critical immune mediators following CNS infection due to the recognition of pathogen and damage-associated molecular patterns by specialized pattern recognition receptors (PRRs). Recently, multiple intracellular PRRs, including cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS), interferon gamma-inducible 16 (IFI16), absent in melanoma 2 (AIM2), and Z-DNA binding protein 1 (ZBP1), have been identified as cytosolic DNA sensors and play critical roles in glial immune responses to infectious agents. Intriguingly, some nucleic acid sensors have recently been shown to recognize endogenous DNA resulting from DNA damage and subsequently trigger immune responses in peripheral cell types, however, in the CNS, our understanding of these responses are limited. In this dissertation, we describe the functionality of the DNA sensors ZBP1, with regards to herpes simplex virus type-1 (HSV-1) infection in murine astrocytes and microglia, and cGAS with regards to DNA damage in human microglia.
As schools adapt curriculum and learning environments to better prepare students for entry into an increasingly globalized society, cultivating intercultural competencies in K-12 in-service educators is of heightened importance. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a new instrument designed to assess these competencies called the Intercultural Competency Measure for Educators (ICME). Byram (1997) defines intercultural competencies as the ability to effectively communicate, understand, and work with people from diverse cultural backgrounds. Deardorff (2006) adds to this a call for action, which lends itself to the critical cosmopolitanism framework that guides this study. A pilot study was used to develop a four-factor theoretical intercultural competencies framework through a process defined in this study. Reliability and validity were examined using data collected from K-12 in-service educators at schools in the United States and Canada. An Exploratory Factor Analysis suggested a revision of the constructs to include five factors: Curriculum, Diverse Student Inclusion, Cross-Cultural Openness, Collaboration and Adaptation, and Systematic Awareness. Construct validity was tested using Confirmatory Factor Analysis and supported by examining demographic data using parametric tests. The emergence of a factor related to systematic awareness highlights teachers' increased role in addressing the root causes of inequity in schools. The five-factor model provides a framework for schools wishing to further develop and assess intercultural competencies growth in teachers.
This study represents North Carolina community college student experience with food insecurity. Two-year students have a wide variety of challenges as they make their way to finishing a credential. One such challenge, hunger, has always been a component; awareness and discourse have not. The purpose of the research is to understand the narratives of students experiencing hunger by using a qualitative, semi-structured, brief biographic narrative approach to understand the lived experiences of community college students facing hunger. Using a qualitative interview-based approach, 15 North Carolina community college students were interviewed to know how they manage hunger while working, studying, parenting, and succeeding in school. Several seminal theories such as Bronfenbrenner (1981a), Engle and Tinto, (2008); Tinto (1989); Tinto (2017), in combination with Chickering, 1969; Chickering and Reisser, (1993); Maslow (1943); and Erikson (1963) were used in this study to provide foundations for this research. The findings suggest that community colleges need to implement programs such as basic needs assessments, additional support services, and policies drawing upon student experience with hunger. What also emerged were stories of life-long extreme hardships for the participants. These students tell the tale of their struggles, sacrifices, and tenacity to better their lives through education.
It is estimated that close to 90% of outages in the electric power grid originate in the distribution system. Although the use of advanced metering infrastructure has increased situational awareness in the distribution system, current approaches to outage management are often reactive and do not fully leverage insights from outage prediction models for the service restoration process. Hence, this work aims to provide a holistic strategy for combining outage prediction and service restoration in the outage management process. First, a detailed analysis of an outage dataset is conducted in order to gain insights into the frequency and duration of outages in a distribution system. Two machine learning techniques, random forest and gradient boosting, are used to rank outage features, including outage causes, climate descriptions, and failed equipment, to determine which outage features have the greatest impact on average outage duration in a distribution system. Following that, this dissertation proposes a proactive topology optimization and service restoration framework that leverages forecasts from outage prediction models to mitigate the impacts of predicted outages in the distribution system. The proposed framework is formulated as a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) problem with the objectives of minimizing the load lost prior to the outage and maximizing the restorable load when the outage occurs at the predicted locations. The MILP model was simulated using the Python Optimization Modeling Objects (Pyomo) package, an open-source tool, and solved using the CPLEX solver. Using modified versions of the IEEE 13-node and 123-node test feeders, the framework considers three optimization cases: single outage, multiple outage, and weighted multiple outage. In addition, a sensitivity analysis based on the weighted multiple outage case is presented in order to determine the optimal topology to operate in given a range of probabilities for the possible outage locations in the distribution system. Furthermore, the MILP model used in this work is validated by comparing its power flow results with those obtained from OpenDSS, an open-source simulation tool for electric power distribution systems. The results show that the MILP model provides a reasonable approximation of the nonlinear power flow model. Overall, this dissertation provides a method for improving situational awareness within the distribution system. Using the proposed approach, distribution system operators can determine what topology to operate in ahead of predicted outages, thereby reducing the loads left out of service.
Students struggle with mental health needs. Student support staff are, within the school, regularly the first employees to encounter and respond to the students’ specific mental health needs. It is not uncommon for students’ mental health needs to be professionally undiagnosed and professionally unsupported. Barriers to professional treatment are plentiful and when students lack support for their mental health needs, academic and social issues are exacerbated. For these and other reasons, schools struggle to respond to students’ mental health needs. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand the lived experiences of student support staff (school counselors, school social workers, and school nurses) who work in small magnet high schools as they work to support students with mental health needs. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven student support staff from three different small magnet high schools within a public school district in North Carolina. After coding the transcribed interviews, four themes emerged from the data: 1) Magnet school student support staff are not professional therapists. 2) Magnet school student support staff struggle to perform their duties/roles. 3) Academic rigors and expectations in magnet high schools contribute to students' mental health needs. 4) Barriers to students abound and some are unique to the magnet school experience. Utilization of existing support structures such as Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) and/or 504 Plans and the Multi-tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) framework is recommended in conjunction with research-based mental health support programs to assist student support staff and schools in supporting students’ mental health needs.
Firms must continually adapt themselves to survive and outperform competition during rapidly changing environments, both predictable and unpredictable. The dynamic capabilities theory provides a framework for firms to renew and adapt their organizational competencies and capabilities to achieve congruence with the changing market environment. Research has shown that this leads to sustained competitive advantage and superior firm performance. However, resilience during a disruptive event requires the firms to intentionally deviate from their patterned capability-building strategies to respond differentially to turn a challenging environment into a growth opportunity. There is a gap in the literature to empirically examine this resilience phenomenon and the extent to which dynamic capabilities gained during typical business environments assist in achieving resilience during disruption. In addition, the role of digital maturity in leveraging technology for transforming the business and social capital gained through extracting value from business ties needs to be better understood. This study empirically investigates these gaps by integrating dynamic capabilities and organizational resilience theories. The data was collected through a quantitative survey from senior executives of established, mid-to-large firms within the United States, and the results provide theoretical and practical contributions.
