Browsing by Author "Harbour, Clifford P., advisor"

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Open Access
A biographical study of namesake John F. Tinker on the landmark legal case Tinker et al. v. The Des Moines Independent Community School District et al.
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2008) Wolfe-Dawson, Leigh, author; Harbour, Clifford P., advisor
The purpose of this biographical study was to understand the effect of the case Tinker et al. v. The Des Moines Independent Community School District et al. circa 1965-1969, on namesake John F. Tinker, circa 2008. John Tinker was involved in a landmark 1969 United States Supreme Court decision nearly 40 years ago. He was 15 years old when he wore a black armband to school to protest the Vietnam War; he is 57 now. In legal and educational environments, Tinker is known as a name on a school-related legal decision, but there is a person behind that name. While there is abundant information about his legal case, not much is known about the namesake. This study attempted to understand how Tinker experienced his legal case and how he understands its effect on his life. This study centered on John Tinker's own voice. Through in-depth, open-ended, one-on-one, face-to-face, voice-to-voice, and computer-to-computer conversations, an account of his life using his own words emerged. What was discovered was that Tinker is a multi-faceted person and the Tinker legal case is only one aspect of his full and unique life. This study is important because Tinker is a living being who as a teenager was involved in an activity that culminated in a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court. That legal decision holds today-40 years later-and affects every public school student in the United States.
Open Access
A bricolage of narratives about teaching college in prison: interpreting through a performance text
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2008) Spaulding, Susanna Belle, author; Harbour, Clifford P., advisor
The purpose of this narrative inquiry was to explore and understand how a selected group of educators made meaning of their experiences teaching college courses in prison. This phenomenon was framed by the tension between two contrasting conceptualizations of education: education as a means of social control and education as the practice of freedom. The data were in-depth stories collected from a small number of participants through unstructured interviews. As I identified narrative structures from my interview transcripts for analysis, three transcendent themes emerged that I used to create a coherent composite story, or bricolage, about these lived experiences. Using a feminist lens, I examined how these educators worked in a borderland, negotiated power relations within this environment, and made personal transformations. To convey an impression of these real-life experiences, I presented the data in a performance text leaving intact large segments of my participants' interview dialogue. The prison offered a rich discursive environment for this study since its hierarchical power structure that focuses on social control contrasts with the democratic classroom that the participants attempted to create. Within the stormy, dangerous, and frustrating prison setting, these educators encountered unique situations for which they were often unprepared and were caught between competing conceptualizations of education.
Open Access
African American students' experiences at "Urban Community College"
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2007) Dastmozd, Rassoul, author; Harbour, Clifford P., advisor
This qualitative study investigated the holistic experiences of nine African American students at a predominately White two year comprehensive community college in the Midwest region of the U.S., "Urban Community College (UCC)." Each participant was interviewed twice; a 90-minute semi-structured face-to-face interview followed by a 45-minute follow up interview. The researcher used a phenomenological research method similar to but not the same as Moustakas's (1994) data reduction procedures to analyze the data (Willig, 2001). The analytical process for this study followed the traditional steps of doing a participant within case analysis followed by cross case analysis. The key findings of this study were presented using four salient domains from an inductive data analysis. The expectations and motivations domain described reason(s) that participants identified for attending UCC. The attributes domain explained talents/skills (assets) or enabling qualities or positive influencers and deficits or negative influencers that participants identified as they interfaced with the UCC college community. The interactions and rapport domains described participants' interactions and transactions with the academic and non-academic conditions at UCC. The term rapport defined participants' relationship(s) with the academic and non-academic conditions at UCC. The transformation and self-discovery domain explained how attending UCC or participating in this study changed the participants' lives and the new perspective(s) that they may have gained. The dynamic interplay among four salient domains revealed the essence of participants' shared experiences. The essence of participants' shared experience(s) is their desire for becoming contributing and functioning members of their communities and achieving social stability. The findings were analyzed, interpreted, and presented in relationship to the literature. The participants' experiences and their stories will serve as a beacon for the future African American students enrolling in a two year comprehensive PWI community college. The participants' experiences will not only add to research literature, but their experiences can also provide a two year comprehensive PWI community college learning opportunities about cultural competence and to devise policies, programs, and initiatives that can promote positive experiences for other African American students as well as other minority students as these students pursue their educational journey at these institutions.
Open Access
In their words: life stories of native born, African American women enrolled in an urban community college
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2008) Vasconcellos, Tina, author; Harbour, Clifford P., advisor
This narrative inquiry revealed the life stories of six native born, African American women enrolled in an urban community college. The researcher incorporates her story when describing how she selected her topic of inquiry and why it is important for practitioners and policy makers to hear the voices of African American women learners enrolled in community colleges. The ways of knowing literature (Belenky, et al. 1986; Goldberger, 1996) and literature about African American women learners served as a theoretical backdrop for this inquiry. The researcher employed a culturally sensitive research approach recommended by Tillman (2002) for studies involving African American participants. This method combines critical theory and feminist theory and places the participants' individual and shared cultural knowledge at the center of the inquiry from conception to final write up. An interpretive framework of persistence, transformation, and connection emerged inductively during analysis. The researcher used this framework to offer recommendations for practitioners, policy makers, and researchers. The researcher recommends establishing a professional development program for new faculty promoting connected learning as defined by her participants, developing a re-entry keystone program to support students in working through their issues about learning, implementing a peer mentor program between first and second year students to support continued personal growth in both groups, and increasing funding for research, programs, and services for students with disabilities. The researcher is aware that while her study highlighted life stories, struggles, and successes of African American women learners enrolled in a community college, further research in this area is warranted. The researcher recommends conducting additional qualitative studies to learn more about the experiences and life stories of African American women learners in the community college system. Also recommended are qualitative or mixed methods studies with first semester and last semester students to assess self esteem and personal growth of African American women learners. The researcher believes that this inquiry offers practitioners and policy makers an opportunity to listen to African American women's voices and their recommendations for a connecting learning environment.
Open Access
Metro West Middle College pilot program: an embedded case study
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2008) Huffman, Arlie C., III, author; Harbour, Clifford P., advisor; Kreidenweis, Sonia, advisor
In the early 1970's, a cooperative educational concept known as middle college was started to help underachieving and disenfranchised New York City public school students understand that college is an attainable goal. In 2004, the Career and Technical Education high school in Harris County Public School district, Harris Tech, and Metro West Community College (MWCC), all pseudonyms, joined to create their own middle college focusing on Career and Technical Education students. This pilot project, known as Metro West Middle College (MWMC), operated with the goals of helping students transition between secondary and postsecondary institutions, and increasing the level of collaboration between the two agencies. This research used an embedded case study qualitative methodology to investigate the levels of success of these goals. Three cases were embedded in the overall case study of MWMC. The first case consisted of state and district level administrators who were interviewed regarding statutes and policies that affected the operation of middle colleges. Administrators and faculty members from both Harris Tech and MWCC were surveyed in the second embedded case to provide the institutional context to the project. The third case was comprised of students who enrolled in MWMC during the first year of operation and parents of students who enrolled during the first two years. Data were compared to a set of six design principles developed by the Middle College National Consortium in 2005. The MWCC project planners addressed all of the design principles in general, but the data collected in this study showed that several key elements were missing. As a result, my research concluded that state-level middle college funding mechanisms were missing or contradictory, the program mission and goals were not clearly formulated and thus were not well communicated, collaborative program governance strategies were not used, the student selection process was not explicitly defined, and a formalized, ongoing student support structure was not provided. While these missing pieces had a deleterious effect on the overall success of the program, levels of student success were generally high, and most stakeholders reported a strong desire to continue developing this type of program.
Open Access
The experience of organizational commitment in community college faculty
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2008) Flores, Monica Louise, author; Harbour, Clifford P., advisor
Organizational commitment impacts organizations in several ways and is important for organizations to understand how this is experienced by employees. Having committed employees creates a positive organizational climate that is conducive to effective working relationships (Meyer & Allen, 1997). The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand the phenomenon of how community college faculty experience organizational commitment. Committed faculty members can translate the college's goals into the creation of positive learning environments which, in turn, can affect student outcomes and the campus climate. Phenomenology is a methodology that identifies the "essence" of the human experience and gives the researcher an opportunity to explore with participants their multiple experiences (Creswell, 2003). Nine recently tenured faculty were interviewed to understand their lived experiences as community college faculty about organizational commitment. The interviews were open-ended and in-depth to discover the unique, layered experiences that allowed the participants to discuss relevant and perhaps unanticipated topics related to their commitment. As phenomenological data analysis was applied, five thematic structures were identified: (a) Service Attitude; (b) Types of Commitment; (c) Collegial Responsibilities; (d) Collegial Relationships; and (e) Institutional Support. These thematic structures merged into three Dimensions of Organizational Commitment that described and explained participants' experiences: (a) Individual Expectations; (b) Positive Experiences; and (c) Negative Experiences. The meaning of participants' experiences is described and explained through the essence of Courtship.
Open Access
The life stories of former community college agriculture reentry students: a narrative inquiry of self-efficacy
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2008) Dutto, Laurence S., author; Harbour, Clifford P., advisor
The purpose of this qualitative narrative inquiry was to identify agriculture reentry students and to understand and interpret their life stories in relation to the concept of self-efficacy. In so doing, I was able to determine the role of self-efficacy in their decisions to become community college reentry students. My interviews of my participants were in-depth, private, individual, open-ended, and face-to-face. I was able to identify emerging themes from my participants' stories by using a system of cross-case matrix analysis. I reported my research findings using a narrative inquiry methodology that allowed the individual and collective voices of my participants' life stories to be clearly expressed and heard. During the interpretation of my data, I found a correlation between my participants' level of self-efficacy as it related to their decision to become community college reentry students. In particular, I found the self-efficacy construct of motivation played an important role in guiding them toward their academic achievement. I was able to connect my participants' stories to the literature on self-efficacy and this deepened my understanding of their experience as community college re-entry students. This research will assist community college researchers and practitioners in understanding the role of self-efficacy in the academic achievement of reentry students at public two-year institutions. It also provided me with a basis to make recommendations for further research and improvements to practice.
Open Access
The lived experience of community college students enrolled in high risk online courses: opportunities and obstacles
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2007) Bambara, Cynthia S., author; Harbour, Clifford P., advisor
This qualitative study explored the lived experience of community college students who were enrolled in a high risk online course (HRC). This phenomenon was examined through data collection in personal interviews with 13 students enrolled in four online courses with high rates of withdrawal or failure during five semesters from spring 2005 through summer 2006.
Open Access
Understanding giving at a successful community college foundation
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2008) Gray, Nancy, author; Harbour, Clifford P., advisor
This case study examined how various stakeholders understood and described giving at a successful community college foundation. The stakeholders were identified as the foundation staff and members of the board of directors as well as the college president and donors. A total of 25 face-to-face private interviews were conducted. Data collection also included a review of documents such as foundation board and committee meeting minutes, a board of directors' job description, and intention form. Observations were made of foundation staff as they conducted their daily work. Three main themes-communication, collaboration, and commitment-emerged from the data as important components at the foundation. There was continual communication between the foundation staff and board members, donors, and the college president. The foundation staff collaborated with board members and donors as well as within the community with other organizations. Board members were actively engaged with the college president, foundation staff, and current and prospective donors. All of the major stakeholders interviewed were vitally committed to the vision and mission of both the college and foundation.
Open Access
Using the Reactions to Group Situations Test to profile higher education administrators relative to team behavior predisposition and demographics
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2007) Brauer, Douglas C., author; Harbour, Clifford P., advisor
This study facilitated the development of a profile of the predisposition for team behavior for community college administrators on the path to, or having, membership in an executive leadership team (ELT). The profile was based on emotionality and work (EW) variables, as defined by Basic Assumption Theory. The EW data were collected using the Reactions to Group Situations Test (RGST). The profile consisted of EW variable data examined in conjunction with demographic variable data, which included age, gender, time at institution, time in position, position title, educational level, race/ethnicity, social class of origin, and ELT membership status. The RGST instrument was used to collect data from community college administrators from the State of Illinois. From this, insight was gained to better understand the community college administrators' predisposition for team behavior as a discovery research step intended to lead to the identification of potential developmental interventions for individuals and ELTs to facilitate high team effectiveness.
Open Access
Vietnamese-American students at Midwestern Community College: a narrative inquiry study
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2007) Bottrell, Cynthia A., author; Harbour, Clifford P., advisor
The purpose of this qualitative narrative inquiry study was to discover how heuristic knowledge is developed in the academic and social journeys of Vietnamese-American students enrolled at Midwestern Community College, MWCC (a pseudonym). Additionally, the study explored how Vietnamese-American students are able to utilize heuristic knowledge to overcome barriers to their success, as identified by Padilla et al. (1997). Vietnamese-American students were interviewed in an effort to understand how they describe and explain their "lived experiences" while attending MWCC.
Open Access
We want them, but we don't want them: the case of undocumented college students in Colorado: an interpretation of policy narratives
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2011) Castro, Liliana N., author; Harbour, Clifford P., advisor; Banning, James H., committee member; Flahive, Douglas, committee member; Quick, Donald, committee member
This dissertation describes a research project that examined and interpreted the text of Colorado House Bill 1023 (2006) and the narratives embedded in this policy text. The research context was framed by current debates at the national and state levels on the issue of postsecondary education benefits for undocumented students. Analysis of the data led to the illumination of the rationalization for denying in-state tuition benefits to undocumented graduates from public high-schools in Colorado. This rationalization was found to be based on selected ideological beliefs that were then identified and interpreted. The study employed a qualitative research design. The method of inquiry was grounded in a constructivist-interpretive methodology. The methods of analysis and interpretation were thematic analysis, hermeneutic interpretation, and narrative policy analysis. The data consisted of Colorado policy texts concerning immigration and membership issues, related federal legislation, and state statutes from Texas and California. The data were first analyzed using thematic networks analysis and then hermeneutic interpretation. Narrative policy analysis was subsequently employed to synthesize the themes that emerged in the thematic analysis and hermeneutic interpretation. A dominant policy narrative and counter policy narrative were generated, and from these a metanarrative evolved. The thematic analysis yielded an internal or legalistic interpretation of the verification regulations of lawful presence requirement set forth in Colorado HB 06S-1023. The hermeneutic interpretation revealed that this Colorado policy was framed according to the principle of self-sufficiency for immigrant admission and notions of restrictive membership for resident aliens. The interpretive analysis also showed that the interaction of negative constructions of undocumented immigrants with structures of social dominance led to a narrative of exclusion and objectification of these resident aliens. The narrative policy analysis related Colorado HB 06S-1023 to a dominant policy narrative that reinforced the legal grounds for the delegitimization and social exclusion of undocumented immigrants. A metanarrative derived from the comparison of these narratives and was interpreted as the contrast between we want them, but we don't want them to explain how official government texts of the state of Colorado rationalized the issue of undocumented immigrants' rights and the state's responsibilities in this regard. The interpretation of the data contributed perspectives that advance the understanding of the social issue regarding the restriction on public benefits for undocumented immigrants currently residing in American communities. Specifically, this interpretation provided insights on the case of undocumented students in Colorado who, as a result of current state legislation, are denied access to in-state tuition benefits. The study also contributed another approach to meaning-creation processes and understanding the meaning of a policy text. Recommendations for further research on this topic and related themes were identified.
Open Access
Women mid-managers in Nevada community colleges: perceptions of organizational culture and its relationship to advancement
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2008) Kempster, Janice, author; Harbour, Clifford P., advisor
The purpose of this study was to determine how perceptions about current and preferred dimensions of organizational culture among women mid-managers in Nevada community colleges could be measured, compared, and evaluated to determine how definitions of organizational culture related to women's advancement within those institutions. Participant perceptions of organizational culture type were measured by Cameron and Quinn's (2006) Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI), and participant advancement history was measured by a researcher-created questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data to determine if there was a relationship between women's perceptions of organizational culture type and their advancement within the community college. The quantitative approach to measuring perceptions of organizational culture and advancement was conducted within a feminist empiricism perspective with a focus on women. Data were analyzed based on number of years at the institutions, promotion history, age range, ethnicity, and mean scores from the OCAI. Results showed there was no significant relationship between perceived culture type and advancement for women overall or for women of color. However, results indicated a significant age difference among women within each perceived dominant culture type. The results of the study also revealed incongruence between how the respondents perceived the current dominant culture of their institution and how they preferred that dominant culture to be. This conclusion resulted from data indicating women at the majority of Nevada's community colleges perceived their daily work environment as a controlling one emphasizing policies and procedures, efficiency, and uniformity. Additionally, the women at all colleges indicated they prefer their workplace culture to be one emphasizing empowerment, commitment, care, collaboration, and trust. This perceived incongruence may be stifling some women's performance and promotion possibilities. This study supports the need for future research on organizational culture, women's leadership, and community colleges. Better understanding the daily workplace environments of women mid-managers may shed light on why they are not advancing into executive leadership positions at the same rate as their male counterparts within higher education.