Browsing by Author "Morgan, George, committee member"
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Item Open Access Culture and leadership in a public university setting: implications for shared governance and change(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014) Mills, Edward E., author; Kuk, Linda, advisor; Morgan, George, committee member; Strathe, Marlene, committee member; Scott, Malcolm, committee memberNoting a lack of quantitative research on perceptions of culture, leadership and change in the shared governance environment of Higher Education, this study utilized the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (Cameron & Quinn, 2011) to measure current (now) and preferred cultural perceptions of faculty and administrative leaders. Additional questions focused on the shared governance leadership culture within higher education. To explore this topic, participants were asked to rate their perceptions of the shared governance culture on their campus by rating the level of collaboration, impact on change at their campus and type of impact (positive, negative or neutral). Findings indicated that faculty and administrative leaders are more alike than different. Both groups considered their current leadership cultures predominantly Clan (collaborative, value-driven and participatory) and Hierarchical (bureaucratic, rigid and slow to change). But these same leaders display significant differences in their cultural preferences. Both groups indicated they would prefer a culture that was a combination of Clan and Adhocracy (innovative, adaptable and responsive) and less hierarchical. This study challenges the predominate notion in the literature on shared governance which infers faculty and administrative leaders differ in their perceptions on leadership and change. The study calls for more empirical research on this topic which would include larger populations and more demographic information on participants; limitations in this study.Item Open Access Examining the application of the transtheoretical model of change for fruit and vegetable consumption among college students(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2002) de Oliveira, Maria do Carmo Fontes, author; Jennifer Anderson, advisor; Kendall, Patricia, committee member; Auld, Garry, committee member; Morgan, George, committee memberNutrition education messages about the adequate amount of fruits and vegetables in the diet have the potential to disseminate information the optimum level of fruit and vegetable intake to the population. However, this potential will be effective, only if the audience incorporates these messages. To facilitate the acceptance of nutrition education messages, we need to understand the process of behavior change across different behaviors and cultural/ethnic groups. The main purpose of this study was to examine the applicability of the Transtheoretical Model for fruit and vegetable eating behavior in male North American, Latino and Asian college students at Colorado State University. First, a 40-item scale was developed to measure the processes of change. Second, stages of change for eating five fruits and vegetables a day were assessed. Third, the relationship between stages of change and processes of change constructs for fruit and vegetable consumption was examined. Results showed that the developed scale was reliable and valid for the target population. Most of the participants were classified as in the preparation or contemplation stages of change, and the stage classification was significantly related to the participant's cultural/ethnic background. North American and Latino participants were predominantly in preparation while Asian participants were in precontemplation. In addition, the North American and Latino groups used less processes of change (stimulus control, dramatic relief and environment reevaluation) than the Asian group. The relationship between stages of change and processes of change indicated that generally the processes of change scores for fruit and vegetable intake were lower in early stages of change than in later stages of change. The finding that each cognitive/experiential composite score was higher than behavioral composite scores across stages of change did not agree with most studies in smoking, but agreed with some studies on diet and exercise. Although more research needs to focus on the applicability of the stages of change and processes of change constructs, the present study provides partial evidence of the value of the Transtheoretical Model in fruit and vegetable eating behavior in the nutrition education arena.Item Open Access It takes a village to support the National Park Service(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Espinosa, Tiffany, author; Vaske, Jerry V., advisor; Donnelly, Maureen P., committee member; Bright, Alan, committee member; Morgan, George, committee memberAs the United States becomes more diverse, the National Park Service will need to continue to adapt if it is going to continue to garner public, political, and financial support in the future. In these three chapters, the role of citizens, funders, politicians and visitors is investigated. The first two chapters of this study explore the historic role of citizens and legislators in creating and developing the National Park System. The third chapter takes park visitor data, joined with market research data, to explore different theories on barriers for diverse audiences, in-group heterogeneity of park visitors, and opportunities to use this research to engage new park visitors and boosters from diverse backgrounds. The first chapter provides a historical perspective on the origins of the National Park Service. This chapter considers the early advocates and park champions from all walks of life who helped shaped the system in its earliest years. In particular it focuses on those outside the government bureaucracy who helped provide the infrastructure and resources, and who got the country energized around the concept of government investment in conservation and heritage work. The second chapter explores political aspects of designating new sites into the National Park System. Federally designated protected lands represent a variety of political, economic, recreational and ideological costs and benefits. The chapter reviews some of the main arguments for and against creating new National Park sites, the legislative steps that proposed parks go through in the process to become an official national park unit, and tests the electoral competition theory, an adaptation of economic rational choice theory applied to political behavior. The electoral competition theory hypothesizes that as the congressional majority margin decreases (gets more competitive), politicians will act in a more strategic & less partisan manner. This study examined the creation of new National Park units from 1934-2010 in the US, and found evidence in support of partisanship, electoral competition, and that presidential election years heightened the competitive behaviors of legislators. This suggests that the evolution of the parks system has been influenced by political interests and political gamesmanship. The third chapter explored in-group racial and ethnic heterogeneity among National Park visitors. Park visitation rates for minority visitors are low compared to white visitors. Teasing out the in-group heterogeneity of visitors provides park administrators with better information on which specific audience segments they are currently drawing to the parks. In this study three theories were tested to evaluate and compare the role of (a) cultural differences, (b) affluence and proximity, and (c) an integrated model that includes race, resources, geography, and lifestyles factors in specifying statistically relevant differences between and within groups. For the study, park visitor information was joined with psychographic and geo-demographic data. The results show that there is significant heterogeneity within racial or ethnic groups and the model with the strongest effect size is the integrated model that considers visitors in a broadest context, though each model provided insights about visitor heterogeneity. Also included was a sample of ways park administrators could apply the information from the study to develop targeted outreach and programming.Item Open Access Negative emotionality, self-regulation behaviors, and the teacher-child relationship in preschool classrooms(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Jackson, Hayley, author; Barrett, Karen, advisor; Morgan, George, committee member; Youngblade, Lise, committee memberThis study examines the relationship between levels of negative emotionality, quality of the teacher-child relationship, and self-regulation behaviors in preschool children ages 2.5-5 years (N= 67). It was expected that children with high levels of negative emotionality who experienced a close teacher-child relationship would have higher levels of self-regulation as compared to children with high negative emotionality who had a teacher-child relationship marked with distance or conflict. Negative emotionality and parentally reported self-regulation were assessed using the Child Behavior Questionnaire, teacher-child relationship was measured using the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale, and self-regulation behavior was observed using the Preschool Self -Regulation Assessment. Results were not supportive of the predicted relations among negative affect, student-teacher relationship, and self-regulation. Implications are discussed.Item Open Access Nursing as a career choice by Hispanic/Latino college students(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2013) Stroup, Linda M., author; Kuk, Linda, advisor; Houser, Janet, committee member; Morgan, George, committee member; Quijano, Louise, committee memberA culturally competent healthcare workforce is essential to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse society. Greater diversity in the healthcare workforce is expected have many benefits, including improved access to care for the medically underserved and the promotion of research in areas of societal need (Cohen, Gabriel, & Terrell, 2002). The need for a culturally diverse healthcare workforce includes the profession of registered nursing. There is a significant disparity between the percentage of Hispanic/Latino individuals in the United States population and the percentage of Hispanic/Latino nurses. Although the number of Hispanic/Latino college students has increased over the past several years, Hispanic/Latino students remain significantly underrepresented in pre-licensure nursing programs. It is necessary for the number of Hispanic/Latino nursing students to increase in order to expand the number of Hispanic/Latino nurses in the healthcare workforce. A quantitative research design was used for this study. The Career Search Questionnaire (CSQ) developed by Roberts (2008) was administered with the addition of four questions and modifications in the demographic section of the instrument. The survey was administered to students enrolled in freshman or sophomore level college courses at three comprehensive state public universities and one community college in a Western state. The total number of participants in the sample was 961. Study findings indicated that Hispanic/Latino students were just as interested in and had as high feelings of confidence about activities associated with nursing as a career choice when compared with non-Hispanic/Latino students. Very few statistically significant differences were found between the two groups of students (Hispanic/Latino and non-Hispanic/Latino), and there were few differences in the correlations of Hispanic/Latino and non-Hispanic/Latino students with demographic and CSQ variables. One exception was that gender was not statistically significant for Hispanic/Latino students, suggesting that gender was not a predictive variable for interest in activities associated with nursing among Hispanic/Latino students. Additional findings indicated that both Hispanic/Latino and non-Hispanic/Latino students identified having lower feelings of confidence in successfully completing math and science courses that are often required pre-requisite courses for nursing programs. Shadowing a nurse, mentoring by a nurse, healthcare work experience, and volunteer healthcare experience were the top factors identified by both Hispanic/Latino and non-Hispanic/Latino students as necessary for success in a nursing program. Analysis of the Career Search Questionnaire indicated that the instrument differentiated between interest in activities associated with nursing and non-nursing careers and, likewise, the CSQ differentiated between nursing and non-nursing career self-efficacy. The CSQ appears to be a better predictor of interest in a healthcare career in general rather than specifically nursing. Implications for practice include use of the CSQ questionnaire as an advising tool for students in the career decision-making process, and identification of strategies that could be implemented by nursing programs to promote success for Hispanic/Latino students considering nursing as a career choice. Future research studies could include broadening the sample to include Hispanic/Latino students enrolled in community colleges, private, and proprietary higher education institutions. Consideration of nursing as a career choice by healthcare providers in related fields such as medical assistants and nursing assistants could also be investigated. Finally, research could be conducted to determine if Hispanic/Latino students who indicate an interest in nursing as a career choice are actually applying to nursing programs and if so, what factors facilitate their acceptance into a nursing program as well as barriers to admission.Item Open Access Physical activity and mental health among undergraduate students(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) Elliot, Catherine, author; Anderson, Sharon, advisor; Kennedy, Catherine, advisor; Morgan, George, committee member; Butki, Brian, committee memberThis study was conducted to analyze possible influences of physical activity level, student group, and/or gender on seven mental health variables related to depression in undergraduate students. A campus health initiative. Healthy Campus 2010, set goals of increasing the number of students who are physically active three days per week to 55% and decreasing suicide attempts by 2010. Focusing on undergraduate students, the goal of this research was to replicate previous research efforts that linked physical activity levels with mental health related to depression. The national sample included a random selection of 2,146 students from the reference group of 61,758 college students enrolled as undergraduate students who completed the spring 2007 National College Health Assessment (NCHA). Colorado State University (CSU) participants served as a comparison group to the NCHA reference group. The analysis included seven 4 x 2 x 2 three-way ANOVAs to discover relationships between the seven mental health variables that related to depression (felt hopeless, felt overwhelmed, felt exhausted, felt very sad, felt depressed, considered attempting suicide, and attempted suicide) and the three independent variables, physical activity level (0 days, 1-2 days, 3-4 days, and 5-7 days), student group (NCHA reference group and CSU), and gender. There were relationships between the five variables that reflected mild mental health issues and physical activity levels, with small effect sizes. As the physical activity levels increased, students reported better mental health related to depression. There was one significant interaction between student group and physical activity level on the felt exhausted variable. There was a relationship between variables reflecting mild mental health and gender. Males reported better depression related mental health, with small to typical effect sizes {d = .20-.49). However, the contemplating suicide and attempting suicide variables were not significantly related to gender or physical activity levels. Overall, these data support current research by showing similarities between college students and other demographic groups. Physical activity and gender have shown correlations with mental health. These implications may influence college health services to use an integrated care system, merging mental health with medical services.Item Open Access Satisfaction with outdoor recreation: analyzing multiple data sets(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Roemer, Jennifer M., author; Vaske, Jerry, advisor; Donnelly, Maureen, committee member; Morgan, George, committee memberSatisfaction has been a focal point in the study of recreation behavior since the 1970s. This thesis contains two articles, both of which use a comparative analysis approach to assess satisfaction ratings of outdoor recreationists. The first article updates a previous comparative analysis article (Vaske, Donnelly, Heberlein, & Shelby, 1982) by analyzing differences in satisfaction ratings reported by consumptive and nonconsumptive recreationists over a 30-year period. Based on the previous analysis, two hypotheses were advanced: (a) consumptive recreationists will report significantly lower satisfaction ratings than nonconsumptive recreationists, and (b) this pattern will remain constant over study years. Data were obtained from published and unpublished sources. A total of 57 consumptive (e.g., hunters) and 45 nonconsumptive (e.g., kayakers) recreation contexts were examined. Each study used the same satisfaction question (i.e., "Overall, how would you rate your day/trip/experience?"). Following Vaske et al. (1982), responses were collapsed into three categories (i.e., "poor/fair," "good/very good," "excellent/perfect"). The independent variables were activity type and study year. Similar to the previous comparative analysis, consumptive recreationists reported lower satisfaction ratings than did nonconsumptive recreationists (hypothesis 1). Consistent with hypothesis 2, the satisfaction ratings remained statistically equivalent for the "poor/fair" and "excellent/perfect" responses among the three categories of study years. Implications for theory, management, and future research are discussed. The second article uses a comparative analysis approach to analyze National Park Service (NPS) visitor satisfaction data over a period of 17 years. Based on theory and prior research, six research questions were proposed. The first set of research questions examined the relationships between visitor satisfaction and study year, park designation, and park region. The remaining research questions concerned the relationships between consensus among visitor satisfaction scores and study year, park designation, and park region. Data were obtained from the online NPS Visitor Services Project (VSP) database (177 projects, n = 81,899). Each project contained the same core satisfaction question (i.e., "Overall, how would you rate the quality of the visitor services provided to you and your group?"), which served as the dependent variable. Independent variables included study year, park designation, and park region. For the first three research questions, three 1-way ANOVAs and one 3-way ANOVA indicated that visitor satisfaction varied by study year, park designation, and park region. Using the Potential for Conflict Index (PCI2), results also addressed the second three research questions by showing that the amount of consensus among visitor satisfaction scores varied by study year, park designation, and park region. Methodological and managerial implications, as well as opportunities for future research, are discussed.Item Open Access Spirituality in leadership: how male African American leaders in higher education perceive the influence of spirituality in their decision making(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Burgess, Dale S., author; Davies, Timothy Gray, advisor; Morgan, George, committee member; Scott, Malcolm, committee member; Garrett, Crystal, committee memberThe purpose of this study was to better understand how male African American leaders in higher education perceive the influence of spirituality on their leadership decision making. This phenomenological study provided the opportunity for seven male African American leaders in higher education to explain in their own words how they perceive the influence of their spirituality in their own professional decision making, in their leadership roles. The study used individual, in-depth interviews for data generation and collection. The participants in the study held leadership roles of Dean, Associate Dean, or Department Chair. They worked for major universities, private colleges, or for-profit colleges in a major metropolitan area in the South. The participants self-identified themselves as being spiritual. Participants entered into a discussion format that began with several open-ended questions. Their interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed. Common themes emerged from each data set and then brought together in describing the phenomenon. One common, predominant theme emerged within this analysis. Each participant directly connected his spirituality to his personal belief in the Triune God. Further, these participants saw no difference between their spirituality and their Christianity and used the two terms interchangeably. Participants believed that because of their ongoing communication with God through prayer and meditation, they were able to draw on their spirituality as needed to help them make decisions. They stated that it was their ongoing relationship with God that gave them the spiritual reinforcement they needed when making their leadership decisions.Item Open Access Youth aged out of care: their perceptions of their experiences in out-of-home care(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Arabi, Abdulhamid EL, author; Buchan, Victoria, advisor; Tungate, Susan, committee member; Eunhee, Choi, committee member; Morgan, George, committee memberChild out-of-home care in the United States is dating back to the early nineteenth century. Since then out of home care has taken different forms and shapes. This journey of evolution has been combined with a lot of controversy due to the ongoing debate over the best interest of child within the continuum of care. This continuum of care ranged from the most restrictive approach represented by residential care, to the least restrictive approach, represented by kin ship care or foster family. Ironically, the out-of-home care literature in The United States as well as in the other western countries, indicates its poor outcomes when it comes to education, employment and housing. This study drew attention to the importance of social support, educational support, and family-like practices to improve outcomes for youth aging out-of-care. Suggestions by the youth on how to improve out-of-home care were also collected and reported. Significant differences were found between each of the concepts of social support, family-like experiences and total support and the length of time in out-of-home care. Those youth with fewer years of out-of-home care reported more support. Social relationships also were stressed among children, peers, caregivers, and professionals due to the influence they may have on cared-after children lives. Findings may fill some of the gap in the literature available on social relationship dynamics in out-of-home care environments. Findings may also help caregivers and professionals understand social relationships dynamics and their effects on ageing out of care youth outcomes. Suggestions were provided to policy makers and decision makers in providing the needed services to children in foster care.