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First-generation college students, or “first-gen students,” are the first in their families to experience the culture of college as they balance the different components of higher education. While first-generation college students are tasked with learning how to navigate their own academic experiences in higher education, the students who participate as mentors for mentorship programs are also tasked with offering their peers support in their academic pursuits while holding a critical role in creating supportive and validating environments that assist their first-generation and historically underrepresented peers succeed in higher education. Grant funding provided as part of Title V of the Higher Education Act create opportunities for new institutional structures, such as various types of centers and programs aimed at supporting Hispanic, Latinx, low-income, and first-gen students. One particular Title V grant-funded student resource center, referred to as “The Center,” focused on supporting students by providing peer mentorship for first-gen students provided by first-gen students. This case study attended to understanding the perspectives of first-gen students who provided, studying peer mentorship from the perspective of first-generation students who provided peer mentorship rather than those who received the mentorship. Findings suggest peer mentors offer valuable support through mentorship by addressing their peers’ psychological, well-being, and academic needs while also pulling from their own experiences to attend to their needs. Additionally, peer mentors do not only provide resources but are resources to their peers. This project concludes with implications for future research and practice in higher education.

The beginning of our Universe continues to elude us with many unanswered questions, some involving evolutionary histories of the most ancient galaxies — ultra–faint dwarfs (UFDs). Recent optical observation and cosmological simulation advancements have opened new opportunities to study these evolutionary histories. The predominantly ancient stellar populations observed in UFDs suggest their star formation was suppressed by reionization. However, most of the well–studied UFDs are within the central half of the Milky Way (MW) dark matter halo, such that they are consistent with an early accreted population and potentially quenched via environmental processes. To study this possibility, we utilize N–body cosmological simulations, the ELVIS suite, to constrain the distribution of infall times for subhalos likely to host UFDs. For the MW’s UFDs, we find that environment is highly unlikely to play a dominant role in quenching their star formation. Further in UFD exploration, we use this population as a tool to constrain a fundamental Galactic property — dark matter halo mass. As the MW and its satellite system become more entrenched in near–field cosmology, the need for an accurate estimate of the halo mass is increasingly critical. Using new 6D phase–space information for the MW satellite population calculated from Gaia’s early third data release of stellar proper motions to compare to subhalo properties drawn from the Phat ELVIS simulations, we constrain the MW dark matter halo mass to be ~1–1.2 x 10^12 M_sun. This preferred dark matter halo mass for the MW is largely insensitive to the exclusion of systems associated with the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), changes in galaxy formation thresholds, and variations in observational completeness. Turning focus inward, current work in progress analyzes, for the first time, chemical abundances in the UFD LMC satellite, Hydrus I. Through abundance trends, we will begin to explore how large scale environments, such as the LMC's d

The beginning of our Universe continues to elude us with many unanswered questions, some involving evolutionary histories of the most ancient galaxies — ultra–faint dwarfs (UFDs). Recent optical observation and cosmological simulation advancements have opened new opportunities to study these evolutionary histories. The predominantly ancient stellar populations observed in UFDs suggest their star formation was suppressed by reionization. However, most of the well–studied UFDs are within the central half of the Milky Way (MW) dark matter halo, such that they are consistent with an early accreted population and potentially quenched via environmental processes. To study this possibility, we utilize N–body cosmological simulations, the ELVIS suite, to constrain the distribution of infall times for subhalos likely to host UFDs. For the MW’s UFDs, we find that environment is highly unlikely to play a dominant role in quenching their star formation. Further in UFD exploration, we use this population as a tool to constrain a fundamental Galactic property — dark matter halo mass. As the MW and its satellite system become more entrenched in near–field cosmology, the need for an accurate estimate of the halo mass is increasingly critical. Using new 6D phase–space information for the MW satellite population calculated from Gaia’s early third data release of stellar proper motions to compare to subhalo properties drawn from the Phat ELVIS simulations, we constrain the MW dark matter halo mass to be ~1–1.2 x 10^12 M_sun. This preferred dark matter halo mass for the MW is largely insensitive to the exclusion of systems associated with the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), changes in galaxy formation thresholds, and variations in observational completeness. Turning focus inward, current work in progress analyzes, for the first time, chemical abundances in the UFD LMC satellite, Hydrus I. Through abundance trends, we will begin to explore how large scale environments, such as the LMC's d

Individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) have the lowest rates of post-high school education and employment of all disability groups (Migliore, et al., 2009). Inequity in educational and employment outcomes is arguably a result of the scarce opportunities for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) to attend college or obtain competitive employment (Grigal & Papay, 2018). Opportunities for students with IDD to attend inclusive postsecondary education (PSE) programs at colleges around the United States have gradually increased since the Higher Education Opportunity Act (P.L. 110-315) passed in 2008. PSE is associated with positive long-term outcomes of students with IDD, including increased competitive employment and self-determination (Moore & Schelling, 2018; Smith et al., 2018). The intent of this three-study dissertation was to identify effective supports and meaningful experiences that advance PSE opportunities for students with IDD. Peer mentors are college students that support PSE students with IDD to attend courses and complete assignments, develop employment skills, navigate campus, and socialize (Kleinert et al., 2012). Peer mentors reported needing training to support students to improve their social skills and increase their appropriate behavior (Giust & Valle-Riestra, 2017). The first two studies of this dissertation explored the impact of training and coaching on peer mentors’ implementation fidelity and generalization of students’ behavior plans. The first study used a nonconcurrent single-subject multiple baseline design across three peer mentor-student pairs to examine the impact of training and coaching with performance feedback on peer mentors’ fidelity in implementing function-based intervention plans (FBIP) for students with intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder. All peer mentors improved their implementation fidelity immediately after being trained and further improved their fidelity after being coa

In recognition of increasing rates of repeated ground schools and flight lessons, in combination with decreasing retention rates in the flight programs at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the Department of Aeronautical Science in the College of Aviation took initiative to create a program that identified struggle students before they reached excessive failure or financial distress. The students identified in the Student Success Initiative (SSI) after being assessed would be required to attend a mediation session with their academic and flight training staff in order to create a specialized training program. Student Success Initiative (SSI) Identifies "at risk" students Implemented training plan tailored to student One-on-one instruction

In recognition of increasing rates of repeated ground schools and flight lessons, in combination with decreasing retention rates in the flight programs at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the Department of Aeronautical Science in the College of Aviation took initiative to create a program that identified struggle students before they reached excessive failure or financial distress. The students identified in the Student Success Initiative (SSI) after being assessed would be required to attend a mediation session with their academic and flight training staff in order to create a specialized training program. Student Success Initiative (SSI) Identifies "at risk" students Implemented training plan tailored to student One-on-one instruction

In recognition of increasing rates of repeated ground schools and flight lessons, in combination with decreasing retention rates in the flight programs at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the Department of Aeronautical Science in the College of Aviation took initiative to create a program that identified struggle students before they reached excessive failure or financial distress. The students identified in the Student Success Initiative (SSI) after being assessed would be required to attend a mediation session with their academic and flight training staff in order to create a specialized training program. Student Success Initiative (SSI) Identifies "at risk" students Implemented training plan tailored to student One-on-one instruction

BackgroundAs the retirement rate of senior nursing faculty increases, the need to implement new models for providing mentorship to early career academics will become key to developing and maintaining an experienced faculty.PurposeThis evaluation of a peer mentorship program for predoctoral and postdoctoral gerontological nurses examined its efficacy, utility, and potential for improvement.MethodsA web-based survey was developed, implemented, and completed by 22 mentees and 17 mentors (71% and 61% response rates, respectively) as part of the evaluation.DiscussionThe peer mentorship program was found to be valuable by both mentors (64.7%) and mentees (72.7%) in helping mentees further develop their careers and networks and providing mentors with supported mentorship experience.ConclusionThe peer mentorship program could serve as a model for other professional organizations, academic institutions, and consortiums to enhance and extend the formal vertical mentorship provided to early academic career individuals.