Date of Degree
2024
Degree Name
Ed.D. (Doctor of Education)
Department
Department of Counseling and Higher Education (CAHE)
Director
Nyunt, Gudrun
Co-Director
Hutchings, Quortne
Committee Members
Hu, Xiaodan
Keywords
higher education, organizational change, student persistence, positional leadership, buy-in
Abstract
Literature on how colleges change is limited and theoretical in nature. The purpose of this qualitative case student was to explore how Retention University changed their culture and norms to increase student persistence and retention. Data was collected with semi-structured interviews with 16 participants at a large, public university in the southeast. Four primary themes emerged from data: (1) leaders play an important role in fostering organizational change; (2) leaders need to be strategic about how they foster change; (3) leaders need to consider how organizational contexts might hinder change; (4) and value the people and process. Implications for further research and practice are discussed.
Publisher
Northern Illinois University
Rights Statement
In Copyright
Rights Statement 2
NIU theses and dissertations are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors, unless otherwise indicated.
Recommended Citation
Lawless, Lisa R., ""IT’S HARD TO BE AN ENEMY OF STUDENT SUCCESS”: A QUALITATIVE CASE STUDY OF A CULTURAL SHIFT TOWARDS STUDENT SUCCESS" (2024). Dissertations of Practice. 25.
https://huskiecommons.lib.niu.edu/allgraduate-disspractice/25
