The National University System Repository exists to increase public access to research and other materials created by students and faculty of the affiliate institutions of National University System. Most items in the repository are open access, freely available to everyone.
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Item Strategic Leadership in Resource-Constrained HBCUs: Uncovering the Levers Shaping STEM Success and National Talent Pipelines(2025-10)This qualitative, multiple case study investigated the institutional and leadership characteristics that contribute to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) success at small Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The research addressed the systemic challenges these institutions face in optimizing their strategies to support a significant, yet often untapped, talent pool in STEM. This problem affects underrepresented minorities, HBCUs striving to maintain their contributions, and the broader workforce, which benefits from greater diversity. Guided by Transformational Leadership Theory, the study employed a qualitative multiple case study approach, conducting in-depth document analysis of publicly available data from 15 systematically selected small HBCUs. Data from institutional websites, mission statements, and other public documents were analyzed through thematic coding using NVivo software to identify patterns and themes related to leadership and institutional practices. The findings revealed a strong institutional emphasis on three key areas: faculty professional development, specialized STEM majors, and external partnerships. While visionary leadership was a prominent theme, the analysis also uncovered a notable under-articulation of specific operational supports, such as detailed scholarship criteria and bridge program structures. A crucial discovery was the non-linear relationship between stated visionary leadership and tangible operational strengths like grant funding, suggesting diverse pathways to success. This research identified distinct institutional archetypes that reflect varied strategic blueprints for fostering a robust STEM talent pipeline. The study concludes that fostering STEM success requires a strategic blend of clear institutional vision and robust operational execution. The findings offer practical implications for HBCU leaders, underscoring the need to align their public institutional narrative with their documented operational strengths. Recommendations for future research include incorporating in-depth interviews with key stakeholders to explore less-documented operational processes and employing mixed-methods designs to establish causal inferences between specific strategies and positive STEM outcomes. By shedding light on the dynamics of effective STEM initiatives at small HBCUs, this research offers valuable guidance for strengthening these indispensable institutions and ensuring a more diverse and equitable future for the national STEM talent pipeline.Item Discrimination within the Queer Community(2025-09)As a microcosm of society, the queer community is one that experiences unique forms of discrimination due to the dominant scripts and social values of the larger society. This capstone explores how these dominant norms manifest in the queer community, focussing on racism. This paper reviews current literature on the ways in which racial identities are navigated and received from an intersectional lens, and explores how history has always been rooted in the prioritization of white identities over other racial and cultural identities. The capstone then concludes with a proposed workshop to educate future counsellors who wish to be socially just allies to the queer community and those who are further marginalized within the queer community.Item The Impact of Alternative Work Schedules on Job Satisfaction in the Federal Sector: A Qualitative Phenomenological Study(2025-12)This study explored the impact of alternative work schedules on federal employees, aiming to understand how these arrangements affect employees' experiences and satisfaction within the federal sector. Its primary objective was to evaluate employees' perceptions of alternative work schedules in relation to job satisfaction following the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly with respect to return-to-work initiatives. Specifically, the study examined three key questions concerning alternative work schedule practices and their impact on federal employees' job satisfaction: (1) What alternative work schedule work factors enhance job satisfaction? (2) What alternative work schedule factors lead to employee dissatisfaction? and (3) What alternative work schedule factors influence job satisfaction during the return-to-work phase? Using a qualitative phenomenological approach rooted in H2FT, insights were gathered from 11 government employees in the North Atlantic region. The findings demonstrated the importance of balancing structure and flexibility: employees appreciate the autonomy provided by an alternative work schedule, yet they also expect organizations to establish well-defined objectives and a transparent framework for progress. Although this study's scope is limited due to its focus on participants from a single medium-sized government agency, this focus enabled a detailed exploration of alternative work schedules within that specific context. However, gaining a broader understanding would necessitate examining a wider variety of government departments with diverse missions and structures. Exploring how the cultures of federal agencies influence flexible work schedules provides a basis for future research aimed at developing more equitable alternative work schedule practices across sectors. The findings lay a foundation for further study of job satisfaction in the public sector.Item Adoption of Big Data Analytics for Strategic Decision Making in a Technology Organization: A Qualitative Study(2025-12)Big data analytics involves substantial data volumes and analysis of big datasets using statistical methods to uncover valuable insights. The problem addressed in this study was that organizational constraints create hurdles to the adoption of big data analytics for strategic decision-making, thereby decreasing the competitive edge and negatively impacting performance. Challenges exist across organizations, industry sectors, and countries in adopting big data analytics for strategic choices. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory study was to identify the organizational constraints that impact the adoption of big data analytics for strategic decision-making and to investigate how these impediments can be mitigated to achieve performance goals and gain a competitive advantage at a technology company. The theory of constraints framework was chosen to drive the research study. The research methodology that guided this study was a qualitative case study design. Snowball sampling was used to select 17 leaders at a technology company. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were used to gather the data, followed by member checking. The instruments and participants in the study helped ensure triangulation and saturation. Thematic analysis was performed using manual coding and NVivo 14 software to generate themes. Results showed that various organizational constraints impede the adoption of big data analytics, including a lack of leadership support, organizational culture, data fragmentation created by internal groups and acquisitions, inadequate resource allocation, strategic prioritization, and regulatory and privacy challenges. Mitigation conditions included leadership commitment, data and tool consolidation, and strategic resource allocation. Competitive advantage can be achieved by optimizing product-market fit and leveraging insights from the customer journey. The study's primary contribution was to demonstrate that the constraints to big data analytics adoption identified by a product group at a technology company were fundamentally organizational rather than technical, with leadership support and cultural transformation representing the critical path to achieving a competitive advantage. The research offered recommendations that organizations require leadership support, cultural transformation, and skilled resources to drive data-driven decisions and achieve their performance goals. The study suggested that future research should examine quantitative approaches across broader populations, different geographical locations, and integration with artificial intelligence technologies.Item Bridging Language and Culture: Best Practices for Bilingual Counsellors Working with Immigrant Populations(2025-12-15)This capstone project explores best practices for bilingual counsellors working with immigrant populations through a qualitative literature review. Grounded in linguistic code-switching theory and multicultural counselling theory, the study synthesizes current research to examine how language, culture, and identity interact to shape the therapeutic process. Findings reveal that bilingual counselling enhances therapeutic alliance, emotional expression, and client trust by allowing communication in clients’ preferred languages. However, bilingual clinicians face ethical and professional challenges, including blurred boundaries, transference, countertransference, and risks of burnout. The review identifies significant gaps in training and supervision, particularly in the Canadian context, where bilingual counselling practices remain underdeveloped despite the country’s linguistic diversity. Clinical implications outlined emphasize the intentional use of code-switching as a therapeutic tool, ongoing cultural humility, and awareness of intersectionality. This project concludes with recommendations for developing structured training, supervision, and policy initiatives to support culturally and ethically competent bilingual counselling practices.
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