The essays of this dissertation examine the determinants of cross-border flows, in the form of immigrants and foreign aid, as well as the impact of those flows on receiving markets. The first essay finds that the composition of immigrant inflows into local markets is a significant determinant of native college enrollment. Theory predicts that increases in relatively unskilled immigrant labor will raise the private return to higher education, while increases in immigrant students will lower the private return. A flexible supply of college enrollment slots amplifies the former effect and mitigates the latter. I find that native college enrollment rates increase in states experiencing inflows of relatively unskilled immigrant labor but do not significantly decrease in response to immigrant student inflows. This native response implies both flexible college supply in the long-run and native college demand that is fairly wage-sensitive. The second essay, written with Dean Yang, shows that foreign aid inflows do not significantly affect the long-run economic growth of recipient countries. We examine natural disasters and whether aid flows to recipients change when their aid competitors experience disaster shocks. Utilizing this variation in aid inflows with an instrumental variables strategy, we show that aid increases recipient per capita GDP growth in the short- to medium-run due to increased household consumption. However, we find no effect of aid on proxies for human capital investment and factor productivity, nor do we observe any direct impact of aid on long-term growth. The final essay investigates the self-selection of migrants and whether higher educational quality and informational asymmetries influence migratory patterns by altering the return to skill and the expected wages of migrants. In a theoretical framework, I examine the nature of individuals jointly determined decisions of educational and employment locations. Using proxy data on worldwide college quality and the extent of information flows across borders, I find no evidence that either measure significantly influences the share of high-skilled immigrants acquiring college education in the United States. Despite potential measurement error in the proxies, I interpret this finding as evidence against the models explanation for migrant self-selection.

With this thesis, I present a case study of the effort to graduate 500 Maori doctorates in five years in New Zealand in order to advance our understanding of a successful Indigenous higher education initiative. By paying careful attention to contextual factors, I describe the theoretical and practical significance of this effort and discuss the implications for higher education and for Alaska Native doctoral development. Through the presentation of data, I explore why such an effort was desirable for Maori, how this initiative was made possible, and what kinds of changes it has inspired. I argue that the goal of supporting the development of 500 Maori PhDs is fundamentally aspirational and focused on generating success through establishing right relationships as specified in Maori cultural understandings and beliefs about creation, or cosmogony. Maori culture and cosmogony serve as foundation for inquiry and allows for an alternate conception of scholarship that is not based in academic disciplines or tertiary education institutions. The Maori doctoral development initiative has inspired similar efforts to develop Indigenous doctorates in First Nations communities in Canada, Native Hawaiian communities, and Alaska Native communities. As such, this study seeks to provide information about how this initiative emerged and took hold to those interested and involved in Indigenous higher education development. Case study data include: institutional documents and archival records； data from interviews with 44 initiative leaders, participants, and university administrators； and participant observation data from gatherings of Maori scholars. I draw on analytic methods from grounded theory, including: open and axial coding, data displays, and the constant comparative method. In order to come to a full understanding of the particularities and resonant qualities of this case, I also draw on existing research on Maori social and political movements, Indigenous higher education, and the history of universities and scholarly development. Through this dissertation, I hope to engage Maori people, Alaska Native and Indigenous leaders, and higher education researchers in a conversation about how the Maori doctoral development effort might inform our understandings about higher education development in an Indigenous context.

Idols of the Tribes: An Intellectual and Critical History of 19th and 20th Century Mormon Studies is an intellectual history of Mormon Studies from the early 1830s, when Mormonism arose, to today. Idols of the Tribes, however, is more than simply an intellectual history of polemical, apologetic, sociological, and historical approaches to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is also, on another level, a history of American intellectual culture and academic culture and, on another level, an essay in the sociology of knowledge.

This study explores cross-cultural adaptation experience of Chinese engineering students in the U.S. I interact with 10 Chinese doctoral students in engineering from a public research university through in-depth interviews to describe 1) their perceptions of and responses to key challenges they encountered in graduate school, 2) their perspectives on the challenges that stem from cross-cultural differences, and 3) their conceptualization of cross-cultural adaptation in the context of graduate school. My findings reveal that the major challenges participants encounter during graduate school are academic issues related to cultural differences and difficulties of crossing cultural boundaries and integrating into the university community. These challenges include finding motivation for doctoral study, becoming an independent learner, building a close relationship with faculty, interacting and forming relationships with American people, and gaining social recognition and support. The engineering students in this study believe they are less successful in their social integration than they are in accomplishing academic goals, mainly because of their preoccupation with academics, language barriers and cultural differences. The presence of a large Chinese student community on campus has provided a sense of community and social support for these students, but it also contributes to diminishing their willingness and opportunities to interact with people of different cultural backgrounds. Depending on their needs and purposes, they have different insights into the meaning of cross-cultural adaptation and therefore, and choose different paths to establish themselves in a new environment. Overall, they agree that cross-cultural adaptation involves a process of re-establishing themselves in new academic, social, and cultural communities, and adaptation is necessary for their personal and professional advancement in the U.S. They also acknowledge that encountering and adjusting to cross-cultural challenges allow them to grow as a person and develop a new sense of self and identity, and negotiating cultural differences help them gain a deeper understanding of their own and other cultures. These findings offer insights into understanding the interconnections among international students academic life, socialization, and cross-cultural adaptation.

The growing cultural diversity in the United States confronts human service professions such as nursing with challenges to fundamental values of social justice and caring. Non-White individuals have experienced long-documented and persistent disparities in health outcomes and receipt of health care services when compared to whites. Medical evidence suggests that health care disparities experienced by non- Whites in the U.S. are perpetuated, in part, by bias, discrimination, and stereotyping by health care providers. National experts recommend cultural competence education to fix this problem. The cultural competence focus in nursing education programs has been criticized by some nursing scholars for essentializing culture and failing to examine the dynamics of race and racism in U.S. society. Yet, the call for an explicit focus on race and racism raises the question, “Are nursing faculty, of whom 93% are White, prepared to teach students about race and racism?” This study investigated what White nursing faculty members who teach cultural nursing education think, believe, and teach about race, racism, and anti-racism. The study resulted in four conclusions that are of interest not only to nursing faculty who teach cultural topics, but to any nursing faculty who wish to prepare students to work for justice in a culturally and racially diverse society. First, the findings suggest that the Whiteness of the participants’ personal and professional experiences and contexts obscured their understanding and teaching of race, racism, and anti-racism. Second, learning about race, racism, and anti-racism was best understood as a lifelong developmental process and warrants developmental learning goals. Third, teaching about race, racism, and anti-racism was most effective when grounded in relational, holistic pedagogies. Finally, the findings of the study suggest that the White faculty participants were not well prepared to teach about race, racism, and anti-racism, in most cases lacking the intention and academic knowledge to incorporate these topics into their culture courses. This study has implications for White nursing educators and administrators and offers recommendations to assist them in taking individual and systemic actions that may facilitate teaching and learning about race, racism, and anti-racism.

The path of growth and development for many American colleges and universities is to add new programs, majors, minors, departments, institutes, and centers to their academic portfolios in order to meet new demands and pursue new knowledge. Their source of funding is primarily through raising tuition rates and increasing non-tuition financial resources, including fundraising campaigns, endowments, and auxiliary services. The option rarely taken is scaling back or even eliminating old academic programs to make room for new ones. Historically, there has been little incentive to reduce academic programs. Student demand for higher education has been virtually insatiable and institutional capacity for implementing high tuition rate increases has been virtually unlimited. However, as a result of increasing economic pressures in recent years, the American higher education business model has been severely challenged and will likely need to be modified to ensure the stabilization of its financial underpinnings going forward. The specific issue that is examined in this study is the decision-making process that colleges and universities use in determining which academic programs to eliminate, consolidate, or reorganize. A particular focus of the research is the role that Responsibility Center Management (RCM) plays in the program closure and reorganization decision-making process and how institutions that use RCM differ from those that do not. RCM is a financial management model which allocates all direct and indirect revenues as well as direct and indirect expenses to individual academic units. The model identifies which programs are generating surpluses, deficits, or break-even results, and how they all look in combination with one another in forming the overall cross-subsidy profile of the institution. The research for this study includes a qualitative comparison case study analysis using three cases, all of which are private universities that have decided to discontinue or reorganize academic programs—one that uses RCM, one that does not use RCM, and one that uses a hybrid combination of RCM and non- RCM. The study evaluates the advantages and disadvantages of each approach.

Chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer are the leading causes of death in the United States, with people of color experiencing higher rates than the general population. Like most adults, college students typically do not adhere to nutrition and exercise recommendations that are in place to reduce the risks of chronic illnesses and promote good health. With increasing numbers of students of color attending college today, colleges must address their health and wellness needs. The purpose of this dissertation was to study the exercise behaviors and fruit and vegetable intake of college students of color by determining if relationships exist between various characteristics of students of color and their health habits. This study used a subsample of 5,587 African American, Asian American, Latina/o and Native American college students of color from the American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment fall 2008 nationwide college health survey. The results of this study indicate African American, Asian American, Latina/o and Native American college students do not meet current exercise or fruit and vegetable intake recommendations, with female students in all groups exercising less than their male counterparts. The results also indicated that distinct factors predicted fruit and vegetable intake and exercise practices for African American, Asian American, Latina/o and Native American college students. This study proposes a research-based Healthy Campus Committee model designed to improve the nutrition practices and increase exercise activity among African American, Asian American, Latina/o and Native American college students.

My dissertation analyzed the determinants of college success of freshman and transfer undergraduate students. I looked at correlation of Scholastic Aptitude Test scores and Advanced Placement credits with semester grade point average, probability of graduation, transfer and attrition. I also analyzed time to degree, transfer and attrition. I also took a more focused approach and investigated correlation of Advanced Placement grades with college course grades in five subject areas. Until now I had only looked at the performance of freshman students. I turned my attention to transfer students in my third chapter. I investigated time to degree of vertical, horizontal and reverse transfer students. I used two longitudinal datasets for my data analysis. One is based on enrollment files covering a period of 20 semesters of a 4-year research intensive public university and the other is a longitudinal survey dataset spanning 10 years. For modeling purposes I used Ordinary Least Squares, Tobit Regression, Multinomial Logit, Fixed Effects Logistic Regression and Cox Proportional Hazard model. The choices of models are made keeping in mind the nature of dependent variable and the research question being addressed. In my first chapter I conclude that for freshman students who report Advanced Placement grades, AP credits are a better predictor of their college success. For freshman students who do not report AP grades, SAT prove to be a good predictor of their college performance. I found similar results when I looked at course grades in Biology, Chemistry, English, Mathematics and Physics in my second chapter. An Advanced Placement grade in the respective subject is a more significant predictor of securing grade A in that particular subject’s college course. My analysis of transfer students showed that students who attend more than institution take longer time to graduate relative to students who start and end their baccalaureate in the same institution. I also found the result that presence of articulation agreements across institutions can help reduce time to degree for transfer students.

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to understand the current environment of intercultural sensitivity of nursing faculty and their ability to meet the needs of cross cultural nursing students. As the first nationwide study using the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) instrument with nursing faculty, this study adds to the body of literature which informs nursing programs and nursing faculty as they review curriculum, teach and plan for inclusion of cross cultural nursing students in the learning environment. Nursing faculty (n ＝ 54) from 7 of 9 geographic areas across the United States, the majority between the ages of between the ages of 51 and 60 years of age and hold a Master’s degree (or equivalent) and are placed on the actual IDI developmental continuum in the phase of Minimization, report they feel “Good” to “Barely Acceptable” as prepared to meet the teaching and learning needs of cross-cultural nursing students. With the Leading Orientation of Minimization identified aggregately, the nursing faculty will tend to minimize cultural differences in favor of a “melting-pot” approach to other cultures. This approach does not for allow validation and support of individual cultural preferences and does not represent best approaches to individualized care for patients or teaching and learning support needs for students, both of which are expectations of accrediting bodies in healthcare and nursing education. Nursing faculty in this study report having more confidence in the cultural inclusiveness in their nursing curriculum than their textbooks. The majority of the nursing faculty reported they participated in more group education oriented cultural training and learning activities. Without the personal connection in cross-cultural relationships it will be very difficult for people to pass from Minimization into Acceptance and ultimately Adaptation. It is recommended that individuals seek out opportunities for equality based relationships with people who have cultures different than their own. It is further recommended that the publishing industry take note that nursing faculty in this study identifies the nursing curriculum as more culturally inclusive than the textbooks.

Extant evaluation studies of the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 have focused primarily on its effects on the pace of innovation and on the norms and practices of academic research but neglected other public values. Seeking to redress this shortcoming, I begin by examining Bayh-Dole with respect to other relevant public values following the Public Value Failure approach. From that analysis, equity emerges as a pressing issue. I define equity issues, in a loosely Rawlsian sense, as situations of unfair distribution of political power and economic resources. My analysis identifies a business model of offices of technology transfer—that I call “nurturing start-ups”—that is likely to become a standard of practice. This model can foster either firm competition or concentration in emerging industries and will therefore have an impact on the distribution of economic benefits from innovation. In addition, political influence to reform Bayh-Dole is allocated disproportionately in favor of those who stand to gain from this policy. For instance, elite universities hold a larger share of the resources and voice of the university system. Consequently, adjusting the nurturing start-ups model to foster competition and increasing cooperation among universities should lead to a more equitable distribution of economic benefits and political voice in technology transfer. Conventional policy evaluation is also responsible for the neglect of equity considerations in Bayh-Dole studies. Currently, “what is the policy impact?” can be answered far more systematically than “why the impact matters?” or “is this policy designed and implemented legitimately?” The problem lies with the consequentialist theory of value that undergirds evaluation. Hence, I propose a deontological theory of evaluation to reaffirm the disciplines commitment to democratic policy making.