ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes most of the ASU Theses and Dissertations from 2011 to present. ASU Theses and Dissertations are available in downloadable PDF format; however, a small percentage of items are under embargo. Information about the dissertations/theses includes degree information, committee members, an abstract, supporting data or media.
In addition to the electronic theses found in the ASU Digital Repository, ASU Theses and Dissertations can be found in the ASU Library Catalog.
Dissertations and Theses granted by Arizona State University are archived and made available through a joint effort of the ASU Graduate College and the ASU Libraries. For more information or questions about this collection contact or visit the Digital Repository ETD Library Guide or contact the ASU Graduate College at gradformat@asu.edu.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4
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- All Subjects: Higher Education
- Creators: Fischman, Gustavo
Description
The University of Guyana (UG) is the sole state university in the Republic of Guyana whose population is approximately 804,567. UG is currently approaching its 60th anniversary having been inaugurated on October 3, 1963. Like many higher education institutional settings, globally, UG’s ecosystem has evolved tremendously over the past decades and is being driven by an agenda that must focus on increasing efficiency and accountability. Recent economic events have contributed to this need for advancements such as the recent discovery of large deposits of oil off the coast of Guyana that is transforming the economic landscape and has accelerated the demand for qualified personnel to support a planned diversified economy. The university is also attracting an increasing number of students from outside of Guyana. UG functions inherently as a ‘loosely coupled’ higher educational institution where subsystems are fragmented. In addition, its recordkeeping systems are defective. This study explored how a properly functioning electronic records management system (ERMS) could support the institution in adoption of change initiatives, achieving good governance, and overall system effectiveness. This study was grounded in “systems theories” and applied qualitative and quantitative methods to explore the challenges of achieving overall institutional change. Four cycles of action research were completed. In the final cycle, an ERMS was piloted. Data were collected to understand the perceptions of the administrative and academic staff on how such a system (ERMS) could support the university in terms of governance and institutional cohesion. Outcomes suggested that the academic and administrative staff tend to strongly believe that a well-coordinated and effective ERMS is essential and would provide the kind of access to institutional records necessary for supporting change initiatives, employee effectiveness, and governance and institutional cohesion. They also believe that an ERMS would help to improve the decision-making processes, build trust, provide continuity, share institutional knowledge, and ultimately help to synergize the use of policies and regulations. Outcomes indicated an ERMS would help to counteract some of the challenges that are inherent in the loosely coupled nature of UG. These findings can provide the impetus to inspire a collaborative effort for advocacy and implementation.
ContributorsGarnett, Juneann Patricia (Author) / Thompson, Nicole (Thesis advisor) / Fischman, Gustavo (Committee member) / Greene, John E (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
This qualitative study explores the socialization processes of doctoral students in engineering and technology Ph.D. accredited programs at Chilean universities and how these experiences may impact their success outcomes, particularly advancement, time to degree, completion, and preparedness for postgraduation success. I employed semi-structured interviews to learn from 23 current doctoral students representing ten unique doctoral programs at eight higher education institutions (HEIs). Findings showed increasing student diversity among programs. In addition, students’ socialization showed to be affected by individual and institutional, and program-related factors, which resulted in distinctive student experiences. These processes were also shaped by the larger context of national policies related to programs such as funding, accreditation, and the job market. This study also identified trends in the relationships between students and program faculty, staff, and peers at different times of the doctoral training, which also created common and distinctive socialization dynamics. Findings illustrated how students' socialization experiences facilitated their advancement throughout the program toward completion, meeting expected degree completion times and enhancing their preparedness for postgraduation success. This dissertation includes implications for practice and future research opportunities.
ContributorsParra Gaete, Ivet (Author) / Fischman, Gustavo (Thesis advisor) / Kim, Jeongeun (Thesis advisor) / Celis, Sergio (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
This dissertation research explores the complexity of transformations of academic lives and academic identities along the multiple, non-linear, conflicting, and paradoxical trajectories of the pre-Soviet, Soviet, and post-Soviet times and spaces. Academic literature on the post-Soviet transformations of higher education has usually focused on structural reforms and policy changes, as well as their compatibility with the European and Western higher education policy agenda. Guided by the theoretical insights from the decolonial and post-Socialist transformation studies, this dissertation research intends to decenter the education policies and reforms from being a focal point of analysis; instead, it spotlights the transformation of Georgian academics through their memories, lived experiences, and imaginations about the future. The study offers insights into personal and collective experiences of being and becoming an academic in the process of navigating the evolving historical, political, cultural, and institutional contexts at three public universities in Georgia. Drawing on the narrative-ethnographic methodology, this study explores the complicated scenes and nuances of Georgian academic space by portraying how academics construct, reconstruct, adjust, resist, negotiate, and reinvent their academic selves during the post-Soviet transformations. Diffractive analysis of the narratives and ethnographic observations illustrates multiple intra-actions of academic identities through various temporal and spatial reconfigurations, revealing that the Soviet past is not left behind, and the European future is not that certain. Instead, the liminal academic space is haunted by the (re)awakened pasts and (re)imagined futures, and their inseparability enacts various co-existing scenarios of defuturing and refuturing of academic identities.
ContributorsTsotniashvili, Keti (Author) / Silova, Iveta (Thesis advisor) / Hailu, Meseret (Committee member) / Oleksiyenko, Anatoly (Committee member) / Fischman, Gustavo (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
This qualitative study examined how the scientific journal PLOS ONE assembled its editorial board, which is made up of more than 10,000 academic editors based in 131 countries. The study investigated how the board’s geographic diversity is enacted by the human and nonhuman actors of the assemblage. PLOS ONE is an open-access (OA) mega-journal launched in 2006 by the nonprofit organization Public Library of Science (PLOS). It publishes over 16,000 papers yearly, covering more than 200 scientific subjects of science and medicine. I drew on Actor-Network Theory (ANT), which proposes that processes, ideas, organizations, or objects are continuously generated within a network of relationships between human and nonhuman actors. I used the case study methodology and employed two qualitative research methods. First, I conducted semi-structured interviews with 26 academic editors from different fields, including biology and life sciences, chemistry, medicine and health sciences, physics, and social sciences. These editors are affiliated with research institutions across 14 countries. Additionally, I interviewed PLOS leaders, staff members, and a representative from an external contractor. Second, I employed documentary analysis of organizational documents and online secondary data. Findings showed that the human and nonhuman actors of the PLOS ONE editorial board reproduce biases in science based on authors’ and editors’ geographic origin, the journal’s size and the low diversity of PLOS staff members. I also identified that APCs (Article Processing Charges) act as mediators that trigger betrayals among the actors, which has consequences on the stability of the assemblage, especially in terms of trust between the publisher and the scientific community. Finally, this study also identified that publishing an OA mega-journal has contradictions and unexpected effects on the publishing landscape due to its large scale.
ContributorsLujano Vilchis, Ivonne (Author) / Fischman, Gustavo (Thesis advisor) / Kim, Jeongeun (Committee member) / Hailu, Meseret (Committee member) / Dussel, Inés (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023