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201192 https://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.2.N.201192 http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ All Rights Reserved 2025 192 pages Doctoral Dissertation Academic theses en Brubaker, Samuel Henderson, Bryan J Lindsay, Nathan Golden, Amy Arizona State University Partial requirement for: Ed.D., Arizona State University, 2025 Field of study: Educational Leadership and Policy Studies The purpose of this research was to explore meaning-making in the first semester of college through the lens of self-authorship at a religious university. Self-authorship was selected as a framework to assess student development while also bridging with principles of the local setting’s religious tenets. This research emerged from challenges in supporting struggling students and the need for alternative metrics to complement traditional academic performance and retention measures. A recently redeveloped new student orientation course integrating students through an online delivered curriculum and peer mentors was used as the intervention within the first semester. Using a mixed-methods approach, this study examined (1) changes in self-authorship levels in the first semester, (2) the association between change in self-authorship with first-year outcomes, and (3) how the intervention influenced self-authorship development. Quantitative analysis revealed that there was an insignificant change in self-authorship within the first semester. The only significant relationship between self-authorship and first-year outcomes was a negative relationship, in which increased levels of belonging were associated with lower levels of change in self-authorship. Qualitative findings highlighted the complexities of meaning-making being reflected in students’ decision-making focused on whether to attend college, which college to attend, and which career/major was right for the student. Further refinements are needed to understand the role of students’ self-authorship changes longitudinally, and the interplay between spiritual and religious beliefs and practices on levels of self-authorship. Education Religion First Year Seminar First-Year Experience Identity meaning Self-Authorship Spirituality Meaning Making: The Association of First-Year Outcomes and Self-Authorship at a Religious University