Hoffman, R. Leigh
(2024)
Engaging the Commuter Student: Examining the Impact of a Majors Mentor Program on Commuter Students.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
University commuter students are typically less engaged outside the classroom than their residential counterparts, being less likely to participate in extracurricular activities and university-sponsored events. This lack of engagement can lead to lower rates of persistence and retention. At the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, a small, regional, public university, commuter students comprise almost 60% of the overall student population. Despite being the majority, these students are typically less engaged on campus than the residential students and have reported being less satisfied in a number of areas. Using an improvement science approach, my theory of improvement was that by connecting engagement opportunities to academics, I could increase commuter students’ involvement. The intervention I tested was a Majors Mentor program which involved upper-level students mentoring and connecting with second semester first-year students within the same major or academic area. The impact of this peer mentoring program on commuter students’ engagement was measured through a mixed-methods approach, including attendance records, a post-participation satisfaction and opinion survey, and semi-structured interviews conducted with the commuter students who were both mentees and mentors. Results of this study suggest that the Majors Mentor program helped commuter students to connect more actively with the campus community, and that they benefitted from the intervention, engaging more with the institution. Strengths, limitations, implications, and suggested improvements to the intervention are also discussed. Further iterations of this intervention are recommended in order to collect more conclusive data and findings and to help improve the program in the future.
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Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
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| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
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| ETD Committee: |
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| Date: |
5 January 2024 |
| Date Type: |
Publication |
| Defense Date: |
15 November 2023 |
| Approval Date: |
5 January 2024 |
| Submission Date: |
12 December 2023 |
| Access Restriction: |
No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately. |
| Number of Pages: |
84 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
School of Education > Administrative and Policy Studies |
| Degree: |
EdD - Doctor of Education |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
commuter students, college student engagement, college peer mentoring |
| Date Deposited: |
05 Jan 2024 20:35 |
| Last Modified: |
05 Jan 2024 20:35 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/45657 |
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