Approved

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express an incredible amount of gratitude for those who have been a part of this thesis writing journey with me, whether they always realized it or not. Successfully completing and defending my thesis has been an incredibly rewarding opportunity, one I am blessed to have had, but I certainly could not have gotten through this alone. The level of dedication and commitment that the chair of my committee, Dr. Dimitra Jackson, has shown me over the past year and a half has been astounding. Your guidance, support, empathy, encouragement, and the challenges that you put before me pushed me into becoming a better researcher and a better practitioner within the field of Higher Education and Student Affairs. I would be lost without you. Thank you for allowing me to learn far more through this process than I could have ever imagined – about qualitative research, this area of focus, and myself. I am thankful for Dr. Philip Craig Morton and absolutely everything that you bring to the table. Your assistance, suggestions, and knowledge have been so helpful in allowing this research to have a clinical influence. Your feedback has been pivotal, and I do hope to proceed further with this research. Thank you for that encouragement and belief that I can. Stacy Jacob, thank you for encouraging me to explore qualitative research and to not be afraid to challenge the process or the system. You have an incredible way with teaching, even from afar. I am grateful to have learned from and been inspired by you