Public administration as an academic discipline deals with the study of management in the public sector. However, its involvement with the study of public higher education management (or public higher educational administration) appears to be limited if not non-existent. Two recent areas of increasing interest at U.S. public institutions of higher education are undergraduate retention and success. This thesis sheds light on these areas of interest by: (1) analyzing the values of undergraduate retention and success within the context of other higher educational values and policies that have been institutionalized in U.S. higher education; (2) addressing key problematic areas in student retention research and practice; (3) advancing an integrative model of student departure which addresses the multidimensional factors that not only contribute to student departure, but can also impede undergraduate student success. Research design for the testing of model and recommendations for future research are also discussed. For further information concerning the content of this thesis manuscript you may contact Iván López at [email protected]
