Public Affairs Electronic Theses and Dissertations (UMKC)
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The items in this collection are the theses and dissertations written by students of the Department of Public Affairs. Some items may be viewed only by members of the University of Missouri System and/or University of Missouri-Kansas City. Click on one of the browse buttons above for a complete listing of the works.
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Item The Impact of Student’s Home Language on Performance and Participation in International Baccalaureate Coursework(2023) Foster, Kristian L.; Caruthers, Loyce Ellenor, 1947-Students must have a working understanding of the language of instruction to be successful in school. In the United States, English is the predominant language of instruction, and students who come from homes where a language other than English is spoken face the additional challenge of learning both subject matter content and the dominant language. Further, students who do not have the support and resources needed for successful language acquisition are more likely to fall behind academically and not graduate from high school. Similarly, for students to take advantage of advanced coursework, such as the International Baccalaureate (IB) program, they must be able to comprehend and excel at communicating using the English language. This non-experimental study analyzed the differences in IB English exam scores, rates of full IB program enrollment, and IB program completion, specifically among graduates from Lincoln College Preparatory Academy in the Kansas City Public School District. An ANOVA and Chi-square measurements found that these variables are not significantly related. While not explicitly part of this study, the performance of females on the IB English exam was analyzed for comparison between defined language groups. The statistically significant results of this ANOVA are included in the findings of this study. These results have implications for broader educational policy and practice to support all students’ success in IB programs.Item Three Essays In Mobilization Theory(2023) Levey, Sam Harvey; Fullwiler, Scott T.This dissertation explores the phenomenon of society-wide mobilization, the response to a major national emergency in which the stakes feel existential and the policy choices often push the bounds of what was previously conceivable within the political discourse. The prototypical examples of this are major wars, such as World War II, but there’s no inherent reason these situations must be limited to combat; indeed the broad purpose of this study is to inform the policy response to other pressing social emergencies such as pandemics and climate change. The first essay is a literature review, painting the broad picture of the bounds of mobilization theory, by drawing on, updating, and synthesizing neglected literature in “mobilization economics,” as well as some modern contributions to the analogy between WWII and climate change. The second essay is a qualitative historical study, looking through archival records from the United States Treasury during World War II, to piece together the economic worldview held by these administrators. The third essay considers a specific theoretical issue of how saving policies (policies intended to channel household income into saving rather than consumption, to prevent inflation) interact with the management of the national debt and future fiscal and monetary policy. Through these interventions, this dissertation asserts that mobilization is relevant again for addressing the challenges of our time, and ripe for interdisciplinary study.Item El Centro, Inc.: An Historical Research Study(2022) La Faver, Leah Suzanne; McCarther, Shirley MarieThis historical research study examined the history of El Centro, Inc. in Wyandotte County, Kansas, from its origins in 1972 until 2019. The social, political, legal, and economic contexts surrounding the organization’s journey were also investigated, beginning in the year 1900 and expanding from the local environment to the state, regional, and national levels. This study focused on El Centro’s development of educational programming in the areas of youth services, advocacy, health, and economic empowerment. Susan Kenny Stevens’ Lifecycle Model was used to organize the history of El Centro. The study was largely based on document analysis and included oral histories to supplement the written evidence.Item Social power in public-private partnerships: shifting sands make an unstable foundation(2021) Klumb, Jason; Renz, David O. (David Owen)This case study examines stakeholder salience and social power in the pre-solicitation phase of a public-private partnership. Public bodies are increasingly exploring public-private partnerships to address high-cost, high-profile, high-risk public infrastructure needs. These multi-stakeholder procurement methods require a deeper understanding of stakeholder salience and power dynamics. The methodology in this study consisted of coding archival documents and interviews and analyzing data from worksheets provided by informants. Stakeholder theory is applied to the case of a $1 billion new airport terminal project, and the findings reflect shifting salience among key stakeholders over the study's timeline. Power ratings were collected from key stakeholders to assess themselves and their peers throughout the process. Power ratings illustrated through radar charts demonstrated a progression toward a nearly equal distribution of power among highly salient stakeholders. In this case, the pre-solicitation phase evolved from presenting a sole-source, no-bid proposal with private financing to requiring a full and open competition with public financing. There was an evident decrease in the power rating for some stakeholders and an increase in the power rating for other stakeholders. These dynamics suggest that an academic and managerialist approach to public-private partnerships, particularly in the critical pre-solicitation phase, should consider the application of stakeholder theory and collaboration techniques to better understand stakeholder salience and social power.Item Performance-Based Fundraiser Compensation: An Analysis of Preference, Prevalence and Effect(University of Missouri -- Kansas City, 2018) Beem, Matthew J.; Renz, David O. (David Owen)This dissertation examines the preference for and prevalence of performance-based compensation and the relationship between it and productivity within the sample population of professional fundraisers. It reviews the history of fundraiser compensation and prevalence of incentive pay in the nonprofit sector and among professional fundraisers, including its correlation to performance. The study’s first hypothesis posits that a majority of fundraisers whose compensation includes an at-risk component prefer financial rewards over non financial rewards, while a majority of fundraisers whose compensation does not include an at-risk component prefer non-financial rewards over financial rewards. The second hypothesis holds that fundraisers who work for higher education, health care and arts organizations prefer financial over non-financial rewards, while fundraisers who work for religious, social service and environmental organizations prefer non-financial over financial rewards. The third hypotheses asserts that the compensation plans of male fundraisers are different than the compensation plans of female fundraisers. The study tests the first two hypotheses with multiple regression analysis and the third with an independent sample t-test. Hypothesis tests rejected the first null hypothesis but failed to reject the second and third null hypotheses. Findings revealed respondents’ dissatisfaction with the relationship between goal attainment, performance and compensation in their jobs. It also found significant compensation differences based on respondents’ gender and ethnicity, findings different from research discussed in the literature review. My research also confirmed that the age, educational attainment and other descriptive characteristics of the sample population are similar to those reported in research discussed in the literature review. This dissertation adds important knowledge about the prevalence of and desire for performance-based compensation within the sample population and what effect performance-based compensation has on the amount of money fundraisers raise.