A Phenomenological Study of the Impact of COVID-19 on Colleges and Universities in the United States
Date of Award
2-8-2022
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Educational Leadership, Ed.D.
First Advisor
Topeka Singleton
Committee Members
Annette Hux; Joe Nichols
Call Number
LD 251 .A566d 2021 L96
Abstract
2019-nCoV (COVID-19) is a novel coronavirus first identified in the Wuhan, Hubei Province, that developed into a global pandemic in the year 2020. The impact in early spring compromised many higher education institutions, forcing some to shift to remote operations and leaving schools to determine when, how, and to what capacity they could safely reopen while also making contingency plans for ongoing or future periods of disruption. As is often the case with disasters and public health crises, not all who are affected are impacted uniformly, and the disproportionate ways in which people and communities are affected influence resiliency and the ability to recover. Of specific interest for this study were the different ways colleges and universities throughout the United States experienced COVID-19. Attention was given to the measures taken by selected institutions to maintain their academic and support services while simultaneously protecting students, faculty, and staff. The use of a phenomenological qualitative approach investigated the experiences of one public and one private higher education institution in five regions of the United States: Northeast, Southwest, West, Southeast, and Midwest. An assessment of these institutions was evaluated through a social vulnerability framework and sought to understand if institutional type or the unique characteristics of the institutions bore influence on how significantly such a disaster impacted them or their ability to recover.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Lynn, Erin D., "A Phenomenological Study of the Impact of COVID-19 on Colleges and Universities in the United States" (2022). Student Theses and Dissertations. 260.
https://arch.astate.edu/all-etd/260
