Thanks are owed to so many for their support of this effort and contributions to my success: to Shawn Cleveland for his gracious, loving, selfless support, for taking on responsibility for the daily necessities of life so that I could focus on completing my education, and for his unending patience as I spent hours holed up in my office typing away on my computer; and, to my "cheering squad," my parents and sisters who called to urge me on and who apparently possessed some extrasensory

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... which enabled them to deliver many perfectly-timed encouragements, and repeatedly shared their unshakable confidence that I could achieve this goal. My deepest thanks to my enlightened committee, Daphne Cain, Brij Mohan and Carol Plummer, for their encouragement and direction through this process. I thank my chair, Juan Barthelemy, for his guidance, encouragement and technical expertise, and for helping me keep my focus in crunch time. A special thanks is offered to Brij for mentoring me through my graduate education thus far, challenging me philosophically and nurturing my inner academic. My sincerest thanks are extended to the busy deans and program directors, staff and students at the universities who assisted me in reaching their student populations to collect data: