I would like to thank my family, especially my husband, Tinashe Chimwaza; my mother Evetta Pitman; and my sister, Desiree Mariki; for their encouragement, love, prayers and support during this process and always. I am honored to have you in my life. I would like to acknowledge and thank Dr. Frank Neubrander, my professor, thesis advisor, and committee member for his countless advice and help throughout this degree program. I am grateful to you and cannot express the level of my gratitude. I

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... d also like to acknowledge and thank Dr. James Madden and Professor Tom Ricks for being members of my thesis committee. In addition, I must thank my principal, Debbie Bain for her support and everything she does. I would like to also express my thanks to my friends for their time, encouragement and support. Lastly, I would like to thank my LaMSTI 2010 cohort for every word of kindness, encouragement, support, inspiration and love. This process would have been a lot harder without you and I thank you for being there. iii Table of Contents Acknowledgments .