A Graduate Student Perspective on How Student Engagements Enrich and Enhance Multicultural Awareness on the Campus of Minnesota State University, Mankato

Author

Tomoko Matsui, Minnesota State University Mankato

Abstract

The challenges of enhancing and enriching student engagement, in order to promote multicultural awareness, on the campus of Minnesota State University, Mankato are the impetuses of this study. Multicultural awareness involves a greater understanding, sensitivity, and appreciation of the history, experiences, and lifestyles of different racial and ethnic groups. Therefore, the main goal of this study is to promote multicultural awareness through domestic and international students' engagements on the campus of Minnesota State University, Mankato. Four different theoretical perspectives explained the study, for example, Tinto's (1975) social integration theory, which emphasizes that one main function of higher education is to socialize students into university life. The study employed quantitative research methods to collect primary data. The information was gathered from students through a questionnaire consisting of 33 items. Data was analyzed using a version 12,018 of Qualtrics computer software. The subject of study is multicultural awareness (dependent variable).

The number of responses from the participants in the online survey was 275 students of total student population of 14,000. The chi-square tests of research hypotheses are supported. The study revealed that most American students and international students think that their educational experiences and multicultural awareness are enriched through engagement in both curricular and extra-curricular activities.

Advisor

Kebba Darboe

Committee Member

Hanh-Huy Phan

Committee Member

Penny Rosenthal

Date of Degree

2016

Language

english

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Science (MS)

College

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Recommended Citation

Matsui, T. (2016). A Graduate Student Perspective on How Student Engagements Enrich and Enhance Multicultural Awareness on the Campus of Minnesota State University, Mankato [Master’s thesis, Minnesota State University, Mankato]. Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works for Minnesota State University, Mankato. https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/etds/634/

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License