Digital Commons Network^™

The Development Of Critical Thinking Skills In Undergraduate Students, Karla J. Saeger

Culminating Projects in Higher Education Administration

This quantitative study investigated whether alternative instructional approaches to develop critical thinking, exemplified by different general education requirements in two different Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) institutions, impacted the development of critical thinking skills among undergraduate students. This study is framed by Ennis’s classification of general, infused, immersed, and mixed instructional approaches.

St. Cloud State University and Winona State University, two MnSCU institutions, share a collective definition of critical thinking and a common goal of developing critical thinking in undergraduate students. St. Cloud State University and Winona State University do, however, differ in approaches to fulfilling the goal area …

Grow Your Own Leaders: Campus-Based Leadership Development Programs, Eric J. Runestad

Culminating Projects in Higher Education Administration

As the field of higher education becomes more complex and professionalized, some institutions are responding by growing their own leaders through local, grassroots leadership development programming for faculty and staff. There is a significant body of research on leadership, though no universal theory of leadership exists. And, although campus-based leadership development has been studied modestly around the world, and considerably in community colleges, there is little broad knowledge and a significant lack of empirical research about such programs at four-year colleges and universities. This qualitative research study investigated three university campus-based leadership development programs. It seeks to provide an improved …