Education Commons^™

My Ncia Journey, And Why It Matters, Jody Tomanek

Instructional Leadership Abstracts

Have you ever had that moment in life where you know it is time to move on from something, yet it is so hard to officially break away? I am having that moment right now as a member of the NCIA board. This Instructional Leadership Abstract will be different from others, but in keeping with the mission of NCIA, contains information to support you as a community college instructional administrator.

NCIA has been a part of my professional life for the last 20 years. I first became familiar with NCIA when I was an administrative assistant working for a VP …

Pennsylvania Principals’ Describe Their Work, Examined Through The Theory Of Transformational Leadership, Shannon O'Donnell

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Being raised in a district composed of rural and suburban communities and later spending years teaching in urban and suburban school districts, I was able to define one key factor: successful students had one or more significant adult who provided them with meaningful guidance and support. For many, a classroom teacher and the experiences, mentorship, and compassion they provided happen to be that significant factor that changed the lives. I observed that as a classroom teacher, individuals are only responsible for designing instruction and activities, and regularly interacting with 20-30 students on a consistent basis. I felt that as an …

Technology Leadership Qualities In Secondary School Principals In Nebraska Who Support Student-Led Social Media Teams, Jill M. Johnson

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study addresses secondary school principals in Nebraska who are dealing with the negative ramifications of their students’ social media interactions. To combat the problem, this study sought to identify the technology leadership qualities possessed by secondary school principals in Nebraska who support student-led social media teams. A purposeful sampling of six secondary school principals in Nebraska, who have all been practicing principals for at least three years, engaged in individual semi-structured interviews via Zoom in January 2021. The primary research question was: What technology leadership qualities are possessed by secondary school principals in Nebraska who support student-led social media …

Deliberate Indifference: An Exploration Of The Student Survivor Activism Group Movement, Shyla Kallhoff

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

#MeToo. It’s On Us. End Rape on Campus. #BeTheSwede. Dear UNL. These phrases have united people all over the world to use their voices and speak out about sexual violence. In higher education, these statements empower students to make their voices heard, and simultaneously invoke fear in campus administrators who do not want to be held accountable for the mishandling/lack of Title IX cases. Student survivor activism groups, the subject of this study, have formed at universities around the country and often use similar statements to advocate for changes they feel need to happen. Finding no previous research, it is …

Predicting Teacher Job Satisfaction And Propensity To Leave In The Bering Strait School District In Rural Alaska Through The Application Of Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene Theory, Matthew Palmer

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study examines the relationship between teacher job satisfaction and teacher indicated propensity to leave their positions in one very unique geographical and cultural educational context - the Bering Strait School District in rural Western Alaska. Data was collected for this quantitative study via a questionnaire survey instrument utilizing Likert scales that was distributed to teachers via email and completed online. The questionnaire items focused on determinants of teacher job satisfaction and teacher indicated propensity to leave as found in a body of research which demonstrates that job satisfaction influences employee propensity to leave, and that employee propensity to leave …

“I Always Felt Like I Belonged:” A Case Study On A First-Generation Focused Student Success Program And Sense Of Belonging, Stephanie Zobac

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This qualitative case study explored if and how a first-generation focused student success program fostered sense of belonging amongst first-generation college students. Utilizing the theoretical framework of sense of belonging (Strayhorn, 2012), the following research questions guided this study: (1) How do first-generation students experience a first-generation focused student success program? (2) How do first-generation students experience sense of belonging when participating in a first-generation student success program, if at all? (3) How can institutional policies and practices, in the form of a first-generation student success program support the sense of belonging of first-generation students, if at all? Participants included …

Yātrā: A Phenomenology Of Acculturation And Sojourner Experience Of Indian International Students In The U.S., Pankaj Amrut Desai

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation study utilized Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to understand the acculturation and sojourner experience of undergraduate Indian international students in the U.S. Midwest. Focusing exclusively on the lived experience of these students, this study engaged Berry’s Fourfold Model of Acculturation (Berry, 1992, 1994) and the ABC Model of Acculturation as presented by Ward et al., (2001) to amplify the voices of three participants to bring forth the meaning they attach to their experiences. This study made use of the concept of Yātrā to signify the multidimensional journey that these international students undertake while migrating from their heritage culture in …

From Negotiator To Note-Taker: The Role Of Women Leaders And Academic Technology Cultures, Leslie Zenk, Susan Harden

Journal of Women in Educational Leadership

For years, there has been a perceived inaccessibility of the field of Information Technology, centering on an organizational culture of “men and their machines” (Clark, 2012). This paper examines the role of women who lead technology initiatives in higher education and presents the experiences of these women leaders and their collision of organizational cultures as part of a comparative case study of two public institutions. Findings suggest elements of culture within the IT field that contribute to the experiences of women leaders in IT, and illuminate that leading a technology project may add a layer of gender expectations and gender …

Bordering On Normal: Dissolving Honors Boundaries, Lucy Morrison

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

First-year students faced unprecedented challenges while transitioning from high school to university in fall 2020. The coronavirus crisis, economic downturn, social unrest, and a rapid and massive shift to remote learning altered their world in fundamental ways. This essay describes the response of one honors program toward providing extra- and co-curricular opportunities for student engagement with contemporary issues affecting the local community. While keeping the events of the world in view, the author demonstrates a virtual building of campus community. Pedagogical tools, such as service learning, complement a technological infrastructure for supporting colloquial inquiry and confronting social inequity, and they …

“Mad And Educated, Primitive And Loyal”: Comments On The Occupations Of Honors, Christopher Keller

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

This essay examines the scope of honors scholarship and its role in creating and contributing to meaningful dialogue among practitioners. The author explores how scholarly contributions of honors educators cross boundaries to occupy the social, cultural, political, and economic conversations that shape lives and transform communities. Pointing to socio-political crises of 2020, the author posits that the conjunctive nature of honors discourse satisfies an expedient need for exploration and questioning, and he further considers how honors scholarship might incite positive change in and beyond honors curricula and scholarly record.

Inquiry As Occupation, Matthew Carey Jordan

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Honors educators must acknowledge and respect clear boundaries between the work they do in the classroom and the advocacy they support or engage in as private citizens. Public colleges exist to prepare citizens for life in a pluralistic, democratic republic, and few limits should be placed here on what questions may be asked or which views may be expressed. By encouraging a clear delineation of the distinct roles occupied in a discourse community, the author offers a strategy for addressing contentious social issues in a principled manner.

Forging A More Equitable Path For Honors Education: Advancing Racial, Ethnic, And Socioeconomic Diversity, Andrew J. Cognard-Black, Art L. Spisak

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Despite a long tradition of social science research on educational access and barriers to inclusion for underrepresented minorities and the poor, until recently such issues have gotten relatively little attention in quantitative investigations of honors education. Public interest in educational access has grown in recent years, however, energizing discussions about the need to confront the exclusionary features of honors. The authors use data from the 2018 Student Experience in the Research University (SERU) Survey to examine the degree and variability of underrepresentation in honors at a sample of major universities in the United States. They then identify a set of …

Jnchc 22:1 - Cover, Contents, Call For Papers, Editorial Policy, Dedication To Annmarie Guzy, Editor's Introduction, Ada Long

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Contents

Call for Papers . v

Editorial Policy, Deadlines, and Submission Guidelines . vi

Dedication to Annmarie Guzy . vii

Ada Long, Editor’s Introduction ix

Bridging The Interval: Teaching Global Awareness Through Music And Politics, Galit Gertsenzon

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Inquiry in Global Studies: Music and Politics is a regular course offering in which first-year honors students examine the social and cultural import of music in a global context. This qualitative study examines the practical and pedagogical implications of teaching music and politics during the coronavirus crisis. In a thematic, five-part series analyzing non-Western music both in service to the government and as protest against it, the author describes how students perceived the commonalities and diversities in global culture, history, politics, and society through music while at the same time demonstrating growth in music-making processes and confronting a remote learning …

“Here’S The Church, Here’S The Steeple”: Existing Politics Of Honors Education, Owen Cantrell

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

In considering the extent to which honors education should engage with political and social justice movements, the author argues that its programs must first reckon with their own histories and complicity within systems of domination and oppression before determining the best approach. This essay examines how the continued legacy of racialized tracking at the secondary level, as well as the exclusionary nature of collegiate honors programs, has often exacerbated inequalities for marginalized student populations. The author concludes with a call for honors practitioners to confront the history of honors education; to de-center honors in service learning and community engagement; and …

Journal Of The National Collegiate Honors Council, Vol. 22, No. 1 (Spring/Summer 2021): Forum Essays On “The Boundaries Of Honors”

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Contents

Call for Papers . v

Editorial Policy, Deadlines, and Submission Guidelines . vi

Dedication to Annmarie Guzy . vii

Ada Long, Editor’s Introduction ix

Forum essays on “the boundaries of honors”

Christopher Keller, “Mad and Educated, Primitive and Loyal”: Comments on the Occupations of Honors . 3

Betsy Greenleaf Yarrison, Crossing the Ohio: Welcoming Students of Color into the Honors White Space 13

Owen Cantrell, “Here’s the church, here’s the steeple”: Existing Politics of Honors Education 21

Leah White, Traveling in Circles: Gatekeeping in Honors . 27

Matthew Carey Jordan,Inquiry as Occupation 31

Andrew Martino, Territorial …

Jnchc 22:1--About The Authors

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Owen Cantrell • Tim Christensen • Andrew J. Cognard-Black • Teal Darkenwald • Bhibha M. Das • Linda Frost • Galit Gertsenzon • Wayne Godwin • Jerry Herron • Jason T. Hilton • Elizabeth Hodge • Jessica Jordan • Matthew Carey Jordan • Christopher Keller • Andrew Martino • Lucy Morrison • Jeffrey A. Portnoy • Art L. Spisak • Aaron Stoller • Carmen Walker • Gerald Weckesser • Leah White • Betsy Greenleaf Yarrison

Traveling In Circles: Gatekeeping In Honors, Leah White

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

This essay challenges boundaries in honors that are both intentional and unavoidable. Reflecting on what appears to be an overemphasis on boundaries and gatekeeping within honors, the author urges practitioners to consider its exclusionary culture and the extent to which it circles around its stated goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion. The current preoccupation of honors with reaching beyond its boundaries to embrace the goals of social justice movements, for example, reveals the extent of its entrenchment with concerns of Whiteness. This essay suggests that until honors practitioners are willing to do the difficult reflective work of understanding why boundaries …

Keeping The Faith: Nchc’S Readers And Writers, Jeffrey Portnoy

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Honors advocates and scholars should pursue transdisciplinary inquiry to overcome traditional notions of well-defined knowledge boundaries. This essay examines the publication record of the National Collegiate Honors Council beyond its immediate utilitarian value as a means for communication with its members. Citing usage and metrics, the author suggests that current and past literatures that examine the enterprise of honors, its occupation(s), and what occupies its practitioners are being accessed and integrated beyond honors at an exponential rate. As NCHC publications continue to push beyond the boundaries of honors, the author encourages readers to engage more fully in NCHC-sponsored discourse by …

Crossing The Ohio: Welcoming Students Of Color Into The Honors White Space, Betsy Greenleaf Yarrison

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Honors has long been a space for pushing boundaries and promoting culturally responsive teaching, yet students from underserved and marginalized populations rarely see themselves reflected in the designated intelligentsia of most universities. This essay considers several aspects of boundaries in, and barriers to, the honors experience. Implicit in marketing honors as “value-added” is the boundary between the honors curriculum and the “regular” curriculum from which other boundaries extend. From outmoded enrollment management and admissions policies to curricular and instructional strategies that hold to a pedagogy of whiteness, the author urges honors educators to create paths to student academic success by …

Honors As A Third Space Occupation, Aaron Stoller

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

This essay argues that in order for honors to occupy and transform the academy it must begin by transforming itself. Drawing on Homi Bhabha’s notion of “third space,” the author argues that the traditional epistemic paradigms in higher education are inadequate for conceptualizing the praxis-driven work required in honors. Honors should be understood as a form of transdisciplinarity, with the aim of producing what is defined as Mode 2 knowledge. Only from within this nonbinary professional framework is honors capable of disrupting, reimagining, and transforming the university.

Understanding The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Honors College Students: A Qualitative Content Analysis, Bibha M. Das, Carmen Walker, Elizabeth Hodge, Tim Christensen, Teal Darkenwald, Wayne Godwin, Gerald Weckesser

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

While the coronavirus crisis altered all facets of life across the globe, its impact on American higher education posed immediate challenges to students and faculty alike. Disruptions in normal, in-person instruction affected all students’ abilities to connect and create, but first-year students and their professors were particularly restricted in areas relating to classroom engagement, interpersonal exchange, and academic support. This pilot study presents first-year experiences of honors students during this time. Using reflective writing exercises, authors examine and assess a range of student responses (n = 98) to this extraordinary circumstance. Qualitative content analyses and coding reveal eight major themes: …

The Recruitment And Retention Of Diverse Students In Honors: What The Last Twenty Years Of Scholarship Say, Jason T. Hilton, Jessica Jordan

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Common to most colleges and universities across the United States, honors programs are often criticized as havens for academically elite and privileged students. To help address concerns about the recruitment and retention of diverse honors students, this study presents a systematic review (2000–2019, inclusive) of published literature relating to diversity in honors education (n = 66). Identifying six emergent themes, authors examine the types of research presented in the literature; how diversity is defined by scholars; and programmatic best practices for increasing student diversity. A thorough description of one program’s flexible, innovative, and adaptive strategies for curricular improvement, recruitment practices, …

On Taking Emerson’S Good Advice: “If We But Know What To Do With It”, Jerry Herron

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

In his 1837 essay “The American Scholar,” Ralph Waldo Emerson offers a challenge that is appropriate for honors practitioners today—namely, to figure out just how good a time this is to be doing the work we do. Honors students, faculty, and staff occupy every part of the institutions we call home, so we should take advantage of our position and of all we know about the measurable value added by our best practices to address the immediate challenges confronting us.

Honors As Gadfly, Linda Frost

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Although honors populations occupy only a fraction of institutional enrollments, they have undeniably changed the nature of higher education. This essay considers the impact of honors on university culture, processes, and infrastructure. Touted as a “critical element” of the comprehensive college experience for both students and faculty, honors exceeds and outpaces other units within the academy in curricular innovation, cross-functional collaboration, and high-impact practice, and by its example, it continues to provoke others into action by its persistent variation and maturation.

How A Small Teaching Center Made A Big Impact During The Pandemic Crises, J. A. Carter, Bradford Mallory, Brenda Refaei, Ruth Benander

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

For many faculty developers, 2020’s challenges changed our approach to our work. We found that by expanding our networks and relying on our collaborative spirit, we were able to adapt quickly and effectively to changing events. Each member of our four-person Learning + Teaching Center (LTC) team brings expertise and skills for faculty development. We employ a holistic approach to faculty development that not only provides programming for teaching improvement but also addresses the social and emotional needs of faculty and staff. The challenges of 2020 forced faculty and staff to work remotely, which necessitated more programming in how to …

In Search Of Silver Linings: Strategies For Preparing Future Faculty During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Tazin Daniels, Elizabeth Bailey, Anoff Nicholas Cobblah

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

In this article, we describe our experience as a racially and disciplinarily diverse, relatively junior program team who embraced the opportunity to transform a 20-year-old professional development seminar for graduate students into a remote offering in response to COVID-19. Our efforts to support our participants and champion an institutional move toward equitable and effective virtual programming are situated alongside the psychological tolls of remote work, a global health crisis, and ongoing racial violence across the United States. We recount our experience using, as a helpful metaphor, Lewin’s change model, which describes the process of “unfreezing,” “changing,” and “refreezing” long-standing assumptions …

Holding Tight To Our Convictions And Lightly To Our Ways: Inviting Shared Expertise As A Strategy For Expanding Inclusion, Reach, And Impact, Kylie Korsnack, Leslie Ortquist-Ahrens

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

When the global pandemic forced campuses across the United States to send students home in March 2020, instructors were thrown into triage mode, forced to rapidly transition their on-the-ground classroom curriculum to a format that could be completed remotely by students spread out across the country. At the same time, centers for teaching and learning (CTLs) also entered triage mode, puzzling over how to quickly but effectively provide appropriate training and meaningful support to prepare faculty for this rapid transition (Aebersold et al., 2020). The situation’s urgency, coupled with the significant constraints many CTL directors already experienced, necessitated creative, flexible, …

Growing Pains (And Opportunities): Launching A Center For Teaching And Learning During A Global Pandemic, Johanna Inman

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This article provides a summary of the steps that were taken to launch a new center for teaching and learning (CTL) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Analysis of these steps explain how the inaugural director leveraged the pivot to emergency remote teaching to capitalize on faculty interest for educational development and increase collaboration between non-academic units that support teaching. Discussion also includes how strategic planning guided this process and ultimately garnered new staffing for this small center-of-one.

Transcending Adversity: Trauma-Informed Educational Development, Mays Imad

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The purpose of this article is to reflect on the pertinence and utility of using a trauma-informed lens in educational development. A trauma-informed approach is a framework grounded in an understanding of and responsiveness to the impact of trauma. After I describe the primary source of traumatic stress many faculty members are experiencing, I offer trauma-informed suggestions for how educational developers can help mitigate the effects of that stress. Importantly, in order to do this work of supporting faculty effectively and sustainably, it is critical that educational developers continue to attend to their own well-being. The overarching theme of this …