Education Commons^™

Gender Perceptions And Female Students' Academic Engagement And Success In Stem Fields, Rheanna Morgan

School of Social Work Undergraduate Honors Theses

Despite an increase of females in higher education and the workforce, fields such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) continue to be male-dominated. One explanation for this trend is the lack of gender representation and counterstereotypical role models to encourage female engagement in these fields at the university level. Previous research has looked at instructor gender, classroom gender composition, and involvement in extracurricular activities as possible factors influencing students' engagement and success in the classroom. However, few studies have investigated how gender perceptions influence female students in STEM fields. This study uses self-report data from a voluntary survey to …

Book Choices Of Girls During The Transition To Middle School: Empowerment Through Reading, Ilona Poole

Human Development and Family Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this project was to fill a research gap on the reading interest of early adolescent girls and to reveal whether the books these students are reading feature strong female leads. The literature review suggests that the transition to middle school is often a challenging and critical time for children, particularly for females. It also reveals the importance of book reading and relatable and strong girl characters to guide female students. These students can learn from the actions of the protagonist through character education. Based on this information, an online pilot survey was distributed to 4^th and …

The Emotional Toil Of Paying For College: Lower Socioeconomic Status White Women’S College Experiences, 1880-1920, Heidi A. Jaeckle

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Typically historical inquiries in higher education have been centered on privileged individuals from wealthier backgrounds who had the opportunity of attending primarily prestigious institutions. The experiences of college women from lower to middle class socioeconomic backgrounds have been for the most part ignored. This dissertation explores how socioeconomic backgrounds shaped the experiences of college women from the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth century, focusing on lower class students. With no universal financial aid program, the majority of these women were from families who could afford to pay tuition. Women from lower socioeconomic backgrounds did attend college, but their …

Students' Attitudes Towards Standardized Testing: A Literature Review, Kelly Gard

Curriculum and Instruction Undergraduate Honors Theses

Standardized testing is a task that all students must undertake during their educational careers. Standardized tests are large determinants to course placements, exceptionality placements, grades, school sanctions or rewards, and education policy. It is imperative that all students have an equal opportunity to succeed on standardized tests. However, bias, stress, and anxiety in standardized testing often hinders the opportunity for many students to excel on the tests.

The purpose of this literature review is to discuss the research conducted on standardized testing bias which includes the prevalence of testing bias as well as the causes and types of testing bias. …

A Perspective Of Female Faculty In Hospitality Higher Education, Clarissa Mason

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Bullying and related incivility have become critical social issues influencing not only individual lives but also society at large; yet, extensive research on bullying only began about four decades ago (Randall, 2001; Sanders, 2004). Bullying can happen to children, but it can also impact adults more often than one would think. The 2014 WBI U.S. Workplace Bullying Survey, conducted by the Workplace Bullying Institute , found that “, one-quarter of adult Americans (27%) said they directly experienced abusive conduct at work” (Namie, Christensen, & Phillips, 2014, p.4), and over one third of adults are aware of incidents of workplace bullying. …

Women In Stem: Strategies And Recommendations For Academic Women And Institutional Leaders, Sarah Jensen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Women still comprise a small number of full professors in STEM disciplines in research universities, which have historically been male dominated. The National Science Foundation (NSF) has recognized the challenge of getting more women to enter the professoriate, earn tenure, and advance to full professor. These women can then encourage more women to enter into STEM as educators and researchers. The purpose of this study was to recognize, explore, and depict strategies used by women full professors to overcome obstacles they faced while advancing in academic STEM fields. The study participants also offered recommendations for women faculty desiring to become …

Women And The University Presidency: Increasing Equity In Leadership, Tania Carlson Reis, Marilyn L. Grady

Journal of Research on the College President

Women remain underrepresented in university presidential positions (American Council on Education, 2017). In this narrative study, eight women presidents of Carnegie Classified public doctoral granting universities were interviewed to understand how they navigated a routeto the position. Findings indicate that perceptions of gender,and opportunities for professional development, complicated the presidential path for women. Also, building leadership capacity was noted as important to sustaining and increasing women leaders in higher education.

Who Did They Just Hire: A Content Analysis Of Announcements Of New College Presidents And Chancellors, Jessica J. Fry, Z. W. Taylor, Del Watson, Rebecca Gavillet, Pat Somers

Journal of Research on the College President

Historically, women and non-binary conforming individuals have not held executive leadership positions at U.S. institutions of higher education at the same rate as men. And although the presidency or chancellorship may be the single most powerful executive leadership position in U.S. colleges and universities, no research has examined how new presidents or chancellors are announced to the public through official, institutional websites. This study analyzes a three-year dataset (2016–19) of 443 press releases announcing new presidents or chancellors at U.S. institutions, paying close attention to how press releases differ based on gender. Findings reveal that men were more likely to …

A Gender Bias Habit-Breaking Intervention Led To Increased Hiring Of Female Faculty In Stemm Departments, Patricia G. Devine, Patrick S. Forscher, William T.L. Cox, Anna Kaatz, Jennifer Sheridan, Molly Carnes

Psychological Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Addressing the underrepresentation of women in science is a top priority for many institutions, but the majority of efforts to increase representation of women are neither evidence-based nor rigorously assessed. One exception is the gender bias habit-breaking intervention (Carnes et al., 2015), which, in a cluster-randomized trial involving all but two departmental clusters (N = 92) in the 6 STEMM focused schools/colleges at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, led to increases in gender bias awareness and self-efficacy to promote gender equity in academic science departments. Following this initial success, the present study compares, in a preregistered analysis, hiring rates …