Education Commons^™

Non-Tenure-Track Faculty And Community Engagement: How The 2020 Carnegie Community Engagement Classification Application Can Encourage Campuses To Support Non-Tenure-Track Faculty And Their Community Engagement, Allison Lafave, Damani Lewis, Sarah Smith

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

In 2006, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching developed an elective classification for community engagement for institutions of higher education. To receive the classification, campuses must complete an application and respond to questions by providing evidence that demonstrates a commitment to sustaining and increasing their community engagement efforts (Welch & Saltmarsh, 2013). Many of the application questions relate to policies and practices that affect faculty careers. For example, the 2015 Community Engagement Classification application asked institutions to describe relevant professional development opportunities and ways in which faculty community engagement is incentivized, recognized, and rewarded. These questions are important, …

Admission Guaranteed Program At Umass Boston, Academic Support Services And Undergraduate Studies, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Every student, whether low-income, first-generation, with a disability, or at high risk for academic failure, will develop the skills, knowledge, and motivation to successfully enroll in and complete postsecondary education.

Admission Guaranteed Program (Agp) At Umass Boston, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Jeremiah E. Burke High School, Boston Green Academy, Dorchester Academy

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Initiated in 1989, the Admission Guaranteed Program at the University of Massachusetts Boston guarantees admission to the university for students enrolled at partner high schools. Through AGP, students who take courses in the required subject areas and meet specific program criteria are assured admission to the university in the College of Liberal Arts or the College of Science and Mathematics.

Umass Boston Project Reach Talent Search, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Jeremiah E. Burke High School, Dorchester Academy, Madison Park High School, Dearborn Middle School, Mccormack Middle School

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

REACH identifies and serves disadvantaged young people who have the potential for education at the post-secondary level and encourages them to continue and graduate from secondary school and enroll in programs of post-secondary education. High school and post-secondary dropouts are also encouraged and assisted in returning to school.

Project Reach Talent Search At Umass Boston, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Jeremiah E. Burke High School, Dorchester Academy, Madison Park High School, Dearborn Middle School, Mccormack Middle School

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

REACH identifies and serves disadvantaged young people who have the potential for education at the post-secondary level and encourages them to continue and graduate from secondary school and enroll in programs of post-secondary education. High school and post-secondary dropouts are also encouraged and assisted in returning to school. Project REACH was first funded by the U.S. Department of Education in September 1985 and at the time became the first Educational Talent Search Program in the nation to serve low-income, first generation college bound, urban youth with disabilities. Today, REACH remains a national model for successful inclusion of youth with disabilities …

Project Reach Talent Search At Umass Boston, Andrea Dawes

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

REACH identifies and serves disadvantaged young people who have the potential for education at the post-secondary level and encourages them to continue and graduate from secondary school and enroll in programs of post-secondary education. High school and post-secondary dropouts are also encouraged and assisted in returning to school.

Veterans Upward Bound: A Federally Funded Trio Program, "Preparing Veterans For College At Umass, Boston Since 1973", Linda Mitchell

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Veterans Upward Bound Program at the University of Massachusetts Boston provides a unique opportunity for men and women veterans of all ages to acquire the academic skills required for entry into higher education and/or to acquire the equivalent of a high school diploma. This is federally funded TRIO program.

Health Careers Opportunity Program, Kunthary Thai-Johnson

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Located on the University of Massachusetts Boston campus, the Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP) is an educational program funded through the federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The mission of the program is to create a “pipeline” that starts at the middle and high schools in Boston, continues through the undergraduate programs at Tufts University and UMass Boston, and culminates in the graduate-level public health and/or medical programs at Tufts University School of Medicine or other medical schools.

Inside Rankings: Limitations And Possibilities, Kerryann O’Meara, Matthew Meekins

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

Americans love ranking systems. Whether we are ranking the hottest celebrities, the top ten singles, the top chef, or the next design star, ranking seems to be built into the American psyche as a symptom of our competitive, aspirational nature, and our desire to quickly understand the value of things.

The purpose of this article is to present our critique of the main weaknesses and contributions of dominant ranking systems, to consider some of the positive and/or neutral roles that they are serving, and to offer three examples of purposes and goals of higher education we think they are not …

Democratic Engagement White Paper, John Saltmarsh, Matthew Hartley, Patti Clayton

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

Participants at a recent Wingspread conference on civic engagement in higher education concluded that while the movement has created some change, it has also plateaued and requires a more comprehensive effort to ensure lasting commitment and institutional capacity. For the participants at Wingspread, and for others involved in civic engagement in higher education, the time has come for “calling the question” of whether engagement will be viewed as a core value of the university of the 21st century – as centrally important to the civic mission of higher education and to generating and transmitting new knowledge. The concern is that …

Brief 20: Graduate Education And Civic Engagement, Kerryann O’Meara

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

Across the country, new attention is being paid to graduate education and civic engagement (Applegate, 2002; Bloomfield, 2006). For decades college campuses have worked diligently to connect undergraduate academic study with public service in order to enhance learning and meet community needs, a connection often referred to as service-learning or civic engagement. Given that over 1,000 institutions have joined Campus Compact, a national organization of college presidents and institutions committed to this work (www.campuscompact.org), the widespread success of the service-learning movement is undeniable. As a further testament, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching now has a classification focused …

Brief 19: The Dean’S Role In Faculty Evaluation, New England Resource Center For Higher Education, University Of Massachusetts Boston

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

Faculty work continues to change in response to the increased emphases on diversity requirements in undergraduate education, partnerships between academic and student affairs, and computer technology (O’Meara, et al, 2003). As even more is learned about strategies for the educational success of their students, faculty will be counted on to tailor their skills and pedagogies to new populations of students. At the same time, colleges and universities must keep pace with these changes by ensuring that expectations about faculty work are clearly defined and are reflected in evaluation and reward structures—and that faculty are supported in their efforts. The quality …

Higher Education In The 1960'S: The Origins Of The University Of Massachusetts Boston, Diane D'Arrigo

American Studies Graduate Final Projects

On June 18, 1964, Governor Endicott Peabody signed the bill to create the University of Massachusetts at Boston. Just fifteen months later, in the fall of 1965, the University of Massachusetts Boston opened its doors for its first class of students. Joining the more than 1200 students were 75 faculty and 10 staff people. They were pioneers in creating an institution which held enormous hope and promise of serving its urban community at a time of major change in higher education, specifically and in society, generally.

Today, the University of Massachusetts Boston is one of five campuses that make up …

Brief 15: Developing Students: Associate Academic Deans Weigh In, New England Resource Center For Higher Education, University Of Massachusetts Boston

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

Perhaps more than most academic issues, remedial education evokes fervent emotions and unyielding opinions. Consensus is hard to reach even about the nomenclature, with remedial conveying a sense of deficiency in need of correction pitted against the developmental approach that focuses on change and growth. On campus, the many aspects of the controversy often get voiced in questions rather than answers: What can we do to help these students? Why were these students accepted? Who should and who will teach in these remedial programs? Should we in higher education, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, still be talking about …

Brief 14: Risk Management, New England Resource Center For Higher Education, University Of Massachusetts Boston

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

The development office accepts a gift of a house from a prestigious donor. The faculty has developed and approved a new core curriculum. The institution recently constructed a new campus center. While these circumstances sound no alarms, all involve elements of risk. The welcome gift of the house, later discovered to be contaminated with mold, will involve a costly clean up. A revised curriculum cannot guarantee that the changes will yield the expected results. The construction of a new building has significant implications for maintenance of the physical plant. In a recent meeting NERCHE’s Chief Financial Officers Think Tank discussed …

Brief 13: The Critical Connection: Department Chairs' And Associate Deans' Strategies For Involving Faculty In Outcomes Assessment, New England Resource Center For Higher Education, University Of Massachusetts Boston

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

Assessment, with a capital “A”, has become in the academy a politically loaded buzzword that closes many more doors than it opens. Assessment, with a small “a”, however, is a necessary part of any attempt to find the best path forward in environments that change. At meetings this spring, Members of NERCHE’s Departments Chairs Think Tank and Associate Academic Deans Think Tank discussed this controversial issue, focusing on ways to foster climates in which faculty and administrators are collaborative partners in assessment with the intention of strengthening teaching and learning.

Brief 12: Global Citizenship: A Role For Higher Education, New England Resource Center For Higher Education, University Of Massachusetts Boston

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

Immediately after the events of September 11, the US was stunned by horror and disbelief, angry at the perpetrators of such awful violence, puzzled by the country’s inability to recognize itself in the eyes of the world, and eager to learn more about other cultures from which it felt so alien. Our college campuses reflected this range of responses. At their first meetings of the academic year, members of NERCHE’s Think Tanks, who represent faculty and administrators in New England, and SAGES (Senior Academics Guiding Educational Strategies), retired presidents and provosts, described their reactions and the range of responses campus.

Brief 11: Partnering For Accountability: The Role Of The Chief Financial Officer At An Academic Institution, New England Resource Center For Higher Education, University Of Massachusetts Boston

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

There is rarely a perception in colleges and universities that everyone owns the financial plan. Deans, department chairs, and division heads are most concerned with their own budgets, rather than the aggregate. Mythologies about how the academic and financial sides of the house operate create artificial divisions and compromise the development of shared responsibility. Driven by myth, each side tends to view the other as a threat to its values and priorities. These views often stereotype the other in ways that become self-fulfilling prophesies. For example, Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) believe that academics are inefficient and that CFOs, with their …

Brief 10: Lessons On Supporting Change Through Multi-Institutional Projects, New England Resource Center For Higher Education, University Of Massachusetts Boston

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

The New England Resource Center for Higher Education’s (NERCHE) Civic Engagement Cluster1 is a multi-institutional model for strengthening civic engagement in higher education across ten institutions simultaneously. Reflecting NERCHE’s mission to promote community, collaboration, and change in higher education, the Cluster is based on the premise that significant change can be accomplished most effectively through collaboration and communication across institutions. The purpose of this Brief is to pass on some key lessons learned in the pilot year of this project about laying the groundwork for collaboration and improving institutional practice.

Brief 9: Practices And Policies For Dealing With Students With Mental Health Issues, New England Resource Center For Higher Education, University Of Massachusetts Boston

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

One of higher education’s crowning achievements is that colleges and universities are currently educating many groups of people who have been denied access to this resource in the past. A growing percentage of the new population of students arrives on campus with unique mental health needs, which until now campuses have been largely unprepared to accommodate. This new student profile may be more familiar to Student Affairs’ offices, but the educational implications extend to the whole campus. Members of NERCHE’s Student Affairs Think Tank discussed this topic at one of their meetings and offer the following insights.

Brief 8: Graduate Preparation Of Student Affairs Staff: What's Needed, New England Resource Center For Higher Education, University Of Massachusetts Boston

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

The Student Affairs profession has changed significantly. Is graduate training keeping up? Do young Student Affairs professionals know what to expect once they get to campus? Members of NERCHE’s Student Affairs Think Tank met to discuss the relationship between graduate training and the workplace.

Brief 7: Preparing For The Next Wave Of Faculty, New England Resource Center For Higher Education, University Of Massachusetts Boston

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

Ten years ago higher education scholars predicted a major faculty turnover in the late 1990s and into the twenty-first centurya prediction based on demographic data on an aging faculty. The turnover is under way, accelerated by early retirement policies. Currently blocks of faculty positions are opening up at regional colleges and universities, and new faculty are being hired in groups, rather than a few at a time. In larger universities, the impact of this kind of hiring is felt most acutely at the department level. At small institutions, the effects can be institution wide. Throughout this academic year, NERCHE’s Department …

Brief 6: The Merit Aid Question: How Can We Attract Promising Students While Preserving Educational Opportunity For All?, New England Resource Center For Higher Education, University Of Massachusetts Boston

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

NERCHE’s think tank members recently participated in a discussion of the competitive forces driving change in higher education. The discussion, facilitated by The Futures Project: Policy for Higher Education in a Changing World (www.futuresproject.org), revealed tremendous concern among faculty and administrators in New England about safeguarding the principles of equal access and equal educational opportunity during a time of accelerating competition for students. This is a crucial time for a reevaluation of barriers to full educational opportunity in this country. We need policies both at the institutional level and the state and federal levels to reverse the widening educational and …

Brief 5: For Funders Of Multi-Institutional Collaborations In Higher Education: Support Partnership Building, New England Resource Center For Higher Education, University Of Massachusetts Boston

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

This brief was derived from the discussions of NERCHE’s think tank for coordinators of GEAR UP school-college partnerships. The insights of these coordinators point to the principle that it is the quality of the relationships among the partners that determines the effectiveness of multi-institutional collaborations. This means then that those who support and invest in multi-institutional collaborations should also focus on supporting the process of partnership building. But what does this mean in practical terms? It means being strategic right from the beginning in the design of grant structures, and throughout the relationship with the grantees. This brief provides examples …

Scholarship Unbound: Assessing Service As Scholarship In Promotion And Tenure Decisions, Kerryann O’Meara

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

Scholars of higher education have long recognized that existing reward systems and structures in academic communities do not weight faculty professional service as they do teaching and research. This paper examines how four colleges and universities with exemplary programs for assessing service as scholarship implemented these policies within colleges of education. Case studies suggest that policies to assess service as scholarship can increase consistency among an institution’s service mission, faculty workload, and reward system; expand faculty’s views of scholarship; boost faculty satisfaction; and strengthen the quality of an institution’s service culture.

Brief 3: Making Assessment Work, New England Resource Center For Higher Education, University Of Massachusetts Boston

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

Assessment and accountability are embedded in the context in which most colleges and universities operate. In the current climate, one is deeply entwined with the other. Originally, assessment in higher education meant assessing students. The broader appeal of the concept quickly claimed the attention of a multitude of constituents within the academy, each with a different goal in mind – from program review to public relations. Those whose relationship to the academy was once or twice removed, such as trustees, accreditors, and legislators, saw assessment as a simple and cost effective means to report information about the effectiveness of complex …

Brief 2: Benchmarking From The Perspective Of Chief Financial Officers, New England Resource Center For Higher Education, University Of Massachusetts Boston

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

Benchmarking is a widespread practice in all industries today. Higher education is no exception. One need only look at annual rankings in U.S. News and World Report to appreciate power of benchmarking in a market-driven society that is seeking the best value in education. To the public, and even to leaders in higher education, measures such as these amount to an externally imposed evaluation. The impact of benchmarking on an institution can be significant. But is it worth it? Chief Financial Officers from the New England area offer their views.

Reviewing And Renewing General Education: A Practical Guide, Janice S. Green

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

The process of reviewing and renewing a program of general education is complex, challenging, and often frustrating. This paper is presented with the aim of facilitating the process from inception to successful conclusion. Practical guidelines and suggestions, derived from long experience as faculty member, academic administrator, and consultant, are offered to assist those responsible for reviewing, evaluating, developing, and implementing general education curricula. Emphasis is placed on collaborative practices, ongoing open communication, thorough planning, and reliable information. It is assumed throughout, that pitfalls can be avoided, obstacles circumvented, and a climate of civility maintained despite the difficulty and scope of …

Brief 1: The Technology Challenge On Campus From The Perspective Of Chief Academic Officers, New England Resource Center For Higher Education, University Of Massachusetts Boston

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

The wonders of the information technology (IT) revolution have landed hard and fast on college campuses bringing with them a myriad of challenges for academic leaders. A group of Chief Academic Officers met to discuss the challenges of technology on their campuses. They identified three categories that have implications for organization and planning: 1) Finances and Economic Capacity, 2) Priority Setting and Assessment of Value and 3) The Role of the Faculty.

An Examination Of Multi-Institutional Networks, Nancy L. Thomas

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

The purpose of this paper is to identify techniques for designing and maintaining effective multi-institutional collaborative projects that will also encourage the success of each individual institution. It contains recommendations regarding the formation and management of the networks. First, it reviews project goals and desired outcomes, with consideration of whether collaboration should be a means or an end. Next, the paper turns to strategies for forming and managing networks, with particular attention to the selection and role of a “project leader.” It then considers the role and responsibility of institutional participants, reviewing criteria for network participation and arguing in favor …