Education Commons^™

The University School: The University Of Kentucky's Role In The Laboratory School Movement Of The 20th Century, Shanna M. Patton

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

This study expands the scope of institution-level research on college and university-run laboratory schools to include the University of Kentucky’s on-campus laboratory school that operated from 1918 to 1965. Specifically, it preserves the institutional history of UK’s laboratory school, which has largely disappeared from local memory; provides a specific case study of a laboratory school in a largely unstudied state and region, namely Kentucky and the South; and contextualizes the role and trajectory UK’s laboratory school played in the larger Laboratory School Movement of the 20^th century. Because of UK’s status as a southern land grant university, this research …

Tuition Revenue Distribution Models In Higher Education: An Exploration Of Alternative Tuition Funding Methods At The University Of Kentucky, Megan A. Bowles

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

State appropriations for higher education have been volatile during the past decade. While some states have seen improvements in state appropriations since the last recession, other states have seen continued declines. For public colleges and universities facing these consistent decreases in appropriations they have had to develop alternative methods for revenue generation. One of the most common changes to a university’s revenue model is by increasing their tuition and fee rates. Public colleges and universities can increase their own tuition and fees, within the boundaries of state oversight boards like the Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE). This is a big …

Campus As Home: An Examination Of The Impact Of Student Housing At The University Of Kentucky In The Progressive Era, James W. Thomas

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

This dissertation explores how student housing impacted the college campus of the University of Kentucky in the Progressive Era. Student housing has long been part of the college ideal but lacked full engagement by many administrators. Through three examinations, housing will be shown to have directly influenced the administrative, social, and staffing elements of the college campus. The role student housing played in the interaction of political, rural, and sociological changes on the campus during the time period allows exploration in detail while addressing the changes within those areas of the state as well. While housing was an afterthought by …

Assessing Student Performance In Written Communication: An Evaluation Of The University Of Kentucky's Quality Enhancement Plan, Abigail Stockwell

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

University of Kentucky assessment findings reveal that UK undergraduate students are not meeting expectations in the area of written communication. More specifically, compared to other four-year institutions, UK students are not achieving expected levels of value-added from their junior to senior year in analytic writing tasks. In response to these findings, UK launched the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), Presentation U – a multimodal communication training initiative. One of the initiative’s core components is the Faculty Fellows Program. Faculty members who choose to participate in the program receive training in oral, written, and visual communication instruction. UK has invested a great …

Determinants Of Student Engagement In Undergraduate Research At The University Of Kentucky, Tricia Coakley

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

No executive summary.

Missed Opportunities In The Mountains: The University Of Kentucky's Action Program In Eastern Kentucky In The 1960s, Bradley L. Goan

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

This dissertation explores the University of Kentucky’s efforts to develop and implement an “action program” in eastern Kentucky in the 1960s. By the late 1950s, Kentucky’s political, business, and academic leaders had identified eastern Kentucky as the state’s problem area, and they sought strategies to bring the region into the economic and cultural mainstream. This generation of post-war leaders had an uncompromising faith in the power of knowledge, technology, and planning, and University leaders saw their action program as a university-wide effort to address what most would argue was Kentucky’s ugliest problem. This study begins with an examination of the …

Beyond Blue And White: University Of Kentucky Presidents And Desegregation, 1941-1987, Mark W. Russell

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

This dissertation fills a gap in the historiography of southern higher education by focusing on five university presidents and their role in the desegregation of a non-elite flagship university in the Upper South. While historian Melissa Keane has studied the presidential role at elite private southern universities during the initial phase of the desegregation process, no study has yet examined desegregation from the president’s office at a southern land-grant university. Building upon historian Peter Wallenstein’s thesis that desegregation is not a single event in an institution’s history but rather an ongoing process, I argue that it was also process that …

Analyzing The University Of Kentucky’S Top 20 Business Plan, Kenny Blair

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study is to begin laying a foundation for assessing the degree of progress the University of Kentucky (UK) has made toward the goals defined in the Top 20 Business Plan. The plan was created to guide the university’s efforts in becoming a top twenty public research institution by 2020 per a mandate by the Kentucky General Assembly.

Up to two strategies and/or policy suggestions were chosen for analysis for each of the four major domains outlined in the plan (undergraduate education, graduate education, faculty recognition, and research). Academic quality indicators were then developed for these strategies …

The University Of Kentucky's Freshman Summer Program, Geoffrey L. Griggs

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The substantial growth in the University of Kentucky’s African American population since its integration in 1948 by Lyman T. Johnson and difficulties some of these students had succeeding at UK has resulted in increased spending by the university to improve retention. Programs, departments, and scholarships have been implemented to get those of African American descent to not only attend the University of Kentucky, but to leave with a degree. While this has been a pivotal issue here in Lexington as the city has hidden behind the shadow overcast which attempts to cover up the deep racial history marked in the …

Analyzing The Presence Of Marketing In Campus Recreation Departments, Amy Gibson

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The University of Kentucky’s Campus Recreation department is currently operating without professional marketing personnel to promote the programs and services the facility offers. With the university expanding campus housing for incoming students, the question of how activity spaces will accommodate and reach out to these students is certainly one to consider.

I conducted this research with the aim of analyzing the importance of marketing in Campus Recreation facilities and to see if marketing efforts have an effect on facility usage by participants. The department began conducting surveys in 2010 to assess its programs and services in order to determine student …

Assessments Of Dual Degree Programs At University Of Kentucky College Of Pharmacy, Adebayo Ogunniyi

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Information about dual degree programs offered by colleges and schools of pharmacy is scarce. Factors that motivate a pharmacy student to pursue a dual degree have not been formally assessed. Furthermore, whether dual degree graduates pursue non-traditional career paths more often than single degree graduates (i.e. PharmD degree alone) is unknown. The research questions are: 1.) Why do PharmD students pursue dual degree programs at the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy? and 2.) Does obtaining a dual degree increase the likelihood of a “non-traditional” pharmacy jobs upon graduation?

There are three main parts of this capstone project. The first …

An Analysis Of Laboratory Inspections At The University Of Kentucky, Rachel Eldridge

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Recent news stories about laboratory accidents in which students were severely injured and killed have brought much-needed attention to lab safety. Creating a positive safety climate on college and university campuses is very important in reducing accidents. At the University of Kentucky, all laboratories are inspected once every year, and the results are recorded in a lab inspection database. These data include the department, building, lab classification, type of violation, room number, and the name of the PI (Principal Investigator). I want to analyze inspections to find out whether department and the lab classification are significant in looking at violations. …

Identifying The Potential Advantages And Disadvantages Of Creating A Separate Foundation For Development At The University Of Kentucky, David Shellhorse

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Statement of Issue

The question of whether or not the University of Kentucky should create a legally independent, institutionally related foundation to receive, hold, invest, and administer the private gift support of the University has been an ongoing debate between UK administrators for many years. This study seeks to identify the potential advantages and disadvantages of creating such a foundation by: (1) conducting a qualitative analysis consisting of personal interviews with officials from the University of Kentucky, the University of Louisville, Western Kentucky University, and Murray State University; and (2) conducting a quantitative regression analysis to determine whether or not …