Education Commons^™

Capstone Assessment As Faculty Development, Rowanna L. Carpenter, Seanna M. Kerrigan, Vicki Reitenauer

University Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Portland State University (PSU) is a public institution in Portland, Oregon, serving 28,000 students, including 23,000 undergraduates. PSU implemented Capstone courses in 1995 as the culminating experience in the revised general education program, University Studies (UNST). Capstones at PSU are community‐based courses composed of interdisciplinary teams of students actively engaged with community partners, designed to address the UNST learning goals (inquiry and critical thinking; communication; ethics and social responsibility; and diversity, equity, and social justice). Each Capstone course creates one or more collaboratively developed final products intended to serve the community partner.

In this article, we describe the evolution of …

Building A Culture Of Collegiality Through Transformative Faculty Support, Rowanna L. Carpenter, Celine Fitzmaurice, Maurice Hamington, Annie Knepler, Vicki Reitenauer

University Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Portland State University’s (PSU) motto Let Knowledge Serve the City identifies a key piece of the University’s DNA as a community-engaged institution. As educators in PSU’s signature general education program, University Studies, we work intentionally as colleagues to catalyze transformative teaching and learning to build--with our students--a just world.

In AY 2016-17, through an iterative process involving faculty, administrators, staff, and students, University Studies adopted vision and mission statements to reflect and ground our efforts:

Vision: Challenging us to think holistically, care deeply, and engage courageously in imagining and co-creating a just world.

Mission: University Studies’ inclusive pedagogy

• provokes students …

In Service Together: University Students And Incarcerated Youth Collaborate For Change, Deborah Smith Arthur, Jamie Valentine

University Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Through the lens of two courses at Portland State University (PSU), this article addresses critical service learning pedagogy as transformational for both incarcerated youth and university students. In one course, PSU students share a writing/art workshop with youth in juvenile detention though The Beat Within (https://www.thebeatwithin.org). Another course brings together PSU students and young men incarcerated at MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in an inside/out course format (https://www.insideoutcenter.org). Working collaboratively, students have developed a variety of service-learning projects. This article explores the impact of critical service learning courses on both incarcerated young people and university students.

Taking High-Impact Practices To Scale In Capstone And Peer Mentor Programs, And Revising University Studies' Diversity Learning Goal, Óscar Fernández, Dana Lundell, Seanna M. Kerrigan

University Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

University Studies, Portland State University's general education program, is now more than twenty years old; its leaders frequently answer questions from other higher education institutions regarding how the program takes high-impact practices to scale. In this article, three program leaders detail how University Studies' Peer Mentor and Senior Capstone Programs and one recently revised diversity learning goal demonstrate the opportunities and challenges of taking high-impact practices to scale. This article used published assessments of the program, experiences by current program leaders, and interviews from faculty members and peer mentors. Overall, the coauthors conclude that three dynamic qualities contribute to a …

Co-Developing An Electronic Campus Equity Walkthrough Evaluation (Cewe) To Assess Students’ Sense Belonging And Equity Mindfulness, Oscar Fernandez

University Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this presentation, attendance members learn how ePortfolios--and eWorkbooks--help students recognize their sense of belonging on a college campus. By asking a series of equity-minded, student-centered questions, the CEWE eWorkbook is a toolkit for assessing whether or not resources on campus are diverse and equitable for a variety of learners.

The Sharing Campus Equity Walkthrough Evaluation (CEWE) eWorkbook is available online: https://pebblepad.com/spa/#/public/GctzZ7RbZczmzs3q4q4jp3zRWy?historyId=Rsz4bQlCTk

University Studies Leadership: Vision And Challenge, Maurice Hamington, Judith A. Ramaley

University Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Although University Studies at Portland State University often receives attention for its signature curricular structure of year-long thematic mentored Freshman Inquiry, thematic mentored Sophomore Inquiry, thematic departmental Cluster courses, and community-based Capstone courses, it is the underlying pedagogical values and philosophy that represent the real revolution in higher education—a revolution that is ongoing at Portland State. Few large state universities can claim to offer a quarter-century of experience with general education change of this magnitude. This article addresses how a shared purpose evolved over the course of University Studies' history and was impacted by what various leaders emphasized during their …

Modify And Adjust: Senior Inquiry As A Transformative Whole-School Program For Race And Social Justice, Andrew Kulak, Sarah Dougher, Michael Mooradian Lupro, Sonja Taylor

University Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Senior Inquiry is a dual-credit bridge program partnership between University Studies and regional school districts. The partnerships with Portland Public Schools have prioritized serving first-generation students and other underserved populations. As the program has grown, equity concerns among the collaborative teaching teams prompted experimenting with a whole-school model at Jefferson High School Middle College for Advanced Studies while working within the frame of the course theme of Race and Social Justice. This article documents how the Jefferson Senior Inquiry team attempts to authentically address the accumulated systemic inequities encountered by students in our classrooms. Student-centered pedagogy must be modified and …

Characteristics Of Interim Deans At U.S. Medical Schools, Sarah Bunton, Pamela Sass, Rae Anne Sloane, R. Kevin Grigsby

University Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Purpose: To provide a baseline, descriptive understanding of individuals serving as interim deans at U.S. medical schools. Over the past quarter century, roughly 9% to 16% of all medical school deans were serving as interim leaders. This research reviews demographic characteristics, how long they served, and the impact of having served on one's likelihood of serving as a permanent dean.

Method: The Association of American Medical Colleges' Council of Deans national database was the data source for this study. The authors reviewed counts and information by year for academic years 1989-1990 through 2014-2015 to yield a snapshot of …

Contemplating Positionalities: An Ethnodrama, Neera Malhotra, Veronica Hotton

University Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article is an ethnodrama playscript that examines the role of positionality in an interdisciplinary general education program called University Studies at Portland State University. Drawing from both the literature and from the practice of critical reflection, the authors share their experiences as faculty members relative to their institutional and social positionalities. The authors perform this ethnodrama through the construction of this article for an audience of teaching faculty and administrators in higher education. Throughout the ethnodrama, the audience/readers are invited to interact with the playscript through prompted critical reflection on their own positionalities in their professional lives.

Case Studies In Critical Reflection Praxis In University Studies: The Stance And Dance, Daneen Bergland, Hunter Shobe, Alma M. O. Trinidad

University Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article articulates the experience of three professors from different disciplines, teaching at three levels of University Studies, Portland State University's general education program, for whom the toggling between personal/professional critical practices and use of reflective practices in the classroom has led to transformative learning experiences for them and their students. It describes the specific reflective tools and methods they used for teaching and professional development, and considers the challenges to sustaining critical reflection and how those challenges might be addressed. The authors argue that critical reflection (CR) is an important practice for teachers and students of general education. In …