Education Commons^™

Higher Ed Needs New Forms Of Marketing., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

In this day and age of crises – financial, enrollment,

even scandal – among institutions of higher education,

image “management” has become a tool to help

some institutions stay afloat. Countless colleges and

universities have resorted to spending money on

glossy brochures, billboards and even on expensive

TV airtime.

The images they portray are usually one of happy

and attractive students having fun on campus, enjoying

athletic events and amenities that used to be more

likely to be found at country clubs than colleges. The

quality of education is almost an afterthought. The

name of the institution is being sold …

If You Think Education Is Expensive, Try Ignorance., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

This is the 100th column of this series. During

the two years during which this column has been

published uninterruptedly on a weekly basis, a

common question I received is why do I defend

higher education?

I remember when I decided to become a scientist.

The day was October 5, 1957. I was a 6-year-old kid

living in Venezuela. The big headline in the newspaper

that day was that the Soviets had launched

an artificial satellite named Sputnik. I was amazed.

I asked my father all kinds of questions about it,

but he could not tell me much more than …

Viewing Obama’S Legacy In Higher Education., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

For eight years as president, Barack Obama showed

an unusual interest in reforming higher education

when compared with any other U.S. president in history.

Most concerned themselves with primary and

secondary education. The only possible exception is

Abraham Lincoln, under whose administration the

land grant university system was created.

One reason for his interest in higher education may

be because Obama himself once taught at the law school

of the University of Chicago. Another may be that, in

retrospect, Obama has always been a great admirer of

Lincoln, mirroring his stances on many issues.

Higher Ed Sees Decline In Language Studies., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

Despite much talk about the importance of globalization,

the very places where most people in

the U.S. learn foreign languages – colleges and universities

– are offering fewer and fewer courses in

them. In a report published last year by the Modern

Languages Association (MLA), statistics show that

for the first time since 1995 we are seeing a drop

in enrollment in courses in all major European languages,

including Spanish. And the drop is significant:

6.7 percent overall since 2009 after increasing

steadily since 1995.

Spanish, the most studied language in colleges

and universities (more than all other languages

combined), …

The Line Between Free Speech And Hate Speech., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

With the rise of incidents of bigotry on U.S. campuses

after the November elections, a question has

come up. How can we differentiate between free

and hate speech and what can we do about the latter?

The answer is complex, but there is a solution

to the problem.

At the federal level – and contrary to popular

belief – free speech is not absolute. The Supreme

Court has ruled many times setting limits on

speech, from child pornography cases, to deceptive

advertisement to specific threats of violence. The

fine line comes when dealing with espousing ideologies,

like the ones held …

Anti-Intellectualism Casts Shadow Over Higher Ed., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

In addition to all of the issues affecting higher education,

like the lack of appropriate funding, diminishing

enrollments, insularity, and the like, now it is

time to recognize the biggest problem of all – anti-intellectualism.

Anti-intellectualism is defined as a negative attitude

toward intellectual pursuits, whether in the

form of education or scholarly activities and toward

their practitioners, such as college professors and

intellectuals in general.

The Consequences Of The Election For Higher Education., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

“So, now what?” That is the question some people are asking when it comes to higher education after one of the longest and most contentious presidential elections in American history. The question comes up not only because of the results, but also because higher education is facing one of its most grave situations in its history due to, among other things, decreasing funding, exorbitant student debt and bad press.

So what can we expect in the months and years to come based on the platform and statements issued by the leaders of the upcoming administration? Here is a sample.

Higher Education Administration, Fall 2016, St. Cloud State University

Higher Education Administration Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Critical College Experiences Of The Middle Third Of The High School Graduating Class, Nathan Kaoru Keikiokamakua Hanamaikai

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

Seven recent graduates from a large, open access university in the Western United States who also graduated from high school in the middle third of their graduating class were interviewed to examine what they considered critical decisions during college and what effect those decisions had on their progress towards graduation. More than 45 critical incidents were identified by the participants. All incidents involved interaction with another person to some degree. All but 11 of the incidents were with people outside of institutional employees. Of the 11 incidents, the majority involved faculty members in either positive or negative situations. Upon further …

Leadership Perspectives Of Chief Student Affairs Officers, Jeff Beavers

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

Leadership in student affairs continues to be a challenging enterprise for universities. Colleges are expected to help students succeed while providing for abundant needs through graduation. Chief student affairs officers have increasing demands of students and faculty amid decreased funds. This exploratory study took an in-depth look at the leadership perspectives of 19 chief student affairs officers at 4-year, public universities across the Midwest. The researcher sought responses on common leadership perspectives, challenges faced, and opportunities encountered. The three emerging themes were elements that inform leadership, knowledge and skills, and mindful leadership outlook. These emergent themes formed the basis for …

Declining Financial Support Drives Students Away., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

Cutting taxes in order to spur economic development

is an idea still making its way around

the political landscape. It doesn’t seem to matter

how many times “trickle down” economics has

been debunked not only by economists, but also

by history, it seems to linger. Yet, this is part of

an ideology that is considered as gospel by many

politicians.

Of course the idea has one superficial appeal

and one superficial appeal only. It promises to

cut taxes, even if the ones who benefit the most

from such policies are the ones who need them

the least.

How Math Avoidance Influences Degree Completion For Bible College Students: A Case Study Of A Small, Private Institution In Upstate New York, Bonnie Novak

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this instrumental case study was to describe math perception and avoidance for ministerial undergraduate students at a small, private Bible college in upstate New York. In the research, math avoidance was generally defined as the participants’ perception of math, their delay in completing a credit-bearing math course until their senior year or not at all, and their own learning or degree completion as a result. The theories guiding this study were Tinto’s Retention Theory/Model of Institutional Departure, Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory, and Estep’s Theory of Christian Formation. The central question was: How does math avoidance influence persistence …

Extreme Poverty Affects Many College Students., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

One of the most painful realities of higher education in the 21st century – and one that gets very little attention – is the fact that some college students live in extreme poverty, oftentimes sleeping in libraries, cars, or temporarily with friends. Despite the extreme conditions under which they live, or in many cases because of them, these students still seek the education and training needed to be able to get a job and move out of poverty. Some colleges and universities are taking steps to help.

Slavery, Racism Still Cast Shadow On Colleges., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Study Abroad Scholarships A Good Use Of Taxes., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

There is little doubt that an international experience

is one of the most life-changing events for a college student.

That is what one hears from students when they

return, particularly from those who have never even

been abroad in their lives. Cost is usually mentioned

as the major barrier for Americans to have such an

experience. And this barrier can be particularly high for

minority and first-generation college students.

Yet, there is a little known but very successful federal

program known as The Benjamin A. Gilman International

Scholarship Program that serves to help U.S. college students

interested in going abroad.

Scandals Are Threatening Higher Education., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

Among the unfortunate curses affecting the

image of higher education are the scandals taking

place with unrelenting regularity. Whether

they have to do with athletics, sexual assaults,

murders, cheating, hazing, or corruption, the

media are echoing those scandals, sometimes

in excruciating detail. In some cases, like the

“Sandusky affair” that made headlines for

months and tarnished the reputation of Penn

State University and its renowned football coach

Joe Paterno, these scandals have a lasting effect

on public opinion.

We in academia have always been worried

about the effect of these scandals on an issue

very important to colleges and universities …

Academic Performance, Retention Rates, And Persistence Rates Of First-Year, First-Generation, Latino College Students, Jaime Duran

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this causal-comparative quantitative study was to examine the relationships between the efficacy of a Summer Bridge Academy (SBA) and the impact on students by measuring the Grade Point Averages (GPAs), retention rates, and persistence rates of first-generation, first-year, Latino college students who participated in a SBA at Central Valley Community College against like students who did not participate in same program. The independent variable was participation in a 6 week long SBA, which took place during the summer of 2011. The dependent variables were GPAs, retention rates, and persistence rates, and the control and intervening variables, students …

Implementation Of State Developmental Education Policy: A Multiple Case Study Of Community College Faculty Perceptions Of Involvement, Shirley Davenport

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

Numerous studies have indicated that developmental education as it is currently offered in many colleges and universities produces dismal results, with student success rates averaging as low as 25%. To address this issue, legislators in some states have begun to intervene, adopting policies that vary from suggestions for improvements to mandated pedagogical approaches. However, given the higher education organizational environment, the manner in which any change is implemented can be key to its success.

The purpose of this comparative multiple case study was to describe and interpret the perceptions of developmental education faculty regarding their level of involvement in developmental …

America’S Law Schools Need To Be Reformed, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

Increasing costs, decreasing enrollments and doubts about its practical value has placed legal education in the U.S. under a controversial light. Until the mid-19th century legal training was essentially technical in nature. During that time many lawyers – like Abraham Lincoln – could afford to study the law by themselves without even attending any law school. By passing the bar exam, they were admitted into the legal profession.

After the Civil War legal education started to change. In 1870 a lawyer named Christopher Langdell was named dean of the Harvard Law School. During his 25 years at the helm of …

Leadership (Chattanooga, Tn), C. William Pollard

C. William Pollard Papers

This is the text of a speech Pollard delivered via video to the 10 Project Video Conference at Covenant College (Chattanooga, TN). In it he addresses the topic of leadership, focusing especially on the need for servant leaders.

Educating The Under Empowered For Tolerance Of Satire And Participation In Young Democracies, Judith Puncochar, Don Faust

Conference Presentations

Drawing from experiences in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the United States, a relationship appears to exist between tolerance for satire, freedom of expression, and academic freedom in higher education. Empowering the under empowered for participation in vibrant democracies and rational public discourse seems to coincide with an increasing tolerance for satire. We posit vibrant democracies must contain educational elements essential to empower the under empowered for democratic participation, in particular, to provide new democratic citizens with an understanding of the role of satire to cultivate rational public discourse in new democracies. New Southeast Asian democracies need growing evidence of dynamic strivings …

Affirmative Action In Higher Ed Sustained With Caveats., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

The term affirmative action was first used in an executive order by President John F. Kennedy in 1961. The motivation was to favor members of a disadvantaged group that historically suffered from discrimination due to oppression of any kind. This concept has been employed in many spheres and one of those has been to promote diversity in higher education on the basis that many universities have effectively discriminated against admitting and/or promoting minorities. Two weeks ago the U.S. Supreme Court announced a decision on affirmative action that originated in higher education. The 4-to-3 decision reaffirmed the University of Texas’s admission …

Review: Posner, Richard A. Divergent Paths: The Academy And The Judiciary. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2016., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

Legal education in the United States has been controversial in the last few years

due to its cost, decreasing enrollments, and doubts about its practical value. Until

the mid-nineteenth century legal training was essentially technical in nature. At

that time many lawyers—like Abraham Lincoln—could afford to study the law by

themselves without even attending law school and then, by passing the bar exam,

were admitted in the legal profession.

Review: The New Celebrity Scientists. Out Of The Lab And Into The Limelight. Fahy, Declan. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

In the last couple of decades, we have seen the widespread ascendancy of the

phenomenon of celebrity in society. Celebrities as a cultural manifestation are not

necessarily something new. We saw that notion in the twentieth century being

exploited by Hollywood through their “star system” as well as by sports teams

hungry to increase their revenues. Now that phenomenon has expanded into areas

that we would not have imagined decades ago, and one of them is in the field of

science. With the advent of social media and the relaxation of social views

regarding stereotypes, we have seen the rise …

Not All Are Created Equal: An Analysis Of The Environmental Programs/Departments In U.S. Institutions Of Higher Education From 1900 Until March 2014., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

Environmental academic programs in U.S. institutions of higher education have traditionally lacked definition of their nature and unifying principles. In order to ascertain how these programs are presently constituted in U.S. institutions of higher education, we surveyed 1050 environmental programs/departments between November 2013 and March of 2014. The states with the highest number of those programs/departments were New York (100), Pennsylvania (92), California (76), Ohio (56), Massachusetts (54), while those with the lowest numbers are Oklahoma, and Utah (4), Delaware (3), Arkansas, Hawaii, South Dakota, and Wyoming (2), North Dakota (1), and Idaho (0). However, when the state population is …

Swosu One Hundred And Twelfth Annual Spring Convocation, Southwestern Oklahoma State University

Graduation Programs

This is the program for the SWOSU One Hundred and Twelfth Annual Spring Convocation Exercises, held at the Milam Stadium on Saturday, May 7, 2016, 10:00 am. Opening Remarks were presented by President Randy L. Beutler.

Claiming A Seat At The Table: Using The Institutional Repository To Advance Strategic Library Partnerships, Scott Walter

Staff Publications - University Libraries

By striking up relationships with unlikely, but strategic, partners on campus, Library Director Scott Walter at DePaul University has poised the library to provide crucial services that support high-level, strategic institutional goals such as increasing enrollment and bringing in more research funding. During the webinar, he’ll talk about some of the strategic partnerships he’s formed, provide tips on getting repository services out there, and share some best practices that he’s learned along the way.

Building Bridges: Opportunities Abound For P-20 Collaborations, Jennifer S. Jones, Wesley D. Hickey

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

PK-12 leaders value opportunities to collaborate with outside entities to improve student achievement and career-readiness. With increasing federal and state student-performance expectations for more than 1.4 million students enrolled in Texas public schools, collaborating with a public or private university, a community college, or a technical or health institute can provide important mutual benefits.

Flipped Teaching And Learning In English Language Programmes In Higher Education, Rania M Rafik Khalil

English Language and Literature

Flipped teaching over the past fifteen years has invaded the classrooms of schools and has helped evolve the teaching strategy of different disciplines. Although the concept emerged as inverted teaching to allow space for active learning in the classroom, flipped teaching today, has found its way to higher education settings. Higher education institutions such as Harvard University, have used this approach in physics and other disciplines. Literature reviews however, show that there is little research in the field of English as a Foreign Language which can be found related to using the flipped approach. This paper aims to share the …

Distance Education More Expensive Than Thought., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

Cost is one of the big issues facing higher education.

Diminishing government funding has spiraled

the expense of attending public colleges and

universities, which, in turn, has increased the debt

burden on students to more than a trillion dollars.

Facing this issue has become a national concern

for many politicians. State legislators and governors,

as well as executives of some for-profit

education companies, have been pushing distance

education (mostly in the form of on-line courses)

as the solution.