Higher Education Commons^™

Student Perceptions Of Engagement In A Mandatory Programatic Service Learning, Gina Fe Causin, Chay Runnels

Faculty Publications

In the hospitality industry, service-learning opportunities are particularly important for students seeking work in the meeting and event planning industry. Faculty of a hospitality program at a regional university in East Texas decided to investigate the benefits in embedding service learning activities to their hospitality courses. The study investigated student perceptions of their participation in compulsory service learning assignments were created and implemented. Service learning assignment benefited the respondents personally; it benefited the sponsoring organization; it benefited the respondents’ career goals and their own individual awareness of community issues.

First Line Of Defense: Protecting Youth On Campus, Tina C. Carter, Alyssa King

Division of Community Engagement Resources

Many institutions recognize the need for a centralized process to address the safety of youth on campus. Legislation, publicized incidents, state and national laws, and research have pushed this topic to the forefront. In an effort to educate, mitigate risk, and create consistency, the implementation of university-wide youth protection policies has become a common practice. While each campus is different, foundational components to these policies can create a cultural shift and educate individuals on their role in reporting abuse and neglect. Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) launched its youth protection policy, Safety and Protection of Minors, in July 2016. The …

Mary And Frances Youth Center, Alyssa King

Division of Community Engagement Resources

The Mary and Frances Youth Center opened in 2007 on Virginia Commonwealth University’s (VCU) Monroe Park campus in Richmond. Its facilities include two private tennis courts and a number of classrooms designed for youth-centered programming and training. The youth center’s flagship program since opening has been Lobs & Lessons, a nationally recognized tennis and learning program, but it also hosts and leads Discovery summer program, which provides middle-school students with in-depth experiences in science, technology, engineering, arts and health sciences. In addition to these programs, the youth center co-manages the implementation of the Youth Program Quality Intervention, a quality improvement …

The Relevance Of Extracurricular Activities For Citizenship: Why Cutting Budget For Student Associational Activity Is A Bad Policy, Jason A. Laker, Tomaž Deželan, Domen Kos

Faculty Publications

Universities are tasked with providing rigorous education and training for successful entry into disciplinary and professional fields. Their instrumental roles are situated within broader commitments to political communities through cultural stewardship. As such, the process of socializing students with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions of democratic citizenship is a complementary and acute obligation of institutions of higher education. Student Associations arguably serve as strategic enablers of this key responsibility through their unique identities as laboratories of shared governance. When students participate in co-creating their educational and community experiences, the dividends for learning and development escalate. The deliberative processes and activities …

Black, Queer, And Beaten: On The Trauma Of Graduate School, Eric Anthony Grollman

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Two years after I graduated with a PhD in sociology from Indiana University, I started seeing a therapist again. At my in-take visit, my therapist invited me to return within a week. “Right now, you’re full,” he said, commenting on the numerous issues that I brought up in explaining why I was seeing a therapist. He did not mean “full of shit,” as in offering lies or irrelevant information; rather, he meant that I was “filled to the brim” of issues weighing on my heart, mind, and spirit. This was not news to me, but hearing him say “full” emphasized …

Ua1c6/5 Conferences / Workshops Photos, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Images of conferences and workshops.

Soci 101: Introduction To Sociology—A Peer Review Of Teaching Portfolio, Kelsy Burke

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This benchmark portfolio targets the Spring 2018 semester of SOCI 101: Introduction to Sociology, a large-enrollment course that combines lecture and recitation classes. It describes course objectives (my goals for the course); an overview of course content and a description of the students enrolled (the target audience); teaching methods (assignments and classroom activities); and assessment of student learning (analyzing quantitative and qualitative data of student performance). In order to evaluate course objectives and their relationship to teaching methods and student learning, I collected data from student feedback following each exam (a post-exam questionnaire). I then compared this feedback with assignment …

Exploring The Community Impact Of Community-University Partnerships, Stacey D. Muse

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The field and movement of community engagement in higher education is one way for institutions of higher education to fulfill the public good mission. Community engagement practices have shifted to valuing democratically engaged partnerships between the community and campus (Saltmarsh, Hartley, & Clayton, 2009). However, the research on community engagement reveals a lack of understanding of community voice and perspective on if and how community-campus partnerships make a difference for community-based organizations partnered with institutions of higher education. This embedded case study begins to fill these gaps in the literature by examining the voice and perspective of community-based organizations partnered …

The Other Stares Back: Why “Visual Rupture” Is Essential To Gendered And Raced Bodies In Networked Knowledge Communities, Anita August

English Faculty Publications

This chapter addresses the Other’s Stare of gendered and raced bodies who visually rupture and resist their discursive formation in Networked Knowledge Communities (NKCs). New multimodal texts described as “texts that exceed the alphabetic and may include still and moving images, animations, color, words, music and sound” (Takayoshi & Selfe, 2007, p. 1), contribute greatly to the situated nature of knowledge production by NKCs in the postmodern “network society” (Castells, 1996). NKCs are learning communities that “proactively participate in building and advancing knowledges” (Gurung, 2014, p. 2). While NKCs are idealized as sites for progressive socio-political transformation, this chapter argues …

Fostering Accountability And Repairing Harm: A Program Evaluation Of Restorative Justice At The University Of Denver, Ryan Smith

Higher Education: Doctoral Research Projects

Restorative Justice is a practice that incorporates harmed parties and the greater community in resolving harm or conflict, the ultimate goal of restorative justice being to make things right. This practice has been used increasingly in student conduct processes on college campuses across the United States. This doctoral research paper serves to evaluate the restorative justice program housed at the University of Denver, which has been using this process since 2012. Utilizing a responsive evaluation framework, the evaluation process consisted of interviews with program stakeholders, university staff and faculty members with a long term interest in the success of the …

A Study Of State College Faculty Trust In Immediate Supervisors, Anna Byrd

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This quantitative study investigated faculty trust in their immediate supervisors (academic deans and faculty chairs) in a state college setting. A survey instrument created for this study was based on existing research on trust in schools by Bryk and Schneider (2002) and Tschannen-Moran and Hoy (1998), as well as research on trust in corporate setting. The study’s purpose was to determine the types and frequencies of interactions between community college faculty and deans/faculty chairs – i.e., faculty immediate supervisors – that are related to higher levels of faculty trust. Also investigated were the relationships between faculty trust and demographic characteristics …

50th Anniversary Of The Assassination Of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Ceremony Poster, University Of Maine Office Of Multiculture Student Life

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Poster for the 50th Anniversary of The Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Ceremony organized by the University of Maine's Office of Multicultural Student Life in 2018.

Between A Rock And A Hard Place: Urbanormativity And Rural Located Private Higher Education, Jonathan Jared Friesen

Theses and Dissertations--Sociology

As urban areas have come to increasing dominate the social landscape, rurality is often defined in negative ways such as being backwards, simple, or even deviant. Urbanormativity is a theoretical approach developed to capture the normative and structural impacts and implications of privileging the urban. The result is not only the construction of urban as correct and positive and rurality as abnormal and backwards, the cultural ideology impacts the structural flow of resources which negatively impacts and results in a marginalization of rural areas.

The primary question motivating this research is how does urbanormativity shape the interactions between rural towns …

The Allocation Of State Appropriations And Students Across Different Types Of Public Institutions Of Higher Education, Joshua L. Bush

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

Public higher education has evolved over time under the control of each individual state. The public system in each state is made up of distinctive types of institutions that together provide higher education in different formats. Public institutions may largely be classified into three groups based on the level of education provided including community colleges, regional institutions, and research universities. While the institutions employed are largely the same in each state, the extent to which each is utilized and the support given reflect the individual characteristics of the state.

This dissertation examines appropriations and enrollments by state and year in …

Race, Identity, And Communication: Experiences Of College Students From Underrepresented Groups, Raya D. Petty

Masters Theses

There is a significant difference of the completion of college between minority students and white students. The achievement gap is influenced by race and socioeconomic status of the students. The purpose of my study was to examine the relationship between academic performance and achievement and sociocultural factors including race and socioeconomic status. My thesis will affirm previous research that recognizes a need for resources specifically dedicated to assist marginalized groups in higher education. It will bring attention to minority students, first-generation college students and students with a low socioeconomic status. The project includes a literature review that explores identity, intersectionality, …

Listening To Our Graduate Students' Feedback: Graduate Student Exit And Alumni Surveys, Alison W. Hong-Novotney

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Student and alumni surveys have become some of the most widely-used methods of assessment of student learning in higher education. While the majority of literature on student surveys and assessment focuses on undergraduate students, this study looks specifically at why graduate student exit and alumni surveys can be valuable tools within a comprehensive assessment plan. Listening to the feedback of current and former graduate students, and then acting upon that feedback, is crucial for the engagement and success of this unique population of students who bring their particular strengths and needs to their educational experiences. This study examined how master’s …

Transforming The Classroom At Traditionally White Institutions To Make Black Lives Matter, Frank Truitt, Chayla Haynes, Saran Stewart

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

In recent years, many college campuses across the United States witnessed a significant increase in campus activism regarding the range of experiences and conditions facing racially minoritized communities in higher education. As critical and inclusive pedagogues and scholars, we embrace the belief that a focus on making Black Lives Matter in the classrooms of traditionally White institutions (TWIs) provides educators with the best chance to improve the educational outcomes of all students. In this essay, we examine seven principles of critical and inclusive pedagogies that have the potential to make Black Lives Matter in TWI classrooms and identify several implications …

Ways Of Doing: Feminist Educational Development, Emily O. Gravett, Lindsay Bernhagen

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

In response to the recent special call in To Improve the Academy, we offer the following collaborative essay that describes how feminism is our characterizing perspective on educational development. The essay details various, interrelated facets of feminism that inform our work in the field: gender, intersectionality, power, privilege, standpoint theory, and collaboration. Not only do these facets characterize our own feminist approach to educational development—from consultations to organizational development to publications—but, we argue, they also align well with the values and approaches of the field as a whole.

Voluntary Engagement And College Retention: Does The Type Of Engagement Predict Retention For Different Types Of Students?, Sarah Louise Coley

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The current study examined whether voluntary engagement activities are associated with increased student retention rates at college to a subsequent semester. It was theorized that this association would owe to engagement enhancing the ostensible value of students’ college experience. Additionally, another theoretical idea was examined: Specific activities may be particularly beneficial for specific types of students. For example, students may have certain motivational needs, such as those identified by self-determination theory (SDT; i.e., competency and belongingness). Fulfilling those needs through engagement may promote retention. For the current study, student record data and student self-report data were sampled from a Midwestern …

The Impact Of Community Service In The Classroom Setting: A Research Study, Julie Dunn

Honors Theses

Community service has been linked to different psychological benefits. The field of positive psychology is growing and the purpose of the present study was to expand this research by examining other psychological benefits to those who participate in community service. We examined this relationship when community service is a requirement for the class. We compared Community Service Learning (CSL) participants with non-CSL participants of the same course. Participants completed questionnaires that assessed flourishing, self-esteem, serenity, gratitude, and their views about community service at the beginning (before completing community service) and at the end the semester. Contrary to our hypothesis, there …

Student Engagement In Higher Education: Measuring The Differences In Community Engagement, Stanley S. Ebede

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

In U.S. education system, the growing gap in the engagement of various groups and types of students is wider than ever (Darling-Hammond, 2015). Therefore, there is a need to bridge the gap in engagement by ensuring that either personal or social circumstances such as gender, student status, ethnic groups etc. are not obstacles to achieving educational potential in higher education (Williams & Whiting, 2016; Greene, Marti, & McClenney, 2008; McClenney & Marti, 2006). Using both longitudinal and cross-sectional perspectives advocated by Fuller, Wilson and Tobin (2011); Gordon, Ludlum, and Hoey (2008); and Astin and Lee (2003), this study examined students’ …

An Invitation Regarding Law And Legal Education, And Imagining The Future, Michael J. Madison

Articles

This Essay consists of an invitation to participate in conversations about the future of legal education in ways that integrate rather than distinguish several threads of concern and revision that have emerged over the last decade. Conversations about the future of legal education necessarily include conversations about the future of law practice, legal services, and law itself. Some of those start with the somewhat stale questions: What are US law professors doing, what should they be doing, and why? Those questions are still relevant and important, but they are no longer the only relevant questions, and they are not the …

The Relationship Between Job Satisfaction And Job Persistence Of Female Faculty In Higher Education, Ellen Hutcheson Mcmahan

Online Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study was to understand facets of job satisfaction and levels of burnout and to determine the relationship between job satisfaction and organizational commitment of female faculty across various career stages at a regional Kentucky university. Due to increasing workload and expectations for performance, greater understanding is warranted of the need for balance between work duties and personal responsibilities, in order to avoid burnout. Regardless of the growth in the field of Organizational Psychology, female faculty continue to leave academia. This study helps to clarify for organizational leaders facets of job satisfaction which lead to commitment …

Predictors Of Medical Students’ Attitudes Towards Abortion And Their Changes Overtime, Rebecca Elizabeth Morales

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

As new legislation is regularly being introduced to minimize Roe v. Wade’s protection of women’s right to choose in a medical setting, it is imperative to study what predictors may have an impact on abortion attitudes within the demographic of medical students, as well as how these predictors impact one’s willingness to provide the service in the future. The current study then, uses data collected in 2000 and 2015 from a medical school located in Virginia, and in collaboration with a research university in the state to examine what factors are associated with a willingness to provide an abortion, as …

A Photo Illicit Study Of Black Women's Sense Of Belonging At A Predominately White Institution, Kayla Alexandria Slusher

Masters Theses

This qualitative study sought to examine how Black women define and create their sense of belonging while attending a predominately White institution using a photovoice approach. The women took photographs of spaces that they frequently occupy and then engaged in a face-to-face interview to discuss the photographs. The researcher also investigated four Black women, ranging from junior to graduate level, to identify how they developed a sense of belonging at the research site institution. Results of the study showed that a feeling of comfort was most important when identifying belongingness in a space. The participants were able to create a …

A Profile Of Policy Discussions Regarding Gender-Inclusive Housing Amongst Four-Year Public Institutions In The Midwest: A Qualitative Approach, Alexis Hill

Masters Theses

This study utilized a qualitative approach to analyze gender-inclusive policies amongst four-year public institutions in the Midwest. This study focused primarily on residence life administrators, who are responsible for the creation and implementation of such policies on their campuses. 40 institutions completed a survey inquiring about their policies or practices, and four institutions were interviewed as a follow-up. Several themes emerged from the study, which included: 1) even if an institution did not have a policy, they more than likely have a practice; 2) change in trends are inevitable and professionals must be willing to change with them; and 3) …

Art Majors' Perceptions Of Their Self-Concept, Academic Self-Efficacy, And Social Identity, Sara E. Triplett

Masters Theses

This study utilized a qualitative approach was used to provide insight into students' perspectives on their self-concept, academic self-efficacy, and social identity in relation to their majors at a mid-size Midwestern university. Two undergraduate students majoring in 2D Studio Art and three undergraduate students majoring in Theater Performance were interviewed. Through individual interviews several themes emerged such as: 1) using art to have a meaningful impact on the audience, communicating a message, and clarifying their understanding of the world was important; 2) clear professional support strengthened art majors' self-efficacy; and 3) peer groups play a large part in art majors' …

The Relationship Between Peer Accountability Within Social Greek Organizations And Violations Of The Student Conduct Code, Danielle L. Burden

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between violations of the student conduct code and the perception of peer accountability within social Greek organizations. The researcher hypothesized that members of Greek organizations would report high perceptions of peer accountability within their organizations, and because of that there would be an effect on violations of the student conduct code. A quantitative study was conducted, surveying the entire Greek population at a mid-sized, Midwestern, 4-year, public institution. A Likert scale was used to measure questions about perceived peer accountability within organizations, students also provided demographics and self-reported violations of …

The Impact Of Faith Development On College Student Decision Making, Kaitlyn Christine Noah

Masters Theses

Utilizing qualitative methodology, participants' process of faith development was analyzed to determine the impact that development has on their decision making processes in college. To accomplish this, individual interviews were conducted with four participants who came from a faith-based background and it was determined that faith development plays a significant role in each of their decision making processes while in college. Participants all adapted their faith in college to better align with their adult lifestyle. Recommendations were made to better help student affairs professionals understand the process of faith development and comprehend the ways this can affect their students' identity …