Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Ultimate Tradeoff For Colleges: Academic Quality Or Consumption Amenities, Maura Mullaney

Economics Department Student Scholarship

This thesis examines the recent rise in tuition expenses and its relation to college operation costs. My focus delves into the finances of American institutions of higher education to observe where money is actually being spent and to which areas of the college money is being dispersed. It further examines whether students are actually stimulating their own tuition growth through their costly demands on colleges and the luxury services colleges are now offering. In particular, this paper analyzes the current-day trade off for American colleges: spending on consumption amenities as opposed to spending on academic quality. From my research and …

Happy Graduation., Joy Zanghi

SURGE

High school graduation is often considered the first step into a life of new beginnings, independence, and quasi-adulthood. It is a time of celebration, a time to recognize that all of those years of hard work have paid off. Of course, there are graduation presents from family members to reward all of that work and congratulate the graduate for beginning of the rest of their lives. My graduation present, though, is something I hope I never find a use for. [excerpt]

Support And Care For The Mental Health Of Collegiate Athletes, Brynn C. Griffith

Student Publications

While college is often one of the best times of a person’s life, it is also often one of the most challenging. College students are under immense pressure to succeed in all of their activities while still doing well in their classes and graduating within four years. This especially holds true for collegiate athletes. Student-athletes are under constant pressure to succeed in both the classroom as well as the athletic field. Balancing these challenges can be overwhelming for athletes to handle. Stress from academics and the new social structure is tough but when athletics are added, sometimes it gets to …

Youth Perceptions Of A School-Based Mentoring Program, Samantha Weiss, Jeanette Harder, Christiana Bratiotis, Emily Nguyen

Peer-Reviewed Articles

Academic mentoring programs promote high school completion for at-risk youth. The purpose of this study was to hear the voice of youth in order to inform program services and develop best practices for meeting their academic needs. Using a grounded theory approach, we conducted 14 focus groups to examine high school students’ perceptions and experiences in the Avenue Scholars Foundation program. This study supported previous findings: students’ comments reflected on the importance of the relationships built in the program, the knowledge they gained, and their experiences regarding higher education and careers. The students shared that these experiences were increasingly meaningful …

World Changers: Inspiring Cultural And Linguistic Excellence In Children, Parents And Teachers, Ana I. Berdecia Med, Caitlin Kosec Mpp, The John S. Watson Institute For Public Policy For Thomas Edison State College

Center for the Positive Development of Urban Children

The New Jersey Cultural Competency and English Language Learners Summer Institute and Mentoring Program hosted its 10th Anniversary, Three-Day Learning Institute, Aug. 23-25, 2016, with the theme, World Changers: Inspiring Cultural and Linguistic Excellence for Children, Parents and Teachers. After the Three- Day Learning Institute, classroom teachers were assigned a mentor who provided monthly supports to the classroom teachers in the adoption English language learners and cultural competency strategies with the goal of creating culturally and linguistic responsive classrooms. Twenty-three teachers from Trenton Public Schools were recruited and received 21 hours of training in best practices for engaging diverse …

Maybe Colleges Should Take A Lesson From Zoos, Michael Preston

UCF Forum

What would it take to create a more learning-efficient campus? What elements must we have, what culture must we extend to promote a more responsive campus to bolster student success?

Students’ Attachment Styles To Their Professors: Patterns Of Achievement, Curiosity, Exploration, Self-Criticism, Self-Reassurance, And Autonomy, Lian H. Conrad

All College Thesis Program, 2016-2019

This study explored whether professors for young adult college students could serve as caring and trustworthy attachment figures who fostered certain mindsets, perceptions of the self, and academic behaviors. A convenience sample of 89 first-year college students in introductory psychology courses completed an online survey. First, the study sought to replicate the established relationships between students’ achievement goal orientations and curiosity, exploration, self-criticism, and self-reassurance. Then, the study analyzed students’ attachment styles to their First-Year Seminar (FYS) professors in relation to achievement goal orientations to see if attachment style could then predict similar patterns of academic behaviors. Contrary to expectations, …

Unknown Identities: How Transracial International Adoptees Racially And Culturally Identify In College, Amy Williamson

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

This qualitative research study investigated transracial international adoptees (TRIAs) and how they racially and culturally identify in college. This study was meant to bring an awareness to student affairs professionals to increase their knowledge about a population they may encounter. Four TRIAs were interviewed. The findings from the data analysis revealed many TRIAs were uninterested in their birth country growing up, they were connected to their adoptive culture, and they racially identified with their birth race. Areas for future research and recommendations for student affairs are included.

Advisor: Stephanie Bondi

Credo Online Reference Service, Larry Sheret

Librarian Research

Credo Online Reference Service, popularly known as Credo Reference, is an e-reference database for K-12, public libraries, and academic libraries. The user-friendly interface provides an excellent place for students to begin their research, or to learn about the process of doing research during information literacy instruction. Instructors are provided with pre-proxied permalinks and embed codes that allow them to integrate any part of this resource into their learning management system.

Creepers, Druggers, And Predator Ambiguity: The Interactional Construction Of Campus Victimization And The University Sex Predator, Leah C. Butler, Holly Ningard, Brandie Pugh, Thomas Vander Ven

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

In response to the pervasive problem of sexual victimization on campus, many colleges in the United States have adopted bystander intervention programs which seek to educate students and provide them with the tools necessary to intervene in potentially risky situations. Research shows that how potential bystanders construct potential victims and perpetrators of campus victimization significantly impacts their progression to intervention. As an extension of Pugh, Ningard, Vander Ven and Butler’s (Deviant Behavior, 2016) work on victim ambiguity, the present study drew from intensive interviews of 30 undergraduates from a large university in the American Midwest to examine …

Information Literacy And Institutional Effectiveness: A Longitudinal Analysis Of Performance Indicators Of Student Success, Miriam Laskin, Lucinda Zoe

Publications and Research

This article reports on an analysis of data that tracks close to 2000 students in an urban public community college over a five year period to gather baseline data on the potential impact of information literacy instruction on standard indicators of student success—retention, graduation rates, pass rates on required proficiency exams in math, reading, and writing, GPA and credits earned. The data show a statistically significant trend that favors the students who have taken information literacy workshops, showing a higher rate of success in every category than students who did not participate in our information literacy program.

Lgbtq+ Young Adults On The Street And On Campus: Identity As A Product Of Social Context, Rachel M. Schmitz, Kimberly A. Tyler

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and other sexual and gender minority (LGBTQ+) young adults face unique identity-related experiences based on their immersion in distinctive social contexts. The predominant framework of performing separate analyses on samples of LGBTQ+ young people by their primary social status obfuscates more holistic understandings of the role of social context. Using 46 in-depth interviews with LGBTQ+ college students and LGBTQ+ homeless young adults, we ask: How are LGBTQ+ young adults’ capacities for “doing” their gender and sexual identities shaped by their distinctive social contexts? In developing their identities, both groups of LGBTQ+ young adults navigated their social …