Higher Education Commons^™

Preparing Students For College And Careers: Recommendations For Scaling College And Career Pathways In Southwestern Illinois, Laura Monteagudo

Reports, Analyses, and other Publications

Education Systems Center (EdSystems) at Northern Illinois University provided strategic counsel and support to Southwestern Illinois College (SWIC) for a 12-month period to develop comprehensive college and career pathways. Our support included the development of a unified, regionwide college and career pathway system aligned with Illinois’ College and Career Pathway Endorsement framework, Perkins V, and the State of Illinois Model Programs of Study Guides.

Instead of each district building pathways independently, this regional approach brings together high schools, community college faculty, and local employers to create shared structures that reflect real workforce needs and rural access challenges.

In this report, …

Taking Back The Trades: Southwestern Illinois Work-Based Learning Inventory Report, Alexia Santiago

Reports, Analyses, and other Publications

In 2025, Education Systems Center at Northern Illinois University (EdSystems) partnered with Southwestern Illinois College (SWIC), regional school districts, and industry partners to build a strong and comprehensive system of work-based learning opportunities for K-12 students that is aligned with Illinois statutes and frameworks. In this report, EdSystems identifies the existing regional events and activities that promote high-quality work-based learning for college and career pathways in the health sciences and manufacturing sectors.

Plan Your Way To Tenure And/Or Promotion, Wendy Doucette, Jill Cirasella

Journal of Graduate Librarianship

In this editorial, we share our best advice for preparing the dossier necessary for professional advancement. While our advice is unavoidably shaped by the specifics of our experiences and universities, we believe most of it is broadly applicable to academic librarians in general. We cluster our advice into three categories: framework and planning, building your portfolio, and ongoing recordkeeping. We hope this “from the ground up” presentation will help those new to academic librarianship, though it’s never too late for more experienced librarians to (re)consider their own approaches.

A Content Analysis Of Spanish Language Curriculum In Texas, Sarah Moore, Jessica Sanchez, Sarah Herrera

Journal of Global Awareness

The shortage of Spanish-speaking social workers is significant in the United States, especially in border states such as Texas. Experts are calling for Spanish language training in social work education. However, it is unclear whether social work programs are incorporating Spanish into their curriculum at a pace needed to keep up with demand. Using conceptual content analysis, this article examines the frequency of Spanish language courses relevant to social work education across Texas.

Leading From Within: Integrating Ignatian Pedagogy Into A Theoretical Framework For Leadership Preparedness, Vivian A. Amu

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

In Jesuit higher education institutions, enduring principles and values invite educators and students from all backgrounds to consider integrating the essence of Ignatian pedagogy into their own practices as well as develop leaders who are prepared to confront, transform, inspire, and participate in leadership globally. It requires both institutional investment and student involvement in the learning process. Using the Ignatian pedagogical model, constructivism theory of learning, Dewey’s theory of experience, and past literature on leadership preparedness, this article presents a dynamic self-exploration for leadership preparedness (SELP) framework. It is a theoretical framework rooted in self-discovery through reflection and growth. The …

Walking The Walk: Centering Praxis In Teaching Abolition, Mei-Ling N. Malone

Feminist Pedagogy

Teaching abolition in the university setting from a theoretical standpoint often leaves students feeling disconnected from its real-world implications and does not connect or empower students to join this work. Bettina Love argues that “too often we think the work of fighting oppression is just intellectual. The real work is personal, emotional, spiritual, and communal.” As an assistant professor of African American Studies and an abolitionist feminist, who centers praxis in my pedagogy, my involvement in abolition organizing on campus is the real work that Love asks of educators. I organize with a small group of students and professors to …

Decolonizing Monopoly: Intersectionality, Abolition, And Fun, Faith Deschamps, Caroline Mullins, Elizabeth Sumoza, Vanessa Hildebrand, Veda Hyunjin Kim

Feminist Pedagogy

“Abolitionist teaching is not sustainable without joy” (Love 2019: 120). We propose a joyful classroom activity that recreates the game “Monopoly” to bring to the forefront the lived experiences of people in late racial capitalism. This re-creation is an exercise in which undergraduate students rewrite both the characters to represent intersectional identities in the United States and the chance cards to represent the contemporary context. Students then play the game with these characters and end with a reflection on the lesson. In this way students are able to exercise prior course learning on identity, privilege, inequality, intersectionality, social stratification, organizing, …

From Margins To Center: Black Feminism And Radical Imagination In The Classroom, Jane Mahon, Amanda Pierson, Jovanna Walker

Feminist Pedagogy

We center Black feminism and the radical imagination as necessary conditions of abolitionist pedagogy, and share our experiences of how the prominence of these epistemological frameworks fostered the co-construction of knowledge in a police and prison abolition course at one of the richest and whitest private educational institutions in the United States. Drawing on our experiences as abolitionists, activists, and scholars, we remain resolved that abolitionist epistemologies and pedagogies can and should be incorporated into traditional classroom settings to the benefit of all classroom members. Traditional postsecondary curriculums and the preeminence of official knowledge require the segregation and diminution of …

Profit & Loss: A Narrative Inquiry Into The Salience Of The Black Male Experience In Top-Tier U.S. Mba Programs, Craig Woodward

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

This study aimed to explore the educational, cultural, and personal challenges faced by Black males in MBA programs and to identify factors that aid their persistence in completing their degrees. The research design employed a qualitative approach to narrative inquiry as its methodology, using one-on-one semi-structured interviews. The study used resilience theory as its theoretical framework, approaching it from both an academic and psychological perspective. Respondents were recruited from the top 50 MBA programs in the United States according to the 2023 edition of U.S News and World Report (2024). There were a total of 15 African American respondents who …

Book Review: Academic Coaching: Coaching College Students For Success, Corinne Bishop

Journal of Graduate Librarianship

Book review: Howlett, M. A., & Rademacher, K. (2023). Academic coaching: Coaching college students for success. Routledge. 196 pp. ISBN: 9781032272214 (paperback), 9781032265711 (hardcover), 9781003291879 (ebook).

Becoming A Competent Graduate Librarian, Wendy Doucette

Journal of Graduate Librarianship

Becoming a competent graduate librarian is a cumulative process. This article is a reflective summary of over ten years of evolution as a graduate librarian. By treating real-life encounters with reality-based methods and empathetic teaching and reflection, I have developed personal recommendations and strategies to interact successfully with students, as well as the reasoning behind personal shifts in approaching graduate students and services. This process includes unscripted interactions, the necessity of becoming a scholarly contributor, and providing contextualization and incremental assistance against a framework of empathy and andragogy. Combined with ongoing self-assessment, this results in an evaluation cycle that responds …

“I Learned How To Be More Autistic”: Experiences Of Autistic-Centered Constellation Mentoring, Helen Rottier, Ben Pfingston, Tamar Heller

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

Peer mentoring is a common support service for autistic students in postsecondary education. This study explores the potential of peer mentoring as a space for autistic-centered connection and proposes a novel mentoring model, constellation mentoring, to enhance peer mentoring for this population. Constellation mentoring is informed by mentoring literature, critical disability praxis, and lived experiences of autistic community members to address limitations in existing mentoring programs. This article presents findings from the inaugural constellation mentoring program. Four autistic young adults who were past or present group members participated in focus group interviews about their experience. Researchers used reflexive thematic analysis …

Stimming Toward Something: Misreading, Method, And Neuroqueer Becoming, Kara Fahringer-Baer

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

This autotheoretical piece examines the epistemic injustices faced by a neurodivergent individual in higher education, tracing how institutional cultures demand legibility while extracting and erasing the knowledge produced at their margins. Drawing on the personal experience of a queer, cis-passing, neurodivergent scholar-practitioner in the U.S. community college system, the narrative enacts theory through lived friction, institutional residue, and creative refusal. By naming the margins as method, the piece offers both scholars and practitioners a framework for recognizing how neuroqueer ways of knowing unsettle dominant logics while making new forms of understanding possible.

When Writing Becomes Community: Reflections On The She Writes Circle For Racialized Graduate Students, Bahareh Razavian

Critical Internationalization Studies Review

No abstract provided.

Elephant In The Classroom: How Ethical Ai Can Improve Student Success, Ibrahim Kocaman, Daniel A. Cutrer

Publications

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into teaching and learning in higher education without compromising academic integrity is a pressing issue. To make the benefits of generative AI (GenAI) available to students while upholding principles of ethics and academic honesty, the authors implemented an ethical use of AI policy in their Introduction to Research Methods at Embry-Riddle University. The authors hypothesized and found that allowing ethical utilization of AI would lead to higher student engagement and academic success. These findings offer valuable insights for higher education programs and educators, particularly in security studies.

Library Guides For Graduate Students: A Content Analysis, Maria Kiriakova, Junli Diao, Joan Kelly Castro

Journal of Graduate Librarianship

This study looked at 117 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) academic library websites and identified 48 library guides that consider graduate students in general as their target audience. The broad and systematic content analysis of these library guides resulted in the discovery of four different types, which we categorized as Checklist, Orientation Module, Directory, and Comprehensive. We identify and describe content patterns that address the different roles graduate students might play as advanced library users, novice researchers, and teaching assistants/instructors. Academic librarians who have already created library guides for graduate students could use the results of …

Opportunities, Challenges, And Realities Of Graduate Student Submissions In Institutional Repositories: One Librarian’S Reflection, Sierra Pandy

Journal of Graduate Librarianship

The role of an institutional repository (IR) is to provide open access publishing and archival services for the institution’s faculty, staff, and students. However, despite the wide range of benefits this creates for university researchers, it can be difficult to communicate that value to graduate students. This article will discuss and reflect upon the various challenges, successes, and opportunities we experienced while promoting and utilizing the IR for graduate students at the University of Wyoming during and after a major platform migration, and touch upon goals for the future.

'The Rest Is Silence': Reframing Stasis As Integral To Creative Practice, Corinna Di Niro, Pablo Muslera

Staff Scholarship - Australia & Dubai

This duoethnographic study examines the relationship between motion and stasis in creative practice through the lens of two creative educators working in postgraduate and undergraduate Creative Industries. Drawing on our combined experiences as practitioners and educators at SAE University College, we explore how creative blockages can be reframed as productive rather than problematic, challenging dominant productivity paradigms in contemporary creative industries and education. Through structured dialogic exchange, we investigate three interconnected themes: the rhythmic nature of creative practice, the pedagogical value of embracing productive stasis, and the tension between institutional timelines and creative development. We consider how encouraging SAE creative …

Make It Shine: Strategies For Improving Academic Journals, Mark Hamilton

Faculty Publications and Presentations

This lightning talk, designed for journal editors and scholarly communication professionals, reviews several strategies for improving academic journals. These include developing best practices for journal publishing, maintaining high editorial standards, establishing regular publishing cycles, and updating the journal platform to a more modern design.

Leadership Development Programs For Elected Officials: Measuring The Impact Of Extension On County Leadership Capacity, Nathan Palardy, Matthew Sowcik

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

Although Extension-led leadership development programs for elected officials are widespread, few evaluations assess their effectiveness. This study uses 2 years of survey data to quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate several programs for Florida county commissioners, focusing on reaction, knowledge transfer, and behavior change. Results indicate high satisfaction with the program content and quality and substantial improvement in leadership competencies. Commissioners reported frequent application of the skills taught and cited networking opportunities as a key benefit. Findings suggest that Extension-led programs can strengthen local governments by enhancing the leadership capabilities of elected officials and offering insights to guide the design of similar …

“I Found My Place:” Exploring The Counterspace Experiences Of Black Alumni On Historically White College Campuses, Jacquelyn Burns Rucker

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study explored the life experiences of Black alumni and their participation in intentional, multicultural programming of cultural facilities to create a sense of counterspace for Black students on historically White college campuses. The study captured the stories of 12 Black alumni who graduated from seven historically White institutions (HWIs), between the years of 2010 and 2016, across four different states. The 12 study participants completed undergraduate and terminal degrees during the years 2009 - 2016 and identified as Black, African, or bi-racial. The interviews, conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic, were conducted on zoom. The theoretical framework of the …

All Things Equal: Uncovering The Extent Sexism Influences Higher Education Through Faculty Perceptions Of The Inner Workings Of The Academy, Jonathan Yorkowitz

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The history of critical systemic issues in higher education has been well documented in recent literature (Delgado & Stefancic, 2017, Freire, 2018, and Wilder, 2013). Among the critical issues noted, sexism has remained a significant influence suppressing opportunities for women within higher education in the United States. bell hooks (1981, 2003, 2014) shared research about the specific systemic challenges encountered by Black women in the academy, providing a key connection between sexism and racism. The lack of significant proposed solutions to address sexism in higher education scholarship, along with the need for an updated and more comprehensive understanding of faculty …

Exploring Online Teaching Self-Efficacy Among University Faculty Members During The Period Of Covid-19 Pandemic, Sarah Alamri

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine faculty’s perceptions of their self-efficacy regarding online teaching and some variables that may affect online teaching efficacy. A quantitative survey was administered to examine whether three faculty variables (online teaching experience, professional development experience, and COVID-19) predict a significant portion of the variance in faculty self-efficacy in online teaching on four subscales: student engagement, instructional strategies, classroom management, and teachers’ computer use. Faculty participants were recruited from King Khalid University in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Data were collected using a web-based survey adapted from Robinia (2008). The data collected in this …

“I Was The Only One Who Was Alone:” The Impacts Of Covid-19 Pandemic On International Students In U.S. Higher Education, Lawrence Ejiofo

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on international students. The study focused on their academic, racial, emotional, psychological stress and trauma experiences. The student participants interpreted these experiences through their lens and backgrounds as international students. They expressed the feelings of desertion and abandonment during the pandemic. The findings showed that the impacts sustained and endured by international students during the COVID-19 pandemic were real, painful, disturbing, and emotional. The image created of the US and other first world countries in the 21st century was very damaging and showed failure of leadership management. It had been more …

Teaching Note - Embedding The Human Library Experience Within Social Work Curriculum, Emily M. Paine

Social Work Faculty Works

The Human Library is a global initiative designed to challenge stereotypes and foster dialogue through storytelling and presents a unique opportunity for experiential learning within social work education. This teaching note explores how the Human Library framework can be integrated into social work curriculum in alignment with the 2022 Council on Social Work Education’s Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards, with particular emphasis on Competency 3: Engaging in Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion practice. When embedded in coursework, the Human Library enables students to engage in brave and authentic conversations with storytellers who share aspects of their lived experiences, promoting mutuality, …

Where's Waldo?: Finding The Missing Voice Of The College Counselor, Krystyn K. Dupree

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

College counseling has been integral to higher education for more than a century; however, the role of college counselors has become increasingly complex amid rising student mental health needs, growing symptom severity, and constrained institutional resources. Despite extensive research on college student mental health, little contemporary scholarship has examined the lived experiences of the professionals providing these services. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how college counselors who provide mental health services perceive their professional role within the context of higher education.

Guided by Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, this study conceptualized college counselors as embedded within interconnected …

External Funding Bulletin July 1, 2024-June 30, 2025, Office Of Research And Creative Activity, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Sponsored Programs Bulletins

No abstract provided.

Student Perceptions Of The Impact Of Faculty Race And Gender On Their Sense Of Connectedness, Engagement, And Persistence, Sherrie Y. Fuller

Dissertations

This quantitative study examined how faculty demographic characteristics, specifically race and gender, influence undergraduate students’ perceptions of connectedness, engagement, and persistence at a public Midwestern university. Guided by Tinto’s Model of Student Integration (1975, 1993, 2012), the research explored whether perceived alignment between student and faculty identities contributes to students’ sense of belonging and motivation to persist toward degree completion. Data were collected from 100 undergraduate participants representing diverse racial, gender, and academic backgrounds. Participants completed a researcher-developed survey instrument utilizing a four-point Likert scale to measure connectedness, engagement, and persistence.

University Athletic Subsidies Connections To Various Campus-Wide Outcomes, Daniel Vainner

Dissertations

This study examines the relationship between university athletic subsidies and outcomes for the broader undergraduate student population. The athletic subsidy, referred to as an athletic tax, is defined as institutional and student fees used to support athletics. Although athletics are often viewed as enhancing institutional prestige and recruitment, most universities depend heavily on subsidies to sustain their programs. In 2019, National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) institutions spent over $18.8 billion on athletics, with $8.3 billion, or 44 percent, coming from institutional and student sources rather than athletic revenue (NCAA, 2019a). This research explores whether such subsidization predicts measurable differences in …

A Word From The Writing Team (December 2025), Pam Walter, Mfa, Laura Deloretta, Phd

A Word From the Writing Team (Newsletter)

No abstract provided.