Sociology Commons^™

Communication And Volunteerism: The Potential Impact Of Role Models, Maggie Briggs, Kristen Cvancara

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

Volunteers are an important subset of society who provide many services to people and organizations in need. Based on Social Learning Theory, a preliminary study was designed to investigate the role communication may play in fostering positive attitudes and behaviors in college students regarding volunteerism. Surveys completed by 321 college students were collected and the relationship between instances of communication with role models (e.g., parents, peers, religious leaders, siblings, coworkers, extended family) and participant attitudes toward and rates of volunteering were examined. Results indicated the more conversations shared between role models and participants the more likely it was that participants …

Transdisciplinarity: A Review Of Its Origins, Development, And Current Issues, Jay H. Bernstein

Publications and Research

Transdisciplinarity originated in a critique of the standard configuration of knowledge in disciplines in the curriculum, including moral and ethical concerns. Pronouncements about it were first voiced between the climax of government-supported science and higher education and the long retrenchment that began in the 1970s. Early work focused on questions of epistemology and the planning of future universities and educational programs. After a lull, transdisciplinarity re-emerged in the 1990s as an urgent issue relating to the solution of new, highly complex, global concerns, beginning with climate change and sustainability and extending into many areas concerning science, technology, social problems and …

The Year Of Change: Challenges Faced By First Year Students Based On Individual Identities, Holly K. Millet

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The first year of college is often a fresh start for students. For many, it is the first time away from home where students will have freedom to make their own decisions. During this year students gain new experiences, new knowledge, and a new understanding of themselves. However, it is commonly known that the transition into college is often accompanied by many challenges, including, homesickness, depression, inability to fit in, and financial instability. Often, students’ identities can influence the types of challenges they encounter throughout this transition. This study determines correlations between five social identities and challenges that first year …

Journey Into Shame: Implications For Justice Pedagogies, Roger C. Bergman

Engaging Pedagogies in Catholic Higher Education (EPiCHE)

Being formed for justice can be a painful experience. Sometimes that pain takes the form of shame and contributes to the formation and exercise of conscience. But shame in other forms can be opposed to human flourishing and social justice. Psychologist James Fowler provides a spectrum of two forms of healthy shame and four forms of unhealthy shame, to which the author adds four other varieties, strategic shame and spiritual shame, at one end of the spectrum, and murderous shame and genocidal shame, at the other. Various experiences of shame are dramatically illustrated in Black Like Me, John Howard …

Racial And Gender Differences In College Completion Among Minority Students: A Social Network Approach, Daneka Natlay Souberbielle

Theses and Dissertations

College enrollment has improved among Black and Latino students during the last several decades due partly to the influence of formal and informal mentors and increasing parental support of higher education. However, college completion for these underrepresented minority groups continues to lag behind graduation rates for White students. This research sought to examine whether pre-college relationships influence college completion. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Freshmen, this study tested the direct and indirect effects of social capital from pre-college networks, including parental capital and mentor capital, race and gender on college completion utilizing logistic regression. The results indicated …

Research Brief: "Empty Promise: Black American Veterans And The New Gi Bill", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This study found that despite the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 expanding educational benefits for military veterans who have served since September 11, 2001, African American veterans are utilizing GI benefits less than other ethnic groups. In practice, institutions of higher education (IHE) must recognize that veterans have acquired life skills that can be assessed and worthy of academic credit, and employers should seriously consider African American veterans as potential employees, regardless of whether they have competed a college degree. In policy, the DoD and the VA might partner together to better ensure that African American service members …

2015 President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, Uno Office Of Academic Affairs

Community Engagement Award Applications

Program Purpose: The President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll recognizes higher education institutions that reflect the values of exemplary community service and achieve meaningful outcomes in their communities. The Honor Roll is part of the Corporation for National and Community Service’s strategic commitment to engage millions of college students in service and celebrate the critical role of higher education in strengthening communities. The President’s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge is a parallel national initiative that was launched in 2011, based on recommendations from President Obama’s inaugural Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Administered by The White House …

North Central Sociological Association 2014 Teaching Address: The John F. Schnabel Lecture—Sociology’S Special Pedagogical Challenge, Jay R. Howard

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Instructors and students must overcome a course’s special pedagogical challenge in order for meaningful and important learning to occur. While some suggest that the special pedagogical problem varies by course, I contend that the special pedagogical problem is likely to be shared across a discipline’s curriculum, rather than being unique to each course. After reviewing a three-part typology of learning outcomes for sociology, I argue that the development of students’ sociological imaginations is sociology’s special pedagogical challenge; I then offer some general guidelines for teaching strategies to enhance the students’ success in developing a sociological imagination.

A Grounded Theory Of Women's Leadership Experiences In Higher Education: Navigating From The Director Level, Laura Ann Maki

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

In higher education leadership, the proportion of women in senior-level positions has grown very modestly. This stagnation is present in representation in leadership as well as in wage equality. Although institutions and organizations have policies and practices aimed at improving diversity and equity, ongoing underrepresentation indicates that barriers, lack of interest, or other unidentified factors influence women's opportunities for achieving senior-level leadership positions. To help address the ongoing underrepresentation of women in senior-level leadership in higher education, I have focused this dissertation on women's experiences in mid-level leadership positions. In this study, I use grounded theory to examine women's leadership …

2015 Carnegie Community Engagement Classification, Uno Office Of Academic Affairs

Community Engagement Award Applications

In 2006, the University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO), was one of the first groups of colleges and universities to receive the Carnegie elective classification for community engagement. UNO's classification was for both curricular engagement and outreach and partnerships.

Collegiate Concerted Cultivation: The Influence Of Class And Family On Higher Education, Meghan Weyant

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The 1966 Coleman Report and subsequent research identifies social class as an important determinant of educational outcomes, but after decades of research it is still unclear exactly why. This study purports to explore one possible explanation, collegiate concerted cultivation. The focus of this study was to explore the existence of collegiate concerted cultivation as a sociological concept. Collegiate concerted cultivation provides a theoretical framework to more deeply explore the relationships between social class, family factors, and familial support of education in order to better understand differential outcomes in achievement in higher education. Using a mixed method approach, the study examined …

The Development Of A Theoretically-Supported Model Of Resolution For Student Complaints In Higher Education, Laura Garrido

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

Conflict in higher education is inevitable and theoretically driven processes in conflict resolution can be employed to help in managing conflict or mediating issues. Students often are not a part of the well thought-out process that may exists in certain institutions, and the way in which conflict is handled could lack theoretical support. In conflict resolution theory, the process to resolve a conflict is often just as important as the outcome. Students may not be fully satisfied with the outcome of a mediation process when a conflict arises. However, if the mediation session was facilitated properly and a student's input …

Through The Looking Glass: Barriers And Coping Mechanisms Encountered By African American Women Presidents At Predominately White Institutions, Maria Louise Baxter-Nuamah

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this research is to identify factors (experiences, career paths, and barriers) that influence the career advancement of African American women administrators in higher education. African American women's experiences in higher education are molded by both external factors and internal factors specific to "traditional" social roles within and outside of the university. This qualitative study examines the personal and professional growth of five African American women who rose to executive leadership positions as presidents at predominately white colleges or universities .

There are five main themes in this study. First, African American women who aspire to senior level …

Motherhood First: An Interpretive Description Of The Experience Of Mature Age Female Students With Dependent Children At One Regional University Campus In Australia, Amanda Draper

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study explored the experience of mature age female students with dependent children at one regional university campus in Western Australia, Edith Cowan University South West (ECUSW). These students are one of many student groups whose experience differs to that of more traditional students such as young, unmarried, and well-supported school-leaver students. Although all students enter university with experiences that make them valuable to the university institution, mature age female students with dependent children enter university with unique knowledge, experiences and attitudes making them potentially valuable contributors to their own and others’ learning (Martins & Anthony, 2007). Whilst at university, …

Young, Gifted, And Brown: Ricanstructing Through Autoethnopoetic Stories For Critical Diasporic Puerto Rican Pedagogy, Ángel Luis Martínez

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Young, Gifted and Brown is a journey of two directions converging. It is a study of Puerto Rican Diaspora in higher education, specifically, students making sense and meaning of their everyday. It is also a study of how I have related to them as a professor. Together, this is a story: research done creatively, toward the development of Critical Pedagogy for Puerto Rican Diaspora. The research question is: what has made the Puerto Rican Diaspora in the United States flourish and their lived experience meaningful? How can a diasporic people connect with and affirm their roots in an educational system …

Anna Julia Cooper: A Quintessential Leader, Janice Y. Ferguson

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study is a leadership biography which provides, through the lens of Black feminist thought, an alternative view and understanding of the leadership of Black women. Specifically, this analysis highlights ways in which Black women, frequently not identified by the dominant society as leaders, have and can become leaders. Lessons are drawn from the life of Anna Julia Cooper that provides new insights in leadership that heretofore were not evident. Additionally, this research offers provocative recommendations that provide a different perspective of what leadership is among Black women and how that kind of leadership can inform the canon of leadership. …

A Qualitative Case Study Of Facebook And Its Perceived Impact On Social Connectivity, Janet Staker Woerner

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

While the number of students using web-based social networks has increased, the effects of such networks on education have been unclear. Therefore, this research used a case study approach to study the relationship between social connectivity and the use of Facebook in a higher education classroom as well as the relationship between age and the use of Facebook. The intent was to understand the perceived impact of the use of a social media tool on bonding, bridging, and linking. The conceptual framework was built around the theories of social capital of Lin, Portes, Putnam, and Woolcock. The research questions addressed …

The Influence Of University-Related International Experience, Volunteer Service,And Service-Learning On Moral Growth , Parry F. Garff

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis empirically tests whether university-related volunteer service, international experience, and service-learning have a positive moral impact on students and whether the peer reference group moderates this relationship. I use a measure of morality based on the recent work on values by Shalom Schwartz. A novel approach to measuring the social psychological phenomenon of the peer reference group is used in which the relative strength of the peer reference group is measured. The peer reference group was included in hypothesized models as a moderator between volunteer service, international experience, service-learning, and moral growth. Cross-sectional survey data of 633 engineering students …

Cosmopolitanism As Cultural Capital: Exploring The Intersection Of Globalization, Education, And Stratification, Hiroki Igarashi, Hiro Saito

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In recent years, sociological research on cosmopolitanism has begun to draw on Pierre Bourdieu to critically examine how cosmopolitanism is implicated in stratification on an increasingly global scale. In this paper, we examine the analytical potential of the Bourdieusian approach by exploring how education systems help to institutionalize cosmopolitanism as cultural capital whose access is rendered structurally unequal. To this end, we first probe how education systems legitimate cosmopolitanism as a desirable disposition at the global level, while simultaneously distributing it unequally among different groups of actors according to their geographical locations and volumes of economic, cultural, and social capital …

Research Brief: "The Effect Of 21st Century Military Service On Civilian Labor And Educational Outcomes", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This study aims to understand the effect military service post-9/11 has on veterans, as it found veteran status positively affects minorities and women. In practice, 21st century veterans are as employable and satisfied with their civilian occupation as their non-veteran counterparts, and veterans seeking employment and career opportunities should continue utilizing VetSuccess. In policy, the VA and policymakers might evaluate current services, and focus on employment experiences and reasons veterans seek education post-service. Suggestions for future study include improving the external validity by using larger samples, as well as including datasets with older 21st century veterans to better account for …

Challenges Facing Women In Us Higher Education: The Case Of Faculty Of Color, Fredah Mainah

International Conference on African Development

Despite a myriad of challenges such as the slow pace of rising to the top, and the low compositional diversity in most university leadership, women of color are increasingly becoming visible in top positions in higher education. This paper investigated the phenomena of increasing numbers of women in top positions with the aim of debunking the myth of invisibility of black women in leadership positions in higher education. The findings indicate that although women in the US earn the majority of post-secondary degrees, with 26.4% of college presidents being women (4.5% of them being women of color), they still have …

Research Brief: "Veteran Ally: Practical Strategies For Closing The Military-Civilian Gap On Campus", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This study examines what changes universities and colleges can make to lessen transitional challenges for student veterans. In practice, through building relationships with other student veterans and their supporters, incoming student veterans could potentially feel more connected to the student body and the university. In policy, DoD and VA administrators might work with college campuses to provide training resources for educators and university officials on how to best address concerns and issues student veterans commonly have upon their arrival to campus and throughout their academic career. Suggestions for future research include determining if the study results are geographically generalizable among …

Impacts Of Website Visibility And Family Income On Use Of The Net Price Calculator, Hunt Chouteau Helm

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

Higher education attainment benefits individuals and society. But access to higher education is not equitable. Students from low-income families, even those with equal qualifications, are underrepresented throughout the education pipeline, and the gap by family income increases at each educational milepost. The major impediments to increasing college-going rates for lower-income families are financial, experiential, motivational and informational. A key informational impediment is the difficulty families have in understanding information about college costs and financial aid. In 2011, the federal government attempted to improve information access for all by requiring colleges and universities to post a Net Price Calculator on their …

Veterans Upward Bound: A Federally Funded Trio Program, Preparing Veterans For College At Umass Boston Since 1973, Veterans Upward Bound Program, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Veterans Upward Bound Program at the University of Massachusetts Boston provides a unique opportunity for men and women veterans of all ages to acquire the academic skills required for entry into higher education and/or to acquire the equivalent of a high school diploma.

Admission Guaranteed Program At Umass Boston, Academic Support Services And Undergraduate Studies, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Every student, whether low-income, first-generation, with a disability, or at high risk for academic failure, will develop the skills, knowledge, and motivation to successfully enroll in and complete postsecondary education.

An Exploration Of Volunteer Experiences For Third Level Students In Ireland From A Student Volunteer And Volunteer Manager Perspective., Caitriona Mcgrattan

Dissertations

Since the establishment of Campus Engage in 2007, student volunteering and student-led activities have received more attention on a national scale. Despite this, the area remains under researched; to date there has been no nationwide review of student volunteerism. This research aimed to explore the volunteer experiences of third level students across in a number of Higher Education Institutions in Ireland. For this qualitative study, in-depth interviews were carried out with five student volunteers and three volunteer managers across a spectrum of voluntary activity. The participants were asked to discuss their personal experiences and perceptions of student volunteering. The findings …

The Changing Role Of Higher Education: Learning To Deal With Wicked Problems, Judith A. Ramaley

Higher Education

The role of higher education is changing in today’s world because the world itself is changing, and complex problems confront us daily. This essay will explore the role of an emerging group of individuals who can serve as a bridge between the academic community and the world at large. These administrators, faculty members, staff, students, and community members can help create new opportunities for different disciplines to work together and for all parts of a campus community and members of the broader society to form new working relationships to address the complex problems of today’s world. What role will these …

2014 President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, Uno Office Of Academic Affairs

Community Engagement Award Applications

Program Purpose: The President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll recognizes higher education institutions that reflect the values of exemplary community service and achieve meaningful outcomes in their communities. The Honor Roll is part of the Corporation for National and Community Service’s strategic commitment to engage millions of college students in service and celebrate the critical role of higher education in strengthening communities. The President’s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge is a parallel national initiative that was launched in 2011, based on recommendations from President Obama’s inaugural Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Administered by The White House …

Perceptions Of Education As An Avenue To Life Course Success: A Study Of Millennials, Patrick Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For more than a half a century the role of education and its influence on social mobility and status attainment has been a subject of research. Further more, education has been shown to be an important contributor for success over the life course. Much of the research surrounding status attainment and higher education has dealt with the Baby Boomer cohort. The purpose of the study is to examine education from a perspective that is less talked about to this point. This study uses data gathered by the Pew Research Center and examines a specific age group, current 18-30 year olds …

Teaching Acceptance Of Differences And Equality Across General Education Curricula: Changing Perspectives On Multiculturalism And Social Acceptance Through Transformative Learning, Merrill Andrea Mayper

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

As the United States becomes more diverse nation, institutions of higher learning continue to promote diversity education on their campuses. The purpose of this study was to go beyond courses designed to teach cultural diversity specifically, and to discover how higher education faculty could include lessons on acceptance of difference and equality in the various disciplines of general education taught in today's colleges and universities. Faculty could thereby create an opportunity for students to challenge their mental models and, through transformative learning, change their perceptions on how they view the world. Using the Delphi method, this study brought together a …