Sociology Commons^™

A Reflective Conversation: Community And Hei Perspectives On Community-Based Research., Niamh O'Reilly, Catherine Bates

Staff Articles and Research Papers

This paper is a reflective correspondence between a community partner and a community-based research coordinator in a higher education institute (HEI). We asked each other questions about our experience of collaborating on two community-based research (CBR) projects, in order to share our learning from our collaboration, and to relate this to the wider context in order to develop recommendations for others – community partners and HEI staff – who would like to initiate CBR projects in the future.

Restructuring Irish Higher Education Through Collaboration And Merger., Siobhan Harkin, Ellen Hazelkorn

Books/Book chapters

Irish higher education has been undergoing significant change, provoked by the global financial crisis and its particular manifestation in Ireland. The demand for higher education is rising at the same time that public funding is declining. In response, mergers and strategic alliances, including regional clusters, of higher education institutions has become a key component of the strategy to better position Irish higher education for greater efficiency, enhanced quality, improved competitiveness and visibility, and clearer alignment with national policy objectives. This chapter traces these developments. It describes the socio-economic and policy context underpinning developments in Irish higher education since the 1970s, …

Passionate Pedagogy And Emotional Labor: Students’ Responses To Learning Diversity From Diverse Instructors, April Schueths, Tanya Gladney, Devan Crawford, Katherine L. Bass, Helen A. Moore

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

This qualitative study examines emotional themes in student evaluations from required diversity courses at a predominately white, US public university. We analyzed two years of student evaluations from 29 instructors. Situated by the work of Acker, Jaggar and Hochschild, we find contradictory themes of perceived instructional bias and the balue of diversity lessons. Student evaluations resulted in systematic disadvantage for minority instructors that may be heightened for female instructors of color. Non-minority faculty (both male and female) gain privileges by avoiding dealing with diversity directly, which is reflected in student evaluations through the process of "ducking diversity." The organizational structure …

I'Ll Just Say It, Men: Sexual Attackers Are Arrogant, Insecure, Weak, Mark Routhier

UCF Forum

College students most everywhere live in an atmosphere that is sexually supercharged. Young men and women with varying degrees of sexual experience, free from the surveillance of parents, experimenting with social structure, and embracing a knowledge of their sexual power creates an environment rife with possibility.

Research Brief: "Student Veterans In Transition: Re-Enrolling After War Zone Deployments", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This study examines the individual-level transitions encountered by student veterans (National Guard and Reserve members) as they re-enroll in college post-deployment, while also attempting to account for the complexities of student and veteran identities. In practice, service members who are re-enrolling in college at the undergraduate level should seek out support groups for student veterans, and most universities have focused attention on ensuring that veterans understand their available benefits, which is a significant step forward; however, universities should also implement support services for veterans in the form of student veteran organizations and support groups. Suggestions for future study include having …

Reading The Community: Helping Students Learn The Process, Judith A. Ramaley

Higher Education

Colleges and universities in the 21st century will thrive through extensive collaborations with other higher education institutions and with communities with which they have special affinities. These relationships will create an educational environment that promotes deeper learning and student success, while generating knowledge that can be put to good use in improving the sustainability of local and global communities, and the diversity and strength of the economy. This paper will explore ways to engage students in the life of their communities while they take an active role in addressing challenges that affect local culture, health, economic stability and the environment. …

The Meaning Of Life – Or At Least University Life, Mark Routhier

UCF Forum

The sun will one day burn itself out and all the magnificence and strife that is humankind will be a whisper in a vacuum, a ripple through dark space.

The Intellectual And Curricular Spaces Of Knowledge Studies, Jay H. Bernstein

Publications and Research

The words “knowledge” and “information” are sometimes used interchangeably, but the connection between them is complex and problematic. Knowledge is a mental product gained from engaging with information. All educational subjects, scholarly disciplines, occupations, and activities produce knowledge as well as information. Because libraries encompass potentially all subjects, professional vision in librarianship would benefit from an examination of knowledge that transcends the methods and topical concerns of individual disciplines. An interdisciplinary (or transdisciplinary) framework in which to view knowledge was pioneered in the post-Sputnik age by Fritz Machlup and Michael Polanyi. Their insights have stimulated scholars to develop research, publications, …

The Umass Boston Bachelors Of Science In Information Technology, Deborah Boisvert, Ricardo Checchi, William Campbell, Jean-Pierre Kuilboer, Roger Blake, Robert Cohen, Oscar Gutierrez

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The BSIT is a 21st Century degree that supports and extends the BATEC vision of curriculum – advanced in content and pedagogy, regionally-coordinated, and industry-linked. Every exercise assigned throughout the BSIT emphasizes collaboration, competence, and outcomes assessment. Faculty and business partners regularly participate in professional and curriculum development to ensure the program’s continued industry relevance.

Admission Guaranteed Program (Agp) At Umass Boston, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Jeremiah E. Burke High School, Boston Green Academy, Dorchester Academy

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Initiated in 1989, the Admission Guaranteed Program at the University of Massachusetts Boston guarantees admission to the university for students enrolled at partner high schools. Through AGP, students who take courses in the required subject areas and meet specific program criteria are assured admission to the university in the College of Liberal Arts or the College of Science and Mathematics.

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.

Umass Boston Project Reach Talent Search, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Jeremiah E. Burke High School, Dorchester Academy, Madison Park High School, Dearborn Middle School, Mccormack Middle School

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

REACH identifies and serves disadvantaged young people who have the potential for education at the post-secondary level and encourages them to continue and graduate from secondary school and enroll in programs of post-secondary education. High school and post-secondary dropouts are also encouraged and assisted in returning to school.

Project Reach Talent Search At Umass Boston, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Jeremiah E. Burke High School, Dorchester Academy, Madison Park High School, Dearborn Middle School, Mccormack Middle School

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

REACH identifies and serves disadvantaged young people who have the potential for education at the post-secondary level and encourages them to continue and graduate from secondary school and enroll in programs of post-secondary education. High school and post-secondary dropouts are also encouraged and assisted in returning to school. Project REACH was first funded by the U.S. Department of Education in September 1985 and at the time became the first Educational Talent Search Program in the nation to serve low-income, first generation college bound, urban youth with disabilities. Today, REACH remains a national model for successful inclusion of youth with disabilities …

Work-Life Balance For Administrators In The Academy: Under Ideal Worker Pressure, Kelly E. Wilk

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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Mobile Learning: Designing A Socio-Technical Model To Empower Learning In Higher Education, Pimpaka Prasertsilp

LUX: A Journal of Transdisciplinary Writing and Research from Claremont Graduate University

Mobile learning is a rapidly developing mode for teaching and learning to deliver content to learners. Additionally, mobile learning can aid both formal learning in traditional classrooms and informal settings outside classes. This paper explains how the mobility of learners can contribute to the process of acquiring knowledge, skills, and experiences, and further investigates how to design an effective model. This study also explores activities in which students can use mobile devices to facilitate their learning. Additionally, there are many factors that affect students’ learning outcomes. In this paper, researcher investigates how to design an effective socio-technical model by integrating …

‘Moving In’: Difficulties And Support In The Transition To Higher Education For In-Service Social Care Students, Fiona Mcsweeney

Articles

This paper reports on the difficulties and supports experienced by social care practitioners within the educational institution during their transition to higher education. A life transition such as entering higher education causes stress for individuals and social support is essential in successfully dealing with this stress (Anderson et al., 2012). Fifteen social care practitioners were interviewed twice during and once at the end of their first academic year in college. Findings indicate that participants were reluctant to approach staff for help despite anxiety about classes and assignments. Discussion and debate in class helped learning and contributed to feelings of being …

Thriving In The 21st Century By Tackling Wicked Problems, Judith A. Ramaley

Higher Education

More than 20 years ago, I was a member of a leadership roundtable in Portland, Oregon, that was working on achieving the ambitious goal of 100 percent graduation rate from high school. In the course of our deliberations, we finally asked ourselves why young people were dropping out of school. After listening to a number of experts talk about retention, we thought to ask ourselves, “What would the young people themselves say?” To find out, we invited a group of young high school dropouts and high school student leaders to an afternoon conversation. The experts had talked about various strategies …

How Disruptive Is Information Technology Really?, Judith A. Ramaley

Higher Education

In an administrative career lasting over thirty years, first as a provost and then through three presidencies and a stint at the National Science Foundation, I have watched while changes in technology have reshaped the nature and character of discovery, the gathering and interpretation of increasingly complex observations whose patterns would be completely opaque if we did not have high-speed computing to sort them out, and the integration and use of knowledge in ways that would have been impossible when I went to college in the early 1960s. I went from having to learn the purpose of each of the …

Seeking More High-Quality Undergraduate Degrees: Conditions For More Effectively Working With Policy Makers, Judith A. Ramaley

Higher Education

Our nation’s colleges and universities have always sought to prepare their graduates for life and work in their own era. The pressures we face today, both from outside the academy and within the higher education community, are complex, interlocking, and hard to manage. Some of these challenges require us to rethink what it means to be educated in today’s world and to explore ways to provide a coherent and meaningful educational experience in the face of the turbulence, uncertainty, and fragmentation that characterizes much of higher education today.

Visitor Perspectives Of The Authenticity At A Heritage Destination: South Luogu Hutong In Beijing, China, Xiaolin Shi

Open Access Theses

The present study examined visitors' perceptions of authenticity at the South Luogu Alley, a famous Hutong with more than a 700-year history in Beijing. The reconstruction of many historical heritage sites raises the issue about authenticity in tourism. After reconstruction, many Hutongs combined with traditional Chinese style and Western style in terms of architectural design, restaurants, tourism souvenirs, and activities. However, visitors' perceptions toward authenticity at Hutongs continue to be mostly unknown. The study applied a self-administered questionnaire to collect the data from July, 2012 to August, 2012 at the South Luogu Alley. Visitors were asked to rate the authenticity …

Examining The Impact Of Parental Socialization On The Coping Styles Of Black Graduate Students Faced With Microaggressions, Robert D. Colbert, Kai M. Perry, Marcia Anderson

Ethnic Studies Review

This article explores case examples of two graduate students who endure microaggressions from their math professor at a predominantly White university. The role that parental socialization plays in how these students developed their racial identities and the coping strategies they employed, is analyzed through the lens of Triple Quandary theory (Boykin and Toms 1 985). Findings from this investigation suggest that parental socialization is critical in preparing these students to cope with and respond to microaggressions in protective and adaptive ways. This paper illuminates coping styles, although divergent, that served these graduate students' needs and protected their individual racial identities. …

Challenges Of Postmodern Thought In Christian Higher Education Institutions: Implications For Ethical Leadership, Dean A. Darroux

Journal of Applied Christian Leadership

"The study investigated the question: What is the process that Christian higher education administrators and faculty members used when understanding the challenges of postmodern thought at the institutions, and what are the challenges for ethical leadership? Utilizing a grounded theory methodology, the researcher sought to develop a theory that examined how fifteen Christian higher education administrators and faculty understood the challenges of postmodern thought at their institution and determined what were the implications for ethical leadership. The findings of this study revealed the following theory: The study identified six categories that served as the framework for understanding the process Christian …

Moving Beyond Title Ix: An Evaluation Of The Comprehensiveness And Accessibility Of Policies And Procedures For Preventing And Responding To Gender Based Violence, Alyssa Mullins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current study examines the gender based violence policies and programs of large, public universities in Florida. Current literature argues that preventing and responding to gender based violence in institutions of higher education requires comprehensive and ecological techniques at the individual, interpersonal, community, and societal level. In recent years, various institutions and agencies have showed increasing administrative commitment to addressing these issues. Futures Without Violence, formerly named Family Violence Prevention Fund, is a private organization that has established a set of guidelines and recommendations to aid IHEs in their response and prevention of gender based violence, intended to exceed federal …

Measuring Normlessness In The Workplace: A Study Of Organizational Anomie In The Academic Setting, Tayo Glenn Switzer

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The dissertation explores leadership and change by examining normlessness in the workplace through a multi-layered study of anomie theory, anomie research in the workplace, and organizational and business management theory. The research validates a quantitative survey designed to measure the level of normlessness experienced by workgroups within an organizational context. The survey reflects a set of six normative aspects that when disrupted produce organizational anomie—a state of normlessness that leads to an increase in worker resistance and a reduction in worker consent. The audience studied in this dissertation is associate professors at a large Midwestern research university. Data were gathered …

Support For Higher Education: Perceptions Of Selected University Administrators And Legislators In Tennessee, Deidre Lee Yowell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This quantitative study examined the perceptions of selected university administrators and legislators concerning levels of support for Tennessee public higher education. The purpose of the study was to gain a greater understanding among the various constituents as to the needs and restraints facing higher education funding. The population targeted for this study was comprised of 132 members of the Tennessee General Assembly, the Executive Director of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC), the Chancellor of the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR), the President of the University of Tennessee System, and 36 Chief Administrators at 9 state-supported universities. The principal investigator …

Implications To The Traditional Higher Education Model In A Time Of New Economic And Demographic Realities, Phillip Imel

Faculty Publications and Presentations

In the world’s developed countries the tendency is to a decreasing or stagnant, aging population. Traditional higher education has occurred early in life with little retraining in adulthood. The current demographic and economic realities demand a change in the role of traditional higher education as it must be more flexible and portable. Higher education must play a central role in the lifelong learning process as new technologies become available. Changes will occur with or without the approval of the established higher education hierarchy as businesses and governments demand quicker, cheaper, and better delivery methods to the current system. Technology is …

Research Brief: "Coming Home: Student Veterans’ Articulation Of College Re-Enrollment", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This study indicated that veterans experienced initial academic challenges but employed maturity, mission mentality, and perseverance to mitigate these obstacles. In practice, identifying student veterans as they enter and re-enroll in college is crucial, as some may not overtly identify as military veterans. Policymakers can work to create policies that provide resources and support for educational institutions focused on positive outcomes for student veterans. Suggestions for future study include obtaining a random, diverse sample of veterans, as well as comparing veterans’ experiences across institutions with strong military heritage and those without such a history in order to determine whether or …

Research Brief: "U.S. Military Veterans Transition To College: Combat, Ptsd, And Alienation On Campus", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This study uses stress process theory to explore the effects of various stressors and resources on student veterans’ campus experiences. In practice, on-campus initiatives should focus on social integration for student veterans, as many have stated that they do not fit in on campus, or feel unfairly judged by faculty and their peers. In policy, policymakers can ensure that educational institutions with student counseling and resource centers hire trained professionals for those centers. Suggestions for future study include using longitudinal data to investigate the relationship between combat experiences, available resources, and the severity of mental health problems over time, as …

Understanding Philanthropic Motivations Of Northeast State Community College Donors, Heather J. Cook

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

At Northeast State Community College (NeSCC) nearly 70% of students need some form of financial aid to attend. State support is flattening or decreasing and the gap is filled by private donors' support (Northeast State Community College, 2011). Hundreds of donors have made significant contributions to aid in the education of those in the Northeast Tennessee region. The purpose of this study was to investigate the philanthropic motivations of a select group of 4 donors who have given a significant amount to a community college and to garner their specific reasons for doing so.

This qualitative study included 4 interviews …

Project Reach Talent Search At Umass Boston, Andrea Dawes

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

REACH identifies and serves disadvantaged young people who have the potential for education at the post-secondary level and encourages them to continue and graduate from secondary school and enroll in programs of post-secondary education. High school and post-secondary dropouts are also encouraged and assisted in returning to school.