The effect of gender composition of faculty on student retention

The gender composition of faculty is an important issue on many campuses. Substantial efforts are taken by colleges to hire a diverse faculty where women are equitably represented. Several papers suggest that female faculty can act as role models for female students. This issue is particularly emphasized in science and engineering programs. However, empirical research finds mixed support for this hypothesis. We provide a new test of this issue by examining whether female students have higher first-year retention rates when a greater percentage of their classes are taught by female faculty. There is a positive relationship between retention of female students and the percentage of their science and mathematics classes taught by female faculty. Also faculty gender has a greater impact on female students when their classes have few female students. Thus this study provides support for gender-based programs for hiring.     

Genome Consortium for Active Teaching: meeting the goals of BIO2010

The Genome Consortium for Active Teaching (GCAT) facilitates the use of modern genomics methods in undergraduate education. Initially focused on microarray technology, but with an eye toward diversification, GCAT is a community working to improve the education of tomorrow's life science professionals. GCAT participants have access to affordable microarrays, microarray scanners, free software for data analysis, and faculty workshops. Microarrays provided by GCAT have been used by 141 faculty on 134 campuses, including 21 faculty that serve large numbers of underrepresented minority students. An estimated 9480 undergraduates a year will have access to microarrays by 2009 as a direct result of GCAT faculty workshops. Gains for students include significantly improved comprehension of topics in functional genomics and increased interest in research. Faculty reported improved access to new technology and gains in understanding thanks to their involvement with GCAT. GCAT's network of supportive colleagues encourages faculty to explore genomics through student research and to learn a new and complex method with their undergraduates. GCAT is meeting important goals of BIO2010 by making research methods accessible to undergraduates, training faculty in genomics and bioinformatics, integrating mathematics into the biology curriculum, and increasing participation by underrepresented minority students.     

Transforming Selves,Transforming Courses: Faculty and Staff Development and the Construction of Interdisciplinary Diversity Courses

Faculty/staff workshops provide a way of enhancing teaching and learning strategies and pedagogical techniques. We include faculty/staff development workshops designed to create team that taught interdisciplinary courses which address issues of diversity and democracy for first year students. Strategic planning of the workshop and responsiveness to participants' needs and interests engender collegiality, collaboration, and curricular change. Dr. Janet Moore Lindman is an Associate Professor in the History Department and Coordinator of the Women's Studies Program. Dr. Maria Tahamont is a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and Coordinator of Rowan Seminar at Rowan University. The authors are co-principal investigators of the New Jersey Campus Diversity Initiative funded by the Bildner Family Foundation.     

FACULTY ATTITUDES TOWARD THE MIXED‐AGE COLLEGE CLASSROOM

With the number of nontraditional students on college campuses continuing to increase, college educators need to become aware of issues regarding the mixed‐age classroom. Part of this awareness should be an understanding of how faculty perceive different‐aged students and their mixed‐age classroom experiences. Through telephone interviews with approximately 100 faculty, we investigate attitudes about the professor‐student relationship, views toward teaching in a mixed‐age classroom, and beliefs about both older and younger students.     

Effectiveness of a Conflict Resolution Training Program in Changing Graduate Students Style of Managing Conflict with their Faculty Advisors

We investigated the conflict management preferences of graduate students with their faculty advisors and assessed the effects of participating in a conflict resolution workshop on those preferences. One hundred and twenty-one graduate students completed the pre-workshop surveys, and 69 participants completed the post-workshop surveys after seven workshops conducted over a 3 year period. Nineteen subjects participated in three post-workshop focus groups. The quantitative pre-workshop data showed that avoidance and accommodation styles for managing conflict were preferred among participants. Participants showed a trend towards a statistically significant increase in the collaborating score post-workshop relative to pre-workshop levels. The qualitative data indicated that students applied skills taught during the workshop, including interest-based principles, when interacting with faculty.     

开放教育资源与大学的国际化战略——访美国纽约大学高级副教务长多尔顿·康利教授

当前,倡导教育资源共享的开放教育资源运动发展迅速,并已成为一种世界性的潮流。开放课件(Open CourseWare,简称OCW)是高校开放教育资源的一大组成部分,是指高校遵从某种开放协议所提供的开放的、可供全世界人免费共享的课程资源。在这场轰轰烈烈的开放教育资源运动中,全球很多高校参与其中,结合其具体背景进行创新。上期,美国麻省理工学院开放课件对外关系部主任史蒂芬.卡尔森在国际开放教育资源运动的大背景下深入剖析了该校开放课件过去十年的发展历程,并展望其未来十年的发展动向。本期访谈嘉宾多尔顿.康利教授则向我们介绍了纽约大学文理学院开放教育试点项目,并讨论了纽约大学在开放课件方面的独特性和优势,以及开放教育试点项目给教师、海外校园的学生和本校学生带来的好处。另外,康利教授还深入地探讨了开放教育试点项目对教师角色、师生关系和课程本身等方面带来的影响。康利教授是纽约大学高级副教务长,社会学教授,同时也是纽约大学文理学院开放教育试点项目的负责人。康利曾于2005年荣获美国国家科学基金会艾伦.沃特曼奖,是第一位获得该奖的社会学家。纽约大学(NewYork University)是一所位于美国纽约市曼哈顿的研究型私立大学...     

Undergraduate political attitudes: An examination of peer,faculty, and social influences

A socialization perspective is used to examine the processes through which undergraduate student political attitudes are influenced by peers, faculty, and social trends. Using the model of undergraduate socialization provided by Weidman (1989) as a framework, I examine how the normative contexts of college campuses and students' interactions with peers and faculty serve to influence the political orientations of students, net of precollege and college characteristics. Based on longitudinal data from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program, the results indicate that student orientations change in ways quite similar to trends observed more generally, and that peer and faculty normative contexts tend to have a positive influence of equal magnitude on political orientations of students.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1995 meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA.     

Reverse Ekphrasis: Teaching Poetry‐inspired Chinese Brush Painting Workshops – in English

The artistic practices of ekphrasis and reverse ekphrasis – integrating poetry and painting in their unique forms – have been long‐standing conventions both in the East and in the West. This article attempts to rationalise the new functions of the age‐old concept of reverse ekphrasis (i.e. graphic representation of verbal representation) as reactivated for the purposes of today's university‐level art education, and as exemplified by the international workshops of poetry‐inspired Chinese brush painting that I taught at The University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), UK, from 2012 to 2016, using English not only as a convenient contact language for art education, but also as a powerful vehicle for poetic self‐reflection, intertextual adaptation and intermedial transformation. To be more concise, my teaching approaches featured CREATE – Contact (C), Reverse Ekphrasis (R, E), Adaptation (A), Transformation (T) and Enrichment (E). The international workshop participants’ creative painting outcomes proved that, as brush painters, they could draw inspiration effectively from poetry written in English and/or poetry translated into English, so as to increase their personal capacity for artistic self‐expression and intercultural communication through Chinese‐style brush painting.     

ACADEMIC DISHONESTY: A Zero Tolerance Professor and Student Registration Choices

College and university faculty and administrators are responsible for constructing academic honesty policies and communicating them to students. This is often attempted through institutional honesty policies and university-wide honor codes. While these approaches have been widely researched, less attention has been given to the role of individual faculty members. That role is examined in this study by addressing student reactions to professors based on their academic honesty policies. In addition to demographic information, data were gathered about student attitudes and beliefs concerning academic dishonesty and their decision to enroll in or avoid a course being taught by a professor with zero tolerance for academic dishonesty. The findings regarding different instructors’ approaches toward academic dishonesty indicate that an intolerant policy will keep dishonest students away, but at a price—it will also detract many honest students.     

Latina/o Student Perceptions of Post-Baccalaureate Education: Identifying Challenges to Increased Participation

The percentage of Latinas/os decreases at each stage in the educational pipeline and is especially proportionally low at the post-baccalaureate level. This study investigates the complexities of the quest to increase post-baccalaureate participation for Latina/o students. We present data on post-baccalaureate education by utilizing 2 comprehensive survey instruments distributed at 3 California State University campuses (Hispanic-Serving Institutions), 1 for current Latina/o students and alumni and the other for faculty and administrators. Findings indicate that students evaluate the value of post-baccalaureate studies based on sometimes problematic undergraduate experiences, cost, and perceived opportunity.     

A comparison of elementary teacher attitudes and skills in teaching science in Australia and the United States

A study, originally don in Australia in 1983, was replicated in an urban-suburb in the Unitd States. The Australian project vivolved matched pairs of year-fiv teachers in one of two workshops. One workshop taught the skills of teaching electricity, while the other one discussed issues in gender equity in science education (active participation of both girls and boys, comparble student-teacher interactions, and research findings concerning equity). The U.S. study provided three types of workshops (skills, equity and skills, and equity) for comparable groups of fourth and fifth grade teachers. All teachers and their students were subsequently obseved during lessons involving an electricity unit, queried both students and teachers concerning the appropriateness of different fields of science for boys and girls and their interest and aptitudes in doing various types of science. Results from both studies suggest that gender differences in student attitudes toward science may be amellorated by specific types of teacher workshop. Specializations: Gender research, science teacher education, science education national policy. Specializations: Elementary and middle school science education, classroom research. Specializations: Secondary science education, data analysis.     

The SUNY Assessment Initiative: Initial campus and system perspectives

The State University of New York (SUNY) is in the process of implementing a remarkably ambitious and collegial system-wide assessment of general education and academic majors across its 64 campuses. The SUNY Assessment Initiative is founded upon a balanced view of assessment as both accountability and improvement as well as the utilization of best assessment practices. Another fundamental component is the critical role of faculty governance in the assessment of student learning outcomes, at the campus and system levels. This paper explains the rationale underlying the SUNY Assessment Initiative, describes specific procedures and processes involved in its implementation, and provides a preliminary report on its status.     

Faculty Student Interaction at the Community College: A Focus on Students of Color

The present study describes the level of faculty--student interaction on 2-year college campuses, examines student characteristics correlated with faculty contact, and considers how interaction may differ among racial subgroups of students. Using data collected from the Transfer and Retention of Urban Community College Students (TRUCCS) survey, a sample of 2500 students informed this research. The findings reveal generally low levels of interaction, and especially with Asian American/Pacific Islander and Latino students. Having positive perceptions of the college environment and interacting with other members of the institution, from students to academic counselors, glow the strongest positive association with faculty contact among all racial subgroups of students. Prominent among the differences is the negative relationship between perceiving racial difficulties and interacting with faculty for Asian American/Pacific Islander students. The findings provide insight in how to increase and enrich faculty interaction on these campuses to better retain underrepresented students in the educational pipeline.     

Kanter’s Theory of Proportions: Organizational Demography and PhD Completion in Science and Engineering Departments

Increasing the size and diversity of the scientific and technological workforce is a national priority. Investments in policy and programmatic efforts toward increasing the representation of women in science and engineering fields have resulted in significant advances; however, a gender gap remains among PhDs and faculty in these fields. This study tests whether Kanter’s (Men and women of the corporation, Basic Books, New York, 1977) theory of proportions, which suggests that numerical representation of groups influence group dynamics and cultural context, applies to the proportion of female faculty and the probability that female doctoral students will complete their degrees in science and engineering. Using data from two research-intensive academic institutions, results show that female doctoral students are more likely to complete the degree in departments with higher proportions of female faculty. Further, female PhD students working with female faculty dissertation advisors are also more likely to complete the degree than female PhD students working with male faculty dissertation advisors. Departmental faculty sex ratios and whether their faculty advisor is male or female, however, have no effect on the completion probabilities of male PhD students. Consistent with Kanter’s theory, research findings illustrate the importance of organizational demography on the academic outcomes of PhD students, and provide support for initiatives and programs aimed at increasing the representation of female faculty in science and engineering.     

Understanding the Work and Perceptions of Teaching Focused Faculty in a Changing Academic Landscape

Teaching Focused Faculty (TFF) roles are growing across Canada and around the world, raising questions about how to understand the nature of faculty work and how faculty in non-traditional work distributions feel about their work. Our study is the first attempt to survey TFF members’ work and job attitudes at large research intensive universities in Canada. Our data contribute to the literature on the nature of faculty work, by revealing that TFF engage in a wide variety of work, including teaching, service, curriculum leadership, and often research in pedagogy and/or disciplines. TFF report mixed messages about what their departments and institutions expect of them. Our data also contribute to the literature on how faculty feel about their work. Consistent with other research on faculty job attitudes, TFF report valuing their jobs highly. Our data also reveal that feeling integrated into mainstream institutional culture is a particularly important contributor to this sense of value. Taken together, our findings can be used to inform the research literature on faculty work, as well as by administrators seeing to implement or enhance TFF ranks at their institutions.     

Small Change,Big Difference: Heightening BSW Faculty Awareness to Elicit More Effective Student Writing

Concerns about social work students' writing are well documented, but the cost of specialized writing programs leaves budget-stressed programs confronting a problem they may feel they have few means to address. However, a valuable resource is already available: faculty expertise in social work writing. The challenge is helping faculty realize their knowledge is not transparent to students; it must be taught, intentionally and explicitly, in undergraduate social work classrooms. Engaging faculty in a process of articulating their expectations will help them elicit more effective student writing and change their attitudes toward student writing from frustrated to excited and optimistic.     

Speaking Personally—With Susan C. Aldridge

Researchers conducted a national survey of administrators at doctorate-granting universities to determine the current status of institutional policies and practices related to the organization and governance of online courses, faculty incentives to develop and teach online, and course ownership. Survey results document a wide variation in policies and practices, yet they also identify common practices. About 82% of the universities gave extra pay to faculty to develop online courses, and 94% provided campus-based faculty development workshops or training on online education. The large majority of institutions hired professional course designers (84%) and provided technical assistance to students (86%). Another 84% had an intellectual property policy in place or were developing one, and 77% shared revenues from online courses with academic colleges, schools, or departments. Although these practices existed on campuses, they were not always instituted campuswide. The researchers found statistically significant relationships for a number of faculty incentives and support services and faculty willingness to be involved in online education.     

University Faculty Attitudes Toward Guns on Campus

A number of states are currently reviewing legislation expanding handgun legislation, and studies examining the public's attitudes toward gun control legislation are abundant. This article examines attitudes of university faculty toward expanding the places where concealed handguns may be carried to include college campuses and churches. An opinion survey was administered to 287 faculty/administrators. Bivariate relationships are discussed, as well as three regression models examining the effects of six independent variables on support for current gun legislation, support for expanding concealed carry on college campuses, and support for expanding concealed carry in places of worship. Results showed that a substantial majority of faculty opposes such legislation, but support or opposition is significantly determined by political party and gun ownership.     

Cooperative learning in industrial-sized biology classes

This study examined the impact of cooperative learning activities on student achievement and attitudes in large-enrollment (>250) introductory biology classes. We found that students taught using a cooperative learning approach showed greater improvement in their knowledge of course material compared with students taught using a traditional lecture format. In addition, students viewed cooperative learning activities highly favorably. These findings suggest that encouraging students to work in small groups and improving feedback between the instructor and the students can help to improve student outcomes even in very large classes. These results should be viewed cautiously, however, until this experiment can be replicated with additional faculty. Strategies for potentially improving the impact of cooperative learning on student achievement in large courses are discussed.