Strategies for Increasing Faculty Involvement in Institutional or Program Assessment

This narrative research study was conducted to explore the experiences of full-time community college faculty members involved in student learning outcomes assessment. Prior research documented the need for more community college faculty involvement with assessment at the program and institutional levels (Grunwald & Peterson, 2003; Kinzie, 2010; Nunley, Bers, & Manning, 2011); however, little research had been published about faculty experiences with assessment at these levels. This study adds to the body of literature about community college faculty participation with assessment by sharing the perspectives of faculty members who had participated with either program or institutional assessment on their campus. One-hour semi-structured interviews with nine participants at three different 2-year institutions recognized for their assessment processes provided the data for the study. The size of this study was limited to nine participants so that an in-depth exploration of each participant’s experience with assessment could be conducted. The shared experiences of the participants in this study revealed that faculty involvement with assessment beyond the course level was primarily influenced by faculty perception of assessment being valued as a tool for institutional improvement. Three indicators of the value placed on assessment by these institutions were that they: (a) allocated resources (time and training) for assessment, (b) clearly articulated the goals of assessment at their institution, and (c) demonstrated how assessment results were used in institutional decision-making. This study also revealed that faculty members’ prior experience working with assessment and individual skills or abilities also influenced decisions to become involved with assessment.     

Reflections of Program Faculty on NIA-Supported Research Training

From the program faculty of St. Scholastica's National Institute on Aging Summer Institute on the Psychology of Aging, 7 members responded to a series of questions posed to them in individual telephone interviews. They represented a wide range of disciplinary interests and institutions. Their motivation for participation, their advice for both program participants and others at similar institutions, and their sense of the niches that could be filled by aging research conducted at primarily undergraduate teaching institutions differed among the faculty in provocative ways. At the same time, their positive experiences with the program, willingness to return, and respect and admiration for its goals and its director were very apparent. This suggests that programs such as this might provide opportunities for faculty development, with benefits extending also to the faculty who bring their expertise to the program. The motivations and benefits mentioned are consistent with those identified in the mentoring literature. The results suggest that programs such as this can provide opportunities for faculty development, with benefits also extending to the program faculty who bring their expertise to such a program.     

Faculty Motivation to Mentor Students Through Undergraduate Research Programs: A Study of Enabling and Constraining Factors

Undergraduate research experiences are a “high impact” educational practice that confer benefits to students. However, little attention has been paid to understanding faculty motivation to mentor undergraduate students through research training programs, even as the number of programs has grown, requiring increasing numbers of faculty mentors. To address this, we introduce a conceptual model for understanding faculty motivation to mentor and test it by using empirical data to identify factors that enable and constrain faculty engagement in an undergraduate research program. Using cross-sectional survey data collected in 2013, we employed generalized linear modeling to analyze data from 536 faculty across 13 research institutions to examine how expected costs/benefits, dispositional factors, situational factors, previous experience, and demographic factors predicted faculty motivation to mentor. Results show that faculty who placed greater value on the opportunity to increase diversity in the academy through mentorship of underrepresented minorities were more likely to be interested in serving as mentors. Faculty who agreed more strongly that mentoring undergraduate students was time consuming and their institution’s reward structures were at odds with mentoring, or who had more constrained access to undergraduate students were less likely to be interested in serving as mentors. Mid-career faculty were more likely than late-career faculty to be interested in serving as mentors. Findings have implications for improving undergraduate research experiences, since the success of training programs hinges on engaging highly motivated faculty members as mentors.     

Partnered Research Experiences for Junior Faculty at Minority-Serving Institutions Enhance Professional Success

Scientific workforce diversity is critical to ensuring the realization of our national research goals and minority-serving institutions play a vital role in preparing undergraduate students for science careers. This paper summarizes the outcomes of supporting career training and research practices by faculty from teaching-intensive, minority-serving institutions. Support of these faculty members is predicted to lead to: 1) increases in the numbers of refereed publications, 2) increases in federal grant funding, and 3) a positive impact on professional activities and curricular practices at their home institutions that support student training. The results presented show increased productivity is evident as early as 1 yr following completion of the program, with participants being more independently productive than their matched peers in key areas that serve as measures of academic success. These outcomes are consistent with the goals of the Visiting Professorship Program to enhance scientific practices impacting undergraduate student training. Furthermore, the outcomes demonstrate the benefits of training support for research activities at minority-serving institutions that can lead to increased engagement of students from diverse backgrounds. The practices and results presented demonstrate a successful generalizable approach for stimulating junior faculty development and can serve as a basis for long-term faculty career development strategies that support scientific workforce diversity.     

Scientific Teaching Targeting Faculty from Diverse Institutions

We offered four annual professional development workshops called STAR (for Scientific Teaching, Assessment, and Resources) modeled after the National Academies Summer Institute (SI) on Undergraduate Education in Biology. In contrast to the SI focus on training faculty from research universities, STAR''s target was faculty from community colleges, 2-yr campuses, and public and private research universities. Because of the importance of community colleges and 2-yr institutions as entries to higher education, we wanted to determine whether the SI model can be successfully extended to this broader range of institutions. We surveyed the four cohorts; 47 STAR alumni responded to the online survey. The responses were separated into two groups based on the Carnegie undergraduate instructional program categories, faculty from seven associate''s and associate''s-dominant institutions (23) and faculty from nine institutions with primarily 4-yr degree programs (24). Both groups expressed the opinion that STAR had a positive impact on teaching, student learning, and engagement. The two groups reported using techniques of formative assessment and active learning with similar frequency. The mix of faculty from diverse institutions was viewed as enhancing the workshop experience. The present analysis indicates that the SI model for training faculty in scientific teaching can successfully be extended to a broad range of higher education institutions.     

HPT in Academic Curricula: Survey Results

The purpose of this research was to determine to what extent human performance technology (HPT) is being taught in academic programs that traditionally emphasized training—programs such as instructional systems, training and development, human resource development, and adult learning. A written survey was used to collect data from 82 academic programs. Results indicate that while training (and the related areas of needs assessment and evaluation) continues to dominate curricula at these institutions, non-training performance improvement strategies (and the broader performance analysis that leads to their selection) are frequently taught as well. No correlations were found between the extent of teaching HPT topics and the variables of program size, program type, location, degrees offered, or faculty membership in NSPI (now called the International Society for Performance Improvement). Future research could investigate the driving and restraining forces that determine HPT's impact on the curriculum and the effects that current curricula have on program graduates.     

The Development and Implementation of a Faculty–Student Collaborative Research Project

Criminal Justice faculty collaborated with undergraduate and graduate students to evaluate federal probation officers’ use of evidence-based skills following the implementation of a new training program designed to improve officer supervision skills and offender outcomes. The project resulted in the coding of over 100 audio recordings of actual officer–offender interactions based upon a developed assessment instrument. Overall, officers demonstrated high levels of adherence to training program skills. This article describes the process used to form a faculty–student collaborative research project and the benefits, challenges, and recommendations for similar projects at other institutions.     

On the labor market for full-time non-tenure-track lecturers in economics

We examine AY2013 annual salaries, annual teaching assignments, and career publishing histories for more than 700 full-time lecturers and tenure-track faculty at 37 public Ph.D.-granting departments of economics. The roughly 15% of teaching faculty who were full-time lecturers were younger, more likely to be female and to teach at the program from which they received their Ph.D., and were assigned to teach both more courses and many more students. While lower than those for tenure-track faculty, the annual salaries paid to full-time lecturers compare favorably to those of tenure-track economics faculty at Master's- and Bachelor's-granting institutions. Regression results suggest that full-time lecturer salaries are determined by teaching assignments rather than research productivity while tenure-track salaries are determined by research productivity rather than teaching assignments.     

Research productivity of foreign- and US-born faculty: differences by time on task

Similar to trends in postsecondary education across the world, today’s US universities are an increasing mix of native and foreign-born scholars. US institutions are experiencing a growing number of international faculty members, but there is limited literature examining foreign-born faculty who work in US institutions and how outputs from foreign-born faculty compare to US-born natives. Using data from the 2004 National Survey of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF:04), this study examines difference in faculty members’ research productivity at doctoral-granting institutions by foreign/US-born status controlling for select individual and institutional characteristics. Findings show that foreign-born faculty members spend more time on research and less time on undergraduate instruction than US-born peers, and this may contribute to their higher levels of production. Implications are discussed that consider how to ensure diverse faculty communities that lead to strong research and knowledge production.     

Faculty needs, doctoral preparation, and the future of teacher preparation programs in the education of deaf and hard of hearing students

The purposes of the study were to obtain and analyze data on the need for, and desired characteristics of, faculty in deaf education at American institutions of higher education (IHEs), and to assess the present and projected status of doctoral-level teacher preparation programs in deaf education at American IHEs. Program directors and coordinators provided information on current and projected faculty openings, the number of active doctoral students, faculty research interests, program strengths, and needs in the field. Results indicated a pending shortage due to faculty retirements and a paucity of doctoral-level graduates. Most faculty listed literacy and language as a primary research interest as well as a program strength. The ability to generate new knowledge through research was found to be less desirable for future faculty than teaching ability. Suggestions for improving doctoral preparation and moving the field to evidence-based practices are provided.     

Enhancing Research Capacity in Gerontological Social Work

There is an untapped potential of social work faculty to conduct aging research aimed at enhancing the well-being of older adults. To better exploit this resource, we have designed, implemented, and evaluated a postgraduate training program in aging research. The goal of the program is to build and sustain a community of social work faculty committed to conducting aging research, to incorporating recent advances in their courses, and to engaging their students in aging research. Program design includes an initial institute (which focuses on research methodology, selected content areas, and procedural matters related to preparation and submission of grant applications); ongoing consultation; and a midyear meeting during the intervening year and a follow-up institute that provide the participants with extended opportunities to discuss the proposals they develop. Evaluation data presented in this paper focus on the first two cohorts (who entered in summer 2004 and summer 2005). These data indicate that the program has been highly effective in expanding the pool of faculty engaged in aging research. Lessons learned with regard to program structure, content, recruitment, evaluation, and sustainability are shared.     

Psychological Climate,Stress, and Research Integrity Among Research Counselor Educators: A Preliminary Study

In this quantitative study, 187 counselor educators at research institutions reported engaging in responsible conduct of research (RCR), with a few individuals reporting deviations from ethical behavior. Tenure‐seeking faculty members indicated a greater likelihood of deviating from acceptable research practices than did tenured faculty members. The psychological meaningfulness of one's department and research ethics training positively related to engagement in RCR, explaining 18% of the variance. Implications for training of research ethics are discussed, along with suggestions for environmental needs within counseling departments to potentially increase psychological meaningfulness for faculty members.     

The Level of Decision-Making,Perceived Influence,and Perceived Satisfaction of Faculty and Their Impact on Student Retention in Community Colleges

ABSTRACT

This study expanded on previous models that looked primarily at student and support factors related to student retention and examined other stakeholder group functions not previously reviewed in relation to student retention. The research question assumed that greater faculty participation in campus decision-making and faculty satisfaction would have been associated with a higher campus student retention rate. The non-experimental retrospective design examined the unanalyzed 2007 community college (CC) Changing Academic Profession (CAP) survey in relation to campus retention rates. The CAP captured faculty perceptions of whether faculty or non-faculty entities were the primary influence on decisions regarding academic matters, as well as a rating of faculty satisfaction. Analysis indicated that CC faculty rated their participation in campus decision-making versus non-faculty entities similarly to the ratings of faculty who had completed the CAP at four-year institutions. When compared with the 2007 retention rate per campus, only faculty job satisfaction was statistically significantly positively associated with student retention. Recommendations for future research include continuing to look at retention as an outcome of a multi-factorial model involving all campus stakeholders, and more research with retention as the outcome.     

Funded Research of Faculty at 2-Year Institutions by Geographic Locations and Funding Sources

Little is known about how faculty at 2-year institutions secure grants. Although the mission of community colleges focuses more on teaching than research, many of the faculty desire to pursue grants and some actually engage in this activity. The purpose of this research was to better understand faculty at 2-year institutions regarding several issues: (a) the faculty profile for those who are securing grants, (b) the organization of their funding sources, and (c) the geographical area in which the faculty reside. The faculty in this study were located in 7 geographical areas and received funds from 7 different funding sources.     

A portrait of remedial instruction: faculty workload and assessment techniques

Remediation in postsecondary education continues to be an issue that is hotly debated by institutional leaders and state policymakers. The National Center for Education Statistics [The National Center for Education Statistics. (2003). Remedial education at higher education institutions in fall 2000. PEQIS. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education.] estimates that 98% of public 2-year and 80% of public 4-year institutions offered at least one remedial course. The need for remedial courses is also demonstrated by the growing number of students who enroll each year. Studies that examine students and placement are found in the literature, but few examine the faculty who teach in remedial programs [Boylan, H., Bonham, B. S., Jackson, J., & Saxon, D. P. (1995). Research in Developmental Education, 12(1), 42–52.]. The purpose of this study was to examine faculty who teach remedial courses. In particular, we were interested in faculty workload and the assessment techniques employed by faculty based upon type and level of institution. More specifically, data was analyzed using the NSOPF: 99 database on faculty at 2-year and 4-year institutions as well as faculty at private and public institutions. Some comparisons between faculty teaching remedial courses and nonremedial courses are presented.     

Social Media,Higher Education,and Community Colleges: A Research Synthesis and Implications for the Study of Two-Year Institutions

This research project used a large database to examine factors associated with full-time faculty at 2-year institutions who have secured or not secured external funds. Specifically, the research examined demographic characteristics and other variables of faculty at 2-year institutions.     

On the Rational Solution of Dominant Issues in Higher Education

As universities and colleges have changed, so has the role of faculty. Greater accountability is expected for faculty time and effort. This paper considers faculty roles by the institution preparing new faculty, the institution hiring new faculty, and the new faculty member themselves. All institutions are seeking faculty who are triple threats: integrate discovery, learning, and engagement; increase and maintain knowledge and technology; and involve students in their professional lives. Institutions preparing new faculty must develop models that stress not only quality research, but address the balance of faculty roles. Hiring institutions must select new faculty so that interest and balance match institutional goals. New faculty must understand what they want from academic life and seek appropriate institutions.     

Faculty in the Hinterlands: Cultural Anticipation and Cultural Reality

Using qualitative inquiry, this paper employs a cultural lens to explore the work life experiences of faculty who work in smaller higher education administration programs in institutions that are not high-level research universities. The research focus included understanding how participants made sense of the institutions in which they worked and the consequences of that for their lives. Implications for the field of higher education administration, faculty work, and graduate socialization are examined. Ultimately, this research suggests that a single model of faculty work life identity drawn using a research institutional prototype does little to support all faculty members, many of whom work in markedly different institutions.     

The Research Mentoring Program: Serving the Needs of Graduate and Undergraduate Researchers

Many institutions of higher education confront seemingly unrelated needs of graduate students, who need not only to complete their dissertations but also to learn how to become proficient mentors for undergraduates as they move on to faculty roles. The graduate students are increasingly searching out high-impact learning experiences such as involvement with undergraduate research. The program we describe in this article offers a solution to these issues by pairing undergraduates with graduate students to work on their dissertation research. Undergraduates undertake hands-on research while learning about graduate school, and the graduate students learn about the mentoring process while receiving assistance that allows them to keep their dissertations moving toward completion.