Values of open admissions students,police students,and their teachers

This study compared the values of college open admissions students and of college police students to their teachers' values. It was found that for both groups new students differ from the faculty more than do advanced students, suggesting value changes in the direction of the faculty. Also found was no relationship between students' value similarity to the faculty and their academic success.     

Pay,rank, and growing old with more of each

Factors which comprise the bases for salary increases and adjustments at major research universities have long been topics of conversation and supposition. Based on responses from over 12,000 faculty members, this paper reviews, by faculty rank, items which are likely to contribute to salary and suggests that faculty members can follow certain strategies which are more likely than others to bring a financial reward. Research procedures employed include linear models and multiple regression.     

Faculty careers: Maturation,demographic, and historical effects

Sixty-five University of Michigan arts and science faculty members were interviewed on a number of matters related to their careers. Roughly one-third joined the faculty as assistant professors in each of the three years, 1960, 1965, or 1970. Vitae were used to obtain scholarly productivity measures. The data were analyzed with regard to productivity, promotion rate, and perceptions and values of faculty with respect to the weight that research, teaching, and service are and should be given in promotion decisions. The various outcomes were then examined from the perspectives of maturation (aging), demographic (cohort), and historical effects. The conclusion is that different perspectives are needed to explain different phenomena. Cohort effects, sometimes modified by historical events, were more effective and called upon more often than were explanations relating to age.     

Mutual Mentoring for Early-Career and Underrepresented Faculty: Model,Research, and Practice

In the beginning, “Mutual Mentoring” was little more than an idea, a hopeful vision of the future in which a new model of mentoring could serve as a medium to better support early-career and underrepresented faculty. Over time, Mutual Mentoring evolved from an innovative idea to an ambitious pilot program to a fully operational, campus-wide initiative. This article describes the conceptualization, design, implementation, and evaluation of a Mutual Mentoring initiative from 2006 to 2014. Findings indicate that faculty members who participated in this initiative were more likely to regard mentoring as a career-enhancing activity as well as to develop mutually beneficial mentoring relationships than were their non-participating peers.     

Student evaluations of teaching: perceptions of faculty based on gender,position, and rank

The current study explores the feelings and thoughts that faculty have about their student evaluations of teaching (SET). To assess the perceptions of SETs, all teaching faculty in one college at a western Land Grant University were asked to complete an anonymous online survey. The survey included demographic questions (i.e. gender; rank such as assistant, associate, and full professor; and positions like non-tenure track, tenure track, and tenured) as well as questions related to faculty's feelings while reading their SETs. While minimal differences were found in responses based on rank or position, several differences were found based on faculty gender. Overall, female faculty appear to be more negatively impacted by student evaluations than male faculty. These gender differences support previous research that suggests males and females receive and react differently to personal evaluation. Resultant suggestions include modifying surveys from anonymous to confidential and offering professional development training for faculty.     

加拿大安大略省教学轨教职的发展现状、评价标准及现实启示

近年来,在学生规模扩大、教育问责强化、财政资助缩减等压力之下,加拿大安大略省将引入教学轨教职作为提高教育质量的重要改革举措。与传统的终身轨教师相比,教学轨教师主要从事教学和学习活动,与兼职或临时讲师相比,教学轨教师对教学和学生的投入更多,与学校的聘任关系更加稳定。作为与终身轨教职平行的职业发展轨道,教学轨教职的评价标准主要侧重考察教师在教学技能、教学计划与课程发展、教学领导与成就等领域的贡献。教学轨教职的引入对大学而言是一次机会,可以重新审视教学与研究之间的关系,探索教学使命和研究使命如何相互促进。在当前的教师岗位分类改革中,我国高校可从教学模式和课程体系、聘任与晋升评价体系、晋升与岗位转换通道、教学荣誉体系等方面提高教学为主型教职的认可度,促进教学为主型教师队伍的职业发展。     

Views of cheating among college students and faculty

College students (N = 446) and faculty (N = 97) completed a survey examining views of cheating. Agreement was noted on most situations. When differences were noted, students tended to be stricter than faculty in their evaluations and were more likely than faculty to label a situation as cheating. Opinions and views of cheating were influenced more by behavior, whether “premeditated” or “opportunistic,” than by intention.     

Faculty collective bargaining in Canada: Background,development and impact

Conclusion The Kemerer-Baldridge study acknowledges that in the U.S. faculty unions have negotiated procedural protection in tenure and promotions, less arbitrariness in administrative decisions, more job security, and greater economic security in general. The authors also point out that these negotiated advantages accrue to non-unit faculty as well. In my view those conclusions apply with equal force in Canada.As noted in the introduction to this section, we still lack sufficient data to do more than generalize from impressionistic accounts. Nevertheless I feel safe in saying that, in a very short period of time, collective bargaining has enhanced true professionalism and real collegiality on Canadian campuses by moving Canadian academics from their knees (suitable no doubt for supplication) to their feet; by giving them legally enforceable job security without which the notion of academic freedom had too hollow a ring; by giving them a real and not a mythical voice in university governance; and by doing all of this and more without creating excessive bureaucracies, industrial models, unconscionable power blocks, or strangulation by legalistic formality. In the course of doing so, Canadian faculty engaged in collective bargaining have developed innovative approaches in a number of key areas, approaches which may yet have significant impact in both public and private sector bargaining. Certainly, faculty collective bargaining has gone a long way in developing a model for professional unionism in Canada.     

Community College Faculty Motivation for Basic Research,Teaching Research,and Professional Development

Community college faculty members often find themselves divided between what they want to do and what they can do. Knowing what motivates faculty to engage in professional development and scholarly productive activities provides critical information for administrators. The present study explored the motivational characteristics of community college faculty and the contextual factors that support or thwart their engagement and productivity. It focused on three key professional activities: (a) basic or applied research, (b) classroom action/teaching research, and (c) faculty professional development. Findings indicate that community college faculty are motivated for all three activities primarily by intrinsic and value-related factors rather than by extrinsic or contextual factors. Further, faculty members present somewhat different motivational profiles for the three work activities. Their motivations also demonstrate responsiveness to workplace characteristics as faculty perceive and interpret them.

These findings provide implications to help college administrators make policy decisions to support the work of faculty and align with institutional mission and goals.     

Faculty employment at 4-year colleges and universities

We examine the variation in employment levels of part-time faculty, full-time teaching faculty, and full-time professorial faculty across 4-year colleges and universities in the United States. Employment structures and practices in higher education institutions are determined by a variety of economic and institutional factors. For example, a 1% increase in the average salaries paid to professorial faculty increases the employment level of part-time faculty by 0.845%. A 1% increase in the average salaries paid to full-time teaching faculty reduces the employment level of full-time teaching faculty by 0.757%. Institutions located in large cities or suburban areas hire 31.3% more part-time faculty but 12.5% fewer full-time teaching faculty. Private institutions hire more part-time faculty than their public counterparts. A 10% increase in FTE student enrollment is associated with a 5.4% increase in the number of part-time faculty, a 10.1% increase in the number of full-time teaching faculty, and a 9.1% increase in professorial faculty. In addition, we find divergent patterns of temporal variability among these three types of faculty. While employment levels of full-time instructors and professorial faculty are rather consistent over time, there is a wide range of fluctuation in the employment of part-time faculty. Finally, the employment of part-time faculty is significantly affected by that of full-time teaching faculty. There is no substitution effect on the employment of professorial faculty.     

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.     

Unity and Diversity of Promotion Criteria in US Schools,Colleges and Departments of Education

As the mission for faculty members in schools, colleges and departments of education (SCDEs) becomes ever wider, and subgroups of faculty develop to handle different aspects of SCDE missions, how to equitably reward faculty members becomes a crucial issue. Analyses of data collected from 918 tenure-line faculty members in 25 SCDEs suggest that faculty members feel current promotion criteria to be inflexible and Procrustean, and desire to have a set of more diversified promotion criteria consistent with their levels and patterns of involvement in SCDE missions. A typology of promotion criteria, and some policy implications of this study, are discussed.     

Women Scientists in Academia: Geographically Constrained to Big Cities, College Clusters, or the Coasts?

Women scientists in academia have been shown to be less geographically mobile than their male counterparts, a factor that may exacerbate gender inequities in faculty representation, tenure, and salary. This study examines the extent to which the jobs of academic women scientists are disproportionately concentrated in large cities, areas with many colleges and universities, and regions where most doctorates are granted. We also investigate whether jobs in these locations affect salary, tenure, full-time faculty status, and employment outside one's field of training in ways that differ for women and men. Our analysis is guided by arguments that geographic constraints on women's mobility are rooted in social factors, such as gender roles and mate selection patterns. Data are drawn from over 13,000 faculty respondents in the national Survey of Doctoral Recipients, representing 22 science and engineering disciplines and over 1,000 4-year colleges or universities. Regression analysis reveals that, irrespective of their family status, women faculty are more likely than their male counterparts to reside in doctoral production centers, areas with large clusters of colleges, and large cities. Responsibility for children intensifies women's geographic concentration more than marriage does and in ways that differ from men. Geographic concentration also appears generally more harmful to women's careers than to men's. Women in doctoral production centers are less likely to have tenure and more likely to work part time; those in larger cities are more likely to be in jobs off the tenure track. Locales with many colleges appear to present somewhat better career prospects for women.     

Market conditions,productivity, and promotion among university faculty

This paper contrasts the performance levels and promotion experiences of 371 faculty members under three different market conditions reflecting the supply and demand for university faculty (buyer's market, seller's market, and stable market). The central questions examined are, What is the effect of market conditions upon (1) the length of time it takes for promotion; (2) the promotion rate; (3) the productivity of assistant and associate professors before each promotion; and (4) the productivity of full professors after attaining that rank? Findings are most consistent with a market model indicating that faculty promoted during a buyer's market remain in rank longer before being promoted and exhibit a greater rate of productivity than faculty promoted during other market conditions. There is also support for the elite model in that the impact of “tight” market conditions on productivity is greatest for faculty below the rank of full professor.     

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT AND THE BABY BOOMER GENERATION: RESEARCH,POLICY AND PRACTICE PERSPECTIVES Edited by Laura B. Wilson and Sharon P. Simson

A unique development program was designed to assist faculty in integrating gerontological concepts in selected undergraduate courses. The disciplines of social services, human performance, psychology, nutrition, audiology, and nursing were targeted for the program. The faculty development program took place in four phases over a 17‐month period. In Phase 1, faculty members studied theoretical concepts in gerontology relevant to their academic discipline. During Phase 2, faculty members obtained practical experience in gerontological settings to complement the knowledge gained in the first phase. In Phase 3, the faculty developed instructional units for their courses based on their Phase 1 and 2 experiences. During Phase 4 the faculty pilot tested, implemented, and revised the curricular materials. In addition, Phase 4 included opportunities for each faculty member to develop a research agenda for the continued study of gerontology. As a result of knowledge gained in the project, 10 faculty members developed SO instructional units, which were integrated into existing undergraduate courses. Approximately 300 students demonstrated significant gains in knowledge in gerontological concepts during the first semester of implementation. It is estimated that continued use of the modules will result in more than 800 students per year being exposed to gerontological concepts.     

Design,implementation, and evaluation of an ePortfolio approach to support faculty development in vocational education

This article provides an account of the design, implementation, and evaluation of an ePortfolio approach to faculty development and performance evaluation at a Canadian post-secondary vocational education institute. The approach was piloted in two phases in 13 departments. Survey and interview data were collected and analyzed to determine adoption, reception by faculty, and impact of the approach on faculty development. While adoption of the approach in the pilots was limited, participants who adopted the approach reported collecting more and different feedback, developing increased awareness of areas for improvement, and planning their professional learning more explicitly. Further studies are needed to determine what design elements of the portfolio optimally support professional development and performance evaluation.     

Effective college teaching from the students' and faculty's view: Matched or mismatched priorities?

Thirty-one studies were located in each of which students and faculty specified the instructional characteristics they considered particularly important to good teaching and effective instruction. Students and faculty were generally similar, though not identical, in their views, as indicated by an average correlation of +.71 between them in their valuation of various aspects of teaching. In those studies with relevant data, the differences that did exist between the two groups showed a pattern of students placing more importance than faculty on teachers being interesting, having good elocutionary skills, and being available and helpful. Students also emphasized the outcomes of instruction more than faculty did. Faculty placed more importance than did students on teachers being intellectually challenging, motivating students and setting high standards for them, and encouraging self-initiated learning. The results of the present analysis were compared with those of an earlier analysis of the importance of various specific aspects of instruction in terms of their correlations with students' overall evaluations of teachers in actual rating situations.     

Exploring burnout among university faculty: incidence,performance, and demographic issues

This study examines burnout and related issues among 265 university faculty members. The study estimates the percentage of incidence of highest levels of burnout is at half the rate of the general workforce. Female faculty members have significantly higher mean scores on emotional exhaustion than males, while male faculty have higher scores on depersonalization. Significant differences were not found across race/ethnicity groups but age is inversely correlated to emotional exhaustion. Burnout shows significant correlations with numbers of students taught, time invested in various activities, and numerical student evaluations. Suggestions are given to administrators for using a preventive strategy to anticipate burnout, rather than relying on reactive techniques, once it has occurred.     

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.     

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.