A national study on midlevel leaders in higher education: The unsung professionals in the academy

A national study was conducted toexamine the quality of midlevel leaders'worklife, satisfaction, morale and theirintentions to leave. The study included 4,000midlevel leaders who were randomly selectedfrom a total national population of 11,300 fromboth public and private institutions withinfive Carnegie classifications (e.g.,Doctoral/research-extensives and intensives,Baccalaureate generals and Liberal arts) acrossthe United States. Three separate mailingsyielded 2,000 responses for a 50 percent returnrate and 1966 useable surveys. Midlevel leadersare defined as academic or non-academic supportpersonnel within the structure of highereducation organizations (e.g., directors andcoordinators of admissions, institutionalresearch, registrars, computing and technology,human resources, alumni affairs, studentaffairs, placement and counseling services,financial aid, development and planned giving).This national study proposes: (1) to examinethose demographic characteristics and worklifeissues that may have an impact on theperceptions of midlevel leaders' morale,satisfaction and intent to leave; and (2) todemonstrate the role satisfaction and moralehas on midlevel leaders' intentions to stay orleave their current position or career. Thefindings indicate that individual perceptionsof midlevel leaders' professional andinstitutional worklife are powerful variablesthat have an impact on their satisfaction,morale, and turnover intentions.     

Mathematical discussion and perspective drawing in primary school

The aim of this paper is to analyse the functions of semiotic mediation in a long term teaching experiment on the plane representation of three-dimensional space by means of perspective drawing, that has been tried out from grade 2 to grade 5 in three different classrooms within the research project Mathematical Discussion. On the one side, drawing has a functional role in the overall development of the child; on the other side, perspective drawing has a phenomenological role in the genesis of modern geometry. The experiment aims at connecting (1) pupils' spatial experiences to the development of the geometry of three-dimensional space and (2) pupils' drawing experiences to the geometry of two-dimensional space, up to the mastery of early geometrical strategies of plane representation of space. Classroom activity alternates individual problems and classroom discussions orchestrated by the teacher. The paper is divided into several parts: after a brief introduction containing some contextual information (§§ 1, 2), the problem of the social construction of knowledge is addressed and some theoretical constructs mainly borrowed from the Vygotskian school are elaborated (§ 3); then two analyses of the experiment are made, according to the motives of activity (§ 4) and to the sequence of actions (§ 5); finally the role of semiotic mediation in the whole experiment is analysed (§ 6); in the final section (§ 7) some results are recapitulated and compared with the literature on the teaching and learning of geometry and the function of semiotic mediation is discussed with reference to the other distinctive features of the teaching experiment.     

Engagement during reading instruction for students who are deaf or hard of hearing in public schools

An observational study of reading instruction was conducted in general education, resource, and self-contained classrooms, grades 1-4, in public schools. Participants included students who were deaf or hard of hearing and their reading teachers. Results indicated that time engaged in reading and/or academically responding varied significantly by grade level enrolled, reading curriculum grade level, and instructional setting, but not level of hearing loss or presence or absence of concomitant conditions. Students working with reading curriculum one grade level below spent significantly less time in reading instruction and reading than students working on grade level or two levels below. Students in general education settings spent significantly more time in reading instruction and reading silently than students in self-contained settings. The probability that students would engage in reading was significantly increased by several teacher and ecological conditions more likely to be observed in general education settings.     

Mothers’ Depressive State ‘Distorts’ the Ratings of Depression they give for their Sons with an Autism Spectrum Disorder

Depression is highly prevalent in children who have an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), potentially confounding accurate diagnosis and treatment planning. Although information about the depressive status of a child is often collected from parents, there is evidence of distortion in parental assessments of their offspring’s depression. This distortion was investigated in a sample of 132 mothers of boys with an ASD. Results indicated that, as predicted from previous studies, there was a significant correlation between the depressive state of the mothers and the ratings they gave for their sons’ depression. However, in contradiction to the expected influence direction, mothers who were minimally depressed under-estimated their sons’ depression when cross-validated by structured clinical interviews for depression conducted by a third party, rather than mothers who were more severely depressed exaggerating their sons’ depression. Implications for clinical assessment of the presence of depression in boys with an ASD are discussed.     

Within the New Moment--An Interview with Judith Halberstam

In April 2002 Judith Halberstam, academic, cultural critic and author of Female Masculinity, toured Australia giving public and academic lectures about her recent work on sub-cultures, the Brandon Teena archive, representations of the transgender body and her notion of female masculinity. The interview is introduced through a brief sketch of her argument for female masculinity. The interview pursues three elements of her work. First, Halberstam's reflections on the implications that female masculinity and transgender have for teaching and pedagogy; second, the issue of humanism and post humanism as a site of concerted challenge and intervention; and finally, the interview turns to Halberstam's thoughts on an often overlooked area of sexualities--the relationship between queer theory and postcoloniality. Halberstam's responses are located amid what she sees as an era of new experimentalism. This era of experimentalism is perhaps an era where transgenderism acts as some kind of reorganizing of gender norms in which gender differences instantiate themselves as the baseline from which gender-sex-sexualities are understood and experienced. It is an argument positioned beyond binaries where multiple bodily aesthetics and practices collude and collide in the practice of displacing of singularity and authenticity.     

A national study examining the impact of SEVIS on international student and scholar advisors

The purpose of this research is to examine the impact that Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) is having on the professional worklives of international student and scholar advisors (ISSAs) on U.S. college and university campuses. ISSAs are clearly satisfied with their work and hold their institutions in high regard. However, SEVIS is having a profound effect on their morale, satisfaction, and their likelihood to leave the field. That is, SEVIS (i.e., reporting, training, time) and the quality of worklife (i.e., professional activities and career development, recognition for competence and their expertise, external and intra-department relationships, perceptions of discrimination) are important to ISSAs, and thus have a strong effect on their level of satisfaction and/or morale, and their subsequent intentions to stay or leave their career/profession.     

An Institutional Repository Experience at a Large Health Care System

Institutional repositories (IRs) collect, preserve, and disseminate the scholarly output of an organization. Though common in academic settings, they are less so in hospitals or health care systems. The librarians for Aurora Health Care decided to create a primarily citation-level IR to organize and promote the scholarly output of Aurora faculty, residents, and fellows using the proprietary software Digital Commons, a product of the company bepress. The repository also hosts a newly published peer-reviewed journal and includes digitized historical images and institutional memorabilia. Suggested alternatives are given for hospitals or health care systems that may not currently be able to pursue a full-fledged IR.