AAU Library Directors: Past Employment and Educational Credentials

Abstract

Previous employment and educational background are two important criteria used to evaluate candidates for vacant library director positions. Search committee members seek individuals who demonstrate the potential and ability to provide inspirational and visionary leadership. This study examines previous employment and educational background of library directors from the Association of American Universities (AAU). Results indicate that most directors have previously worked as a library director or associate director in large, complex library systems. Their responsibilities in previous positions show an upward trajectory of advanced administrative activities. In addition, 88% of the directors have earned the MLIS, while 38% had attained a doctorate.     

Image dimensions of two Scandinavian endurance winter sport events

ABSTRACT

This study investigates event images of two Scandinavian endurance skiing events. It adds to the relatively limited literature on endurance sport event images and provides a better understanding of how participants perceive images of the cross country ski events Birkebeinerrennet and Vasaloppet, and to what extent the images are similar and different. A qualitative comparative case-study design was applied. The interview guide consisted of open-ended semi-structured questions, and 52 participants in Birkebeinerrennet and Vasaloppet were interviewed during March 2017. A ‘sport endurance event image’ can be composed of at least ten dimensions and associated aspects: ‘Organizational’, ‘Environmental’, ‘Emotional’, ‘Social’, ‘Historical’, ‘Physical’, ‘Competition’, ‘Cultural’, ‘Equipment’ and ‘Destination’. The findings confirm and expand earlier identified dimensions of sport event images by identifying two new dimensions (‘Equipment’ and ‘Destination’). The image of Birkebeinerrennet was more aligned with the destination than Vasaloppet, while the overall stronger and more versatile image of Vasaloppet makes it less vulnerable to loss of interest from narrow segments of participants. We offer insights about how participants perceive the race images, how two rather similar events also differ in their images, and how this can contribute to a better understanding of differences in popularity. The findings can help organisers work towards images that attract desirable visitors and participants. Future research should follow up these findings through quantitative investigations across different types of long-distance, endurance sport events taking place in different environments, seasons and regions.     

Difficult Interactions between IRBs and Investigators: Applications and Solutions

This essay describes efforts by the University of Iowa administration and Human Subjects Office to adapt review procedures and interpret federal regulations in ways that were appropriate to the distinctive methodologies of social science and humanistic research, including applied research. Two moments of significant change in those procedures are described and several recommendations are offered for addressing the difficulties institutional review boards and applied researchers encounter when they interact: ask questions and be prepared to respond to them, in person when necessary; be reasonable and accountable and assume the other side is too; recognize that human subjects protection is complicated and that real risks are posed by procedures sometimes assumed to be risk-free by nature. The importance of an adequately funded, well-trained staff is emphasized as the precursor to all of those measures.     

Collaborations across “Sister” community colleges: a strategy to strengthen programs and support student persistence

Community colleges are typically relied upon to address many challenges in United States higher education and, more recently, are under public pressure to increase student completion rates. This article presents a case study of colleagues at three Minnesota community colleges as they work together to address student and program needs. While traditionally community colleges tend to focus primarily on gaining transfer partnerships with universities, we suggest that collaborations across community college programs may be key to long-term success. If done well, such sister program collaborations can support a trajectory of programmatic strength that not only bolsters the curriculum, enrollment, and program visibility, but also ultimately supports students’ ability to complete and successfully transfer. The result, then, is that university partners are attracted and sustained by a vibrant network of colleagues and a pipeline of student support.     

Portraying Science as Humanism – A Historical Case Study of Cultural Boundary Work from the Dawn of the ‘Atomic Age’

In the late 1950s, when a new curriculum for the Danish upper secondary school was under construction, the reform debates on science were strongly concerned with the scarcity of technologically and scientifically educated labour, and thus relations between science, technology and welfare were stressed. Simultaneously however, the relationship between science and humanism was likewise emphasised and discussed. It is this latter issue that is the subject of analysis here. I argue that describing science as a form of humanism served a number of different purposes both within and without a narrow school context. It was far from clear what the practical consequences of this rhetorical figure was to be, although some attempts were made within the new curriculum plan to break down the boundaries between the sciences and the humanities. However, picturing science as humanism also served legitimising functions both with regards to the new science curriculum and with regards to a general political program of progress and welfare through support of science and education. Thus, the curriculum debates on science education were part of a much broader cultural and political debate in which the image of science was negotiated and transformed. Such curriculum debates can, I argue, be understood as cultural boundary work in Thomas Gieryn’s sense.     

Behavioral and relational correlates of low self-perceived competence in young children

It is developmentally normative for preschoolers (aged four to five years) to have self-perceptions that are typically positive and even over-inflated. However, because not all children have positive self-perceptions in early childhood it is important to understand factors that influence the development of self-perceptions, especially low self-perceptions, in early childhood. Therefore, this study examined the associations between self-perceptions and teacher ratings of social behaviors, subtypes of withdrawal, and peer ratings of acceptance/rejection in preschoolers. Participants included 199 children (107 males, 92 females) attending two early childhood programs in a midsized community in the western United States. The major findings were that children in early childhood who have lower self-perceptions of their abilities than their peers tended to engage in more reticence, solitary-passive withdrawal, and solitary-active behavior.     

Secondary Preservice Teachers’ Development of Teaching Scientific Writing

Educators have argued the need for greater attention on how teachers learn to teach writing in science (Kelly and Bazerman in Appl Linguist 24(1):28–55, 2003; Martin in Writing science: literacy and discursive power. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, pp 166–202, 1993). This article summarizes the findings of a qualitative study of five science preservice teachers as they experienced a unit of study, an inquiry-based instructional framework for the teaching of writing. Results found initially the science preservice teachers did not have knowledge of specific instructional approaches to teach writing. The science preservice teachers engaged in critical and analytical reading and writing, which enhanced their knowledge of writing and how to teach writing. The unit of study approach to writing may offer teacher educators a way to engage science preservice teachers in a method to teach scientific writing.