<p> Classroom scheduling in higher education is a complicated process involving many different stakeholders across the campus. These stakeholders may include, but are not limited to faculty, students, administrators, and boards of trustees. Due to the culture and practices, as well as the conflicting interests of each of these groups, the scheduling process of academic classrooms and instructional laboratories may not always be efficient. This inefficiency often results in the underutilization of an institution&rsquo;s space. This study supplements the limited research available by examining and benchmarking best practices in efficient classroom scheduling in higher education at private, non-profit institutions of higher education in the United States. An electronic survey instrument was developed to serve a variety of purposes: to assess factors affecting the classroom scheduling process; to explore internal and external forces that influence classroom scheduling from the viewpoint of the institution&rsquo;s registrars tasked with classroom scheduling; and to develop a list of best practices in efficient classroom scheduling from feedback and input that can be adapted by any institution. The survey was pilot tested on a panel consisting of five registrars recruited through an announcement placed on the LinkedIn group entitled College and University Registrars. The data resulting from survey and registrar feedback were then used to develop a list of best practices in classroom scheduling. These practices formed the framework for developing a benchmarking self-score sheet to evaluate institutional practices and identify opportunities for improvement.</p>

<p> One of the primary the missions of colleges and universities is dedicated to student success. Traditionally, helping academically probationary students has been challenging for all educational institutions, because there are a multitude of factors involved for the schools and the students including, for example, demographics, socioeconomic issues, student motivation, and student time-management skills. The complexity introduced by these various factors creates obstacles in developing effective programs to aid and assist these students. At the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), there exists a course entitled Insights on Success that is designed as an intervention step to improve individual academic performance through self-discovery. The Insights on Success curriculum also works with students on several of the factors that are found in the current literature discussing academically probationary students and examining the factors that contribute to their poor performance, but this study focuses on the effectiveness of the Insights on Success course, itself. Effectiveness of the course for this study was determined by the improvement of the GPA scores of the probationary students who attended the class versus a control group of students who did not attend the class. </p><p> This research study evaluates the effectiveness of the Insights on Success course on the academic performance of probationary students attending baccalaureate degree programs within RIT's College of Applied Science &amp; Technology. This study presents the research design, discusses strategies for engaging the students, and explains the metrics that were assessed to determine the success or failure of the intervention.</p>

<p> This study examines presidential response to human-induced crises on public university campuses. The goal of the research was to understand specifically what actions and behaviors leaders in crisis take; what kinds of teams they assemble and the ways those teams function; how the leaders communicate--both to their teams and their institutional communities; and the ways their actions, behaviors and communications are understood by stakeholders of the campus. </p><p> A review of current literature on crises in higher education supports the research, and aided in the formulation of the four sets of research questions. Specifically, the compilation of research in crisis and crisis management; the role of the president in higher education; leadership and communication in crisis; and sensemaking and social cognition theory highlighted several gaps in understanding about leader behavior in crisis. The research questions, therefore, were structured to explore presidential actions and behaviors, teams and team function, intentional messaging and communication, and stakeholder perceptions in crisis. </p><p> Presidents at three large, public, research universities were the focus of the case studies. The findings emerged out of site visits to the campuses, personal interviews and review of historical documents and media coverage. While the leaders and the crises differed at each site, several common themes surfaced and the study revealed some important revelations and implications for both the literature and leaders in practice today. For instance, the findings demonstrated the significance of active, engaged leadership in crisis, highlighted the roles teams play in helping leaders to manage and resolve crises, and exposed the ways trust&mdash;both of the sort leaders bring to crisis and the kind they afford others with whom they work&mdash;influences leader actions and stakeholder perceptions. Ultimately, the research elicited a list of guidelines that presidents--as well as those who hire, support, or work with presidents&mdash;might consider as they prepare for and encounter crisis. </p>

<p> The following explores the phenomenon of perceived organizational culture change resulting from involvement in the establishment of program-level student learning outcomes assessment at colleges and universities. The goal of the research was to understand what elements of organizational culture may have changed on the part of the faculty and administration during the assessment development and implementation process, and how the combined effects may have shifted elements of organizational culture. </p><p> Two primary research questions guided the exploration of perceived organizational culture change. The first question focused on how the process of developing and implementing plans to assess student learning at the program level influences the attitudes, behaviors, values, and practices of faculty. The second question considered ways in which the assessment initiative changed or affected the program's organizational culture. </p><p> Critical to answering these research questions for each program studied was an understanding of the assessment development and implementation process. Further, it was important to identify and comprehend those decisions perceived most influential on the organizational culture of the program's faculty and administration. </p><p> The review of current knowledge supported and focused on research from the following four areas: 1. a basic history of assessment and the role of accreditation; 2. perceived cultural conflicts associated with assessment; 3. institutional interpretations of assessment; and, 4. research on organizational culture and the change process most relevant to higher education. </p><p> The researcher used the qualitative method of case study analysis and focused on efforts at three private liberal arts institutions. Selected from each institution were two programs of study that have successfully established learning goals and methods to measure student learning. </p><p> Across the three institutions and six programs studied, common themes and unique features emerged relative to the process of assessment development and the elements indicative of organizational culture change. Further, general assertions emerge concerning how the program's efforts affect attributes of organizational culture. </p><p> Both faculty and administrators may benefit from the conclusions of the research. Individuals charged with demonstrating academic integrity as well as those involved in the decision-making process regarding measuring student learning may also find the research valuable.</p>

<p> Research suggests what leaders should do or the qualities or characteristics they <i>should</i> have to be ethical leaders (Brown &amp; Trevi&ntilde;o, 2006). The ethical decision-making process that leaders should follow to avoid scandals and unethical behavior are overlooked. Few studies focused on ethical decision-making within higher education. Yet, educational leaders have an ethical responsibility that may be even more complex than those of other leaders due in part to increasingly diverse student populations enrolled in higher education that is having an impact on the growth of educational institutions on a global basis (Shapiro &amp; Stekfovich, 2011). Further, ethical scandals are no longer contained by national borders. The rapid growth of technology coupled with changes in political and societal landscapes has advanced ethical scandals to global prominence. A more collective need to understand ethical values and ethical decision-making practices on a global level has emerged. To be globally effective, leaders must be aware of the similarities and differences across and within cultures that could influence business practices (Resick, Hanges, Dickson, &amp; Mitchelson, 2006). However, cross-cultural research has not yet addressed the topic of ethical decision-making. In this study, the ethical decision-making process of higher education was not only examined in the United Stated but also in Poland. This exploratory study used the Delphi research technique to identify an ethical decision-making definition that higher administration leaders in both the United States and Poland use to make ethical decisions and identify the environmental factors that influence their decisions. Findings showed that the United States and Polish expert panels were different and showed very little in common in the identification of a definition and environmental factors. Lastly, both sets of experts identified a new process for ethical decision-making, each constructing a different ethical decision-making process model. This research on ethical decision-making provided evidence that the Polish and United States cultures are not as similar as identified in previous studies in terms of how they identify ethical decision-making and the factors they identify with influencing ethical decision-making. Using this information will create a better understanding of the practices and approaches to ethics that leaders use because of the huge influence they have and exert on people within their own organization and society around them.</p>

<p> Limited qualitative research has been conducted on academically reinstated students. The purpose of this naturalistic case study was to identify factors influencing the decision to apply for reinstatement and to examine how participation in an academic intervention program assisted academically reinstated students to succeed. Six reinstated students participating in an academic intervention program participated in this study. A social constructivist perspective was assumed, relying on the participants' perspectives to cultivate meanings of their experiences. This research offered a better understanding of the needs and experiences of reinstated students, provided evidence of resources, interventions, and programs that might be helpful for future reinstated students. The findings of this study could enhance attrition and retention of this student population. </p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to determine how stakeholders engaged in school-university partnerships, specifically in the work preparing future school administrators, created and captured value for their own organizations. These case studies examined three partnerships that involved three school systems who all partnered with the same college, which allowed for multi-site and within site analysis. The study used the voices of key stakeholders, partnership documents, and observations of key events within the partnerships as data sources to focus on what stakeholders took away from the partnerships for their own organizations. </p><p> The review of literature included research on the role of school-university partnerships in principal preparation reform, and the impact of such reform on leadership succession in schools. In addition, the literature on collaboration provided a clear context for identifying, analyzing and interpreting the actions of stakeholders in these partnerships. The partnerships were examined using negotiated order theory as a conceptual and theoretical framework. This framework proved valuable for determining the actions stakeholders in regard to the preconditions and processes of collaboration, with specific focus on value creation and capture as outcomes. </p><p> The findings showed that value creation and capture were specific and significant for all organizations, although there was variance across the partnerships as to what and how value was created and captured. Recommendations were offered for organizations interested in creating school-university partnerships. Recommendations could also be broadly applied to many types of organizations in the social sector that are interested in partnering as a means of creating and capturing value for their own organizations.</p>

<p> State and national policy makers for 150 years have promoted public access to higher education, supported through state tax funds and more recently through federal direct appropriations and tax expenditures. In the past 3 decades, state tax funding of higher education has declined, resulting in increased reliance on tuition and reduced college affordability, thereby raising barriers to access. There are also vast differences in how well states fund higher education, with some providing more generous tax funds and others steadily providing less.</p><p> Higher education researchers have conducted ongoing inquiry regarding factors that may influence the level of state legislative support for higher education. These include institutional, political, economic, cultural, demographical, and fiscal factors. Several have pointed to what appears to be an inverse relationship between state funding of higher education and state funding of Medicaid.</p><p> This study employs regression analyses of a 20-year, 50-state panel of data (1992-2011), considering the changes in budget share devoted to higher education, Medicaid, K-12 Public Education, and Corrections. During that 20-year period, higher education's share declined in 33 states, Medicaid's increased in 44 states, and 28 states experienced both a decrease in higher education's share and an increase in Medicaid's. Also considered were political party control of states, and changes in Gross State Product. The analysis tries to determine if increases in Medicaid's share is contributing to a decline in the share for higher education, and whether the share for each budget category explains state funding variations.</p><p> A fixed effects regression model, taking into account both the differences within (across time) and between (across states), determined that 85% of the variation in the error term is due to the wide cross-sectional state differences. This calls into question much of the prior research that relied on ordinary least squares regression models, and did not account for what Zhu called "cross-unit heterogeneity". These findings indicate that additional research is needed, both quantitative (considering groupings of states rather than all 50 states), and interpretive case studies to elicit more insights and research questions that will yield more definitive answers about budgetary tradeoffs between higher education funding and other budgetary categories. </p>

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-02, Section: A, page: 0447. Adviser: Debra D. Bragg. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 187-192) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-02, Section: A, page: 0417. Adviser: William Trent. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-124) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.