Community colleges are being pressured to increase their direct support of the economic development agendas of their communities, their states, and even the nation. These pressures develop both externally and internally, and are exacerbated when increased demands for access to community college education must be met with chronically flat-lined or underfunded community college budgets. In order to deal effectively with these pressures, community colleges may have to increase the considerable degree to which they already collaborate with the private interests within their communities. Contract education programs are one of the more powerful collaborative devices available to community colleges. But increasing their emphasis on contract education presents practical and philosophical issues for community colleges, and may even put their traditionally comprehensive missions at risk. This study suggests that the degree to which a community college is able to resolve those issues and maintain a comprehensive mission is heavily dependent upon the ability of the top leadership to balance the values and interests of the multiple organizational cultures that make up the community college and its immediate environment. / Graduation date: 2002

Not available / text

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2005. / Supervisor: John E. Roueche. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2005. / Supervisor: John E. Roueche. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Past research has explored the factors involved in successful partnerships between higher education, government and industry; but little attention has been given to perceptions of students, program administrators, and instructors themselves regarding the philosophy, values, attitudes, and behaviors of the effective instructor, now and for the future. This study examined the perceptions of the role of the effective instructor in graduate engineering education in the work place. A qualitative case study was conducted of the perceptions of effective instruction in the masters-level engineering education program offered by Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University (Virginia Tech) at the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) in Dahlgren, Virginia. Open-ended interviews were conducted with five students, five instructors, five NSWC administrators and four Virginia Tech administrators. Analysis of interview data resulted in four categories of perceptions: (a) the teaching role, (b) the students, (c) the subject, and (d) off-campus conditions. The four categories were used to organize the nineteen case histories and to compare perceptions within and across case groups. Respondents who were more experienced with off-campus adult learners and also perceived few differences between education and training viewed the instructor's main responsibility as one of meeting student needs. Instructors and Virginia Tech administrators believed that teaching, research and obtaining a degree were most important while students and NSWC administrators believed that teaching, learning, and organizational productivity were most important. All respondents recognized that NSWC students faced more demands, and were more motivated and professionally experienced than their counterparts on campus. Instructors with off-campus experience, NSWC administrators, and students believed that work place applications should be incorporated into NSWC graduate education, while Blacksburg-based faculty and administrators did not. All groups agreed that graduate engineering education must incorporate state-of-the art technologies. It was concluded that work place engineering education requires more than the transmission of knowledge. A student-centered approach to the role of the engineering instructor takes into account the professional experiences of the students and the unclear, complex nature of problems encountered in engineering practice. This implies an emerging form of graduate/continuing professional engineering education, consisting of four elements: (a) the subject matter, (b) adult learning processes, (c) the life situation of the learner, and (d) work place objectives. Implications for college teaching, strategic planning, program administrators and individual students are discussed. / Ed. D.

Not available / text

The goal of this study was to provide a link between the family-supportive benefits offered by an employer, and the work-family conflict experienced by that organization's employees. In order for employee outcomes such as job satisfaction to remain high, the work-family conflict experienced by the employee needs to remain low. One way to possibly lower the amount of work-family conflict experienced is to offer family-supportive benefits.

The purposes of this study were (1) to describe and analyze the organization and content of nonprofit corporate curricula, (2) to describe and analyze the background and status of nonprofit corporate college faculty, and (3) to describe and analyze the demographics, educational background, and employment characteristics of students in nonprofit corporate colleges. Institutional demographics on student enrollment, number of graduates, admission policy, tuition cost, types of financial aid programs, student housing, and schedule of classes were gathered as well. Data were collected from survey instruments returned by 12 nonprofit corporate college administrators. The data were treated to produce frequencies and percentages. The study revealed that the majority of nonprofit corporate colleges are specialized institutions which primarily offer graduate degree programs. Faculty are most likely full-time, non-tenured employees. White males between the ages of 25 and 40 constitute an overwhelming majority of the student population. Two major findings unrelated to the purposes of the study were revealed during this investigation. They are (1) the term corporate college and the definition are sometimes misunderstood and (2) three corporate colleges identified last year have ceased operating as post-secondary degree-granting institutions.