The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the effects that faculty who live in residence with college students perceive result from their experience. This study examined the perspectives from current and recent residential faculty members. Data were gathered through individual structured interviews with current and former residential faculty who gave firsthand accounts of how they felt that experience impacted them. Literature consistently showed that faculty-student interaction is very important to the development and success of students (Astin, 1993). Research has clearly demonstrated positive outcomes that result for students. The present study was undertaken because there is a dearth of research, however, regarding this impact on the faculty members themselves. Given the importance of faculty-student interaction outside of the classroom (Lundberg, 2004), it is crucial to recruit faculty for these communities. Thus, more information regarding this experience will be valuable to faculty and administrators considering working with residential colleges. The study was conducted at a mid-sized private university in the Southeastern United States. The reason for this choice was the fact that this school has a 25-year history as a residential college system and utilizes 12-15 residential faculty members yearly. The researcher conducted interviews with 13 faculty members and coded and analyzed the data. The study findings indicated that the faculty perceived great benefits from serving as residential college faculty members. Perceived benefits as described by the participants included increased skill in teaching, feeling a sense of community, stronger relationships with other faculty members and students, and an increased affinity toward the university. While there were some challenges such as lack of training, institutional politics, and loss of privacy all participants in the study felt they gained from the opportunity and would do it again in the same situation. This study enhanced the limited formal knowledge available regarding how faculty experience living in residential colleges with students.

Research on doctoral student attrition has shown that one of the main reasons for which students do not persist in the Ph.D. is because of a poor relationship with their doctoral advisor. The importance of the advising relationship is especially true in science, math, and engineering degrees because of the science model of advising as the student is the advisor's employee, close collaborator, and apprentice. While much attention has been given to understanding the dynamics of the advising relationship, little attention has been given to on how these relationships commence or the context in which they begin. This study ultimately contributes to understanding the context of the inception of advisor- advisee relationships and how it ultimately relates to both faculty and doctoral student satisfaction. The following overarching research questions guide this dissertation: What are the processes for doctoral students to find advisors in engineering, science, and math? How is this process experienced by faculty and students? To address these questions, I conducted three studies. Through these studies, this dissertation: 1) Identified and described the types of advisor-advisee selection processes that exist in engineering, science, and math and examined trends and patterns across disciplines; 2) compared how two Chemical Engineering programs practice the advisor selection process and examined how faculty and graduate program directors negotiate agency in the process and 3) explored how students experience satisfaction of their basic needs in the advisor selection process of one Chemical Engineering program and examined which student attributes influence this satisfaction of needs. The results showed that there are multiple ways through which a student can find an advisor in science, math, and engineering doctoral program, but these vary widely by both discipline and field of study. The results also showed both students and faculty value the ability to select whom they will work with. However, both groups may also need support in making this decision regarding with whom they will work. Overall, the results of this dissertation highlight the importance of developing practices that balance an individual's need for support and autonomy to improve their satisfaction. / Doctor of Philosophy / Studies have shown that roughly half of the doctoral students do not complete the doctorate degree. One of the main reasons for this departure is students having a poor relationship with the doctoral advisor. This relationship is particularly important for science, math, and engineering doctorates as in these fields of study the advisor and student work closely together. Much research has looked at how the relationship can be improved; however, little work has addressed how these relationships begin and the environment in which they start. This dissertation encompasses three studies that address the following research questions: What are the processes for doctoral students to find advisors in engineering, science, and math? How do faculty and students experience this process? Through these studies, this dissertation: 1) Described the ways through which doctoral programs help students find advisors in engineering, science, and math and how these ways varied by disciplines and fields of study; 2) compared how two Chemical Engineering programs help students find advisors; 3) explored how students experienced finding an advisor of one Chemical Engineering program. The results showed that there are multiple ways through which a student can find an advisor, but these vary widely by both discipline and field of study. The results also showed both students and faculty value the ability to choose whom they will work with. However, they may also need support in making this decision. Overall, the results of this dissertation highlight the importance of developing practices that balance an individual’s need for support and free will to improve their satisfaction.

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No description available.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Educational Leadership / Sarah Jane Fishback / This exploratory study investigated the level of satisfaction that faculty members have with their new faculty orientation experiences during their first year of employment at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, in Ft. Leavenworth, KS. The study solicited data from new faculty at this graduate-level military service college to help determine whether new faculty members were satisfied with their new faculty orientation experience; whether there were differences in the dependent variable, satisfaction, for any of the independent variables of campus location, teaching department, employment category, academic rank and educational level; and how the CGSC new faculty orientation program might be improved. Surveys were distributed to 297 new faculty members from January 2006 to December 2007. The survey instrument included Likert-scale questions to support quantitative statistical analysis. The study used non-parametric analysis methods to examine the dependent variable, satisfaction, with respect to independent variables. These results indicated that faculty members were satisfied with their new faculty orientation experiences and that there were no significant differences in satisfaction for campus location, teaching department, employment category, academic rank or educational level. Open-ended questions provided respondents an opportunity to add additional information; these comments were categorized by topic and then examined for themes or trends. Despite their overall satisfaction with the orientation program and processes, 84.80% of respondents indicated that inadequate institutional support was the greatest detractor to their success. They cited delays in meeting fundamental new employee needs such as providing a suitable work location, computer access, and information about institutional policies and procedures. Additionally, 35.67% of respondents indicated that either their sponsor was not helpful or none was assigned. Results of this study provided insight regarding unmet or inadequately fulfilled information and support needs of new faculty members at CGSC, informed further research in the area of faculty orientation, and highlighted areas for improvement of practice at CGSC and comparable institutions.

Numerous designs, practices, stakeholders, and technology options make it difficult for higher education institutions to find direction and established standards for classroom construction and remodeling projects. Different models of technology-enhanced classrooms are being adopted as various managers, integrators, and architects develop new classroom spaces. A planning process, standardized classroom model, and effective support structure will be valuable elements in meeting the needs of faculty and students. The goal was to establish a best practices classroom model to meet the needs of community college faculty, students, and technology support personnel. Information collected from community colleges was used to determine the state of installed classroom technology that includes standard practices, policies and procedures, stakeholder involvement, ongoing budget and equipment replacement, and technical support. Community college faculty and students provided data related to the effectiveness of and their satisfaction with different technology classroom models. A case study approach was employed. The cases included two different electronic classroom models (Model 1: remodel of rooms in existing buildings in 2004 and Model 2: new building construction in 1995). Data were collected from faculty and students related to the effectiveness of and their satisfaction with the particular environment. Background information on classroom design, standards, technology integration, and support was gathered from other community colleges to be included as part of the foundation provided by the review of literature. These data, together with the local data, were used to develop a classroom standards document. Faculty and student data were used to determine the effectiveness of the technology components, room and system design, and overall integration of technology in the electronic classroom. Faculty and students reported a high level of satisfaction with the electronic classrooms as well as a perceived high level of instructional effectiveness. Some design considerations related to screen placement and lighting control were raised by both populations. There were no other significant differences between the two classroom models used in the investigation. Faculty and student preferences were incorporated into the classroom standards document developed at the conclusion of the research. Community college instructional support personnel reported a fairly consistent basic model for their electronic classrooms. The use of any form of standards document was rare. A team approach to planning, design, installation and support was widely used.

While scholars have investigated the impact of school start times on adolescent students, there is limited research on how school start times affect teachers. In addition, recent reports of declining teacher morale emphasize the need for further study on influences of teacher satisfaction. Using secondary analysis of data from the 2017–18 National Teachers and Principals Survey (NTPS), this study measured relationships between school start times and other characteristics of responding teachers (n = 44,319) and their schools. The results identified trends in school start times by school level and community density. In addition, a statistically significant positive relationship between school start time and teacher satisfaction was found, as well a statistically significant negative relationship between school end time and teacher satisfaction. These findings suggest a need for further research on the association between school schedules and teacher satisfaction, but other variables appear to have a stronger influence on teacher satisfaction, such as teacher engagement in professional development. / Educational Leadership

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No description available.

In spite of the increase in the number of the international academic workforce and their potential benefits, international status has been relatively under-studied in Public Management and Higher Education literature in comparison with studies of age, gender, and race. Given these realities, the present study identifies characteristics of internal and external variables that influence international and U.S. faculty turnover intentions in a large public South Eastern research university. To understand the variations in short-term and long-term turnover levels while controlling for various demographic, structural, and external variables, eight Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression analysis were performed using turnover intentions as the dependent variables. Distributive justice has the strongest negative effect on short-term turnover, and communication openness has the strongest negative effect on long-term turnover. After controlling for job satisfaction and organizational commitment, the effect of communication openness on short-term turnover and the effect of distributive justice on long-term turnover are not statistically significant. This suggests that communication openness and distributive justice might affect turnover through job satisfaction and/or organizational commitment. Job satisfaction has the strongest negative effect on short-term turnover and organizational commitment has the strongest negative effect on long-term turnover after controlling for internal and external variables. In addition, this study aims to analyze the differences in internal and external factors that impact faculty turnover by international status. In achieving this aim, international faculty were compared to the U.S. faculty on the afore-mentioned internal and external factors that were shown in the literature to impact turnover. The result shows that structural variables such as autonomy, communication openness, and procedural justice play a bigger part in how international faculty evaluate their career with the current university than it does for U.S. faculty. On the contrary, kinship ties and job opportunity have stronger effects on U.S. faculty turnover than international faculty turnover. The implications of this study and areas of future opportunities are discussed.