The purpose of the study was to analyze strategies and techniques used in graduate student recruitment efforts at institutions of higher education which have developed graduate student recruitment programs involving administrative personnel in graduate schools. The population consisted of 71 graduate school deans. The deans, however, were given the alternative of selecting an alternate administrator to respond to the survey provided the alternate possessed experience with graduate recruitment activities.A Likert-type instrument consisting of 42 questionnaire items was utilized to gather data pertaining to the respondent and the institution included in the survey, organization for graduate recruitment, current and desired involvement with recruitment administrative functions, plus usage and perceived effectiveness of selected strategy/techniques used in graduate recruitment.Findings1. Institutions having the greatest available finances for graduate recruitment activities tended to have coordinated recruitment programs.2. Graduate administrators expressed strong interest in being involved with the development of recruitment planning, setting goals and identifying desirable recruitment strategies and techniques.3. A lack of formal training existed for personnel engaged in graduate student recruitment.4. Financial assistance, prompt response to applicant inquiry, and personal contact from the concerned department (faculty) were perceived as very effective student recruitment strategy/techniques.5. The utilization of alumni as well as establishing contact with representatives from business and industry were viewed as valuable but relatively untapped sources for increasing the number of graduate student applications.Conclusions1. The projected decline in the 18 to 24 year-old population group can be off-set partially by conscientious efforts to attract former degree recipients from other age groups, women and minorities.2. Graduate student recruitment has traditionally differed from undergraduate recruitment. Much, of the current activity conducted as. graduate recruitment is uncoordinated and difficult to monitor; however, efforts to organize graduate recruitment programs are attracting the attention of graduate administrators nationally, thus creating the potential for an emerging professional area in graduate education.3. Financial support for coordinated graduate recruitment programs will be derived predominantly from the university budget.4. Faculty are imperative to successful graduate student recruitment, therefore, recruitment planning should include ways to effectively utilize outstanding faculty in the recruitment process.

Improving student achievement is a major concern across the United States. One strategy being implemented to help students achieve in math and science is the partnering of teachers with professionals in math and science careers. One such program is the Fellows Integrate Math/Science in Rural Middle Schools program, from which this research stems. The intent of the program was to match middle school teachers with graduate students preparing for careers in science, technology, mathematics, or engineering fields. The graduate students spent ten hours a week in classrooms, interacting with teachers and students. Improved student performance in math and science, improved teacher content knowledge, and improved graduate student communication skills were expected program outcomes. This research assessed the impact of program participation on the teachers and graduate students involved. Data were collected from 33 middle school teachers and 33 graduate students over the course of two years of program participation. Questionnaires included a pre post measurement of knowledge, experience, and comfort level with education related groups and issues and summative program evaluations. Major findings of the research included: 1. Teacher knowledge, experience, and comfort levels with education related groups and issues did not change significantly because of participation in the program. 2. Graduate students experienced a decrease in knowledge, experience, and comfort level with several education related groups and issues from the beginning of the school year to the end. Knowledge decreases were noted with the following groups and issues: a. High school students b. Teaching college students c. Theories of learning d. Planning a project e. Following through on project tasks Experience level decreases were noted with the following groups and issues: a. Science education reform b. Current issues in K-12 education c. Teaching college students d. Theories of learning e. Assessing student learning Comfort level decreases were noted with the following groups and issues: a. Elementary school students b. University faculty engaged in K-12 education c. Science education reform d. Teaching college students e. Theories of learning f. Evaluating educational activities 3. Graduate student gender, race, and age were not found to be predictors of success in this partnership program.

ABSTRACT Insufficient pain management continues to be problematic for hospitalized patients throughout the country. It significantly interferes with a person's quality of life making it an issue of great concern to nurses in any setting. However, nurses do not do a good job of managing pain. The purpose of this evaluation was to assess graduate nursing students' knowledge and attitudes toward pain management. Forty (n=40) graduate nursing students were asked to participate in the evaluation. All students agreed and completed the Demographic Data Form, Nurses Attitude Survey and the Pain Management and Principles Assessment. Thirty-eight females and two males participated in this study. The mean age was 35 years old (SD=9.77) with a range between 24 and 62. The majority of the participants were Non-Hispanic white (70%), followed by African American (10%), Hispanic (10%), Asian and others. The mean years of nursing experience was 10 years with a standard deviation 7.31. The data showed that nursing students demonstrated inadequate knowledge regarding pain management. The mean score on the PMPAT was 66% (SD= 3.61). The mean score on the Nurse Attitude Survey was 77 (SD=5.8) on a survey with scores that could range from 25 to 100. The higher the score the more favorable that nurse is towards pain management. The scores ranged from 69 to 91. Knowledge and attitude scores had room for improvement, suggesting that the curriculum of the college could be improved. In addition, continuing education courses could be developed to support nurses' knowledge of pain management.

　　This study explored a group of mainland Chinese research postgraduate students’ attitudes to using English in their current academic and daily lives in Hong Kong. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. An interview survey with seven participants was carried out to seek in-depth information about participants’ perceptions of using English in Hong Kong. Based on the major themes found in the preliminary analysis of the interview survey, an online questionnaire survey was designed and sent out to investigate a much larger group of mainland research students' English language use experiences in Hong Kong. 　　The results revealed that this group of students generally had positive attitudes to using English in their academic lives in Hong Kong while had relatively negative attitudes to their experiences of daily English language use. Their perceptions of the English of different groups of people in Hong Kong were varied although they all opined that English was an important language in the educational, commercial and other formal settings in Hong Kong. The pedagogical implications for mainland research students, their academic supervisors and university language policy makers are discussed and future research directions are suggested. / published_or_final_version / Applied English Studies / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

This study is about graduate students’ discourse practices in a classroom text-based synchronous computer-mediated discussion (SCMD). Cultural historical activity theory (in short, Activity Theory) is the primary theoretical lens through which the data are analyzed. Engeström’s (1987) Activity System model among the various theoretical positions or perspectives of activity theorists has guided the overall process of the study, especially having the researcher focus on the identification and description of the model’s six key elements: subject, object, tool, community, rule, and division of labor. Several emerging themes were identified. An activity system in SCMD is situated in multiple dimensions of context: physical/biological, cultural/institutional, social/ emotional, and cognitive/intellectual dimensions; instead of a single utterance, a topical pair needs to be investigated as a unit of analysis in SCMD research; a collective unit of actions emerges through the discourse activity; and, finally, an ecological view is needed to understand an activity system as a whole. Based on these emerging themes, I conclude with a modified model of the activity system in the situation of dialogical transactions such as SCMD. / text

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The purpose of this research study aimed to critically examine personal and professional issues related to a small group of visual arts MFA graduate students and myself as we participated in a semester-long course entitled, “Issues of Relevance and Character in the Fine Arts,” at a large public university in the United States. In the form of a colloquium series, the course aimed to explore a graduate student’s developing sense of self and its impact on the different roles he or she often embodies while pursuing an MFA in a School of Art. These roles include those of an individual, a student, an artist, a teaching assistant, and a future professional in the field of the visual arts. Employing a participatory action research methodology, I was also a participant in the study. I regularly documented the oral, written, and visual data that emerged from the participants’ considerations of their immediate circumstances both inside and outside the School of Art as well as their interactions with the reflexive pedagogies utilized in the colloquium sessions. This dissertation also reviewed research studies conducted on graduate student development, students in visual arts MFA programs, the historical development of the MFA degree, as well as faculty members in MFA programs and their curricular and pedagogical practices. Findings indicated the following: First, strong convictions seemed to be intrinsic to the participants’ pursuit of their MFA degrees. They appeared eager to learn about becoming a professional in the field, and each participant expressed interest in teaching the visual arts as instructors in higher education. Second, participating in a course such as “Issues of Relevance and Character in the Fine Arts,” seemed to offer the participants a receptive and reflective platform to convey the voices of the “characters” they embodied as MFA students. For example, the participants appeared to clarify intra- and interpersonal priorities, educational goals and artistic aspirations. Their personal and professional development was influenced by the complex relationships they shared with others in their MFA programs. The MFA participants grappled with the connections and disconnections that appeared to exist between their professors, peers, and themselves. A third theme addressed the impact of my participation within the study. With an established background in both teaching and taking courses in the studio arts and Art and Visual Culture Education, the findings suggest that I was able to empathize with the three other participants on several fronts. Fourth, the findings also address the curricular and pedagogical strengths and limitations of the course. The implications of this research study suggest the need for (a) more action research studies of MFA graduate students, as the methodology seemed to enhance the reflexive and exploratory nature of self-inquiry; (b) a series of required courses within MFA curricula that help graduates to systematically reflect upon their roles as graduate students in terms of their immediate goals, as well as their aspirations for the future; (c) research and professional development opportunities for faculty members so that they might become more aware of the ways that their MFA curricula and instructional practices influence a graduate student's sense of self both positively and negatively; and (d) research on how art and visual culture educators can be involved in assisting MFA graduate students and faculty members develop new perspectives related to their instructional and mentoring practices.

This study, entitled “Understanding the Choice of Chinese Graduate Students’ English Learning Strategies in a Canadian Context,” explores the English learning strategies employed by six graduate students from China after their arrival in Canada, and documents and analyses changes in their learning strategies. These Chinese students encountered a change of language context because when in the unilingual Chinese environment they spoke Mandarin and upon their arrival in Canada, they were obligated to use English to communicate with Canadians and other international students. These students employed different English learning strategies in the Canadian context from what they were accustomed to in China. Thus, the researcher’s central objective in this study is to discover and document those changes in learning strategies and to investigate the factors accounting for the changes. In the process, the researcher aims to fill a gap in research exploring the learning strategies of Chinese students in foreign contexts, and create valuable new knowledge to benefit prospective Chinese international students, policy makers at the international universities, and English educators in China. The theoretical framework of this research is the qualitative co-constructivism paradigm along with narrative inquiry. Semi-structured interviews were used as the primary method of collecting data in this study, beginning with individual interviews, and followed by a focus group interview. The data collected through the interviews showed that the six participants’ reliance on the memory and cognitive strategies employed in China were abandoned in favor of utilization of compensation strategies and social strategies after moving to Canada. Furthermore, these participants were more open to making mistakes and taking risks during interactions with others in English. Moreover, these participants made these changes mainly because they desired to use the English-speaking environment in Canada to improve English proficiency. An important finding of my research is that their immersion in the English-speaking environment inspired these participants to employ different English learning strategies that led to significant improvement in their English proficiency.

The present exploratory study focused on international graduate students who might experience some difficulties with major life transitions and studying in a different culture. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between personal assertiveness and social support satisfaction among international graduate students. The researcher hypothesized that assertive international graduate students would report higher levels of seeking out and marshalling social support. Thus, they would more likely be satisfied with their perceived social support. The present study also examined several demographic variables such as ethnicity, sex, TOEFL scores, GPA, and length of stay in the U.S., as possible factors affecting their assertiveness and perceived social support satisfaction. The major findings indicated that assertiveness did not always augment social support satisfaction in the current sample. However, the results of the study demonstrated the effects of ethnicity and several other variables in predicting the levels of assertiveness and perceived social support satisfaction among international graduate students. The study also suggested several implications for future research regarding the relationship between interpersonal variables and perceived social support satisfaction. / Department of Psychological Science

This study was designed to examine psychology graduate students' attitudes toward gay men and lesbian women. It was hypothesized that the following variables would predict participants' attitudes toward gay men and lesbian women: participant gender, amount of client contact with gay men and lesbian women, and gender role attitudes. Additionally, a measure of social desirability was included to investigate the validity of responses. Data were analyzed by conducting an independent t-test, a correlated t-test, and hierarchical multiple regression. Results indicated that gay men were viewed more negatively than were lesbian women. As expected, participants' gender role attitudes significantly predicted their attitudes toward gay men and lesbian women. Contrary to predicted outcomes, results indicated that neither participant gender nor client contact predicted attitudes toward homosexuality. Finally, results suggested that participants were not engaging in socially desirable responding. Implications of this study for research, theory, and practice are discussed. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services