<p> About 50% of all individuals who enter doctoral programs finish. Although many studies exist concerning reasons people fail to finish doctoral programs, few studies related to the reasons people finish doctoral programs have been conducted. The reasons people do not complete (i.e., finances, life changes, lack of motivation) do not necessarily reflect the reasons students do complete these programs. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of participation in collaborative cohort doctoral programs on dissertation completion. Elements of grounded theory were employed to search for the emergence of information leading to discussion and reflection about the question: How does participation in a collaborative cohort doctoral program affect dissertation completion? </p>

<p> As writing centers continue to petition for status, funding, and authority on university and college campuses, writing center research and assessment practices continue to evolve. Within the last 10 years, writing center administrators have turned to assessing the writing center based on student learning outcomes (SLOs). This research summarizes the assessment history of writing centers and then proposes a pilot study that uses portfolios and reflection as a way to assess student learning in a writing center on a metropolitan, four-year university campus. This research also discusses the pilot study in terms of future research and implications.</p>

<p> Even though proprietary colleges and universities continue to gain market share in the higher education landscape, negative perceptions about proprietary institutions remain including reliance on contingent faculty to meet fluctuating student enrollments. Little research about the experiences of contingent faculty teaching in proprietary settings exists, and even less research exists about the unwritten expectations, or psychological contracts, contingent faculty bring with them to the employment relationship with an institution. As heavy use of contingent faculty continues, campus administrators need a more comprehensive understanding of how to best manage the expectations, benefits, challenges, and resources of this type of employment relationship. </p><p> This qualitative inquiry study collected data using open, semi-structured interviews, then analyzed data using phenomenological research methods to better understand what contingent faculty teaching at urban, proprietary institutions experience. This study also used the organizing framework of psychological contracts in order to apply the findings into recommendations for campus administrators working with contingent faculty. </p><p> The results of this study indicate that a contingent faculty member's early experiences with an institution significantly determined the way the psychological contracts with the institution were formed and maintained in later experiences. For most, once the initial relationship was formed, little experienced afterwards changed the relationship with the exception of major changes regarding institutional focus and/ or position within the institution. </p><p> Consistent with the literature, contingent faculty perceiving their overall experiences and relationship with the institution as positive had longer tenure with the institution, identified more with the institution, and exhibited more organizational commitment behaviors. Contingent faculty perceiving their experiences as negative tended to have shorter tenures with their institutions, did not identify with the institution, and exhibited less organizational commitment behaviors. However, even though organizational practices and experiences varied greatly, two types of experiences and perceptions remained consistent. First, participants were surprised and disappointed in student level of preparation for college academic work yet expressed commitment to their students' success as greater than their commitment to institutional expectations. Second, participants expressed overall satisfaction with teaching experiences, and began to identify themselves as teachers, regardless of prior professional affiliation or relationship with the institution.</p>

<p> The purpose of the qualitative study was to gain a better understanding of the perceptions, expectations, and communication styles injured student-athletes have for their teammates, coaches, and athletic trainers. One-on-one interviews were utilized to gather data from 20 student-athletes representing two separate institutions, who competed in six different sports and ranged in classification from freshman to graduate students. Data analysis was guided by the Social Support Model developed by Richman, Rosenfeld, and Hardy (1993). </p><p> Five major findings were identified from the study that helped provide insight on the three research questions. The findings revealed that there was tremendous stress placed on athletes throughout the injury process, including feelings of loneliness while their teams continued to compete, as well as, anxiety surrounding returning to competition, financial assistance, and medical treatment. Many of these stressors were perceived as individual-specific, requiring different forms of support based on the injured student-athlete's connection to support providers both inside and outside of the athletics arena. In most instances, injured student-athletes wanted the attention to remain on the healthy players and overall team success, thus they viewed their injuries as their own personal responsibilities and limited certain communication with teammates, coaches, and athletic trainers. However, the vast majority of participants noted relying heavily on the support of teammates, who they viewed as brothers, throughout the injury process. </p><p> Observations from the study led to four primary recommendations for practitioners. These recommendations focused on providing injured student-athletes with the encouragement, knowledge, and resources to manage the challenging emotions associated with athletic injury. Implications for practice included: (a) Increased awareness surrounding the topic of athletic injury, (b) Better integration of student-athletes into the larger university community, (c) Greater emphasis on teambuilding opportunities, and (d) Early engagement of professional support providers such as counselors and sports psychologist. Results of the study provided insight on a unique and hard to reach population of division I, male, collegiate student-athletes. Furthermore, the study provided additional information on their perceptions surrounding athletic injury and how best to support injured student-athletes.</p>

<p> Recent empirical research and literature in higher educational leadership posited a sharp increase in the vacancies of college and university presidencies in the near future. To complicate this problem further, the literature also indicated a significant shortfall in the number of qualified candidates to fill this leadership vacuum. The purpose of this research study was to consider the X factors for presidential leadership of member institutions of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) compared to the presidents of public universities and other private colleges in the U.S. The primary research question sought to understand the characteristics and differences of the presidents of CCCU member institutions compared to the presidents of public universities and other private colleges, and focused on seven facets of college and university presidents including: (a) demographics; (b) career paths; (c) educational background; (d) search and hiring processes; (e) duties; (f) characteristics of long-serving presidents; and (g) job satisfaction. The dataset provided by the American Council on Education's <i>The American College President 2012</i> research study was used to determine if statistically significant differences exist between the presidents of CCCU member institutions and the presidents of public and other private colleges and universities. The results from this research study indicated there were statistically significant differences between the presidents of CCCU member institutions compared to the presidents of public universities and other private colleges with regard to demographics, career paths, search and hiring processes, duties and characteristics of long-serving presidents.</p>

<p> This research explores the intersection of several truths: 1) American research universities are complex organizations with long-standing traditions that guide faculty behavior. 2) For the US to remain competitive in the global economy, education systems must prepare a diverse STEM workforce to conduct innovative research and development activities. Educators, students, and all citizens must understand the importance of and pathway to STEM careers. 3) Faculty rely on external funds to support their research. 4) The US government distributes tax dollars to support university research activities. The National Science Foundation (NSF) allocates the second largest percentage of federal research funds. 5) The NSF proposal review process includes Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts Criteria, through which faculty must address areas of national need. </p><p> These realities are merged in the experiences of new faculty in engineering colleges at research universities in the United States. Junior faculty members who hold a prestigious NSF Faculty Early Career Development or CAREER award frequently struggle to develop a broader impacts strategy that satisfies the expectations of NSF and the expectations of their university. This work examined broader impacts from three perspectives: CAREER awardees from four institutions, faculty and staff who assist awardees with broader impacts planning and implementation, and current and former NSF officials who clarified the Agency's intent in maintaining broader impacts as a factor in distributing funds. The findings revealed many tensions or inconsistencies. Broader impacts is described as "annunciating existing behavior" or as a mechanism to "change the mindset" of faculty. Faculty perceptions, attitudes and behaviors are shaped by messages, often conflicting, that are sent by NSF and colleagues. CAREER holders had positive opinions of broader impacts but provided many different explanations of the intent. Their combined comments suggest changes that could ease tensions related to broader impacts work. Although the goal of broader impacts was not to change universities, this is a consequence as institutions have created mechanisms to support broader impacts work. Faculty noted broader impacts activities are not necessarily considered in promotion and tenure decisions, suggesting that changes represent resource-dependence responses and not true transformation of university traditions and expected behaviors.</p>

<p> Higher education in the United States is facing increasing demands for accountability in response to dismal college completion rates. Seeking to increase educational effectiveness, many states reform higher education governance structures (Novak, 1996). Both states and higher education governing bodies have sought to increase college completion by improving community college to university transfers (Kisker, Wagoner &amp; Cohen, 2011). Transfer and articulation policies have been part of higher education for years, yet have rarely exceeded 33 percent (Townsend &amp; Wilson, 2002).</p><p> This study explored the cultural aspects of a new transfer policy from the perspectives of key stakeholders. It relied upon five precepts proposed by Tierney (2008) to determine the effectiveness of governance communication and decision-making. Handel's (2011) theory of a transfer affirming culture framed the findings as to the elements of transfer success at the community colleges and state university. Added to this theory was the work of Jain, Herrera, Bernal, and Solorzano (2011) which defines the requisite services for pre-transfer and post-transfer success of non-traditional students. This study was guided by the following research question: How do community college and state university faculty, administrators and staff perceive the transfer articulation policy in relation to their campus cultures?</p><p> A qualitative multi-site case study design was used to gather rich, descriptive, in-depth information (Stake, 1995). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with <i>N</i>=5, faculty and <i>N</i>=5, elite informants and <i>N</i>=1, staff. Three focus groups (<i>N</i>=3) were conducted with <i>N</i>=7 faculty, and <i>N</i>=7 staff. Data collection included <i>N</i>=7, observations of faculty meetings and analysis of documents that were pertinent to the study. The researcher analyzed transcripts, field notes and documents to corroborate major themes (Boyatzis, 1998).</p><p> Findings revealed that difficulties may exist between community college curricula and student transfer pathways as well as a cultural gap between community colleges and the state university. They also showed the politics surrounding higher education governance reform and a clash of political and academic cultures. This study may help policy makers promote state wide transfer and articulation initiatives and be instructive for faculty, administrators and staff as they create a transfer affirming culture on their campuses.</p>

<p> This study considered the correlative value of servant leadership on admission team success at private universities in the Midwestern United States. The study examined university admission teams at several institutions. Participants completed questionnaires that helped to determine what, if any, servant leadership traits and attributes they display. These traits were cross-referenced with admissions individuals and team success ratios. As private universities in the Midwest strive to gain market position, an understanding of how servant leadership can enhance their admission teams is beneficial.</p>

<p> Since the inception of Student Affairs, males have dominated senior level positions. While females are earning every degree type at a higher rate than their male counterparts, there are more women in entry and mid-level positions that often feel relegated to these roles as they seek advancement to a Senior Student Affairs Officer (SSAO) position. Whereas the gender gap has dramatically decreased over time at four-year private institutions, the largest gender gap within SSAO positions continues to exist at four-year public institutions. Using a phenomenological approach, this qualitative study explores the career trajectories of 15 current female SSAOs at four-year public institutions. The study examines factors that led to their success, challenges related to their gender, and advice given to females who aspire to obtain an SSAO position at a four-year public institution. Critical feminist theory was the theoretical framework used to undergird the study and to help examine gender inequalities. All women currently hold a Dean of Students, Assistant/Associate Vice President of Student Affairs, or Vice President of Student Affairs position at four-year public institutions within three states. Five themes arose from the data, culled from two series of semi-structured interviews and resume analysis: (a) educational and career trajectory patterns, (b) mentorship matters, (c) pathways to advancement, (d) roadblocks to the SSAO position, and (e) advice given. Findings related to why the largest gender gap persists at four-year public institutions were also discussed. Interpretations of the findings, limitations, and recommendations for future research and practice were shared.</p>

<p> With institutional importance placed on diversity in higher education, considerable research has been conducted regarding the experiences of African Americans at predominantly White institutions. However, the focus has been limited regarding African American administrators in higher education (Jackson, 2004; Allen, 2000; Weems, 2003). The purpose of this study is to understand and further explore how African American Male Student Affairs Administrators (AAMSAAs) perceive their day-to-day experiences and relationships at predominantly White institutions (PWI). Using basic qualitative research methods and an interview protocol developed from the conceptual frameworks of Herzberg (1964), Cose (1993) and Kanter (1977), 22 African American male student affairs administrators were asked to describe their professional experiences at PWIs including their attitudes on professional development, the motivating and de-motivating factors in the work place, conditions for success, and the realities of being underrepresented and often tokenized professionals at PWIs. The words shared by participants attributed to their own experiences and provided insight into this phenomenon. Participants reported overall being satisfied in their career choice despite expressing several challenges in their work environment including professional stereotypes that limited individuality, high performance pressure relative to their White peers, isolation as numerical minorities, and the existence of few African American male role models. Despite these challenges, participants found motivation through student engagement, increasing responsibility or advancement, strength through faith and spirituality, and leveraging the limited opportunities with supervisors and mentors of color. Implications for this research are to help student affairs administrators and other leaders at PWIs better understand the issues that may impede the success of African American male student affairs professionals and help campuses consider methods for recruitment and support of African American males.</p>