<p> This qualitative research study addressed the problem that the healthcare industry has no clear evidence of the academic competencies that influence the attainment of organizational success. The study was based on one case study at a Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME) accredited Masters of Health Administration (MHA) program at an Illinois University Case Site. The case study explored the various perspectives related to the value of academically prepared leaders along with the emerging competencies required to prepare the future healthcare leadership pipeline. The research followed a hermeneutic approach of 22 semi-structured interviews with four sub-groups of faculty and alumni from the university case site along with healthcare administrators and human resource executives using a criterion-based snowball strategy. The open systems theoretical lens and criterion based snowball strategy implicated leadership&rsquo;s impact and influence to sustain change within teams. These interviews were designed to uncover the practical nature of healthcare competencies as key predictors for successful professional development programs, as well as barriers for professionalization. The participants indicated that interpersonal skills, conceptual skills, and technical skills were vital for healthcare administration competencies and professionalization. Traditional knowledge-based programs, tactical training, and a balanced blend conceptual and interpersonal skills emerged as a compulsory enhancement to the fundamental deliverables of core curriculum. Future research should include defining the specific core competencies and factors that influence the success or failure of formal education initiatives that provide the requirements necessary for organizations to build strong leadership, developing solid succession strategies, and creating educational accountabilities to deliver safe and high quality outcomes for key stakeholders. Additional recommendations for future research should focus on quantitative initiatives that measure the value of core leadership competency and the incorporation of those skill into the healthcare delivery system. Several analogous barriers were uncovered among each sub-group for consideration in the standardization of competencies for the professionalization of leadership positions in healthcare administration. Future research should explore enhanced objectivity in the execution of succession planning programs. Additionally, further research will be needed to uncover which licensure tools provides the best assurance that core competencies are being met.</p><p>

<p> This phenomenological study focused on the lived experiences of 17 deans in the Wisconsin Technical College System as they dealt with the end of collective bargaining. The interviews explored how the phenomenon impacted the professional role of the dean, how it changed key responsibilities, and the anticipated and unanticipated changes experienced as a result of this change. Four major themes emerged including: (1) change evoked a range of emotions and feelings in faculty that deans needed to address; (2) collective bargaining defined how deans did their work and shaped relationships; (3) the collective bargaining contract was a rule book that both complicated and simplified; and (4) collective bargaining locked what is known as golden handcuffs. The findings of this research contribute to the body of knowledge related to the deanship and organizational change in the presence of formal labor-management structures and relationships.</p><p>

<p> This project offers a counter narrative to some accepted theories regarding graduate learning practices. By using Scholarly Personal Narrative to present my classroom experience I consider how knowledge is produced in higher education. I suggest that the use of feminist theory, postmodernism, and disability studies combined with other higher education theories may expand the limits of current graduate education. This project suggests that my story is useful to the field of higher education and graduate studies, and that by making intentional connections between higher education and feminist theory as well disability studies, new perspectives can emerge about how higher education practices regarding instruction, administration, and policy can be created.</p><p>

<p> The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the lived experiences of underrepresented tenured Latina faculty in one four-year university in the southeast area of the United States to identify barriers towards achieving tenure. Eight tenured Latina faculty with experience of 7 to 20 or more years in a tenured position provided their perceptions and experiences of the challenges and support they encountered in their pursuit of tenure. A snowball sampling technique produced eight participants from an initial recruitment from an online search. Semi-structured interviews via in-person and audio-video conferences offered rich descriptions of the Latina faculty&rsquo;s experiences for coding and analysis. The NVivo for Mac software supported the coding and analysis process of the participant&rsquo;s responses. Five main themes emerged from the patterns found in the analysis. The five findings included: organizational exclusionary practices against Latina faculty at the university; white male-oriented culture where resources are used to benefit white males; demoralizing micro-aggressions towards Latina faculty from white faculty; the university leadership&rsquo;s lack of action and accountability to address diversity and inclusion challenges; and the lack of support networks and mentoring to help guide Latina faculty. These findings described an exclusionary academic environment, where the Latina faculty often felt insulted, isolated, and underappreciated with little to no opportunity to advance or contribute equally to the university. This study contributed to the literature by addressing various reasons higher educational institutions need to actively remove barriers that negatively affect Latina faculty seeking tenure.</p><p>

<p> Resource dependence has been evidenced among private HBCUs that obtain as much as 90% of operating revenue from tuition and fees. Without alternative funding strategies in place, small declines in enrollment can lead to a major budget crisis. The basic premise of this exploratory inquiry was that fundraising represents an opportunity that has been successfully utilized by many large, predominantly White institutions, but ineffectively by most private HBCUs. Focusing on five private HBCUs in the southeastern United States, this exploratory study investigated the challenges development and fundraising leaders from these institutions have experienced and strategies they have implemented to mitigate these challenges. Three themes emerged from the interviews with the five fundraising leaders: (a) lack of access to wealth, (b) understaffing with inadequate stewardship, and (c) church resource dependence. What was evident from the findings was the usefulness of fundraising dollars in helping the institutions meet critical needs, such as keeping student tuition affordable, providing students with scholarships to fill in gaps between the financial aid they receive and the cost of tuition and fees, and conducting much-needed campus maintenance and repairs. However, though the institutions made strides toward measured fundraising successes, the results revealed that these private tuition-dependent HBCUs were still challenged with securing funds above and beyond the basic fiscal needs of the day-to-day operation of the institutions. In short, the identified fundraising successes paled in comparison to the fundraising successes of many large, predominately White institutions and equated to little more than crisis fundraising typical among HBCUs.</p><p>

<p> Online education is growing in response to demands of increased access, quality, and affordability. However, implementation and expansion are often challenged by faculty resistance, due in large part to perceived lack of quality and administrative support. This case study sought to determine how the presence or absence of quality elements, as defined by the <i>Online Learning Consortium Quality Scorecard</i>, in institutional structure, policy, and practice influences (motivates or inhibits) faculty decisions to teach online at Frostburg State University, a comprehensive, public university in western Maryland. </p><p> This mixed methods, sequential explanatory research collected data from three sources: an online survey of 387 faculty, a review of institutional documents, semistructured interviews with nine key university stakeholders and 13 faculty. To analyze these data, the study used descriptive statistics, logistic regression, application of the Online Learning Consortium Quality Scorecard rubric, and triangulation of data from all sources. </p><p> Findings suggest that faculty&rsquo;s initial motivation to teach online was intrinsic, enhanced by extrinsic institutional factors&ndash;those within the control of the university. However, institutional factors played a more significant role in faculty decisions to continue/expand online teaching. Additionally, the findings suggest that faculty were most likely to teach online when their intrinsic motivation was aligned with the institution&rsquo;s mission of online education and a shared strategic value of online education that balances the shared interests of the institution, students, and faculty. </p><p> The key finding in this study was that quality was a significant concern regarding online education. However, administrative support for online education was central to shaping faculty&rsquo;s definition of quality in online education. These findings suggest that quality in online education is defined by faculty as the presence or absence of administrative support which creates institutional structure, policy and practice to support faculty to deliver quality instruction. </p><p>

This research study was designed to examine the relationship between globalization as measured by the KOF index, its related forces (economic, political, cultural and technological) and the public provision of higher education. This study is important since globalization is increasingly being associated with changes in critical aspects of higher education. The public provision of education was measured by government expenditure and educational outcomes; that is participation, gender equity and attainment. The study utilized a non-experimental quantitative research design. Data collected from secondary sources for 139 selected countries was analyzed. The countries were geographically distributed and included both developed and developing countries. The choice of countries for inclusion in the study was based on data availability. The data, which was sourced from international organizations such as the United Nations and the World Bank, were examined for different time periods using five year averages. The period covered was 1970 to 2009. The relationship between globalization and the higher education variables was examined using cross sectional regression analysis while controlling for economic, political and demographic factors. The major findings of the study are as follows. For the two spending models, only one revealed a significant relationship between globalization and education with the R2 s ranging from .222 to .448 over the period. This relationship was however negative indicating that as globalization increased, spending on higher education declined. However, for the education outcomes models, this relationship was not significant. For the sub-indices of globalization, only the political dimension showed significance as shown in the spending model. Political globalization was significant for six periods with R2 s ranging from .31 to .52. The study concluded that the results are mixed for both the spending and outcome models. It also found no robust effects of globalization on government education provision. This finding is not surprising given the existing literature which sees mixed results on the social impact of globalization.

The purpose of this study was to determine if higher academic performance was positively correlated to higher emotional intelligence among traditional age male and female college students enrolled in an Introduction to Business course at a large multi-campus state college in Florida. The Bar-On 2004 (Emotional Quotient Inventory) EQ-i 133-item inventory was used to assess students’ emotional intelligence. Within the scope of this ex-post facto study, a quasi-experimental design was included to further determine if emotional intelligence could be increased through the inclusion of a curricular component on emotional intelligence. Four groups of students (N=111) participated in the three-phase study over two semesters. The first phase (pre-intervention) was limited to students with an established GPA and an attempted-to-completed credit hour ratio within the institution (N=82). Results showed a slight positive correlation between the two factors and the students’ emotional intelligence pretest assessment scores. The second phase of the study involved establishing a control and an experimental group in each of two semesters to compare the attainment of overall emotional intelligence scores as measured by the EQ-i. The third phase of the study examined four measures of academic success (GPA, the attempted-to-completed credit hour ratio, grade in the business course, and persistence in college) to determine if these factors were positively correlated with the students’ posttest EQ-i scores. The study also included a research question to determine if significant differences in overall EQ-i scores existed between male and female students during the three phases. Findings from the study indicated that (a) there was a slight positive correlation in the pre-intervention stage between emotional intelligence and traditional measures of academic success specifically, GPA and the attempted-to-completed credit hour ratio; (b) curricular intervention made a significant difference at the p <.05 level, with an .5 effect size, in one semester but failed to meet that threshold in the following semester with the second pair of groups; (c) at the post-intervention phase, the four measures of traditional academic success yielded a low positive correlation with the students’ emotional intelligence assessment scores, and (d) female students showed significant gains in their overall EQ-i scores.

<p> One of the most overlooked and complex problems that universities and colleges face nation-wide is how to reduce and eliminate research misconduct. Because of the confidential nature of allegations of research misconduct and the high rate of underreporting, administrators at scholarly institutions struggle with understanding the cause of such behavior. Without a clear picture of the prevalence of misconduct or the barriers to reporting, leaders at institutions of higher learning find themselves at a disadvantage when dealing with these problems. This uncertainty coupled with a growing regulatory emphasis from federal funding agencies, results in a reactionary approach while questionable practices go unchecked. </p><p> In the early 2000s, federal funding agencies began requiring colleges and universities to provide training in the responsible conduct of research prior to receiving funding. The Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training covers research misconduct (falsification of data, fabricating data, and plagiarism) as well as other topics related to research misbehaviors (mentoring, peer review, data management, authorship, etc). This emphasis on training, while well intended, has not had a significant impact on faculty and student knowledge about misconduct. </p><p> Authentic Leadership Theory is based on Aristotle&rsquo;s concept of authenticity and has gained attention over the last decade. It is comprised of four main components: Balanced processing, internalized moral perspective, relational transparency, and self-awareness. These types of leaders focus on moral standards and values and that is what guides his or her leadership. </p><p> This study evaluates the impact authentic leaders have on shaping the ethical attitudes of faculty when they are placed in direct departmental supervisory positions. A survey of faculty from 15 Mississippi colleges and universities was conducted. Results indicate that the self-awareness and relational transparency constructs of authentic leadership influence faculty attitudes towards objective research integrity issues, but the direction of influence conflicts with each of the constructs. Additional variables failed to reach a level of significance suggesting that other variables, not historically associated with organizational leadership and research integrity, are influencing faculty&rsquo;s ethical perceptions. Additional attention is focused on barriers to effective leadership caused by the compliance focused culture of institutions of higher learning.</p><p>

Latinos consistently have the lowest degree completion rate throughout the United States (Kurlaender & Flores, 2005). At the same time, Latinos are the fastest growing sector of the U.S. population. Taken together, these facts demonstrate an ongoing and growing inequity in educational opportunities and outcomes for a significant portion of the nation’s population. The findings of this study provide additional knowledge regarding how Latino students perceive interaction with faculty and how affirming relationships with faculty can develop Latino students’ sense of belonging. In addition, the study identifies three main support sources for Latino student persistence, which include family support, collegiate self-efficacy, and a sense of belonging to the campus. This study presents five recommendations for policy and practice based upon the findings of this study, for campus leaders to address the low number of Latino students persisting in their college journeys. Furthermore, it provides three suggested areas for future research.