No description available.

No description available.

This study was designed to explore the advising styles that are currently perceived and preferred by African American and White students in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech. The high attrition rate of African Americans in the engineering colleges both nationally and at Virginia Tech makes it critical to investigate what can be done to increase retention. The lack of awareness of academic advising preferences could be a major component in the high attrition of African American students in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech. Moreover, increased awareness and understanding for advisors, faculty, administrators and even students will befall, and in turn strengthen retention. The purpose of this study was to determine; (a) the current advising African American and White students in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech are perceiving; prescriptive versus developmental; and (b) what the preferences are for advising African American and White students in engineering; prescriptive versus developmental. This study specifically examined the comparisons between race, gender, classification, grade point average (GPA), and major. The instrument that was administered via the Internet is called the Academic Advising Inventory (Winston & Sander, 1984). This four-part instrument measures the level of the developmental or prescriptive advising that occurs between students and advisors and student satisfaction with advising in the College of Engineering. The sample consisted of a total of 373 undergraduate engineering students, 265 (71%) males and 108 (29%) females. African Americans made up 35% (n = 132) of the sample and Whites 65% (n = 241). The sample consisted of 25% (n = 93) African American males, 10% (n = 39) African American females, 46% (n = 172) White males, and 19% (n = 69) White females. A two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and t-tests were conducted to analyze differences in advising style when categorized by race, gender, classification, GPA, and major. The results revealed a significant difference between the style of academic advising currently perceived by African American and White engineering students. The majority of the African Americans reported receiving prescriptive advising and the majority of the Whites reported receiving a developmental style of advising. The results also indicated that the majority of the African American males (55%) perceived receiving a prescriptive style of advising. When looking at African Americans when categorized by classifications, all reported receiving a prescriptive style of advising. The junior class of African Americans was the only group that is borderline prescriptive/developmental. The ANOVA test also indicated a significant interaction between race and GPA. Results showed that African Americans engineering students in the GPA categories of 1.0-1.9 and 2.0-2.9 reported receiving prescriptive advising, while the 3.0-3.9 category of African Americans reported receiving developmental advising. This data was not consistent with White students in the GPA category of 1.0-1.9. All White students regardless of GPA reported receiving a developmental style of advising. All engineering students regardless of race, gender, classification, GPA, or major preferred a developmental style of advising. African American females significantly preferred a more developmental style of advising than the other groups. A Chi square test of independence also indicated that a significantly large portion of African American students felt that their academic advisor did not understand them. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this study was to examine the type of advising conducted (prescriptive v. developmental), the type of information sought, and the level of participant satisfaction gained through online academic advising. For purposes of this study, online academic advice was defined as advice or information provided by an academic department obtained via the Internet to improve the student's academic experience. The three types of online academic advice considered for this study included (a) email correspondence with an academic advisor, (b) instant messaging or chat based conversation between a participant and an academic advisor, (c) and obtaining academic information from a department supported web page. To obtain a sample for this study, academic deans were contacted by email and asked to distribute a link for an online survey to their respective undergraduate student populations. Data was collected by administering a version of Winston and Sandor's (1984) Academic Advising Inventory (AAI) modified specifically for this study. Participants were asked to complete the multiple-choice instrument online. The researcher conducted t-tests, ANOVAs, and Tukey post-hoc tests on the data in an effort to examine the mean scores between four groups: (a) gender, (b) type of residency, (c) race, and (d) academic college. The data revealed significant results pertaining to several key differences between groups including gender, race, and academic college. The findings shed light on needs and satisfaction of students who receive academic advice online. The results suggest ways to provide consistency among the online academic advising methods of different academic colleges and ways to better meet the needs of students in an effort to increase retention. / Master of Arts

Academic advising plays an important role in the education and retention of college students. Developmental advising is concerned with the development of the whole student throughout his or her academic career. As students develop and mature, it is expected that the topics they present to advisors will change. It is also expected that advisors will vary the topics they raise with different students as the students progress through their academic careers. This study was designed to determine if the advising topics that traditional-age undergraduate students present to advisors vary by academic level. Further, the study looked at whether these topics differ by gender or race. Topics raised by advisors were also examined to determine if the topics raised by advisors varied by academic level, gender, or race of the student. Examining the topics raised by advisors is one way to assess whether advisors are utilizing a prescriptive or developmental model of advising. Data were collected over a two-month period during the spring semester, 2000 at a research university in the Southeast. Eleven professional advisors agreed to participate in the study from six different departments. Students were asked if they would be willing to participate in the study when they came to see one of the participating advisors. Eighty undergraduate students agreed to participate in the study. Prior to meeting with the advisor, students were asked to provide demographic information and answer an interview question to determine the topics they planned to raise during the advising session. Advisors completed surveys following the advising sessions providing information on topics raised by the students and topics that the advisors themselves raised. No significant differences were found in the types of topics raised by students or advisors by academic level, gender, or race. The majority of the topics discussed dealt with academic issues such as academic progress, course selection, and major selection. On average, students raised 3.99 topics per session and advisors raised an additional 1.41 topics per session for a total of 5.50 topics per advising session. Most advising sessions were 15 to 20 minutes in length. Non-White students raised on average more topics than did White students. Because of the number of topics raised in a relatively short period of time, as well as the narrow range of topics covered, the results of this study indicate that a traditional, information giving model of advising is largely being utilized by advisors in the study. The results of this study suggest that advisors have little time in advising sessions to do little other than provide information on a limited range of topics. This study highlights the amount of time advisors spend answering routine academic questions during advising sessions. With this awareness, advisors can begin to provide some of this academic information using different means. This would provide more time in advising sessions to practice a developmental approach to advising that spans academic, career, and life issues. / Master of Arts

Before his death in 1937, Ernest Rutherford discovered the rate of radioactive decay of atoms. In 1911 he proposed the nuclear structure of the atom, and in 1919 he successfully split the nucleus of an atom. Rutherford also achieved success when advising his students to follow his research method in nuclear physics. As a faculty advisor to research students, Rutherford advised courses, research topics, and experimental research. To determine whether Rutherford made an impact on his students, this study focused on the relationship between Rutherford and 24 researchers and students at McGill University, the University of Manchester, and Cambridge University. Rutherford had a significant impact through his advising efforts at each institution and contributed to the success of his students. This study may not include a complete list of students at each institution because of a lack of records at each institution. Instead, this study focused on the students included in the Rutherford biographies. The study included a content analysis on Rutherford biographies and memoirs from students under Rutherford’s direct influence at McGill University, the University of Manchester, and Cambridge University. Historical information from J.L. Heilbron, David Wilson, and J.G. Crowther supplied the timeline at each institution where Rutherford conducted research. The results show an overwhelming contribution by Rutherford’s leadership in the direction of his students. Rutherford made a significant impact in the research direction of all his students examined in this study, including eight research students under Rutherford that were later honored with a Nobel Prize.

This phenomenological study sought to examine the perceptions and preferences Generation Z transfer students have for academic advising services, prior to their first semester post-transfer. Considering the phenomenon of both Generation Z as today's traditional college student population and the increased focus on transfer student success in recent years, this study aimed to broaden the limited understanding of current students' attitudes and intentions for engaging with institutional services. Framed within the moving in phase of Schlossberg's transition theory, this study intended to gather this knowledge during the first phase of transition so practitioners and institutional leaders have an advanced start in addressing students' preconceived challenges to reduce the high rate of transfer student attrition in the first semester. From semi-structured interviews of 15 Gen Z transfer students, five themes emerged. Their lived experiences with utilizing academic advising and transferring institutions indicated: (1) variety of advising experiences, (2) negative experiences led to mistrust, (3) desire for personalized experiences, (4) major selection challenges, and (5) work and personal influences. This study complimented the growing body of literature on transfer students and filled a gap by understanding Generation Z transfer students' perceptions and preferences during a critical point in their transition.

It is believed by many that in order to be competitive in the global economy, we must provide opportunities for the college-age population to enroll in post-secondary education and complete training in higher education. The purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions of administrators, faculty, and student support service staff regarding retention practices and services used by the community college to retain full-time, associate degree seeking students from their 1st year to 2nd year of enrollment. A descriptive research design was used in this study, and data analysis included frequencies, means, Mann-Whitney U test, and Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA. A survey was distributed to a sample of 349 participants who were employed in a community college requesting their perceptions regarding the importance of 22 advising center's practices and services. The study served to increase knowledge of retention practices and services provided by a community college with 6 campus locations. Findings from the study revealed that 5 of the 22 advising practices and services had a significant difference while the other 17 practices/ services had no significant difference. Significant differences were found in the perceptions of administrators, faculty, and support staff in the following areas: (a) the practice /service extended freshman seminar or orientation credit course, (b) the practice/service policies for advising of students by faculty, (c) the practice/service of academic accommodations for students with learning disabilities, (d) the practice/service early warning system for academically at risk students, and (e) the practice/service special support programs for racial/ethnic minorities. The results of this study revealed that the role of administrators, faculty, and support staff is a fundamental component in the retention of students.

No description available.

No description available.