The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between two recent currents in postsecondary education – integrative learning and undergraduate innovation. We located the rationale for this study in postsecondary educational practices and policies (e.g., inclusive makerspaces, transdisciplinary courses) which have theorized the connection between these two areas yet have not scrutinized this

Affordability is considered a key predictor of college enrollment and academic success, yet higher education costs continue to rise. Over the past three decades, textbooks and course materials alone have increased almost three times the rate of inflation (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016). To identify the extent to which course material costs create barriers for community college students, and

Academic structure shapes and reflects institutional behaviors as well as the work done in, and outputs of, higher education organizations (HEOs). Despite this critical role, research on boundaries within academic structure is limited, even in work focusing on the relative presence of core and peripheral disciplines. We thus lack an understanding of the boundaries within academic structures and their

The presence of research regarding specific student populations demonstrates their importance to the field given the importance of research and knowledge creation in shaping higher education. A growing number of higher education scholar-practitioners have engaged in work addressing college sport but an overwhelming dearth of college sport and athlete-focused higher education research in higher education

Mid-career faculty members often seek to advance to the highest faculty rank of full professor, but research suggests women and Black, Indigenous and Other People of Color (BIPOC) faculty face inequitable patterns in advancement to the full professor rank. This study focuses on associate professors’ perceptions of promotion clarity, or the degree to which they are clear about the processes and criteria

Universities were forced to move instruction online and send residential students home due to the pandemic, resulting in financial shortfalls. Governing boards, administrators, and governments made decisions including eliminating faculty and staff, and programs yet these decisions were rarely inclusive of university stakeholders or innovative. This study’s purpose is to examine and compare viewpoints

We present a transformative professional development project with a focus on equity, diversity and social justice (EDSJ) to raise cultural awareness among faculty, increase agency, and promote positive change through transformative projects. Twenty-three faculty members from nine different colleges located at a Research I university were provided with critical cultural awareness workshops and then

Existing research notes that Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are bastions of Black culture where Black students often feel supported (e.g., Harris in The Urban Review, 44(3), 332–357, 2012). What is less well-known are the specific practices campus stakeholders enact to create culturally-affirming environments. This study addresses this gap in the literature by examining pedagogy

Inclusive classroom training typically focuses on course design, teaching strategies, and evaluation practices girded in best teaching practices. Our university has hosted inclusive classroom training for six years, but just recently began providing mandatory training in each of the university’s academic departments for teaching faculty (including term, tenure-track, tenured, and adjunct professors)

Sense of belonging is a basic human need, which has been consistently correlated with positive educational outcomes such as good grades, retention, and satisfaction in college. Using a quasi-experimental research design, we analyzed data from 115 respondents to assess the impact of a short video intervention on first-year students’ sense of belonging at an HBCU. Results suggest that the experimental

Increasing emphasis in recent years has been placed on how faculty, staff and students in higher education can be drawn into more collaborative learning relationships through partnership working. The significant challenges in terms of negotiating shifting roles and responsibilities have been well documented. Less attention has been paid to the affective challenges, and particularly the emotional labour

Student retention is a key outcome measure for post-secondary education, but data show relatively stagnant retention rates over the past decade. Longstanding interventions such as counseling, academic advising, and mentoring provide crucial student services, but little change in retention rates suggest there is still need for additional student supports. Within the landscape of higher education, academic

This embedded case study leveraged Rendón’s (1994) validation theory as well as theories connecting self-reflection and transformative learning (e.g., Mezirow, 1990, 1997) to examine an autobiographical reading and writing course designed for low-income, first-year students in a comprehensive college transition program at an institution in the Midwest region of the United States. We used interviews

The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) has brought significant changes to college students, but there is a lack of empirical studies regarding how the pandemic has affected student mental health among college students in the U.S. To fill the gap in the literature, this study describes stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms for students in a public research university in Kentucky during an early phase of

Current policies and interventions to enhance student success and retention are often tied to full-time enrollment, which are substantiated by studies associating part-time enrollment with lower retention and poorer academic outcomes. However, these findings are limited to studies of first-time college students and do not represent today’s nontraditional undergraduate who may be transfer, online, and

College students with foster care backgrounds have demonstrably lower graduation rates than peers, and resources obtained through their social networks are vital to their college success. Our study explores the social networks and social capital among a sample of first-year college students with foster care histories who were participating in a campus-based support program (CSP) at a Midwestern university

Rapid advances in the quality and accessibility of immersive virtual reality (IVR) have brought about intense interest in applications of the technology within higher education, including STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) teaching and learning. However, evidence is mixed on the effectiveness of IVR for STEM teaching and learning, and there are currently few models of how best to

Despite the broad scope of literature on the topic of women in STEM, women in male-dominated spaces within academia are rarely given the opportunity to speak openly about their disadvantages in the toxic STEM culture. The current study implements a Critical Utopian Action Research method, Future Creating Workshop (FCW), with undergraduate women in STEM in order to highlight women’s voices in the context

Increasingly, Active Learning Classrooms (ALCs) are being designed and built by higher education institutions to support instructors in adopting and implementing active learning pedagogies. In this study, we explore how instructors perceive changes in their teaching after teaching in ALCs. Our study focuses on the perceptions of faculty members who have completed a year-long professional development

Although it seems reasonable to assume that start-up packages are important for faculty success, the contribution of start-up packages to faculty professional development is understudied. The aim of this study was to explore how the number of benefits obtained in start-up package agreements (number of benefits), faculty satisfaction with the start-up packages (faculty satisfaction), and faculty perception

This article explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on academic department chairs. Through a survey of 172 department chairs in the United States, the central findings of this research—intensified challenges, a multidirectional leadership pivot, and competing perceptions of higher education reinvention—reinforce the liminality of the academic chairperson role, highlight the need for increased

In this study, the high school and college GPAs of college students who were screened as twice-exceptional were compared to college students screened as gifted and average college students. From a sample of 32,741 college students, those screened as gifted earned significantly higher means than students screened as twice-exceptional (2e) and the general college population on both high school and college

Overall trends of academic staffing in the US have indicated declines in tenure, increased use of contingent faculty, and stratification of teaching and research efforts. However, little is known about academic staffing patterns in professional programs, and little research has been done using program-level data. The purposes of this study were to identify faculty staffing patterns, determine if patterns

Efforts to diversify and make historically white organizations more inclusive are as varied as they are numerous. Yet, for all their ubiquity in U.S. higher education, few studies have examined them in real time. This case study thus features a two-day meeting where stakeholders were invited to consider how to make science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields not only more diverse but also

This study explores a case of coaching deployed in experiential, interdisciplinary, and project-based courses. This study follows coaching in two courses that operated on a high-impact practice framework. In these courses, coaching was experienced by both students and faculty as a critical feature of the success of the courses. Students showed that coaching impacted their sense of the gravity of course

Organizational change is a complex and critical issue in higher education today. Changes experienced across institutional systems have both short-term and long-term impact, making this phenomenon ripe for educational leadership research. Many universities and colleges have applied Kotter’s (1995) eight-step change model prescriptively to implement academic initiatives, curriculum revisions, and strategic

Sketchnoting is a design methodology that involves communicating concepts visually. This active learning tool has shown potential for influencing student learning but its applications have been limited. Adopting the principles of research related to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and employing Mayer’s cognitive theory of multimedia learning, our interdisciplinary team from industrial design

This mixed method study investigated design thinking (DT) practices and outcomes from across disciplinary frameworks within one institution of higher education. Building upon prior DT studies, it examined three interlocking research questions: What DT practices are being implemented across the curriculum? What kinds of outcomes do faculty observe? What are the significant relationships between particular

Communities of Practice (CoPs) have been identified as successful models of innovation in higher education institutional change efforts, particularly geared toward faculty. Accordingly, this multi-method qualitative study examined how participation in one equity-minded CoP contributed to participants’ understanding and mobilization of equity in their work at a public university in the Northeast United

We analyze innovation in university strategic plans to assess whether innovation is a stated priority, to what end innovation is sought, and whether innovation is a comprehensive strategy or more carefully bounded, excluding innovation opportunities. Our analysis utilized Atlas.ti software to quantify word usage and to extract and classify sentences that state innovation intentions. Innovation, entrepreneurship

Traditional approaches to teaching and learning in large undergraduate STEM lectures has not kept pace with the massification and diversification of higher education. Efforts to alleviate learning obstacles call for improved instruction, stipulating the utility of specific pedagogical techniques delineated as “promising practices”; however, little evidence supports their effectiveness. In this study

Reflection is fundamental in experiential pedagogies, and many studies have been carried out to investigate its impact and benefits on student learning outcomes. However, the concept of reflection is not well understood. In this study, we focus on the concept of reflection and ensuing approaches to it in service-learning, an experiential pedagogy that has been hailed as a high-impact practice in higher

Universities across the U.S. have increasingly emphasized internationalization, leading to rising numbers of international students attending U.S. institutions of higher education. However, these students tend to gravitate toward larger research-intensive universities with many other institutions seeing no increase in international student enrollments. Little is known concerning how to attract international

The purpose of this study is to examine faculty’s views about the move from face-to-face (F2F) instruction to online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The researcher used Q methodology [Q], a mixed method, to determine and describe faculty views about this situation. The participants sorted 36 statements to reveal and describe their subjective viewpoints. In Q, similar sorts are grouped together mathematically

This paper presents an overall educational philosophy of working with students underprepared for college-level work, which we term “a pedagogy of preparation.” We consider how instructors scaffolded instruction to foster college readiness in students who were now able to enroll in college-level work regardless of academic preparation after state-level legislation (SB 1720) that dramatically altered

Academic coaching is an increasingly prevalent form of student support in higher education, although empirical research on the intervention is relatively limited (Robinson, 2015 ). Academic coaching is intended to advance student learning, well-being, and success in a context external but complementary to the classroom (Richman, Rademacher, & Maitland, 2014 ; Robinson, 2015 ). This exploratory study

Research shows that a lack of peer study support, particularly a lack of friends in the major, is linked to students switching majors. Furthermore, strong relationships with faculty have a significant influence on students’ decisions to persist in the major. However, it is unclear how the creation of an environment that fosters student research and professional development can improve these aspects

Providing students with timely, targeted, and useful feedback regarding their understanding of course topics is generally accepted as a good educational practice. However, when classes are very large there are challenges that prevent many instructors from accomplishing this goal. This study explores the perceived helpfulness to students and the instructor of implementing a relatively new method of

This study examined the relationship between student-faculty interaction in college and students’ fourth-year career attitudes toward professional success. Results suggest that some interactions with faculty, such as frequency of student-faculty interaction, are positively associated with students’ fourth-year career attitudes toward professional success. Other interactions, such as personal discussions

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound effect on the lives of people around the world. The continued threat of the disease has led to ongoing changes and challenges, requiring us to quickly adapt to different ways of working, learning, and connecting with each other. The virus has, simply put, disrupted the status quo, and it has been unlike anything we’ve experienced in modern times. Many of us

This study presents data from an online course on Latinx Students in Higher Education taught at a Predominantly White Institution in the Midwest. This case study examines how students engage with content on Latinx issues across the P-20 educational pipeline to better understand and ultimately serve this population in their professional context using perspectives on allyship development and racial justice

Students may have experiences that relate to long-term retention and success during the summer after completing their first year in college. Research shows that college students’ engagement and success varies based on their cultural and social capital. However, there is a dearth of research on how their cultural and social capital is associated with college students’ summer experiences after they complete

Student-faculty (S-F) interactions that are conducive to students’ learning can help reduce the retention and graduation gaps in higher education, especially for college students from underrepresented and underprivileged backgrounds. The aim of the study was to explore students’ perceptions of their interactions with faculty, and the subjective impact of these interactions on students’ academic and

The underrepresentation of women faculty in the STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) remains a persistent feature of academia, with turnover being a contributing factor. The departmental context is likely implicated in the decision to stay or leave, as it is one of the key defining features of faculty members’ work experiences. Using the job-demands resources theoretical

The number of immigrant undergraduate students with diverse ethnicities and native languages has been continuously increasing. As a result, Immigrant Language-Minority (ILM) college student wellbeing and retention is the focus of many higher education institutions. The purpose of the present exploratory study was to examine relationships among personal (e.g., self-efficacy for learning, self-regulation)

We combined tenets of learning communities and place-based learning to develop an innovative first-year program for STEM students. Using a quasi-experimental design, we found that participants in the place-based learning community had a stronger sense of belonging, improved academic performance, and increased first-year persistence relative to a matched reference group. We also showed that participation

Existing explanations of faculty-student interactions emphasize social-organizational characteristics of higher education to the exclusion of social-psychological dimensions of the interactions themselves. Yet, student perceptions are essential cognitive elements that influence frequency of, and growth from, informal interaction with faculty. Drawing on a survey of students at a large public university

African-American and Latinx enrollment in higher education has increased dramatically in recent years at many predominantly White institutions. However, the graduation rates of these students are substantially lower than the general student population at many of these institutions. This study introduces “Success Central,” an innovative peer coaching initiative offered at a mid-size, comprehensive regional

The purpose of this study was to seek to understand the mobility patterns of faculty members, with particular attention to foreign-born faculty members who work at 4-year colleges and universities in the United States. Examining data from the Survey of Doctorate Recipients, we looked at the mobility patterns of faculty members who held tenure-track faculty positions in 2003 and who responded to the

Higher education institutions have adopted diversity course requirements while hiring more faculty members off the tenure track. Non-tenure track faculty members’ experiences teaching required diversity courses while navigating their precarious employment status has not been sufficiently explored. Addressing this need, the present study examined the experiences of non-tenure track instructors teaching

This study examined a cross-campus collaboration to assess levels of student food insecurity, to identify factors contributing to increased risk for food insecurity, and to determine how to address food insecurity. A random sample of students at a public, mid-sized, regional university were asked to complete an electronic survey about food insecurity and related topics. A majority (65%) indicated being

Research that explores the experiences of college students consistently finds that the first year is the most daunting to navigate. While a well-established but far from exhaustive list of factors has been found to impact a student’s transition to and retention in college, very little research has focused on frontline faculty and student services administrators’ hidden expectations of first-year students

During the COVID-19 pandemic higher education institutions have faced many challenges, and among these are questions about how best to offer instruction in the face of sudden and mandatory college closures as well as in light of uncertainties about when campuses might open again. Coupled with these challenges have been signs that higher education is more innovative and flexible than we might have imagined

In the original publication, the article title was incorrect

Underrepresented minority women in STEM comprise the faculty group most likely to leave academia. To address this issue we instituted a program called “Amplifying Voices,” a virtual, mutual mentoring program linking four groups of six women across 20 institutions. We facilitated bi-weekly Zoom meetings for two years and evaluated the effectiveness of the program. Participants reported reduced isolation

“Reclaim the W” is an academic recovery program at a medium-sized midwestern university that offers undergraduates who have been academically dismissed a chance to reenroll at the institution. In this article we describe the Reclaim the W program and its target population of academically at-risk undergraduates. We then outline the first two phases of the process we used to develop an intervention for

The purpose of this study was to determine if using student recorded PechaKucha™ 20 × 20 presentations as an assignment in an online classroom yielded equivalent student learning compared to a similar written assignment. Twenty-one (15 women and 6 men) online graduate students participated in a mixed-method study using online surveys with a quasi-experimental design. While it was determined that student

Decades of policy initiatives, a developing body of literature, and a growing cadre of practitioners are united in suggesting that the preeminent approach to educating students about sustainability is by infusion throughout the higher education curriculum. While there is mounting evidence that sustainability should be taught to students beyond the disciplinary confines of natural science and geography

The cost of access to scholarly research creates inequity for readers with varying resources. Open access publishing is an avenue to address this inequity. This research employed a survey of scholars to discover what they know and think about open access. The survey elicited both faculty and doctoral student perspectives. Data were analyzed according to rank and discipline. Although the majority of

This article presents 50 year patterns of adult student participation in colleges and universities in the United States. These patterns changed dramatically in the 1970s and 1980s and then stabilized. Following these changes, adult student participation has continued to be significant and predictable in U.S. colleges and universities. In addition to reporting on these national patterns, this article