Economists have long recognized the importance of human capital in economic growth. In this series of papers, I study how various institutions of human capital formation affected economic development in a variety of contexts prior to 1900. These include both formal institutions of human capital formation such as universities and informal…

Recently, enrollments at numerous American universities have been trending downward. This has led to an increasingly competitive atmosphere for attracting new students, creating the need to better understand why students ultimately attend their chosen institution. Prior research has explored factors that influence students to pursue agricultural…

To handle wide-ranging reports and increasingly collaborative projects, our college research office developed and implemented a relational database. Department level tracking requests for research administration activities exceeded the capabilities of existing tools. Our desired solution aligned between multiple spreadsheets and cloud-based…

Despite persistent calls to support international students on campuses, there is little research about the attitudes that higher education professionals, in particular academic advisors, hold about international students. Through a neo-racism framework, we found multiple neo-racist attitudes that have the potential to negatively impact academic…

The current study explores differences in transfer shock between veteran and non-veteran community college transfer students at a land grant institution in a rural state. Analysis includes institutional data for community college transfer students, including those who self-identified as veterans or used veteran tuition benefits from Fall 2015 to…

Technology has become essential in 21st-century education, serving as a critical component of learning inside and outside the classroom, enabling students to become independent learners and enhancing teaching and learning (Ahmadi, 2018; Gilakjani, 2017; Wiraningsih & Santosa, 2020). Teachers should have Digital Literacy (DL) skills and use its…

In this study, we analyze undergraduate student responses in 1,364 surveys to better understand student reactions to online proctoring. We present findings regarding two aspects of student reactions to online proctoring: First, we assess whether students believe that the act of cheating in online exams diminishes the legitimacy of their courses;…

Rural students graduate from high school at higher rates but go to college at lower rate than their urban and suburban peers. To take on the educational attainment challenge for rural students, we need to know more about postsecondary encouragement programs. This study examined a pilot postsecondary encouragement program in 11 rural high schools…

Drawing on the narrative inquiry method, a qualitative study of 49 engaged scholar interviews at the University of California, Davis was conducted to understand motivations for practicing engaged scholarship. Notwithstanding the significant contributions to understanding faculty motivations in this field, we argue that previous research details…

The gaps in the literature necessitated an examination of what is known and should be known about career advancement to full professor at the university level. The literature revealed that more research was needed to guide those who mentor faculty to meet the needs of those pursuing future careers in academia. This dissertation is a qualitative…

This study examines involvement in a wellness intervention, GetFRUVED, and its relationship between both first-year retention and cumulative grade point average (GPA) of first-time undergraduate students. A significant relationship between GetFRUVED participation and retention, specifically 12.4% higher retention for participants versus…

The Stepping Out and Stepping Up (SOSU) Native American Racial Justice Project initiative, developed in partnership with First Nations Development Institute (FNDI), was designed to address the dispossession and sale of tribal lands used to establish the Ohio State University. This work was inspired by the publication of the "Land Grab…

In order to understand our present and future work in planting the seeds of solidarity, we excavate the past, through an exploration of transnational solidarity and the vestiges of U.S. legislative policy and philanthropy. Through life notes and sharing circles, we examine policies (Morrill Act of 1862, Refugee Act of 1980, and the Gates…

Concern over the status of soil science education in the United States has led to a number of publications in recent years that track trends in student enrollment and offer suggestions for attracting more students to soil science. However, there is little information about changes in the number of degree programs that prepare students for careers…

This qualitative single-case study examined the institutionalization of community engagement at a selected land-grant university by melding individual and organizational perspectives and examining the process as an adaptive challenge. Specifically, the study applied Holland's (1997) assessment matrix for institutionalizing community engagement and…