Designing, creating, and leading new degree programs can be an arduous and unpredictable task for any college or university faculty member. Faculty, typically trained within a specific discipline and who are charged with creating new degree programs, are rarely prepared for the process. In addition to being ill-prepared, faculty and academic…

This study examines whether graduate students in STEM fields at an R1 institution understand copyright law. Thirty graduate students participated in semi-structured interviews related to copyright and ownership. This study revealed that these students often conflate issues around copyright and plagiarism and have little understanding of their own…

Amid declining enrollment in humanities programs throughout the United States, the English major has been hit the hardest. This article gives voice to current English majors about why they choose to enroll in a program that often receives criticism pertaining to its value and worth. This study provides a literature review of the history of higher…

Understanding students' progression to major choice, expected career outcomes, and further study has become a central challenge for leaders at higher education institutions as the nation struggles with worker shortages in critical areas. For queer and trans students, there are significant differences compared to their heterosexual/cisgender peers…

Background: Increasing students' ability to think critically allows them to engage more fully with psychology material. Objective: The current study used a critical thinking assignment called PsychBusters to examine critical thinking and interest in psychology in two sections of introductory psychology designated for first-year psychology majors.…

Limited literature has investigated the effects of state and institutional merit-based financial aid on student choice of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) major fields, an unintended consequence with important implications. By leveraging nationally representative longitudinal data from the Beginning Postsecondary Students,…

This paper reports a study of 10 post-secondary STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) instructors' beliefs about mathematical modelling and the role of mathematics in STEM coursework. The participants were selected from STEM disciplines that are atypical to the literature base (e.g. anthropology and geography), in order to extend…

Recent efforts to make undergraduate biology more inclusive include developing content that explores how human values and priorities impact science, and previous work documents how instructors value an "ideologically aware" biology curriculum that highlights these themes. Here, we surveyed a national sample of undergraduate students in…

Neoliberalism is ubiquitous in higher education. In its dedication to efficiency and measurement, neoliberalism poses threats to the arts and humanities, especially their least measurable, most human qualities. Guided by an institutional logics framework, this multiple case study gauged how arts and humanities faculty can navigate this tension as…

Background/purpose: Exam anxiety can affect performance and well-being, especially among academically outstanding undergraduates. This study estimated the level of exam anxiety in two UAE universities (Ajman and Fujairah) and examined differences by gender, academic year, major, and institution. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive-analytical…

Selecting a major is one of the most consequential decisions a student will make in college. Though major selection is often conceived of as a discrete choice made at a particular point in time, many students change their majors at least once during college. This article examines the process of changing majors as a key education transition.…

Using the Parental Socialization Framework, this research provides a detailed analysis of how early STEM exposure, parental confidence in abilities, and gender-neutral upbringing contribute to the development of STEM identities among women. Employing a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, six undergraduate women engineering majors were…

For college students, selecting a major is a requirement that must be fulfilled to ensure proper and timely graduation. In many cases, students rethink the original decision made and consider a different major of study. The factors impacting students' decisions are well-documented throughout the literature. What are these factors and how do…

Many courses Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) majors take are all considered valuable and important to the PETE major's before entering the profession of teaching physical education (PE). The practicum course is probably the most important for PETE majors. The practicum course typically consists of an elementary, middle school, and high…

Universal design (UD) is a design philosophy that offers effective concepts and tools to help designers develop accessible products, services, and environments. Despite the growing need for inclusive design strategies, UD is not typically integrated into design education, particularly textile design. Textile design is associated with the process…