Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of sustainability-focused, cocurricular, interdisciplinary programming for graduate students at creating future leaders in sustainability, i.e. did interdisciplinary sustainability programming further prepared graduate students in sustainability leadership beyond the scope of the…

Medical education may lack experiential training on authentic community engagement (CE). Employing a human-centered design approach with medical faculty and students to identify goals, opportunities, needs, and barriers to implementing CE research, we developed an Experiential Community Engagement Learning Series (EXCELS) pilot program. EXCELS…

This paper presents an exploratory evaluation of pilot nutrition education programs, Plan Shop Save Cook (PSSC). Behavior change between two nutrition education programs, Buy Eat Live Healthy (BELH; n=92 and PSSC; n=42), was examined using pre- and post-program questionnaire responses. Both programs resulted in significant improvement in food…

Background: Parent-mediated intervention (PMI) is a potentially scalable approach for tailored interventions in neurogenetic conditions like Down syndrome (DS). Because PMIs require ongoing parent engagement, they must be developed in alignment with the needs of intended users. The present study examined caregiver opinions and preferences to…

Although graduate academic institutions implement diverse annual review processes, their overall intent is focused on ensuring continuous improvement of program quality (National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment, 2020). Through program review processes, university leaders (e.g., department chairs, program leads) analyze student…

In an effort to better support the needs of PK-12 students identified as gifted or high-ability, school leaders need to be familiar and comfortable with supporting gifted education educators and developing and evaluating gifted education programs. Gifted education educators should have defined roles and responsibilities, and school leaders need to…

This paper reports on a new model for faculty hiring workshops involving three components. The first part (Part 1) of the work is an asynchronous, self-guided course that includes video reflections and commentaries from some of our own colleagues about inclusive excellence, hiring legalities, and departmental culture. The second part (Part 2) is a…

As academic librarians become aware of the challenges textbook expenses pose to student success, they have increased efforts to provide free access to required course materials. Librarians at Illinois State University initiated a program to license course-assigned e-books, surveying participating students and faculty regarding their perspectives…

This paper explores how the charter school sector evaluates the success of specialized education programs in order that the Nature School can learn from these best practices and develop its own framework. The researcher conducted in-depth interviews with five evaluation experts and eight diverse charter school authorizers overseeing a significant…

Afterschool settings have continued to be identified as an ideal outlet for supporting youth development in many arenas, including physical activity (PA) behaviors and social emotional learning (SEL) skills. In fact, PA centered programs are ideal settings for youth to 8 develop and practice SEL skills in authentic ways. However, there a several…

The "Like Me: Diversifying the Educator Workforce" program was developed at Lourdes University to address the disparate proportion of teachers of color in local classrooms as compared to the students of color. To gauge the impact of "Like Me" recruitment efforts, faculty at Lourdes University conducted a qualitative study…

High employee turnover in higher education has been an issue for decades, and successfully integrating newly hired staff (NHS) into their new job and the organization can be challenging for human resources and leadership. New employee orientation and onboarding programs can assist NHS. The author of this paper conducted a Utilization-Focused…

Purpose: This article evaluated the utilization of an Internet-based, self-managed parent training program (i.e., Success with Stories [SWS]) designed to facilitate parental motivation about interactive storybook reading, perceived competence in their ability to engage in interactive storybook reading, and their reading practices and beliefs.…

The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the visibility of economic inequality and the inadequacy of current minimum wage laws in the United States. Changes in the minimum wage, a living wage, or just employment practices may be compelled by law or voluntarily enacted by employers. A literature search failed to yield a concise and practical tool to…

Social constructivism is a learning approach in which students actively construct their own knowledge by way of experiences and interactions with others. As such, it is important to highlight both individual and group-based reflection practices in pre-service teacher training as a key aspect for improving teaching practice. This paper presents the…