In 1996, Dr. Timuel D. Black collected and archived 36 oral histories with alumni and current students and staff from DuSable and Phillips high schools, Chicago's first two all-Black high schools. Several of those interviews were with alumni who returned to their alma mater as teachers. In this study, I drew on analyses of the interview…

The upheavals of the last few years within higher education and the labor force have catalyzed leaders in arts and design postsecondary education to question assumptions within their institutions about "what it means to be embarking on a career and life" in arts and design today (Novak-Leonard, Dempster, Scotto Adams, & Walters,…

The problem that was addressed through this study is that online undergraduate adult students, 25 years of age or older, do not persist to graduation at Caring University, a pseudonym for an online university. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the perceptions of online adult undergraduate alumni about what motivated them to…

This study investigates voices of a teacher, student, and alumnus of an International Class (ICP) which employs English as a medium of instruction (EMI). Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with three participants focusing on their positioning towards English and EMI, followed by document studies including teaching materials and…

Alumni giving is a critical revenue stream for Christian liberal arts colleges that originated as Bible institutions. This dissertation presents an in-depth case study of alumni donation patterns, focusing on how the transition from Bible colleges to liberal arts institutions has influenced giving behaviors. The study examines demographic factors…

Academic inbreeding is a deeply ingrained practice which needs to be understood by reference to the medieval guilds. Drawing on the guild concept and associated benefits of forms of capital, a distinction is drawn between 'guild-route' academics who have followed a privileged, linear path into academe and their 'non-guild' counterparts who tend to…

Academic inbreeding is a phenomenon that has been studied mostly from the standpoint of its association with research productivity. The focus has been on knowledge creation outputs and outcomes, while little to no attention has been given to the association of academic inbreeding with knowledge creation strategies and processes in academia. This…

Donative revenue to American higher education institutions is essential for their ongoing financial solvency in the existing funding model within the industry. Gifts from alumni comprise a critical portion of this revenue, yet alumni giving participation rates and giving amounts have been in precipitous decline despite ever increasing numbers of…

The changing financing model for public institutions of higher education has brought into focus the importance of alumni fundraising and the factors that increase the likelihood of giving. Recognizing these dynamics, higher education leaders are increasingly implementing what are known as high-impact practices into the student experience with the…

This article describes workable strategies for instructors to introduce highly interactive question and answer (Q&A) sessions with accomplished guest speakers from industry. Two innovative strategies serve as the key factors behind the series' success: (1) using LinkedIn to partner with guest speakers, especially university alumni, who possess…

Fundraising from and engaging with alumni, once synonymous with American higher education, has gained momentum worldwide. However, we know little about how potential donors receive this practice. This article investigates how Chinese students--or future alumni--think about their responsibility to support their alma mater. We analyzed a survey of…

Internships have been widely recognized as an effective channel for enhancing the employability of higher education (HE) students. Accordingly, any inequality in internship opportunities may lead to inequality in students' employability and future social positioning. Using Bourdieu's three forms of capital, this study explores how students'…

The purpose of this research project was to investigate the extent to which a compulsory service-learning program (SLP) offered in one secondary school inspired students to extend their service to the community beyond their schooling and make the connection between real-life social inequities and the SLP. The project involved interviewing current…

The purpose for conducting the study was to explore and describe the use of alumni societies and associations in community colleges, particularly focusing on the intended outcome of their implementation. To collect data for the study, the research-team developed a survey instrument that was distributed electronically to 250 community college…

Virtually every Black student at Springfield College in the 1960's felt unwelcomed. Not only was there a dearth of Black faculty, but there were also virtually no administrators of color and no support services to address the needs of the dozen Black students on campus. A half-century later, the author observed the racial tumult of 2020 and…