First-generation college students face a number of barriers to academic success and completion of their degrees. Using Bronfenbrenner's (1989) ecological theory as a framework, qualitative research was used to examine the experiences of 10 first-generation Appalachian Kentucky university students (mean age = 21 years) and factors they attributed…

Achieving a doctorate presents candidates with certain challenges--undertaking the research, writing the thesis and defending both at their viva. Throughout that doctoral journey, candidates are expected to display doctorateness in their thesis via the characteristics of high-quality scholarly research. The blockages that occur and prevent…

Teaching is always challenging, and for some teachers who are feminists, teaching journalism is difficult. The tenets of good journalism--objectivity and neutrality--are often antithetical to their feminist values. Educators face the dilemma of how to incorporate feminist sensibilities into teaching journalism--a profession that strives for…

This article describes the author's cross-pedagogical approach to co-teaching with student affairs colleagues. The central goal of this approach is to help students create meaning for their lives. The author also gives an account of an incident that occurred in one seminar and illustrates the benefits of a crossover approach.

Almost every institution of higher education advertises its ability to "produce" or "train" leaders for the community and world. Indeed, most institutions, if asked, would freely report that leadership development is a large part of their overall mission of educating students. The purpose of this research is to determine…

Researchers and policymakers agree that teachers' expectations of what their students can do can become self-fulfilling prophecies for children's academic performance. Yet while the "soft bigotry of low expectations" has become an education catchphrase, scholars and advocates are just beginning to explore whether it is possible to…

Introduction: The teacher plays a significant role in the intellectual development of the pupils, using various assessment and teaching styles to improve pupils' performance in school subjects. The study therefore investigated the effect of some teacher related factors: teacher level of awareness of assessment style, teacher assessment style,…

In this monograph, the authors identify milestones in the journey toward self-authorship based on the theoretical work of Kegan (1982, 1994) and Baxter Magolda (2001b, 2008, 2009a), as well as the empirical findings from Baxter Magolda's longitudinal study (2001b, 2009a) and the qualitative longitudinal portion of the Wabash National Study of…

This narrative study explored the personal and professional experiences of eight African American women vice presidents for student affairs (VPSA) employed at predominately White institutions (PWIs) and the persistence strategies they used while working at a PWI. Through the use of narrative inquiry methods, I utilized a purposeful sample of eight…

Recent initiatives in higher education have been designed to increase Black undergraduate male collegiate retention and persistence through graduation for this historically underrepresented population. Although institutional leaders in higher education have focused on creating more inclusive campuses, designing and implementing programs to retain…

The main research question of this study was: How do student life offices at four diverse Catholic colleges and universities create an environment that is expressive of a Catholic way of life? This research question was operationalized by two research sub questions: How do senior student affairs officers, mid-level student affairs officers, and…

In this rejoinder to Mazoue ("J Comput High Educ," 2012) article, "the deconstructed campus," we react to his arguments regarding the replacement of face-to-face teaching on college campuses with computer-supported approaches, including on-line learning, intelligent cognitive tutors, and open-ended learning environments where, rather than being…

Schools are beginning to offer an increasing number of courses in social and emotional intelligence, teaching students how to better understand their own emotions and the emotions of others. It sounds warm and fuzzy, but it's a trend backed up by hard data. This article discusses what new studies reveal--that teaching kids to be emotionally and…

How can higher education faculty, staff, and administrators create campus environments that guide students in their development within chosen disciplines and careers as well as in ways that contribute to a common good? How can they help students find a sense of calling in life? What does it mean to cultivate a sense of purpose in students? Are…

The "enhancement agenda" in educational policy is based on the idea that "something affective", which supports and improves learning, can be a) measured and b) enhanced. This idea is explored, and it is argued that the identity of the "something" that the enhancement agenda seeks to enhance is fatally obscure, as is the idea of measurable…