Showing papers in "The Journal of Higher Education in 2004"

First-Generation College Students: Additional Evidence on College Experiences and Outcomes.

Abstract: (2004). First-Generation College Students. The Journal of Higher Education: Vol. 75, No. 3, pp. 249-284.

Predictors of Student Commitment at Two-Year and Four-Year Institutions.

Abstract: Introduction and Need for the Study The present research examines the predictors of institutional commitment of first-year students at 28 two-year and 23 four-year public institutions. Previous research has demonstrated that institutional commitment is a strong predictor of college students' intent to persist, and ultimately student persistence itself (Braxton, Milem, & Sullivan, 2000; Cabrera, Nora, & Castaneda, 1993; Nora, Kraemer, & Itzen, 1997; Sandler, 2000, Tinto, 1987, 1993). Since institutional commitment is a precursor or predictor of student-persistence behavior, institutional commitment itself becomes an important object of study. Specifically, the study asks what are the factors that influence student commitment and what are the similarities and differences at two-year and four-year institutions. Institutional commitment has been defined in a number of ways. Included in these definitions are the student's overall impression, satisfaction, sense of belonging, and perception of quality, match with, and attraction to a particular institution (Bean, 1990; Braxton et al., 2000; Nora & Cabrera, 1993; Sandler, 2000; Tinto, 1987; Volkwein, Valle, Blose, & Zhou, 2000). For the purposes of this study, student commitment is defined as a student's overall satisfaction, sense of belonging, impression of educational quality, and willingness to attend the institution again. There are five major reasons why research on institutional commitment is important and needed. First, there is a dearth of empirical studies analyzing multicampus data and the important influence of structural/organizational influences on student outcomes. In discussing his "input-environment-output" (IEO) model, Astin notes the lack of empirical studies analyzing multicampus data and the important contribution of structural/organizational influences on student outcomes (1977, 1984). Updating his model in 1984, Astin points out that while student characteristics serve as important inputs into the outcomes model, the campus environment also provides the context for the student's investment of psychological and physical energy in the learning process. Second, the link between institutional commitment and student persistence plays an important role in the enrollment management and revenue-planning agenda for all institutions of higher education. Public and private institutions alike have budgets that are substantially enrollment driven. Student commitment serves as a valuable planning tool because it predicts subsequent student-persistence behavior. By forecasting and maximizing retention and thus revenue, an institution strengthens its capacity for educational and administrative planning. A third need for such studies is stimulated both by the differences between two-year and four-year institutions and by the paucity of research on these differences (Cohen & Brawer, 1996; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991). The proportion of students leaving college without a degree is almost twice as large at two-year versus four-year campuses. Students beginning at two-year institutions earn a bachelors degree at a rate of 38.4% versus a degree-earning rate of 60.4% for students beginning their studies at four-year institutions (Digest of Educational Statistics, 2001). A comparison of student institutional commitment at two-year and four-year institutions has not been undertaken in any great depth, largely due to a lack of research in the two-year sector. While research on student commitment has been undertaken at many four-year institutions, a search of literature revealed only three studies focusing on institutional commitment at two-year institutions (Mutter, 1992; Nora et al., 1997; Pascarella, 1986). Retention research on four-year institutions cannot automatically be generalized to Community Colleges (Cohen & Brawer, 1996; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991). As a fourth support for this study, the recent emphasis on student commitment and retention by accrediting agencies results in greater attention to policies and practices that improve student retention. …

“A Fly in the Buttermilk”: Descriptions of University Life by Successful Black Undergraduate Students at a Predominately White Southeastern University

Abstract: "And so a lot of times I felt out of place, because you see all white faces. You know I'm the only fly in the buttermilk, so that took some getting used to ..." These words, shared by a black student during an interview for the present study, poignantly reflect the essence of the experience of being a minority student on a predominately white university campus. The impetus for this study of that experience was our realization that the graduation rate for black students was lower than the total rate for the university (four-year graduation rates are 19.6% versus 16.8%; five year rates are 36.1% versus 50.7). Available data provided no ready explanation for this discrepancy, although preliminary information from a research project concerning graduates of the university's nursing program indicated painful and alienating experiences among black students (Thomas & Davis, 2000). These early results led to a decision to enlarge the research team and to broaden the study to include students in other undergraduate majors. The purpose of this study was to obtain the first-person perspective of the students themselves, a perspective missing from most of the literature about the academic experience of black students. Review of Literature Minority groups in the United States currently constitute 25% of the overall population, and it is projected that before the year 2015 one-third of the population will consist of individuals culturally and ethnically different from the white majority (American Council on Education, 1988; U.S. Census Bureau, 1993). This national pattern of cultural change is also reflected on college campuses where increasing numbers of minority students are enrolling and, far too often, dropping out. Predominantly white institutions of higher education, in fact, often devote intensive efforts to minority student recruitment but find that subsequent retention is a significant problem. In predominantly white institutions, 70% of black students do not complete baccalaureate education compared to 20% of those from historically black institutions (National Center for Education Statistics, 1992; Steele, 1992). Throughout the 1990s the national college dropout rate for blacks was 20-25% higher than that for whites (Steele, 1999). This discrepancy is often explained by inferior academic preparation of black students prior to college entry. Extant data, however, strongly suggest that academic concerns are not paramount in the high attrition of black students (Echols, 1998) and certainly not the sole reason for their premature departure from campus (Steele, 1999). Given this possibility, attention must be given to nonacademic factors that influence attrition. In a meta-analysis of 113 studies covering research on minority students from 1970 to 1997, a number of social, academic, family, and institutional factors were found to be linked to academic success (Echols, 1998). Over 1500 institutions and 46,000 minority students (Hispanic Americans and Native Americans as well as black students) were represented in Echols' analysis. Supporting a theory proposed by Tinto (1975, 1987)--regarding the importance of social integration in promoting graduation--this analysis revealed that integrative experiences were a highly significant predictor variable. Negative or nonintegrative experiences (loneliness, alienation, and so forth) were positively correlated with voluntary withdrawal from college whereas positive or integrative experiences enhanced minority student persistence. Fostering educational attainment were factors such as an ability to be bicultural yet also maintain a cultural identity and to avoid becoming disheartened by racist events. Several authors suggest that the predominately white university campus does not present a hospitable atmosphere for minority student learning. If educational offerings are Euro-centric, culturally different students may feel unappreciated or come to devalue their own cultural group (Sue, Bingham, Porche-Burke, & Vasquez, 1999). …

Understanding the Decision to Enroll in Graduate School: Sex and Racial/Ethnic Group Differences.

Abstract: Women continue to receive fewer doctoral and first-professional degrees than men, even though women receive more bachelor's degrees. The underrepresentation of women holds even after allowing for time to complete an advanced degree. For example, women received 55% of the bachelor's degrees that were awarded in 1994-95 but only 44% of the doctoral degrees and 45% of the first-professional degrees that were awarded five years later in 1999-00 (NCES, 2002). (1) African Americans also represented smaller shares of doctoral and first-professional degree recipients in 1999-00 than of bachelor's degree recipients in 1994-95 (5.0% and 6.9% versus 7.5%, NCES, 2002). Hispanics represented a smaller share of doctoral degree recipients (2.9%) but a comparable share of first-professional degrees (4.8%) in 1999-00 than of bachelor's degrees in 1994-95 (4.7%, NCES, 2002). Bowen and Rudenstine (1992) offer several possible explanations for the lower representation of women, African Americans, and Hispanics among doctoral degree recipients than bachelor's degree recipients. First, non-U.S. citizens, the majority of whom are men, account for a higher share of doctoral degree recipients than bachelor's degree recipients. Second, the distribution of bachelor's degree recipients by undergraduate major field varies by sex and race/ethnicity, with women, African Americans, and Hispanics tending to major in fields in which smaller shares of bachelor's degree recipients enroll in doctoral programs, such as communications. Even after taking into account these sources of the gap, however, Bowen and Rudenstine (1992) conclude that women, African Americans, and Hispanics are less likely to receive doctoral degrees. They speculate that both lower rates of doctoral program enrollment and lower rates of persisting to doctoral degree completion play a role. Although researchers have examined sex and racial/ethnic group differences in undergraduate enrollment (e.g., Hurtado, Inkelas, Briggs, & Rhee, 1997; Jackson, 1990; Perna, 2000; St. John & Noell, 1989), few theoretically based, methodologically rigorous studies have explored the sources of observed sex and racial/ethnic group differences in graduate school enrollment using a nationally representative sample of students. Ethington and Smart (1986) examined sex differences in graduate enrollment using a comprehensive causal model but did not include race/ethnicity in the analyses, likely due to a small number of non-White individuals in the sample. Other research has been limited to describing the correlates of graduate enrollment for a particular group, such as Mexican-American female graduate students (Lango, 1995), African-American doctoral recipients in sports and exercise science (King & Chepyator-Thomas, 1996), doctoral students in higher education administration (Poock & Love, 2001), and newly enrolled graduate students at one institution (Malaney, 1987; Stiber, 2000). A variety of conceptual approaches have been utilized to examine graduate school enrollment, including a marketing perspective (Malaney, 1987; Stiber, 2000), Hossler and Gallagher's three-stage college-choice model (Poock & Love, 2001), Astin's theory of involvement (Lango, 1995), and Tinto's model of persistence (Ethington & Smart, 1986). This research contributes to our understanding of the sources of the underrepresentation of women, African Americans, and Hispanics among doctoral and professional degree recipients by examining one phase of the educational pipeline: the enrollment of bachelor's degree recipients in different types of post-baccalaureate educational programs. This study develops and tests a conceptual model that is based on an expanded econometric theoretical framework using data from a nationally representative, longitudinal survey of bachelor's degree recipients. Theoretical Framework Building on research that has examined racial/ethnic group differences in undergraduate enrollment (Perna, 2000), this research develops and tests the appropriateness of an expanded econometric framework for understanding sex and racial/ethnic group differences in post-baccalaureate enrollment. …

Meeting Today's Governance Challenges: A Synthesis of the Literature and Examination of a Future Agenda for Scholarship

Abstract: Over the past four decades higher education institutions have faced increasing complexity related to governance (Berdahl, 1991; Birnbaum, 1988; Kezar, 2000; Leslie & Fretwell, 1996). In particular, institutions now face even greater competing priorities and demands to engage the community, business, and industry; to solve social problems and improve the schools; to generate cutting edge research and innovations to fuel the economy; to develop a more just and equal society by preparing a diverse student body, while having fewer funds, more demands from students, and an increasingly complex legal environment (Eckel, Hill, & Green, 1998; Kezar, 2000). Three significant changes in the environment within the last decade make governance even more problematic and will be described in greater detail in this article: (1) the need to respond to diverse environmental issues, such as accountability and competition; (2) weak mechanisms for faculty participation, major faculty retirement with close to half of the faculty retiring in the next ten years and a more diverse faculty entering the professoriate; and (3) the need to respond more efficiently based on shorter decision time frames (Kezar, 2000). The intense environmental demands on higher education place great responsibility and strain on institutional leaders to make wise decisions in a timely manner. Dill and Helm (1988) argue that "the substance of academic governance has changed" (p. 323). They note that traditional "maintenance" decisions, which include items such as the allocation of incremental budgets, modifications to the curriculum, and issues of faculty life are being replaced with "strategic policy-making" decisions. These new decisions are high stakes challenges that include the changing nature of scholarship, competing with new for-profit providers, prioritizing programs, choosing among new opportunities, and reallocating either shrinking or static budgets. Current decision-making systems (e.g., academic senates) were not created to cope with these types of decisions and demands (Schuster, Smith, Corak, & Yamada, 1994). These traditional academic governance structures face a cascade of criticism that they are slow and ineffective. Campus senates and other joint administrative-faculty committees need to design processes to resolve unprecedented problems that call for responsive solutions. At the same time, governance is becoming less participatory, as few individuals care about or are involved in campus academic governance (Williams, Gore, Broches, & Lostski, 1987). At times when better, more thoughtful institutional decision making is needed, participation has diminished. Current trends work against widespread academic participation (fewer full-time faculty are employed, participation is not rewarded, other demands take precedence, and faculty allegiances to disciplines rather than to institutions (Carlisle & Miller, 1998; Fairweather, 1996; Finkelstein, Seal, & Schuster, 1999; Kezar, 2000; Schuster & Miller, 1989). An increasing proportion of the faculty are either part-time or have limited contractual affiliations with their institutions. Some trustees, legislatures, and higher education associations say that shared governance limits an institution's agility and flexibility, creating obstructions and sluggishness and fostering a predisposition toward the status quo (Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, 1996; Schuster et al., 1994). To respond more quickly and to compensate for shrinking participation, some institutions have adopted increasingly bureaucratic systems (Rhoades, 1995). This administrative prerogative is characterized by more centralized, hierarchical administrative oversight, where quality is measured by the speed of decision making, not by the results (Hardy, 1990). Some leaders believe corporate approaches will improve institutional decision making and response time. However, studies of "corporate-like" approaches have documented disadvantages including lowered morale, interpersonal and organizational conflict, and loss of institutional values and integrity (Sporn, 1999). …

Interrupting the Usual: Successful Strategies for Hiring Diverse Faculty

Abstract: Introduction Across the country, hundreds of campuses are engaged in efforts to diversify their faculties ethnically/racially, in response to both internal and external pressures. While fueled by numerous arguments related to the increasing diversity of their student body and the need to prepare all students for a diverse society, the reality is that perhaps the least successful of all the many diversity initiatives on campuses are those in the area of faculty diversity. Despite years of affirmative action policies, faculty of color continue to be underrepresented in higher education (Astin, Antonio, Cress, & Astin, 1997; Black-shire-Belay, 1998; Harvey, 2001; Pavel, Swisher, & Ward, 1994; Trower & Chait, 2002; Turner & Myers, 2000; Wilson, 1995a,b). In response to this reality, the current literature offers numerous explanations for the low representation of faculty of color in the academy, coupled with suggestions for improving this condition. While increasing attention is being paid to the condition of Asian-American faculty, the bulk of the research today has focused on historically underrepresented African-American, Latino/a, and American Indian faculty. However, few studies to date stem from empirical work that considers the conditions under which appointments are made that contribute to a diverse faculty. Given the significance of hiring processes and practices in achieving a diverse faculty, this study examines the departmental search committee process and those conditions that lead to hiring diverse faculty in terms of race/ethnicity and gender. Specifically, this study examines whether specific interventions account for the hiring of diverse faculty above and beyond hiring done in academic areas specifically focused on race and ethnicity. Using data from approximately 700 searches, we investigate the hypothesis that at institutions with predominantly White populations, hiring of faculty from underrepresented groups (African-Americans, Latina/os, and American Indians) occurs when at least one of the following three designated conditions are met: (1) The job description used to recruit faculty members explicitly engages diversity at the department or subfield level: (2) An institutional "special hire" strategy, such as waiver of a search, target of opportunity hire, or spousal hire, is used; (3) The search is conducted by an ethnically/racially diverse search committee. Brief Review of the Literature A large part of the literature on faculty diversity suggests that the lack of faculty of color stems from the relatively few, particularly underrepresented, students of color earning doctorates (Adams, 1988; Bowen & Schuster, 1986; Bowen & Sosa, 1989; Clotfelter, Ehrenberg, Getz, & Sigfried, 1991; CPEC, 1990; Myers & Turner, 1995; National Center for Educational Statistics, 1992; Norrell & Gill, 1991; Ottinger, Sikula, & Washington, 1993; Schuster, 1992; Solorzano, 1993; Thurgood & Clarke, 1995). For example, Linda J. Sax, director of a research program that oversees the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) national faculty survey, explains the decline in proportional minority faculty representation in the 1998-1999 survey by saying, "There hasn't been much of an increase in minority doctoral recipients over the same period--they're still only 12 percent of the Ph.D.'s" (Magner, 1999, p. A18). Viewing the issue of doctorates awarded in relationship to gains in faculty hires from the same relational premise, Aguirre (2000), examining data from 1980 to 1993, suggests that the relationship between doctoral attainment pools and faculty hiring numbers are in some cases (though not always) positively related. The use of the pool argument to explain the lack of diverse faculty is often asserted by administrators and faculty. For example, commenting on the institution's lack of progress in hiring African Americans, former president of Harvard University, Neil Rudenstine, stated that "we have to keep going back to the still really unfortunate problem of the fact that only two percent of Ph. …

The Influence of Friendship Groups on Intellectual Self-Confidence and Educational Aspirations in College

Abstract: Introduction Over the past 30 years, research on how college impacts student development has continually pointed to the peer group as perhaps the dominant change agent during the college years (Feldman & Newcomb, 1969; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991). A college student's peers act as a reference group, or an environmental source of sociocultural norms in the midst of which a student grows and develops (Clark & Trow, 1966). A large body of empirical evidence has been collected over the years to support this conclusion (Astin, 1977, 1993a; Feldman & Newcomb, 1969; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991). A review of the research on the impact of college peer groups reveals an interesting trend. The earliest work on peer groups (primarily in the 1950s and early 1960s) focused on peer associations that were structured organizationally by either residential circumstances or formal group affiliations (Feldman & Newcomb, 1969). Most of this work was conducted at single institutions. Furthermore, there was recognition that while the student body characteristics of individual colleges may accentuate initial differences between students attending different institutions, student subcultures and friendship groups within institutions probably mediate the developmental impact of the student body (Feldman & Newcomb, 1969). Despite consensus on the important role that friendship groups play in socialization in college, however, the majority of published peer group studies since the mid-1960s have been multiinstitutional and have operationalized the student peer group as a singular, campus-wide entity (Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991). Peer group effects, in other words, were studied as between-institution effects (e.g., Astin, 1977; Bassis, 1977; Davis, 1966; Thistlewaite & Wheeler, 1966; Werts & Watley, 1969). Our current understanding of these institutional effects is that they are likely mediated through interactions with students within a variety of interpersonal environments (Astin, 1993a; Kuh, 1995; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991). Given concurrent research underscoring the importance of student interaction and engagement on campus for development and retention (Astin, 1984; Pascarella, 1985; Tinto, 1975; Weidman, 1989), it is surprising that little current work on peer group influence in college focuses on interpersonal environments such as friendship groups and cliques. The campus environment itself has changed greatly since the 1950s and 1960s. Colleges and universities are rapidly becoming ethnically and racially diverse student communities (Justiz, 1994), and increasing campus diversity has been accompanied by a rise in racial tension on campus, battles over free speech and the curriculum fought across racial lines, and social self-segregation by race (Altbach, 1991). These troubling patterns are forceful reminders that issues of racial and ethnic difference pervade many corners of the university, and questions regarding student experiences and student development on today's campuses must include the role of racial diversity in their formulation. The general purpose of this study is to conduct a contemporary examination of peer group influence in college that focuses on interpersonal environments and also addresses the role of racial diversity in those environments. Peer groups and peer group influence Researchers in the fields of sociology and social psychology have tended to view student peers as a determinant of school context, which acts as a referent against which students evaluate themselves (Alwin & Otto, 1977). The vast majority of the work that has drawn conclusions on the influence of college peer groups reflects this view, if not explicitly so, in the manner in which the peer group is operationalized methodologically. In these studies, the peer group was thought of as a reference group encompassing the entire student body. Early work, for example, likened the campus to a frog pond within which students formed judgments of their abilities and aspirations. …

Doing Research that Makes a Difference

Abstract: Over the past several years, the chasms between research and practice as well as research and policy have been the topic of commentaries (Keller, 1985; Layzell, 1990) of several addresses given by presidents of the Association for the Study of Higher Education (e.g., Terenzini, 1996; Conrad, 1989; Nettles, 1995), and books (Kezar & Eckel, 2000). A prevalent theme in these publications is the disconnect between higher education research and policymakers and practitioners. The solutions that have been offered to close these gaps include writing in a more user-friendly style, publishing research results in outlets that are practitioner-oriented, presenting research results at practitioner-oriented meetings, and studying problems that are high on policy-makers' and practitioners' lists of priorities. Essentially, solutions for closing the gap between research and practice involve two issues. These are the need to study problems that are of greater relevance to policy-makers and practitioners (whoever they are) and the need to broaden the ways in which research findings are disseminated. We do not believe that the gap between research and practice will be closed by researchers choosing more relevant and/or bigger problems to study nor by their developing more user-friendly forms of dissemination. Instead, we believe that the problem lies in the traditional methodology of knowledge production. As members of the educational research community we have been socialized to believe that the purpose of research is to produce scientific-like knowledge that practitioners can apply at the local level to improve educational outcomes, student success, leadership, and so on. In this article we describe an alternative methodology for conducting research that is intended to bring about institutional change. This process involves developing deeper awareness among faculty members, administrators, or counselors, of a problem that exists in their local context. In some instances these individuals may be unaware that the problem exists; in others, they may be aware of the problem but not of its magnitude; or they may perceive its broad outline but not the details. To differentiate between this alternative methodology and the traditional way of conducting research, we call the former the "practitioner-as-researcher" model. The principal distinction between the two models is in their approach to knowledge production. In the traditional model the individual identified as the researcher controls the production of knowledge; in the practitioner-as-researcher model, stakeholders produce knowledge within a local context in order to identify local problems and take action to solve them. This article contains four parts that serve to delineate the distinctiveness and utility of the practioner-as-researcher model. In the first section we contrast the traditional model of research with the practitioner-as-researcher model. Second, we provide details about a project in which we have utilized the practitioner-as-researcher approach, the Diversity Scorecard project. Next, we discuss the outcomes that the practitioners who engaged in research experienced. Finally, we provide our concluding thoughts and reflections on the process. Part I: The Methodologies of the Traditional and the Practitioner-as-Researcher Model The Traditional Model The traditional model of research production calls for a division of labor between the manufacturers of research findings (researcher) and the consumers of those findings (practitioner). In the traditional research model, the researcher defines the problem to be studied, selects the appropriate methods, collects the data, interprets them, and reports the findings. The role of the research subject is to provide the information the researcher is seeking. The researcher is the expert on the problem to be studied, which gives him or her the authority to provide solutions. …

Pathways to the Professoriate: The Role of Self, Others, and Environment in Shaping Academic Career Aspirations

Abstract: Since the 1950s, there has been much written on how personal and environmental factors shape people's career choices. Theories that examine vocational outcomes from the perspective of the individual have included developmental approaches (e.g., Ginzburg, 1951; Gottfriedson, 1981; Super & Bohn, 1971); personality-based theories (e.g., Roe, 1956); trait and factor approaches (e.g., Lofquist, & Dawis, 1969); typological theories (Holland, 1973, 1985); and self-concept theories (e.g., Super, 1954). In the 1970s and 1980s, new perspectives on vocational decision-making emerged including social learning theory (e.g., Krumboltz, Mitchell, & Jones, 1976) and self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1977, 1986). Scholarly work on the career development of women (e.g., Betz & Fitzgerald, 1987) and racial and ethnic minorities (Smith, E. 1983) also proliferated. Very little theory or research, however, has focused specifically on the vocational development of college and university professors. This is particularly true with respect to the forces that shape individuals' decisions to pursue academic careers. Most of the empirical work on academic career choice was conducted during socio-historical times that were very different than today's (see e.g., Clark, 1987; Clark & Corcoran, 1984; Finkelstein, 1984; Gustad, 1960; Roe, 1951; West, 1971). Since the mid to late 1980s, research and writing on academic careers has focused primarily on issues related to the underrepresentation of women and minorities within faculty ranks (e.g., De La Luz Reyes & Halcon, 1996; Mickelson & Oliver, 1996; Smith, D.G., 1996); the professional socialization of graduate students and new faculty (e.g., Austin, 2002; Kirk & Todd-Mancillas, 1996; Menges & Associates, 1999; Nyquist et al., 1999; Schuster, Wheeler, & Associates, 1990); and challenges presented by the changing academic labor market (e.g. Nelson, 1997). Also prominent is a topically diverse body of literature on faculty roles, rewards, and renewal (e.g., Baldwin, 1990; Fairweather, 1996). Most recently, Fox and Stephan (2001) have studied the career development of young scientists, focusing on the types of careers doctoral students prefer and how they judge their various employment prospects. Graduate student perspectives on faculty careers in particular have also been examined (e.g., Golde & Dore, 2001). The inherent complexity of career decision-making processes, coupled with the paucity of empirical research on academic career development makes it difficult to draw meaningful conclusions about the interplay between individual and environmental factors in shaping academic career choice. Consequently, there remains much to learn about the developmental paths of college and university professors. What attracted them to faculty work? When did they decide to pursue academic careers? What people and experiences were most influential in their decisions to become professors? Today, the answers to these questions are especially important given that projected increases in student enrollments coupled with widespread faculty retirements over the next decade will create a need to recruit large numbers of new faculty. Moreover, we are beginning this new century amidst a rapidly changing national and, indeed, international landscape; one that holds inescapable implications--and opportunities--for higher education. Historically, society has placed its trust in colleges and universities unquestionably and allowed members of the academy considerable freedom to pursue their individual work, needs, and interests. However, society is also voicing more loudly the claim that faculty have a social responsibility to contribute more to the wellbeing of their institutions and the larger community. Calls for a new generation of faculty that is more demographically inclusive of the diverse populations higher education serves are also intensifying. Within this context, consideration of who becomes a professor and why assumes added significance. …

Interviews and the Philosophy of Qualitative Research

Abstract: Interviews and the Philosophy of Qualitative Research Interviewing as Qualitative Research: A Guide for Researchers in Education and the Social Sciences, by Irving Seidman (2nd ed.). New York: Teachers College Press, 1998. InterViews: An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing, by Steinar Kvale. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1996. Qualitative Interviewing: The Art of Hearing Data, by Herbert J. Rubin and Irene S. Rubin. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1995. Interviewing is key to many forms of qualitative educational research; we interview respondents for oral histories, life histories, ethnographies, and case studies (see Tierney & Dilley, 2002, for an overview of interviewing in education). Despite the primacy of verbal data in qualitative research, basic introductions to qualitative research (including Glesne & Peshkin, 1992; Merriam, 1998; and Rossman & Rallis, 1998) and "how to" guides for conducting qualitative projects (such as Goodall, 2000) include only sections on interviewing. Only within the past decade have book-length explorations of interviewing been produced for an audience of educational researchers (as opposed to, say, anthropologists or sociologists). Of those, three specifically acknowledge the philosophical foundations of interview methodologies. Each examines, in complementary ways, the relationships between philosophy and protocol, epistemology and research, words and meanings. Irving Seidman's Interviewing as Qualitative Research (1998) is grounded in the phenomenological tradition of three distinct, thematic interviews designed to question meanings of experience. I find his work is a good starting point for training new researchers, not because the structure of phenomenological interviewing is better than other forms of qualitative interviewing, but because Seidman ties the core of phenomenology to the qualitative philosophy. "Interviewing," Seidman writes, provides access to the context of people's behavior and thereby provides a way for researchers to understand the meaning of that behavior. A basic assumption in in-depth interviewing research is that the meaning people make of their experience affects the way they carry out that experience .... Interviewing allows us to put behavior in context and provides access to understanding their action. (1998, p. 4) Meaning is not "just the facts," but rather the understandings one has that are specific to the individual (what was said) yet transcendent of the specific (what is the relation between what was said, how it was said, what the listener was attempting to ask or hear, what the speaker was attempting to convey or say). Just as language signifies and is constituted by specifics and abstracts, so too does qualitative research--and interviewing in particular. There are skills--physical, social, mental, communicative--that embody the act of interviewing, but those alone will not determine answers to research questions. For such determinations, budding researchers must learn the skill of comprehension, the complex aptitude and competence of reflection and representation which are perhaps ultimately unteachable by any method than trial and error. As Seidman states, Researchers must ask themselves what they have learned from doing the interviews, studying the transcripts, marking and labeling them, crafting profiles, and organizing categories of excerpts. What connective threads are there among the experiences of the participants they interviewed? How do they understand and explain these connections? What do they understand now that they did not understand before they began the interviews? What surprises have there been? What confirmations of previous instincts? How have their interviews been consistent with the literature? How inconsistent? How have they gone beyond? (Seidman, 1998, pp. 110-111) Those are questions for the interviewer, a continuing conversation with one's self about the nature of how we have learned what we know. …

Community Service in the Transition: Shifts and Continuities in Participation from High School to College.

Abstract: Continuing a decade-long trend, findings from recent annual surveys of first-year college students have documented their participation in community service as high-school seniors at record high levels (Higher Education Research Institute, 1999, 2000, 2001). Eighty-one percent of the 2000 respondents reported volunteering during senior year, although only 24% expected to continue their volunteer work in college. Because other recent data indicate that 64% of undergraduates actually do volunteer (Levine & Cureton, 1998), the college experience may involve students in the community in ways they do not anticipate when they enter. For the majority of students, these findings suggest, involvement in community service may be episodic and contextually driven--not so much a deeply motivated value-oriented choice as an occasional activity that personal circumstances may dictate, encourage, support, or deter. The responses of the first-year students to other survey items appear to support this claim. For example, while volunteering in high school is on the rise among the respondents, trends over the past decade indicate a simultaneous decline in both interest and participation in other forms of voluntary activity, including community action programs, social activism, political participation, and general civic engagement and altruism (HERI, 1999). Political engagement, according to the 2000 Freshman Survey, is at an all-time low, while becoming well-off is the most important of the measured goals (HERI, 2001). Most strikingly, just 59% of first year students reported a personal commitment to "helping others in difficulty," the lowest response level in over a decade. Paradoxically, while more students are volunteering than ever before, they are not espousing the civic values that community service is intended to encourage. For some students, involvement in community service could be motivated less by caring than by other factors, such as personal interests, group norms, or the social benefits they derive from participation. This study investigates the phenomenon of shifting patterns of community service participation during the transition between high school and college and, in so doing, seeks to arrive at greater understanding of the dynamics of social participation and involvement among young adults. The transition to college typically brings about change in students' lives as they move into new educational and social environments (Chickering, 1969; Chickering & Reisser, 1993; Upcraft & Gardner, 1990). While some research addresses college student motivation for involvement in community service (Fitch, 1987; Serow, 1991; Waterman, 1997; Winniford, Carpenter, & Grider, 1997), and other research suggests that high-school participation predisposes students to volunteer in college (Astin & Sax, 1998; Astin, Sax, & Avalos, 1999; Berger & Milem, 2002), little empirical evidence exists to characterize the relationship between high school and college participation. Moreover, little is known about the factors that lead students either to drop or sustain their community service after high school or to begin to volunteer in college. This investigation builds on an earlier study of community service participation among high-school students (Marks, 2002). That study employed Selznick's (1992) sociological theory of social participation to account for variation in patterns of students' community involvement. According to Selznick, individuals who involve themselves in the community do so on a segmental or core basis. Segmental participants, who volunteer from time to time, tend to be motivated by personal interests or extrinsic factors, including normative environments. Core participants are more likely to be motivated by values or deeply held beliefs. Applying the theory of social participation to students' participation in community service during the transition between high school and college, we expect to find similar patterns, a point we return to in a subsequent section. …

The costs and benefits of world-class universities

Abstract: It is a high cost to carry a university into the ranks of world-class institutions. The author argues that putting too much stress on attaining world-class status may harm an individual university or an academic system. Meanwhile he as well recommends a more realistic and objective strategy, which is for focusing on building "national" or "regional-class" academic institutions with closely related to economy and social of the country or this region, and not blindly pursuing world-class status.

Change Dynamics and Leadership in Technology Implementation

Abstract: The pressures for incorporating technology in higher education are both internal and external, and the consequences substantial. Students need to be empowered to succeed as lifelong learners in an information-rich environment (Barr & Tagg, 1995; Chapman, 1996; Holmes, 1999). Using technology to engage students in the integration and synthesis of information changes the fundamental teaching paradigm from teacher-centered to learner-centered instruction (Van Dusen, 1997). Younger students arrive at campuses with the expectation that technology will play a major role in their education, and as consumers they demand the same service quality that they demand elsewhere: lower costs, better service, higher quality, and a mix of products that satisfies their definition of a good education (Mooney & Bergheim, 2002; Zemsky, Massey, & Odel, 1998). Technology expands opportunities to market educational programs for older or working adults, and also opens the higher education market to new providers: corporate universities, for-profit institutions, and technology-based distance providers. Employers seek graduates who demonstrate both mastery of the current knowledge base and mastery of the technology that will enable them to stay current (Duderstadt, 1999/2000; Klor De Alva, 1999/2000; Zuboff, 1988). External financial pressures on colleges and universities send a mixed message. On the one hand, the growing public dismay about escalating educational costs results in efforts to control expenditures and budgets (Burd, 1998; O'Banion, 1997). On the other hand, despite shrinking financial resources at the state level, the federal government offers grant opportunities to institutions for technology initiatives (Carnevale, 2000; Ohio Board of Regents, 1992). Institutions have recognized that incremental responses--such as adding a few courses here and there or enriching existing course offerings (Demb, 2002; Von Hipple, 1988)--are insufficient to fully exploit the opportunities or manage the challenges represented by technology. Those institutions are thus adjusting to a new reality whose response requires transformational change (Backoff & Nutt, 1997b; Connor, 1998; Hammer & Champy, 1993; Young, 1997; Wheatley, 1992). Some institutions respond more quickly than others. With missions closely tied to the needs of workforce development and businesses, community colleges have already exhibited an innovative level of responsiveness and leadership with technology-based programming (Baker, 1998; Ehrmann, 1998; Oblinger, 1996). Other types of institutions are also responding to these pressures. Market forces are pushing private liberal arts institutions to incorporate technology to keep and attract students. Bentley College, Wake Forest, Seton Hall, Franklin University, and others are reconstructing their educational offerings. Eventually every institution will be transformed to some degree because information technology fundamentally affects not only how the colleges function and who is served, but the very core of teaching and learning pedagogy (Van Dusen, 1997). The special challenge faced by these institutions is to preserve vital core values as they stretch toward frame-breaking new realities (Backoff & Nutt, 1997a; Carter & Alfred, 1997; Collins & Porras, 1997). Community Colleges, Change, and Leadership Successful community colleges respond to the educational needs of their communities by broadening their portfolios to include a major focus on perpetual learning for adults, workplace learning, and occupational preparation (Holmes, 1999). Enrolling an estimated 5.5 million students by 2000 and capturing 40% of the higher education market, community colleges are expected to be major players in employing new technologies to "harness the winds of change" (Bleed 1993; Chronicle, 2002). In recent years, almost all community colleges have implemented programs to improve service and quality. …

Beyond All Reason: Living with Ideology in the University

Abstract: an education that derives from democratic values, and an education that democratizes learning itself” (p. 220). Gould summarizes “in short, a university education is a democratic education because it mediates liberal democracy and the cultural contradictions of capitalism” (p. 225). The author is undeniably comprehensive in scope and intricate in examination throughout his analysis of complex modern problems affecting colleges and universities. Gould displays premier scholarship by diligently building and defending his contentions and arguments. The author advances contemporary dialogue regarding the myriad tensions and challenges within American higher education, specifically related to the impact corporate culture inflicts upon knowledge creation and application. Gould is well researched in modern and historical scholars’ work and applies it to his major assertions effectively. The reader’s complete attention and meticulous focus are required by Gould’s writing style. The audience is not addressed specifically, yet the volume would be relevant for a wide range of higher education professionals and students. Gould assumes the reader possesses a comprehensive familiarity with sophisticated higher education issues. Contrary to how effectively the book is introduced, it concludes somewhat abruptly. The author presents numerous research questions which demand further attention, yet there are no calls for targeted future research. A strong contribution to advanced scholarship on the modern tensions within higher education, The University in a Corporate Culture successfully blends cultural, political, and economic ideologies into an examination of complex university problems.

What Do College Students Have to Lose? Exploring the Outcomes of Differences in Person-Environment Fits

Abstract: This article continues a series of analyses using the "theory of careers" developed by John Holland (1966, 1973, 1985, 1997) to examine the patterns of student stability and change inherent in the college experience--as part of an effort to understand the satisfaction, learning, and retention of college students (see Smart, Feldman & Ethington, 2000; Feldman, Smart & Ethington, 1999; and Feldman, Ethington & Smart, 2001). The underlying basis of Holland's theory is that human behavior is a function of the interaction between individuals and their environments. The theory focuses on an assessment of individuals, their environments, and the interaction or "fit" between individuals, and their environments. Three specific assumptions are associated with these three essential components of the theory: (1) people tend to choose environments compatible with their personality types; (2) environments tend to reinforce and reward different patterns of abilities and interests; and (3) people tend to flourish in environments that are congruent with their dominant personality types. Most research assessing the validity of the three assumptions has tended to examine the merits of each assumption separately. The collective evidence from literally hundreds of studies over the past three decades or so has been summarized in several literature syntheses and meta-analyses (see, for example, Assouline & Meir, 1987; Holland, 1985, 1997; Spokane, 1985, 1996; Tranberg, Slane, & Ekeberg, 1993; Walsh & Holland, 1992). Because Holland's theory intends to explain vocational behavior, most evidence of the validity of the basic assumptions of the theory has been derived from studies of employed adults. Moreover, attention has been directed primarily to the vocational choices of individuals and the significance of these choices for their vocational stability, satisfaction, and success. This dominant focus on individuals may be understood as a consequence of the primary focus of the theory itself and the scholarly interests of those who have conducted much of the relevant research. As a theory of careers, Holland's work is intended primarily to be of assistance to individuals in their search for careers that are satisfying and rewarding, and the research on the theory reflects this orientation toward individuals. The vast bulk of the research literature in this area concentrates on the validity of the personality types and their searching behavior (the self-selection assumption) and on the consequences of individuals' choices of congruent or incongruent vocational environments (the congruence assumption) rather than on the reward and reinforcement patterns of vocational environments (the socialization assumption). Holland has acknowledged this differential emphasis in the research literature, noting that "the environmental models are only occasionally studied" (p. 160). As Walsh and Holland (1992) have put it: "We view the theory as primarily psychological in nature and one in which the personality variables are the most powerful and influential .... The theory tends to emphasize person variables and [to be] lean on the concept of reinforcement ... "(p. 63). Given the psychological orientation of Holland's theory and of those who have conducted most of the research on the theory, it is not surprising that work environments (in general) and the interpersonal and social structural patterns of environmental reinforcement (in particular) have not been of central interest. While his theory is intended to explain vocational behavior, Holland has noted repeatedly that the theory and its basic assumptions are equally applicable to educational settings such as college and universities. The research evidence supporting the basic assumptions of Holland's theory is sparser as it pertains to college students; even so, dozens of relevant studies have been conducted over the past three decades (as reviewed in Smart et al. …

Ethnographic Responsibility Without the "Real"

Abstract: This essay considers the uses of ethnographic and qualitative inquiry in higher educational research as they are limited by commitments to verifying data and representing the "real" and argues for broader understandings of such research. I examine limitations of and new possibilities for common elements of creating a "real" and elaborate on the role of speculative research that opens new paths for thought by acknowledging uncertainty and venturing multiple interpretations.

Stand and Prosper: Private Black Colleges and Their Students

Abstract: (2004). Stand and Prosper: Private Black Colleges and Their Students. The Journal of Higher Education: Vol. 75, No. 6, pp. 704-707.

Using Feminist Critical Policy Analysis in the Realm of Higher Education: The Case of Welfare Reform as Gendered Educational Policy

Abstract: Policy analysis is never value-neutral. However, it is often silent on the issue of gender. As a result, traditional policy analysis results in "partial and perverse understandings" of the ways in which women's lives are affected by policy (Harding, 1986). In a recent critique of educational policy research, Catherine Marshall (1999) makes the argument that educational policy analysis systematically "has ignored or marginalized the feminist critique" (p.1). Yet, as Marshall goes on to point out, gender is not an afterthought in the formation of policy itself. In fact, the state has a clear role in gender politics even when it is not overtly discussed in official documents (Apple, 1994). This critique is also directly applicable to research on higher education policy and practice. Many higher education policies, such as those regarding tuition, degree programs, and transfer policies, would appear to be gender neutral if analyzed within a relatively narrow framework that does not acknowledge broader economic, social, and political factors. Yet large-scale shifts in the global economy, along with major changes in national social policy, can have distinct and far-reaching effects on the practices and policies of colleges and universities, and in turn on the lives of the women who work in them and/or attend them. Recently, several researchers have provided evidence to support the argument that broad economic and political factors do indeed intersect with institutions of higher education and that they have a clear and consistent effect on women (Slaughter, 1999; Glazer, 1999). A recent and very relevant example of how broad social policy can function as a barrier to higher education for women can be found in the 1996 welfare reform legislation. Welfare reform is not generally perceived as higher education policy. The Department of Education had no formal role in its development, and most of the rhetoric surrounding welfare reform has focused on economic, rather than educational, issues. As a result, welfare reform has received relatively little attention among higher education researchers. However, this piece of policy has drastically reduced access to postsecondary education for welfare recipients (Jacobs & Winslow, 2003). Not incidentally, nearly all of these citizens are women, and most of them are single parents. Yet when viewed through a traditional policy analysis lens, both of these facts are obscured to most of the higher education policy research community. This article is an attempt to provide a partial corrective to more traditional analyses of higher education policy that most often obscure broader social factors that contribute to unequal power relations and educational outcomes related to social class, gender, and race/ethnicity. In this article I focus specifically on gender issues and employ a feminist critical policy analysis framework. As I explain in more detail below, feminist critical policy analysis challenges the positivist assumptions on which most policy analysis rests and employs methodological tools that provide a more complete understanding of policy from the perspective of both policymakers and those affected by the policy. I have chosen to utilize the 1996 welfare reform legislation as a case study to illustrate the usefulness of this methodological and analytical approach to policy analysis. The article begins with an overview of feminist critical policy analysis, placing it within the context of more traditional approaches to the study of policy and providing a rationale for its use as an alternative lens through which to examine policy. Second, I illustrate the usefulness of this analytical tool by employing it to uncover the gendered nature of one piece of federal public policy, namely, welfare reform. In particular, I utilize feminist critical policy analysis to examine the discourse that surrounded the development of the policy and that surrounds it now, as early research regarding its implementation and outcomes emerges. …

Beliefs about Post-Tenure Review: The Influence of Autonomy, Collegiality, Career Stage, and Institutional Context

Abstract: Introduction Post-tenure review is a hot topic in higher education these days. Critics argue that post-tenure review "dampens creativity and collegial relationships and threatens academic freedom" (AAUP, 1995, p. 49), while advocates suggest that it enhances faculty performance by guaranteeing systematic, continuous, and comprehensive feedback and opportunities for professional growth (Lees, Hook, & Powers, 1999; Licata & Morreale, 1997; Plater, 2001). But neither critics nor advocates have much evidence to support their claims. Little is known about the actual implementation of post-tenure review within large state systems (Alstete, 2000; Licata & Morreale, 1997). Likewise, few studies have explored faculty beliefs about and response to post-tenure review. There are a few notable exceptions. Goodman (1994) studied the outcomes of post-tenure review at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, and found that "the program tended to enhance faculty morale and sense of purpose and engagement in their disciplines" (p. 93). However, other research suggests that faculty think post-tenure review is unnecessary, experience little to no benefit, and often experience it as a threat (Harris, 1996; Licata, 1986; Wesson & Johnson, 1989). A recent study by Wood & Johnsrud, (2001) explored faculty values and beliefs regarding post-tenure review in two public doctoral/research extensive universities in the Western United States. Findings suggest that union resistance to post-tenure review influences faculty perceptions of its implementation and that rather than being a "scholarly form of continuous quality improvement," post-tenure review can be "a continuous thorn that pricks at a number of cultural values" (p. 20). This research is consistent with Licata & Morreale's (1997) finding that faculty resistance to post-tenure is often related to a belief that post-tenure review threatens established faculty values and institutional mores. Clearly, additional research is needed to explore faculty beliefs about and experiences with post-tenure review as well as the factors that influence beliefs. Conceptual Framework This article draws upon the literature on academic culture and the academic profession to provide a context for beliefs about post-tenure review. Schein's (1992) theory of organizational culture and Kuh & Whitt's (1988) application of cultural theory to higher education settings divides culture into a conceptual hierarchy comprised of three levels--artifacts, values and beliefs, and basic assumptions. This study focused on the middle layer of Schein's three levels of culture--values and beliefs. Values are "widely held sentiments about the importance of certain goals, activities, relations and feelings" (Kuh & Whitt, 1988, p. 23). Common understandings between people about what is right or wrong, or what ought to be, are examples of values (Kuh & Whitt, 1988; Schein, 1992). Values influence peoples' beliefs within specific contexts and/or groups. This study focused on the influence of commonly held values within the academic profession on beliefs about post-tenure review. Tierney and Rhoads (1993) define a profession as a "group of people who engage in similar types of work, share common values and beliefs and derive a similar sense of identity from their work (p. 11)." Across academic specialties and institutional types, three basic values are shared by faculty, two of which, autonomy and collegiality, are explored in this article (Birnbaum, 1988; Bowen & Schuster, 1986; Clark, 1984, 1987; Kuh & Whitt, 1988). Autonomy in the conduct of academic work is viewed by most faculty as necessary to the advancement of learning, and is reinforced through peer review and the promotion and tenure system (Bowen & Schuster, 1986; Kuh & Whitt, 1988; Tierney, & Bensimon, 1996). Autonomy is considered a major value and benefit of an academic career. In the 1998-1999 HERI survey data, faculty rated "autonomy and independence" very satisfactory or satisfactory 86. …

Academic Freedom and Tenure: Between Fiction and Reality

Abstract: Perhaps no belief has been more central to academic life than that of academic freedom. In the twentieth century academic freedom became enshrined as the raison d'etre for the professorate. For many individuals, colleges and universities existed in large part to enable the search for truth by the faculty. Academic freedom codified the belief about the search for truth. Tenure was the structure that ensured the belief would not be violated. No less a body than the United States Supreme Court has weighed in on the importance of academic freedom by stating, "Our Nation is deeply committed to safeguarding academic freedom, which is of transcendent value to all of us and not merely to the teachers concerned" (Keyishian v. Board of Regents, 1967). As a structure, tenure safeguards the freedom of faculty members to speak, write, and associate however they choose. In the hallmark statement on Academic Freedom and Tenure, the American Association of University Professors stated in 1940 "Tenure is a means to a certain ends, specifically: "Freedom of teaching and research and of extramural activities" (AAUP, 1940). Once a faculty member receives tenure, the individual has received a structural safeguard; the individual cannot be subjected to adverse employment conditions, such as dismissal, without proof of cause. The Supreme Court's statement that academic freedom is a "transcendent value" suggests that the idea of academic freedom, like the idea of democracy itself, is ageless; it transcends time and is passed down from one generation to the next. From an interpretivist perspective, however, a "transcendent value," is always shaped and redefined within emergent social and cultural contexts. Democracy is very different today as a belief and value than in 1776 when women could not vote and African Americans were not considered equal to white citizens. Similarly, academic freedom and tenure became transcendent in the United States only in the last century. Prior to the twentieth century professors could be fired without proof of cause much more easily than today, and the idea that a central goal of the professorate was to search for truth had not taken hold as a widely held belief. Thus, we benefit in understanding complex ideas such as academic freedom and tenure when we consider the socio-cultural contexts in which they currently reside. How might we consider such contexts? There are numerous ways one might try to gauge how concepts such as academic freedom and tenure are discussed and defined in the broader public arena. A review of newspaper articles and opinions, for example, sheds light on how one segment of society thinks of the concepts. An analysis of discussions and portrayals on television and in the movies also lends insights into how one mass medium constitutes ideas about academic life. Obviously, any number of communicative vehicles exists with which one might analyze how society in part comes to define a particular belief. In this essay I look at how tenure and academic freedom are portrayed in novels about academic life. In The Art of the Novel, Milan Kundera has observed that the novel provides unique opportunities to explore philosophical questions. Specifically, Kundera suggests that novels allow readers to examine meaning rather than truth, existence as opposed to reality. Thus, the novel suggests what is possible, which reality forecloses insofar as from a realist position reality is definite, describing what the author believed actually happened, rather than what might have happened. Novels also are helpful for understanding public attitudes about a topic such as academic freedom because novels reach mass audiences who are likely to have input into how the larger society shapes academic life. Unlike academic articles in scholarly journals that are read by only a handful of interested scholars, novels have a broad reach. As Janice Rossen has observed, novels "are important because they are widely believed by their readers to constitute an accurate representation of academic life, whether they do so or not" (1993, p. …

Secularization and National Universities: The Effect of Religious Identity on Academic Reputation.

Abstract: The Chronicle of Higher Education recently reported on a conference of scholars and senior administrators at Harvard discussing "The Future of Religious Colleges" (McMurtrie, 2000). The irony of the meeting's venue is readily apparent. Having been founded by Puritan Christians in 1636 and soon given the motto, Christo et Ecclesiae, the beginning of the 19th century found the Calvinists ousted from control of Harvard and replaced by Unitarians. By the end of the 19th century President Charles Eliot transformed Harvard from a religious college into a prestigious secular university. This shift in ideological allegiances at schools such as Harvard University suggests to some that today's religious colleges or universities are on the horns of a dilemma--maintain a distinctive religious identity or move toward a strong academic reputation. The purpose of this study, then, is to empirically assess the dilemma that national universities cannot attain a reputation for academic excellence if they maintain their religious identity. An Apparent Dilemma The evidence for this dilemma appears forceful. That most private national American universities began with a firmly rooted religious identity is well known. Yale and Dartmouth have Congregationalist origins. Princeton was Presbyterian; Brown, Wake Forest, and Chicago emerged from Baptist denominations, and Duke and Vanderbilt were once Methodist universities. Today, these pace-setting universities boast sterling academic reputations, but they retain only vestiges of their religious identities. Clearly, these cases are instances of institutions whose rising academic and cultural aspirations are correlated with a declining religious identity. At the Harvard conference, George Marsden, Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame, articulated, but did not endorse, the dilemma in the following provocative but stark way: Since almost all the most highly regarded schools in America, from Harvard, to Amherst, to Chicago, to Duke, started out as traditionally religious schools, but eventually abandoned their original faith, is it not inevitable that the same will eventually happen to a Wheaton, Calvin, a Baylor, or a Notre Dame--at least if they hope to be recognized among America's academic elite? (Marsden, 2000) This trajectory converges with leading histories of American higher education (Cremin, 1988; Hofstadter & Metzger, 1955; Veysey, 1965;), suggesting that if religious colleges and universities aspire to be prestigious national universities, then the religious identity of such institutions must diminish. Alternatively, if they remain faithful to those religious convictions that called them into being, then they must accept academic mediocrity and dwell in the backwaters of academic culture. A major sociological study of higher education--The Academic Revolution, by Christopher Jencks and David Riesman--concurs with the historical studies mentioned above but suggests an important distinction between local colleges and national universities. Jencks and Riesman (1968) note a correlation between the localism of colleges and the special interests they represent, such as serving a specific region, a single gender, or relying on a sectarian religious identity for their mission. (1) National universities, conversely, represent more broadly national interests such as quality academics and the capacity to prepare students for prestigious occupations. Jencks and Riesman (1968, p. 329) predict that a truly national university "must be de facto non-sectarian to acquire [a high academic reputation], given the prejudices of able faculty and students" and that the religious institution "that wants to compete in this market is unlikely to have much success unless it reinterprets its denominational commitments in largely secular terms or else gives them the flavor of snob appeal rather than piety." In a related work, Riesman (1958) compares American higher education to a snake, where the middle and the end are constantly trying to follow the head. …

Collaborators' Attitudes about Differences of Opinion

Abstract: Three clusters of responses emerged from the interview responses of members of largely career-equal faculty pairs about their encounters with substantive differences of opinion. The refusal to interpret differences of opinion as conflict contributes to innovation by promoting dialogue that may lead to significant new insight.

The Study of Diversity: The "Knowledge of Difference" and the Limits of Science

Abstract: The recent legal challenges to affirmative action in higher education illustrate that moral arguments, such as that affirmative action compensates for past wrongs, no longer justify it. So proponents of affirmative action have changed strategies and now use social science to prove the necessity of affirmative action (I refer to this as the "social-science strategy"). The University of Michigan, for instance, in order to defend itself against legal challenges to its admissions policies, commissioned a number of leading researchers to verify empirically the importance of racial diversity (see University of Michigan, 1999). The use of social science in affirmative action cases may be new, but there is nothing new about the link between social science and race. Social science plays a significant, but as yet not fully understood, role in legitimating the political use of race-meanings. Given this, the use of social science in the politics of affirmative action warrants critical attention. Unlike other polemics about affirmative action, this article situates the study of diversity within the sociology of knowledge, reposing the question about the educational impact of racial diversity in a new light. I wish to question here not whether racial diversity is important (I think it is) but the very foundations upon which scientific practices are based. The social-science strategy, I propose, actually belies a struggle over the power to legitimate classifications of the social world through the production of knowledge of difference. My concern is not with the legal appropriateness of the social-science strategy, the accuracy of its evidence, or its moral imperative (all with which I agree), but with its uncritical stance on scientific knowledge and difference. I argue that social science produces and naturalizes racial differences, legitimates the institutional processes that use them, and ensures their continued relevance in organizing society. The purpose of this article, however, is not to provide answers to the perplexing problem of racial disparities in higher education; rather, its purpose is to encourage educators to think differently about scientific practices that may unintentionally reinforce those disparities. In the rest of this article, I explain the social-science strategy and highlight its emphasis on research that (unintentionally) reduces individuals to biological differences for the purposes of study. Next, I theorize about the origins of difference and propose that the studies of diversity presume that biological difference is natural and thereby fail to account for the possibility that such difference may be a cultural construct. I then argue that social science produces knowledge of difference, which not only has political implications but is itself political: It creates the difference it purports to describe. I conclude by urging educators to think differently about difference and science. Overall, I attempt to re-frame questions about race in the hope of sparking further discussion about this crucial concern in higher education. The Social Strategy and the Pitfalls of Reductionism Before discussing further the social-science strategy, I would like to explain my approach to reading the research on diversity. I treat this research as "text" that can be interpreted in ways that explain both what it means and how it works to support political arrangements (see Jameson, 1981). This process can be transformative, if it exposes meanings, and the political arrangements they undergird, as social constructions that can change (see Baker, 1995). This kind of inquiry, however, rejects what can be termed "scholarly" objectivity and positivist analyses in favor of a subjective and polemical analysis that affirms that interpretation is always personal, provisional, and meaningful only in the present (see Nochlin & Solomon-Godeau, 2000, p. 93). The Social-Science Strategy The social-science strategy responds to two related arguments, for which an inadequate response by progressives appeared to give conservatives the upper hand in the debate: (1) affirmative action must serve compelling state interests (see Liu, 1998), and (2) mere assertions of affirmative action's value will not be enough to withstand legal challenges (see Alger, 1997; American Council on Education, 2000; Friedl, 1999). …

Symbolic Politics and Institutional Boundaries in Curriculum Reform: The Case of National Sectarian University

Abstract: Employing a neo-institutional analytic framework, this paper considers one case of generaleducation reform, focusing on proposed changes to curricular structure, cultural diversity requirements, and curriculum oversight. The study explores how institutionalized organizational factors may influence the development of reform proposals, as well as how the reform process can yield useful symbolic outcomes that are distinct from technical change.

Making Strangers at Home: Anthropologists Studying Higher Education

Abstract: Introduction This article seeks to isolate one major strand of work in American cultural anthropology together with its implications for the study of higher education. While the number of anthropologists who do research on higher education is fairly small, the importance of the field's theoretical and methodological contributions is significant. (1) Even though the number of people working in higher education is small, this article will not attempt to provide a comprehensive look at the field. Rather, I will begin with one set of important theoretical and methodological considerations in anthropology. I will then move to discussing some of the ways cultural anthropology makes contributions to the study of higher education. My own background as an anthropologist is very much tied up with the developments in anthropology that I will discuss. I've been heavily influenced by strands of critical theory, Marxist theory, cultural studies, semiotics, post structuralism, and postmodernism. These theoretical strands have been woven together by many cultural anthropologists in order to understand what Richard Johnson (1987) has called the "Circuit of Cultural Production." What Johnson suggested is that as the cultural has been increasingly commodified, different theoretical models have been used to understand different portions of that process. He suggested that rather than seeing these theoretical trends as antagonistic, it is perhaps more useful to see them as incomplete. Johnson suggests that different theories explain different parts of the "circuit" and that together they form a more complete understanding of the entire process of cultural production. It is in the spirit of Johnson's idea that I developed my own work. It is also in that spirit that we will briefly overview the development of theory in anthropology over the last twenty years. (2) The following section is one way to look at how anthropology has developed since about the early 1980s. It does not seek to be a complete intellectual history, but represents my own view of how we can pull together theoretical developments in order to understand the "circuit of cultural production" and how that circuit has become a transnational process. From Local Culture to Global System In the mid-1980s, George Marcus (1986, pp. 165-193) began to formulate one of cultural anthropology's key methodological problems as it moved from the study of small isolated societies to looking at cultures, wherever they are found, to the study of societies deeply entwined with larger structural and cultural forces. He continued to contribute to this work over the next two decades (Marcus, 1998). A key issue that has always plagued cultural anthropology is that the main methodology of anthropologists, participant observation and ethnographic research, is very local. While it gives one a great deal of information about a specific location, it is questionable how broadly generalizable that information is. Since the beginning of modern ethnography, anthropologists have made the claim that the phenomenological conceit of "being there" and living amongst the natives gives one an understanding of the way of life and the "native's view" that can only be gotten in this way. (3) In the current world economy, Marcus argues that ethnography could engage in two main strategies that would allow it to locate its specific intimate knowledge of local interactions and individual consciousness in a broader set of structural forces, thus making ethnographic insights more useful in the contemporary world context. The first strategy he suggests is a kind of "small world experiment" for local communities. He suggests taking a number of local sites that have been studied ethnographically and exploring the political, economic, social, and cultural connections between them. Here the goal would be to have a theory of the global system and then to look at how these different locals are influenced by similar sets of pressures (Marcus, 1986, p. …

Integrating Disciplinary Perspectives into Higher Education Research The Example of History

Abstract: Few would deny that higher education has matured as a field of study: dozens of higher education graduate programs now thrive, scholarly organizations and journals abound with enthusiastic contributors, and new scholars consider themselves higher education specialists. The Journal of Higher Education has entered an eighth decade of publishing, and the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) just celebrated a twenty-fifth anniversary as the most prominent research group devoted to postsecondary educational concerns. Yet, higher education represents a fairly recent area for research, a field that has been built through the contributions of previously established disciplines. In recognition of this history, editor John C. Smart solicited a series of articles for the annual Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research which offer autobiographies of several "pioneers" of higher education research. In highlighting the work of Robert Pace (1998), W. J. McKeachie (1999), Burton Clark (2000), and Robert Berdahl (2001), Smart cites these "distinguished scholars from other disciplines whose cumulative contributions are seminal to the development of higher education research literature" (1998, p. 1). His contention--supported by the scholars' accounts--is that higher education coalesced into a research field when such psychologists, sociologists, and political scientists, joined by economists, historians, philosophers, and others, applied modes of inquiry from their home disciplines to postsecondary education. This mix of methodological and epistemological contributions raises two questions for higher education research. First, as the field matures, does it continue to value, welcome, and integrate the perspectives offered by the disciplines? Some are doubtful. A recent survey of ASHE members (Aleman, 2002) reveals some disenchantment with higher education scholars' seeming penchant for studying increasingly smaller parts of collegiate issues without wider contextual analysis. This concern leads to the second methodological question: how can discipline-based scholars continue to use higher education to explore vital questions, questions that both advance their disciplines and extend our understanding of higher education? This article uses the discipline of history to explore these questions. While not a teeming group, historians of higher education have employed their disciplinary lens to advance several lines of significant postsecondary inquiry (for example, issues of access, social mobility, professionalism, gender, and regionalism). This article first traces historians' early contributions to higher education, noting that most considered themselves scholars of history who happened to find higher education a fruitful spot for their investigations. Over time, a cadre of educational historians developed, scholars who focus intentionally on higher education; the next section explores their growing contributions. But this latter group faces its own methodological challenge: how to balance between generating research that is guided by the insights and problems of history versus allowing contemporary educational puzzles about students, leadership, organization, or markets to determine their research agenda. Recognizing this as a difficult choice for any disciplinary scholar, this article encourages historians to consider the value of the second approach, suggesting that it offers strong potential for strengthening higher education research. Early Historical Contributions to Higher Education Research Historian John Thelin, whose recent presidency of ASHE marks him as a scholar sensitive to the postsecondary present, explored the origins of historical scholarship on higher education in a 1985 review. He observed that most early contributors were historians first and higher education specialists only incidentally. Yet, as the field developed, Thelin worried that later scholars too frequently ignored the contemporary implications of their analyses. …

Wrestling with Philosophy: Improving Scholarship in Higher Education

Abstract: Knowing is inevitably practical; it changes the known. Sartre In the last several decades, one of the methodological issues facing the social sciences has been the re-emergence of philosophy. As the social sciences absorbed the assumptions of the physical/natural sciences in the 1800s, traditional philosophical questioning about the nature of existence and humankind (ontology), how we know and what constitutes knowledge (epistemology), and what is the best means for gaining knowledge (methodology), became marginalized. Instead, one set of assumptions--scientific paradigm--dominated the academy. During the later half of the twentieth century, some commentators argued that scholarship was deadened by stifling the debate of philosophical issue (Mills, 1959). Philosophical debate related to the conduct of research re-emerged with the ascendance of hermeneutics and phenomenological approaches to research, the development of critical theory (in particular the Frank-furt school of Adorno and Habermas) and postmodernism. Although each of these traditions developed and was absorbed into the social sciences at different time periods (phenomenology earliest, at around the turn of the last century, and postmodernism not until the 1960s), all were actively part of the social science dialogue by the 1970s. These three distinctive sets of philosophical assumptions were described separately and discussed as paradigms of research, and they dramatically changed the dialogue about appropriate research methods across a host of fields and disciplines (Denzin & Lincoln, 1994). A paradigm is basic sets of beliefs and feelings about the world and how it should be understood and studied (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000). It contains the researcher's epistemological, ontological, ethical and methodological premises. The field of higher education emerged in the 1930s and became formalized with the development of the Association for the Study of Higher Education in the late 1960s, at the same time as the social sciences were beginning to engage new research paradigms and recommit to the importance of philosophy. One might hypothesize that because the field emerged in the wake of these changes and was not invested in a particular dominant approach, it might have been open to engaging these philosophical debates as other fields that emerged at the time did, namely, ethnic and women's studies, social work, or urban planning. Yet, for the most part, higher education research did not embrace the philosophical debates and the three emerging research paradigms; it mostly followed the dominant scientific paradigm. Over the years, more scholars have begun to use interpretive and critical paradigms, but philosophy has remained marginalized. In this short review, I would like to suggest the value of engaging philosophical questions while developing scholarship and in teaching research. A significant problem in research methodology courses is that students do not examine and align their assumptions about the conduct of research and maintain convoluted and conflicting premises that produce flawed studies. Had they intentionally engaged philosophical questions up front, written out their assumptions about the issue to be studied, investigated their role as researcher, considered the purpose of research from the tradition they are working in, and probed what they understood as the nature of reality and how knowledge is developed, then their study would proceed with a greater level of clarity and focus. Instead, as many readers will have experienced, the students proceed muddled and confused. And truth be told, seasoned scholars could also benefit from wrestling with philosophical issues. Even those who have engaged philosophy need to revisit from time to time as new experiences or ideas shape our view. Sartre (1962) began his career as an existentialist but ended it more closely aligned with Marxism, blending the two and enriching both traditions. …