Departmental Contexts Research Articles

Public Administration Education in Universities in Turkey: Representative of the New or Safeguard of the Old Administration?

The aim of the study is to introduce the degree of adaptation of the departments of public administration in Turkey and with an institutionalist approach to identify the possible factors that affects this ability to reflect the New Public Governance approach dominance in the field. For this end, the article asserts that indicators such as governance and actor pluralism serve as potent manifestations of the significant shifts occurring within the field of public administration. It then proceeds to evaluate the extent of the reflection of these terms in the curricula of Political Science and Public Administration and Public Administration departments in Turkish universities. Subsequently, it examines the levels of institutionalization within these departments and scrutinizes the power and willingness of academic staff as factors influencing the degree of curriculum adaptation. Based on data collected from the websites of the Department of Political Science and Public Administration and Public Administration in universities, the study constructs two sets of independent variables to test hypotheses and employs independent sample t-tests to assess the magnitude and significance of the impact of each independent variable on the curriculum. Consequently, the findings suggest that institutional power within universities and the power and willingness of actors emerge as fundamental determinants in shaping curriculum alterations within departmental contexts.

Out of the Writing Centre and into the Classroom: Academic Literacies in Action

Writing and learning centre professionals have expertise in supporting the development of academic literacies but are typically positioned outside of departmental contexts, limiting their interaction with instructors in the disciplines. Small scale initiatives towards meaningful collaboration with faculty can create the dialogic space to move the work of academic literacies development into the classroom. This paper describes three collaborative projects in business, science, and arts disciplines to move instruction in academic literacies from a supplemental, outside of class model to an embedded, in-class delivery. Working towards collaborative projects enhances opportunities for writing centre professionals to impact their institutions while remaining flexible in delivering support in a variety of modes. These collaborative projects enhance the professional development of both teaching faculty and writing centre professionals, allowing both parties to gain insight on the often-implicit processes of thinking, using information, and writing that distinguish disciplines from one another.

How Funding Sources Affect Academic Experiences and Involvement

Graduate students from Arab Gulf countries earning degrees abroad are often funded by their governments, employers, or private institutions in their home countries, often making this funding sources different from their peers. This qualitative case study of female international students from Arab Gulf countries in the US explores participants’ academic experiences in their graduate programs and focuses on how it was affected by their funding sources. Data was collected with participants during spring and summer semester in 2018 at a land-grant university in the Midwest US. Findings show that the interactions that participants had based on their funding (or lack thereof) affected their overall experience and involvement with campus and the extent to which they had access to campus involvement. The research finds that having an assistantship or not has some positive effects for some, has some negative effects for others, is a double-edged sword for some and quite unimportant to others. The degree to which participants’ funding affected their experience was affected by how much experience through assistantships was common in their programs, options for gaining experience in their fields and integration on campus outside of assistantships, departmental contexts, and their long-term goals. Additionally, the role of discrimination in the campus involvement of students from marginalized identities is discussed. Recommendations are made for considering funding sources when supporting students in order to promote their involvement in their departments and with the wider campus community while considering potential discrimination that increased involvement can have.

Rhetoric and Reality in Middle Management: The Role of Heads of Academic Departments in UK Universities

There is a dissonance between the formal role of head of academic department represented in institutional discourses and the reality of heads’ working practices. This paper provides insight, from the perspective of heads, about how the role is experienced and enacted in one institution. Data are derived from 20 semi-structured interviews with heads of department in a teaching-focussed university in the UK. The findings show that there is autonomy in how individual heads structure, manage and lead their departments, and so the role is performed in significantly different ways. Nevertheless, for all heads, the development of a clearer institutional mission, vision and strategy had meant that the scope for strategic initiatives at departmental level was more circumscribed, and there was a significant issue for many heads about how to make the time and space available for this aspect of the role, given the competing operational demands. Derived from these findings, the paper informs practice by making recommendations about how heads of department may operate more effectively. We suggest that a mesopolitical lens, exploring how social practices are shaped by specific disciplinary and departmental contexts and cultures, may provide a productive perspective on the role of middle leaders and managers.

The role of informal conversations in developing university teaching?

ABSTRACTWithin workplace contexts, professionals learn from colleagues by engaging in informal conversations, yet little is known about the contribution these types of conversations make to how academics develop as teachers. Taking a socio-cultural perspective, this article reports on the experience of mid-career academics in conversations about teaching within their departmental contexts. This study drew on semi-structured interviews with 24 academic staff working in different departments at an Australian research-intensive university. The transcripts were analysed using Glaser and Strauss’ [1967. The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. New York: Aldine] constant comparative method for developing grounded theory. The analysis reveals that the nature of conversations between colleagues has a distinct role in supporting academics to learn how to manage and improve their teaching practice in several unique ways, for example, through collaboration following a venting incident. Informal conversations about teaching are revealed as an avenue for continuing professional development for mid-career academics, and a productive area for future higher education research.

Nurse teachers’ perceived competencies in the context of students’ first clinical placements: A qualitative study

This study seeks to illuminate the competencies of nurse teachers (NTs) and their operationalization in the context of clinical placement by exploring the challenges of being an NT, as experienced and articulated by diverse groups of interacting agents: NTs, mentors, and students. To gain insight into this area, we employed an interpretative qualitative approach, and applied data source and methodology triangulation: Focus group discussions with nurse mentors and students and e-mail interviews with NTs responsible for the placement learning were performed. Five main themes were revealed: NTs’ personal and professional mastery, mastery of student support, mastery of mentor support, mastery of learning/teaching environment, and mastery of conditions while in the clinical placement. In addition, NTs emerged as coordinators, mediators, and moderators of a complex system. Within this system, the complex interplay of diverse components can have various facilitating or obstructing effects. Considering this complexity, we argue that part of those effects is directly connected to individual NTs’ characteristics, combination of professional competencies, and application of these competencies in specific situations. We also propose that institutional and departmental contexts, as well as professional contexts of nursing practice and education, influence both teachers and students. Our research draws attention to the further development of organized and structured cooperation within and across institutions in establishing and maintaining links among different contexts of nursing education. With regard to placement learning, the complementary competencies of NTs and mentors, which mesh across fields and domains of expertise, appear to be a possible solution.

How Peace Takes Shape Locally: The Experience of Civil Resistance in Samaniego, Colombia

Drawing on the experience of Samaniego, Colombia, this article explores processes of civil resistance in the midst of armed conflict. Based on data from fieldwork in Samaniego and other localities in Colombia, as well as literature on civil resistance, peacebuilding, and rebel governance, we analyze the process of mobilization of the population of this war‐affected municipality against armed violence from its beginning in 1997 until the year 2014. As we contend, this process arose as the combined result of factors related to agency and structure. The national and departmental contexts, particularly the holding of peace negotiations between the government and National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels and the existence of similar local peace initiatives, contributed to the establishment of a propitious environment for the mobilization that took place in 1997 and led to the declaration of Samaniego as a peace territory. In terms of agency, two mayors and various civil society actors played a leading role in the process. Several factors accounted for the success of this initiative in achieving, at least to some extent, its objective of reducing violence. We cluster these into three sets of factors: structural factors, the characteristics of the civil resistance movement, and the strategic decisions made by the movement. A better understanding of these factors and their interactions can shed light on the dynamics of civil resistance in situations of armed conflict and their outcomes, offering significant insights into scholarly debates about civil resistance and local peace formation.

Academic departments as networks of informal learning: faculty development at liberal arts colleges

In this article, we consider the role of departmental contexts and relationships in faculty work within liberal arts colleges. Knowledge about how departmental networks relate to success and satisfaction may inform the work of those who support faculty work in liberal arts colleges, as well as other institution types. Analysis of quantitative and qualitative survey data from faculty members at 13 liberal arts colleges in the US suggests that informal departmental relationships influence faculty experiences. Findings suggest that departmental leaders and colleagues are sources of professional development and support, but that counter-productive behaviours interfere with such support and foster negative workplace cultures.

Professional Development, Departmental Contexts, and Use of Instructional Strategies

Background A report from the American Society for Engineering Education (Jamieson & Lohmann, 2012) identified career-long professional development for faculty, teacher training in graduate programs, departmental climates that value and support educational innovation, and reward systems that recognize achievements in educational innovation as mechanisms to improve undergraduate engineering education. These factors have long been assumed to influence faculty members' choices to engage in educational improvements, but their relationships with teaching practices rarely have been studied. Purpose We examined the relationships among professional development, departmental contexts, and engineering faculty members' use of student-centered teaching practices. Design/Method This study drew on a nationally representative survey dataset of 906 engineering faculty members from 31 four-year institutions. We used multiple regression analyses to investigate whether graduate training, professional development, and institutional factors (e.g., reward systems) relate to engineering faculty members' use of student-centered teaching practices, such as active learning and frequent and detailed feedback to students. Results Professional development activities and, to a lesser extent, graduate training in teaching positively related to the use of student-centered teaching practices. We provide some of the first evidence that graduate training in teaching is linked to the use of student-centered teaching practices. Only modest relationships were observed between departmental environments and teaching practices. Conclusion Engineering departments seeking to increase the use of student-centered teaching practices should consider supporting faculty engagement in on- and off-campus professional development activities. Supporting these activities may be more effective than emphasizing research on engineering education and curriculum enhancement in reward decisions.

Departmental Contexts and Foreign Language Majors

Departmental Contexts and Foreign Language Majors

Faculty Agency: Departmental Contexts that Matter in Faculty Careers

In a modern context of constrained resources and high demands, faculty exert agency to strategically navigate their careers (Baez 2000a; Neumann et al. 2006). Guided by the O’Meara et al. (2011) framework on agency in faculty professional lives, this study used Structural Equation Modeling to investigate which departmental factors (perceptions of tenure and promotion process, work-life climate, transparency, person-department fit, professional development resources, and collegiality) influenced faculty agentic perspective and agentic action. Results showed that faculty perceptions of certain departmental contexts do matter in faculty career agency, such as work-life climate, person-department fit, and professional development resources. These contexts have a particular influence on faculty agentic perspective. Results also showed a large effect of agentic perspective on agentic action. The study has important implications for administrators regarding departmental role in faculty agency and contributes to the growing body of literature on faculty sense of agency in academe.

Middle-level Academic Management: A case study on the roles of the Heads of Department at a Vietnamese university

Middle-level academic managers play a central role in university management; however, their roles are not always clear and straightforward. Although this research subject has been comprehensively investigated in the last 40 years, most studies are western-biased. This study examines the roles of Heads of Department in a newly established university in Vietnam to fill this literature gap. Through 24 interviews and document analysis, the study finds that the main task areas of the Heads of Department centre on programme management, academic staff management and facilities management. Other areas such as strategic management and budget management appear to be neglected. The paper supports the findings of the existing literature that Heads of Departments’ responsibilities vary in detail and the roles demanded are governed in large measure by departmental contexts. The study concludes that the Heads of Department enjoy a low level of autonomy and also act more as managers than as leaders. It is recommended tha...

Not an Extravagance: Reflections on Using French Texts to Teach French History

Under the umbrella of Foreign Languages Across the Curriculum (FLAC), a longstanding interdisciplinary program at our institution, a French historian and a French faculty member have collaborated in the development and teaching of a French language component for a survey course in modern French History. In this article, we outline the institutional and departmental contexts for the creation of French FLAC in History, offer advice on the selection of appropriate original-language texts, share samples of learning aids, and offer reflection on the long-term contributions of FLAC to student learning and the vitality of our French and History programs.

Intersectionality in context: A mixed‐methods approach to researching the faculty experience

AbstractThis chapter describes intersectionality as it relates to faculty careers, and a mixed‐methods approach to researching faculty members' identities in departmental contexts.

The Status of Modern Greek Studies in Higher Education: A Case Study on the East Coast

Recent years have brought an increase in Modern Greek programs in the United States, including a growing number of endowed Chairs and Centers for Modern Greek Studies. Despite significant differences, this trend would seem consistent with the overall recovery and rise in foreign language enrollments in the United States. The program in Modern Greek at the University of Maryland is typical in some ways and atypical in others of such programs on the East Coast. It had a tentative beginning which was followed by a serious fund-raising campaign to establish an endowed chair in Hellenic Studies. Although this goal was not reached, the program in Modern Greek at the University of Maryland resisted retrenchment and even grew within its modest parameters, retaining its affiliation with the department of Classics, and relying heavily on the support of Greek-American and Greek donors. The deepening crisis in university funding has created an increasingly competitive environment in which the Modern Greek program at Maryland and similar programs elsewhere can survive mainly through the redoubled and customized efforts of private donors with close reference to specific institutional and departmental contexts and needs.

Departmental Contexts and Faculty Research Activity in Norway

The aim of the paper is to examine the relationship between departmental attributes and university faculty research activity. Since individual and departmental factors are highly interrelated, individual attributes are included in a hierarchical linear model taking into consideration the nested structure of the data. Research activity is measured by research input in terms of time spent on research activities, and research output in terms of publications. The contextual factors have greatest impact on the indicator that is considered to be most essential when assessing research performance: published scientific articles. Department climate, age structure, as well as proportion of faculty members’ with PhD’s have significant impact on research output.

Key skills by design: Adapting a central Web resource to departmental contexts

Key skills by design: Adapting a central Web resource to departmental contexts

Leadership of School Subject Areas: Tensions and dimensions of managing in the middle

There are an increasing number of research studies concerned with the realm of middle management in schools. However, few of these studies have adequately defined what might be considered middle management in schools, or have clarified which posts constitute those of middle managers. In addition, these studies have rarely considered the way in which different departmental cultures and structures affect leadership style and departmental performance. This article acknowledges the importance of the role of the head of department in secondary schools in school wide change and outlines some of tensions and dilemmas facing those who manage from the middle. It considers the leadership tensions facing heads of department in secondary schools and points towards the variety of departmental contexts, structures and cultures in which heads of department, or subject leaders operate. The article offers an analysis of the dynamic between leadership and culture within the departmental context. It concludes by suggesting that heads of department have a major contribution to play in managing cultural change at both the department and whole school level.

THE MANAGEMENT OF CHANGE IN WHITEHALL: THE EXPERIENCE OF THE FMI

The Conservative government announced the Financial Management Initiative in 1982. This article is based on research into the genesis, development and impact of the FMI. The findings suggest that the FMI has contributed significantly to the institutionalization of resource management in general and cost awareness in particular. Implementation has been influenced, however, by the differentiation of departmental tasks and contexts, the inevitable tension between management and politics, and the difficulty of meeting the conditions for the successful engineering of cultural change.

The Community and Departmental Contexts of Volunteer Use by Police

As reductions are occurring in the revenue base of communities for the provision of public goods and services, their capacity to generate volunteer activity in the form of coproduction becomes an important resource. This study explores the rela tionship between community and police department characteristics and the inten sity of use of citizen auxiliary police officers. Data was obtained from 18 cities in Los Angeles County for comparison. The analysis shows that more extensive volunteer ing is found in smaller, predominately white communities. These are also the communities least likely to provide some type of compensation to auxiliary officers. While the generalizations that can be made from the data are limited because of the sample size, these findings show that larger, lower income, heterogeneous commu nities have been less able to draw upon residents to participate in police auxiliary coproduction arrangements.