Division's Efforts Research Articles

TIGTA Wants Increase in IRS UBI Enforcement

As discussed in the December 2020 issue, the 2021 Annual Audit Plan of the Office of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration includes a review of the TE/GE Division's efforts to identify and examine tax‐exempt organizations with unreported or underreported unrelated business income tax. TIGTA's report on the topic is dated February 24.

Outcomes Assessment for Beginning and Intermediate Spanish: One Program's Process and Results

Abstract: Outcomes assessment is a process by which an academic unit defines and articulates its program goals and assesses its attainment of those goals. This article chronicles one language division's efforts at outcomes assessment for beginning and intermediate Spanish. The evidence used for program assessment consisted of WebCAPE placement scores, student satisfaction surveys, learner portfolios, and oral proficiency interviews (OPIs). The results of the project suggest that the target goals for student progress were being met and that students were generally satisfied that the program met its stated goals. The results also suggest areas of improvement to the means by which outcomes are measured as well as areas of improvement to the curriculum.

Joseph Willits and the Rockefeller's European Programme in the Social Sciences

The Rockefeller Foundation'spost-war social science programme in Europe wasdirected by Joseph Willits. In 1946, Willitsdecided to focus his Division's efforts onFrance, and to offer fellowships to a newgeneration of social scientists. TheFoundation's social science activity in Europetapered off after 1955. This paper examinesWillits' initiatives, and considers theirconsequences.

Focus on autonomy: supporting an innovative, empowered staff.

Current nursing literature documents the benefits of nurse autonomy with evidence of increased job satisfaction. Health care organizations can support autonomous behavior through empowerment. This article reports how one hospital is responding to nurses' requests for empowerment. The request to focus the nursing division's efforts to enable an innovative empowered staff was initiated during an annual planning session with clinical and administrative staff participation. The first phase of the project involved baseline measurements of autonomy and strategic planning for empowerment through education and leadership modeling. Initial autonomy studies were conducted in 1994 and will be repeated at 18, 36, and 48 months.

The Electronic Library School:

The new program at San Jose State Universi~y's library school is described. The philosophical foundations of the program, the educational delivery model and the curriculum arc discussed in detail. Highlighted in the Division's effort to heavily invest the educational experience with contemporary information technology, providing students ample opportunities for hands-on use. The program's Impact on the library community and on the students are examined.

Earthquake hazards reduction

Only minor changes were made in the Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program at a recent markup of reauthorizing legislation by the House Science, Research, and Technology subcommittee. The subcommittee's action would increase funding slightly above the FY 1980 level, expedite planning for earthquake preparedness, and eliminate some fuzzy areas in administration of the program.Extra money would be provided for a number of areas, including public education, disaster planning and preparedness, and studies to improve the resistance of buildings to earthquakes. The bill gives special attention to ‘policy research,’ a part of the NSF Problem‐Focused Research Division's effort to assess the social consequences of predicting, and preparing for, earthquakes—an area formerly given short shrift by a practical‐minded Congress.

I&EC Division effort increases membership

I&EC Division effort increases membership

Hamilton Standard Division

Hamilton Standard Division of United Aircraft Corporation announced in November the formation of a research laboratory which is to be directed by Charles F. Squire, formerly professor of physics at the Rice Institute. The Division is involved primarily in the areas of jet aircraft, missiles and space systems, and aircraft propellers. Scheduled programs will include work in thermodynamics, heat transfer, electron optics, solid‐state physics, physical chemistry, and thermoelectricity. The laboratory, which is now being constructed at Hamilton Standard's main plant at Windsor Locks, Conn., will also support the Division's efforts in electronics, ground support equipment, missiles and space systems, electron beam technology, and advanced product planning.