Graduate Degree Programs Research Articles

The TPSR Alliance: A Community of Practice for Teaching, Research and Service

The purpose of this article is to describe both our unique training under Don Hellison and how the TPSR Alliance has played an important role in helping us navigate our academic careers. Both of us studied under Don Hellison for several years at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). While Dave began working with Don as an undergraduate with an emphasis in physical education teacher education, Paul began his work with Don as a graduate student. We both completed the Masters of Kinesiology and continued on to earn PhDs in curriculum and instruction. The PhD program was operated jointly by the College of Education and the Kinesiology Department. We took the required classes for both graduate degree programs, with the unique additional experience of working in Don's Urban Youth Development Project. Some of this work was done for pay, some on a volunteer basis, and some for credit through independent studies and class projects, as well as our thesis and dissertation projects. All of the UIC students working with Don through these various arrangements shared a large office with him to discuss our work with youth and develop ideas for the programs we were implementing. We also discussed our research agendas and other academic activities related to working with youth who live in underserved communities.

Growing the Pipeline of Diverse HIV Investigators: The Impact of Mentored Research Experiences to Engage Underrepresented Minority Students.

Structured, mentored research programs for high school and undergraduate students from underrepresented minority (URM) backgrounds are needed to increase the diversity of our nation's biomedical research workforce. In particular, a robust pipeline of investigators from the communities disproportionately affected by the HIV epidemic is needed not only for fairness and equity but for insights and innovations to address persistent racial and ethnic disparities in new infections. We created the Summer HIV/AIDS Research Program (SHARP) at the San Francisco Department of Public Health for URM undergraduates as a 12-week program of hands-on research experience, one-on-one mentoring by a senior HIV investigator, didactic seminars for content and research methods, and networking opportunities. The first four cohorts (2012-2015) of SHARP gained research skills, built confidence in their abilities and self-identified as scientists. In addition, the majority of program alumni is employed in research positions and has been admitted to or is pursuing graduate degree programs in fields related to HIV prevention. While we await empirical studies of specific mentoring strategies at early educational stages, programs that engage faculty who are sensitive to the unique challenges facing diverse students and who draw lessons from established mentoring frameworks can help build an inclusive generation of HIV researchers.

Higher Education Graduate Preparation Programs: Characteristics and Trends

Abstract: Student affairs is a transformative profession, with professionals offering support and assistance to students as they pursue higher education. An increasing number of these professionals have been guided by a foundation in knowledge, skills, and attitudes gained in higher education graduate degree programs. It is estimated that between 15% and 20% of the current workforce in student affairs are new professionals coming directly from graduate preparation programs (Cilente, Henning, Skinner Jackson, Kennedy, & Sloan, 2006; Renn & Hodges, 2007).

English

Establishing and maintaining a diverse US workforce that fully engages all populations represents a tremendous opportunity not only for furthering ocean science-related enterprises but also for cultivating future global ocean science leaders who collaborate effectively to make discoveries, achieve solutions, and develop technologies. A growing body of evidence suggests that a more diverse professional US workforce that better reflects the nation's demographics can be achieved through numerous strategies aimed at effectively recruiting, supporting through graduation, and facilitating the increased participation of underrepresented minorities in Earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences (and other related) graduate degree programs. To provide background and context for understanding the diversity challenge, we first describe expectations for the future US population and compare these projections to information about today's demographic realities and the situation for the geosciences (including the ocean sciences) in particular. Descriptions of several specific implementations provide examples of successful strategies and reflect the research-based positive factors shown to foster increased engagement of underrepresented minorities.

Predictors of Graduate Student Satisfaction in Public Administration Programs

Existing public administration master’s degree programs face challenges of reduced federal funding, increasing competition among programs, and high student expectations of tangible career benefits. Student satisfaction is one characteristic of public administration master’s degree programs that can help enhance the benefits of master’s degree education and improve program quality. Student satisfaction in public administration graduate degree programs has not been extensively studied. Given this gap in the literature, the socialization experiences of students in public administration programs were studied. Approximately 500 current graduate students from various public administration master’s degree programs across the nation participated in the study. Major findings regarding the predictors of student satisfaction are reported in this paper.

Competency mapping framework for regulating professionally oriented degree programmes in higher education

Recognition of the huge variation between professional graduate degree programmes and employer requirements, especially in the construction industry, necessitated a need for assessing and developing competencies that aligned with professionally oriented programmes. The purpose of this research is to develop a competency mapping framework (CMF) in this case for quantity surveying honours degree programmes. The graduate competency threshold benchmark (GCTB) is a key component of the CMF. Therefore, the CMF contains the mapping process, the template documents and the benchmark. The research adopted literature review, pilot study, case studies (including semi-structured interviews) and expert forum in developing the framework. The framework developed in this research provides new insight into how degree programmes map against competencies. Thus, the framework can be applied more widely, to other professional degree programmes, for monitoring and improving the quality and professional standards of construction degree programmes by accrediting bodies. This should connect construction graduates more effectively to the industry.

Business Intelligence and Big Data Analytics: An Overview

This research investigates the current status of big data business analytics and critical skills necessary to create business value. Business analytics refers to the skills, technologies, applications and practices for continuous iterative exploration and investigation of past business performance to provide actionable insights. Business analytics focuses on developing new insights and understanding of business performance based on data and statistical methods. Big data is used to characterize data sets that are large, diverse and rapidly-changing, as seen by ever- increasing numbers of organizations. Big data require database management systems with capabilities beyond those seen in standard SQL-based systems. According to Manyika et al. (2011), the projected demand for deep business analytical positions could exceed the supply produced with the current trend by 140,000 to 190,000 positions, in addition to the projected need of 1.5 million managers and analysts in dealing with big data business analytics in the United States. Specifically, the emphasis of this research is on how organizations are using big data business analytics and how business school in the United States and across the globe are designing their programs to fill in the talent gap, which leads to a more in-depth analysis on the graduate degree programs in the Greater New York Metropolitan area and potential applications in various industries.

The role of ultrasound in graduate anatomy education: Current state of integration in the United States and faculty perceptions.

Ultrasound (US) is increasingly taught in medical schools, where it has been shown to be a valuable adjunct to anatomy training. To determine the extent of US training in nonmedical anatomy programs, and evaluate anatomists' perceptions on the role of US in anatomy education, an online survey was distributed to faculty in anatomy Master's and Doctoral programs. Survey results sampled 71% of anatomy graduate degree programs nationally. Of the faculty surveyed, 65% report little to no experience with US. Thirty-six percent of programs surveyed incorporate exposure to US, while only 15% provide hands-on US training. Opportunities for anatomy trainees to teach with US were found in 12% of programs. Likert responses indicated that anatomists hold overwhelmingly positive views on the contributions of US to anatomy education: 91% agreed US reinforces anatomical concepts (average 4.33 ± 0.68), 95% agreed it reinforces clinical correlates (average 4.43 ± 0.65). Anatomists hold moderately positive views on the value of US to the future careers of anatomy graduates: 69% agreed US increases competitiveness on the job market (average 3.91 ± 0.90), 85% agreed US is a useful skill for a medical school teaching career (average 4.24 ± 0.75), and 41% agreed that US should be required for a medical education career (average 3.34 ± 1.09). With continued improvements in technology and the widespread adoption of US into diverse areas of clinical practice, medical education is on the cusp of a paradigm shift with regards to US. Anatomists must decide whether US is an essential skills for the modern anatomist. Anat Sci Educ 9: 453-467. © 2016 American Association of Anatomists.

Doctoral Study Programs in Social Work at HBCUs: Origin and Program Development

ABSTRACTFisk University began the genesis of HBCU graduate programs in 1880. During the next fifty years, several other HBCUs established graduate programs. That group included Lincoln, Howard, and Morgan State. However, only Lincoln University established a PhD program. The primary goal of this paper is to provide a historical perspective regarding the development of social work doctoral degree programs in the context of HBCU graduate degree program development. Although HBCU social work doctoral programs have only existed since 1978, they are significant and growing academic enterprises which are expanding the pool of doctoral level social work experts and professors of color. Further, these programs should be viewed contextually as producers of scholars on the larger landscape of the academy.

Conjoint analysis tool for determining attributes on designing a graduate degree program

In this paper the use of the analysis tool sets for defining attributes and determining the importance rank on the criterion of purchase decision of customers addresses, all of which constitutes one of the fundamental steps for designing of any product. Precisely this problematic a large group of professionals from different areas of knowledge in Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas it faces. This article discusses the usefulness and analysis procedure set shown as a statistical tool to study the process of decision making of customers on the attributes of products and services at the time of purchase.The result of the application was to define the attributes considered by potential customers in the selection of a training program of graduate degree in correspondence with which their design will be made, taking into account the type of university, price, duration course and days of the week will be taught.

Book Review The End of College: Creating the Future of Learning and the University of Everywhere, Carey, K. New York, Riverhead Books, 2015

In The End of College, Carey (2015) presents the notion that new modes and cultures of learning couched in social justice will allow many people to, for the first time in their lives, attain higher learning. The author's insights are informed by over twenty-five years of artificial intelligence data. In what Carey refers to as the 'university of everywhere', the future of higher education will be unbridled from formal degree programs. Hints of what the edX movement at Harvard and MIT are doing to revolutionize higher education include public portfolios that present an individual's learning credentials in the new higher education economy. A professor of Education at John's Hopkins University, Carey has served as an education policy analyst at both the state and federal levels. Carey's views on the future of higher education will engage the LIS educator in thought about the future, if not ignite the impetus of radical change.Keywords: Higher Education, Social Justice, MOOCS, LIS education, Online learningThe End of College: Creating the Future of Learning and the University of Everywhere, Carey, K. New York, Riverhead Books, 2015, 269 pages, Nook book $14.99, ISBN 978-101-63459-2.IntroductionIn The End of College, Carey offers readers an engaging account of a proposed paradigm-shift in higher education. To set the stage for his thesis, he provides a brief history of the beginnings of higher education in Europe, and the subsequent establishment of the American university. The author then quickly enters into what we understand about higher education as it has been for the past half century. Carey chronicles what has evolved in the application of artificial intelligence to learning that unwittingly sets the stage for a new type of university; the university of everywhere. The content presents as if it were a biography of higher education woven with predictive views of the future informed by current trends in online education. Written in a style as equally provocative to higher education consumers as it is to higher education professionals, Carey voices what many may fear; driving change fueled by disruptive technologies. Those technologies are the toys and tools engaged by today's youth who are the post-secondary students of the near future.Library and information science (LIS) scholars and educators, although not the first to offer courses online, were among the first in their respective institutions to offer graduate degree programs entirely online (Haigh, 2007). These pioneering actions offered new economic models to institutions of higher education impacted by the decline in the economy in the late twentieth century (Bush & Hunt, 2011; The Economist, 2012). Since then, only an elite few LIS scholars have delved into the world of Massive Open Online Classes (MOOCS) (Stephens & Jones, 2014). Meanwhile, the discipline has been caught up in an identity revolution, better known as the iSchool movement, battling for modernization (Bonnici et al., 2009). Typical of revolutions, entrenched library advocates have planted their heels pushing possible bifurcation of the profession. Meanwhile, the threat imposed by further economic pressures, declining enrollments, and new skills and knowledge have demanded our attention, perhaps stalling our interests in the future of higher education on a long-term scale. Carey's book, The End of College, will reintroduce, if not reinforce the importance of the mode and mechanism for educating the next generation of library and information professionals.As the son of two academics, one a Ph.D. computer scientist at a large public university, and the other holding a doctorate in education, Carey was immersed in traditional academic life throughout his formal years of learning. With an undergraduate degree in political science and a master's degree in public administration, Carey has become one of the most renowned higher education experts in the country (Blue Engine, 2015). …

Analysis of university degree syllabuses for Public Relations in Catalonia (2014–2015)

Abstract This article describes and analyses the available syllabuses for Public Relations in Public Relations and Advertising graduate degree programmes (or equivalent) in the Catalan university system for the academic year 2014–2015. The theoretical context includes specialist literature published in the last year to assess whether the curriculums of the analysed graduate degree programmes allow for dialogue between universities and professional practice. A transversal descriptive study was carried out on the websites of Catalan universities that offered information about a degree in Public Relations and Advertising during 2014–2015. The conclusions of the study show that subjects on Public Relations are in the minority in comparison with courses on Advertising, are confined to the background, and are the object of fundamentally instrumental – tactical – rather than strategic aspects.

Support students with disabilities in medicine and health care programs

According to the U.S. Department of Education National Center for Educational Statistics, the number of students with disabilities enrolled in undergraduate degree programs is growing — from 6 percent in 1995–96 to 11 percent in 2011–12. These figures are also increasing in professional and graduate degree programs. The 2010 DOE‐NCES data showed that 7.6 percent of students in such programs self‐reported a disability. Anecdotally, disability services providers understand that these numbers continue to grow. Qualified college graduates with disabilities, like many of their peers, are applying to graduate programs in the health sciences. Current research out of the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine seeks to determine the prevalence of students with disabilities studying medicine in the United States. Preliminary data analysis suggests that between 1 and 12 percent of students currently enrolled in these programs identify as students with disabilities. Providers with disabilities remain an underrepresented minority in the health care workforce, with the numbers being disproportionate to the magnitude of disabled people in the U.S. population.

Exploring the Transition to Practice for the Newly Credentialed Athletic Trainer: A Programmatic View.

Some newly credentialed athletic trainers (ATs) pursue a postprofessional degree with a curriculum that specifically advances their athletic training practice. It is unknown how those postprofessional programs assist in their transition to practice. To gain an understanding of initiatives used by postprofessional athletic training programs to facilitate role transition from student to professional during their graduate degree programs. Qualitative study. Semistructured telephone interviews. A total of 19 program directors (10 men, 9 women) from 13 Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education-accredited and 6 unaccredited postprofessional athletic training programs. Telephone interviews were recorded digitally and transcribed verbatim. For data analysis, we used the principles of general inductive approach. Credibility was maintained using peer review, member checks, and researcher triangulation. Three facilitators of transition to practice emerged: orientation sessions, mentoring, and assistantship. Participants used orientation sessions ranging from a few hours to more than 1 week to provide and discuss program polices and expectations and to outline roles and responsibilities. Faculty, preceptors, and mentors were integrated into the orientation for the academic and clinical portions of the program. All participants described a mentoring process in which students were assigned by the program or informally developed. Mentors included the assigned preceptor, a staff AT, or peer students in the program. The clinical assistantship provided exposure to the daily aspects of being an AT. Barriers to transition to practice included previous educational experiences and time management. Participants reported that students with more diverse didactic and clinical education experiences had easier transitions. The ability to manage time also emerged as a challenge. Postprofessional athletic training programs used a formal orientation session as an initial means to help the newly credentialed AT transition into the role. Mentoring provided both more informal and ongoing support during the transition.

Leadership Graduate Degree Programs: A Comparative Review and Analysis of Value Propositions

AbstractThe language used in program descriptions of graduate leadership programs on college and university websites are first attempts at enticing prospective students to consider enrolling. The descriptions invariably include value propositions about the benefits of a particular program, aimed to appeal to readers’ motivations, couched in one of three discourse styles: Formal Impersonal, Formal Personal, and Informal Personal styles. Program descriptions, a de facto rhetorical genre, and demographics of all 154 master's degree programs in Organizational Leadership in existence as of January 2014 are analyzed, using a systematic discourse analysis typology which explored the ways in which value propositions were presented. Four questions concerning discourse types, the kinds of value propositions, the relationship between rankings of universities and kinds of value propositions and discourse types, intrinsic (meaning) and extrinsic (utility) appeals are answered. Detailed cross‐sectional comparative analysis of leadership master's degree programs are also presented.

Editors' Notes

Summer has ended and fall is around the corner. Many of our readers find themselves in the middle of the academic semester. The current issue of the Journal of Leadership Studies contains articles that may take us back to our philosophical foundations. Sprinkled throughout the articles we will find references to St. Anslem, ontology, self, Nisbet, Existential–Experiential, Metaxy, Rogers, Voegelin, Nietzsche, Maslow, Heidegger, and more. Our authors implore us to consider how philosophical traditions can challenge us as leaders or may shape us as leaders. In our lead article, Existential–Experiential View of Self-Sourced (In)Authentic Healthcare Identity, the concept of self is used to frame leadership in healthcare professionals. Although the framework provided by Koskiniemi, Perttula, and Syväjärvi is focused on healthcare professionals (i.e., doctors and nurses), the authors argue that their framework is applicable to leadership in any field (e.g., law, social work) where leaders possess a strong professional identity. Stork, Grant, and Darmo in the second feature article (Leadership Graduate Degree Programs: A Comparative Review and Analysis of Value Propositions) provide an extensive examination and analysis of the discourse styles found on graduate leadership programs’ websites to communicate to potential students the “value” of the program. History in the Study of Leadership is the focus of the symposium. Guest symposium editor Nathan Harter has assembled a variety of articles and authors that explore the context of history on leadership, the intersection of history and leadership, and the role history can play in leadership. Harter argues in his introduction that history is of “greatest importance to the study of leadership.” His article explicates the role and intersection between history and leadership. The second article by Tim Blessing provides an Anselmian argument for the use of history in leadership studies. Blessing uses the logic of St. Anselm's ontological proof for the existence of God to argue that leadership studies has no choice but to deal with a history that “imprisons us” as an “inescapable matrix.” Harter's second article introduces Robert Nisbet's thoughts about history and social change. Harter cautions leadership scholars that history has its own nuances, so that when using history to understand leadership one must be careful to take into account those nuances. The role of history, the understanding of history, and the need to reflect on history is essential for leaders according to Thomas in his article Eric Voegelin, Reflexive Distance, and Harnessing the Benefits of Metaxy: The Leader's Imperative to Participate in History and Becoming. Thomas argues that understanding these aspects of history will provide a leader “a deeper understanding of a person's place in society.” The last two articles of the symposium examine the use of history in training military leaders and the examination of leadership during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Williams offers his robust insights into the “staff ride,” a technique used to train military leaders to take into account the historical aspects of war and its impact on leadership. Chace's article on leadership during the Cuban Missile Crisis frames President Kennedy's leadership through the frameworks of historical consciousness (Voegelin) and adaptive leadership (Heifetz). As you can see, this issue of the Journal of Leadership Studies offers significant depth and breadth in its topics. We think this issue of the journal offers readers unique articles that do indeed bring us back to our philosophical foundations.

Three leadership perspectives on US interdisciplinary environmental and sustainability programs: a review of the findings of the 2003-2014 studies of the Center for Environmental Education Research, National Council for Science and the Environment

The Center for Environmental Education Research (CEER) of the National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) conducts ongoing research to better understand the structure and curricula of interdisciplinary environmental and sustainability (IES) education and research programs in the USA. NCSE is a not-for-profit organization that specializes in programs that foster collaboration between the diverse institutions and individuals creating and using environmental knowledge, including research, education, environmental, and business organizations as well as governmental bodies at all levels. It hosts an annual conference and global forum on science, policy, and the environment and serves as the secretariat for four US professional organizations for environmental and sustainability academics: the Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences (AESS), the Council of Environmental Deans and Directors (CEDD), the Council of Energy Research and Education Leaders (CEREL), and the Community College Affiliate Program (CCAP). NCSE initiated its extensive research program in 2003 with a study designed to understand the nature and number of IES program academic leaders’ perspectives on ideal curriculum design for baccalaureate and graduate degree programs. This study revealed a consensus on the identity of the IES field, or what distinguishes it from other disciplines and professional fields (Vincent and Focht 2009; Vincent and Focht 2010). It also discovered three distinct, but not opposing, perspectives on the goals of IES education (Vincent 2010; Vincent and Focht 2011). Subsequent CEER research studies have consistently discovered that program leaders have three distinct views on various aspects of IES program administration with overlapping areas of consensus. These dimensions include the educational goal of IES programs (and the desirability of defined core competencies), ideal curriculum design for undergraduate programs, and the factors important for program success. Although imperfect and not predictive, statistical correlations reveal relationships between the three sets of findings. This paper will provide a review of the findings of these studies, examine the relationships between the views, and discuss the implications for the ongoing evolution of IES education and research in higher education institutions in the USA.

The Relationship between Purchase Intentions and Recommend Intentions in Assessing Market Potential for Graduate Degree Programs

The Net Promoter Score® (NPS) system measures recommend intentions on an 11-point scale that is then collapsed into three ranges: 0 – 6 (Detractors), 7 – 8 (Passives), and 9–10 (Promoters). With a five-point scale, the equivalent pooling scheme is 1-3 = Detractors, 4= Passives, and 5= Promoters. Questions can be raised about the strength of the predictive ability of the recommend intention and the method of pooling of ratings. In two market potential studies for proposed graduate programs, five-point recommend intentions and purchase intentions were used to gauge interest. The recommend intentions were collapsed into the unbalanced NPS categories and into a more conventional balanced scheme (1-2, 3, 4-5). In each data set, the uncollapsed (five-point) recommend intention and the two collapsed (three-point) recommend intention ratings were then correlated with the five-point purchase intention. All correlations were low, which points to non-redundancy between recommend and purchase intentions, and suggests the need for both metrics in studying market potential. The NPS-style collapse did not improve the magnitude of the association.

Claiming Space: An Autoethnographic Study of Indigenous Graduate Students Engaged in Language Reclamation

This article explores the critical role of an emerging generation of Indigenous scholars and activists in ensuring the continuity of their endangered heritage languages. Using collaborative autoethnography as a research method, the authors present personal accounts of their pursuit of language reclamation through graduate degree programs. These accounts speak to the importance of access to Indigenous languages and the necessity of space at universities to engage in language reclamation. The authors view higher education as a tool—though one that must be improved—to support Indigenous language reclamation efforts.

Exploring the Differences in Expectations Between Supervisors and Supervisees During the Initial Clinical Experience

The clinical experience is a major component of the curriculum for graduate degree programs in speech-language pathology. During this experience, the supervisor provides the student with the support needed to grow as a clinician. Both supervisors and students enter into the supervisory process with a variety of goals, skills, and expectations. In this article, the author presents the results of a survey in which the expectations of novice clinicians are compared to the expectations of their supervisors. Identification of the expectations of these groups assisted in determining the concerns of both supervisors and supervisees, and in assessing discrepancies, which affect the supervisor's ability to meet the student's needs. An analysis of the data revealed discrepancies in expectations of these groups. A review of expectations of novice clinicians in their first clinical experience revealed a limited understanding of the expectations of supervisors, while students entering their second clinical experience noted increased expectations for cooperative learning and supervisor feedback. Both first and second semester students expected supervisors to provide direct support throughout both clinical experiences. While supervisors expected to provide direct support to clinicians at the beginning of their first clinical experience, they anticipated moving to indirect support as the students progressed.