Medium-sized Public University Research Articles

Campus Carry Attitudes Revisited: Variations within the University Campus Community

ABSTRACT This study examined attitudes toward campus carry – a policy that would permit individuals to carry concealed firearms on a university’s grounds if they possess a permit. Survey data were collected from a sample of 1,380 members of a campus community – undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, and staff – at a medium-sized public university in Pennsylvania whose legislation leaves the decision of campus carry up to the institutions. The majority of the sample reported non-supportive attitudes toward the implementation of campus carry. However, the degree of support and general attitudes toward the policy varied with undergraduate students having the most supportive attitudes of campus carry, followed by graduate students, staff, and then faculty. Certain demographic variables along with other campus-related variables, such as a fear of victimization, predicted campus carry attitudes. The research findings are discussed in terms of both research and policy implications.

Building on International Good Practices and Experimenting with Different Teaching Methods to Address Local Training Needs: The Academic Lecturing Experience

The internationalisation of Higher Education Institutions is a process conceived of not as an end in itself but as a means to improve the quality of education, research and services (De Wit and Leask 2015). However, one of the consequences of this phenomenon is that lecturers are often called on to embrace the challenge of teaching their subject through a foreign language without receiving formal training in this, especially in countries where English-taught programs are still in their infancy, such as Italy. With the aim of supporting academic staff in this transition, the Academic Lecturing programme has been set up in a medium-sized public university in the north-east of Italy: it is specifically designed for lecturers who teach their subject through English and aims to raise their awareness of the impact of the internationalisation process on teaching, the more extensive set of skills needed for teaching and learning in English, and the increased heterogeneity of the student population. The purpose of the programme is also to help participants try their hand at new teaching methods and new technologies as a means of making lessons more interactive, thus increasing their accessibility and making them more effective, and to help participants to improve their strategic use of English within their disciplinary field. The professional development programme will be reported in the light of both a brief description of the programme format—a course and a one-to-one support service—and the feedback received from participants in the various editions so far. This feedback will be used to inform the future development of the programme, with a view to encouraging increased collaboration between language specialists and content specialists (Lyster 2017, Wingate 2018), thus further addressing the need for a more integrated use of language and content in university lectures.

Performance-Based Aid, Enhanced Advising, and the Income Gap in College Graduation: Evidence From a Randomized Controlled Trial

Income gaps in college enrollment, persistence, and graduation raise concerns for those interested in equal opportunity in higher education. We present findings from a randomly assigned scholarship for low-income students at a medium-sized public 4-year university. The program focused solely on the first four semesters of enrollment and tied aid disbursements to modest academic benchmarks and enhanced academic advising. Meaningful decreases in time to degree appear to be driven by students with the lowest academic preparation and family income. Treated students took out approximately 20% less in student loans during the duration of the program. Participants also indicated high satisfaction with the program’s model of enhanced academic advising.

Preservice Secondary Mathematics Teachers’ Actional Beliefs about Teaching Geometric Transformations with Geometer’s Sketchpad

<p style="text-align: justify;">Preservice mathematics teachers' beliefs about actions related to the use of the technological tools in teaching mathematics may affect how they are going to use them in their classroom activities. However, there is a limited evidence of what beliefs they hold on their intended actions of using technological tools in teaching mathematics. This study presents two preservice high school mathematics teachers' actional beliefs related to their intended actions in teaching geometric transformations (GTs) using Geometer's Sketchpad (GSP). The study comprised of a series of five task-based qualitative interviews with each of two senior undergraduate preservice teachers at a medium-sized public university in the Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. This study used a radical constructivist grounded theory (RCGT) with five assumptions—symbiosis, voice, cognition, adaptation, and praxis as a theoretical framework to guide the study process. The thematic findings of the study included four in vivo categories of their beliefs associated with actions of teaching GTs with GSP – assessment of student learning, engaging students in a group activity in exploring GTs with GSP, engaging students in individual activity in exploring GTs with GSP, and exploring GTs with GSP as 'suck it up and do it.' Pedagogical implications of these categories have been discussed.</p>

Social networks and college performance: Evidence from dining data

We investigate the effect of friends in class on academic performance in college using unique data on dining card swipes at a medium-sized public university. We define friendships by academic quarter as repeated meetings among students in the same dining hall. To identify the impact of having a friend in class, we employ models with student- and class-level fixed effects and find having a friend in class has large and positive effects on grades. Our analysis of heterogeneous friend effects reveals that the positive friend effect exists across all types of friend characteristics, suggesting the unconditional importance of social connections.

Fighting the Freshman Fifteen: Sleep, Exercise, and BMI in College Students.

To examine how sleep and physical activity predict body mass index (BMI) in college students. Cross-sectional. Medium-sized public university in the Southeastern United States. 386 undergraduate students (245 females; 18-25 years). Surveys included the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Concise Physical Activity Questionnaire (CPAQ). PSQI provided 5 sleep scores: PSQI Global Score, Sleep Quality Factor Score, Sleep Efficiency Factor Score, Sleep Duration, and Habitual Sleep Efficiency. Height and weight measurements were taken to calculate Body Mass Index (BMI). Correlational analyses were completed first. Linear and moderation regression models using CPAQ as the moderator were used to predict BMI. The Johnson-Neyman technique determined regions of significance where sleep significantly predicted BMI dependent on CPAQ score. Sleep Duration significantly predicted BMI (β= -.385, p = .043) while significant interaction terms predicting BMI were found for Global PSQI Score × CPAQ (β= -.103, p = .015) and Sleep Quality Factor Score × CPAQ (β = -.233, p = .013). Johnson-Neyman analyses demonstrated that better sleep quality (measured by Global PSQI and Sleep Quality Factor Scores) predict lower BMI when exercise levels are low and higher BMI when exercise levels are high. At low levels of exercise, better sleep quality significantly predicts lower BMI, suggesting that interventions designed to increase sleep quality could promote healthy weight maintenance in college students.

The effects of transformational leadership on organisational citizenship behaviour: the role of organisational justice and affective commitment

PurposeEven though the influence of transformational leadership on organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) has been extensively studied in human resource management, evidence on the mechanisms through which transformational leadership affects OCB is only beginning to emerge. In view of the ambivalence about strategies of advancing OCB, this paper aims to establish whether and the extent to which the relationship between transformational leadership and OCB was mediated by organisational justice and affective commitment.Design/methodology/approachThe study was based on a random survey of 300 employees from a medium-sized public university, and 122 employees from public and private sector organisations in Lesotho. Partial least squares structural equation modelling and process macro techniques were used to analyse data.FindingsThe results confirmed significant paths between transformational leadership and organisational justice; organisational justice and affective commitment; and affective commitment and OCB. The results further suggested that perceived justice and affective commitment were significant serial mediators between transformational leadership and OCB.Practical implicationsElucidation of the nature of mediating factors between leadership and OCB would leverage organisations’ level of understanding of why transformational leadership is critical to promoting OCB, and hence encourage them to design programmes that would equip supervisors with skills necessary to enhance it.Originality/valueThis is one of the few theory-driven primary studies that examine the serial mediating roles of organisational justice and affective commitment in the transformational leadership – OCB relationship.

Calculus II Course Redesign: Supporting Faculty in Pedagogical Change

ABSTRACT This article describes a partially flipped course design for Calculus II which has been implemented by a varied instructional team at a medium-sized public engineering university (Colorado School of Mines (Mines)) over a period of three years. We have identified three main factors which have contributed to the success of the implementation: (1) institutional support for teaching, (2) use of evidence-based practices, and (3) creation of faculty community. We demonstrate both student and faculty success through student assessment data and faculty interviews. Success is defined in terms of student performance, the implementation rate of faculty, and the positive experience of the instructional team.

Integrated Learning in a Science of Kriyayoga Course

This study investigated changes in student self-awareness in a newly developed science course, The Science of Kriyayoga, which is a part of the Indic Studies minor at a medium size public university. Students enrolled in this course learned and practiced Kriyayoga techniques twice a week, over 15 weeks. Kriyayoga, a form of contemplative practice, emphasizes an anchoring and habitation in the present moment. Kriayoga is based on techniques designed to accelerate spiritual development and to create a profound state of tranquility in the participants. Pedagogy for this course utilized mind and body techniques for deepened learning. Data was collected in the form of surveys and interviews with students over two iterations of the course taught by the same instructor. One main question used for this study was, “To what extent and in what ways do you understand yourself in a scientific way through this course?” Two other questions were “Who are you?” and “What/who is your ideal?” Both quantitative and qualitative data was distilled and themes emerged which represent the key points of the findings.

A Case Study to Address the AACSB Curricula Management Review

This paper examines a curricula management improvement process model to apply to the review of a business school core curriculum consistent with AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International) Standard 8. AACSB accredited schools are required to perform periodic curricula management review. A flexible business process model extensible to other curriculum programs is proposed. The results of the model implementation from an action-research study at a medium-size public university in the northeastern United States are discussed. AACSB requires that a continuous improvement review process for curricula management be in place. However, there is a lack of formal business processes to address how business schools can systematically manage their curriculum. This paper bridges that gap by presenting a formal approach. Lessons learned from the process and recommendations are also presented.

Perceptions of the medicinal value of hallucinogenic drugs among college students

BackgroundThis survey examined perceptions among college students about the potential medicinal benefits of hallucinogenic drugs. Current research and potential benefits include an ability to help anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and addiction with hallucinogen-assisted psychotherapy.MethodsWe devised and administered a survey on 124 students at two college campuses, one small private college in the mid-Atlantic and one medium-sized public university in the Midwest of the United States.ResultsResponses were similar across campuses, and in general, participants were reluctant to agree that hallucinogens can be therapeutic to the seven afflictions we questioned them about. However, the survey also revealed that a majority of participants believed there should be further research done exploring the medicinal benefits of such drugs.ConclusionThese findings shed light on perceptions of hallucinogens as their use is being applied to a host of afflictions.

Attitudinal and Cognitive Beliefs of Two Preservice Secondary Mathematics Teachers

The objective of this paper is to present attitudinal and cognitive beliefs of two preservice secondary mathematics teachers about teaching geometric transformations (GTs) using Geometer‟s Sketchpad (GSP). The study comprised ten task-based interviews, a series of five each with two participants, senior undergraduate preservice mathematics teachers, at a medium-sized public university in the Rocky Mountain Region of the United States of America. Radical constructivist grounded theory (RCGT) was the theoretical framework used both to guide the study process as well as to integrate the research participants, the researcher, research process, and the data. The results of the study include in vivo categories of the participants‟ beliefs associated with attitude and cognition of teaching GTs with GSP. These include developing confidence with GSP, efficiency of using GSP for teaching GTs, exploring GTs with GSP, conjecturing GTs using GSP, supporting and engaging students in learning GTs, and understanding GTs with GSP. Some pedagogical and policy implications of these categories are also addressed.

Crafting a faculty and staff fundraising campaign: Predictors of giving, donor motivations and effective strategies

This study seeks to explore demographic predictors of giving, donor motivations and effective strategies for a faculty and staff giving campaign. It presents the results of a pre-campaign employee survey conducted at a medium-sized public university in the southern United States. Results suggest that demographic predictors of giving may vary from one institution to another based on organisational culture or climate. Main reasons for donating include student education support and institutional loyalty and pride. Importantly, the study statistically demonstrates that employees with higher affective organisational commitment are more likely to donate. Finally, fundraising strategies that would be well-received include success stories, e-newsletters and websites. The results presented here may be helpful to other institutions interested in conducting a faculty and staff fundraising campaign, an increasingly required fundraising effort among public higher education institutions in the present time of limited public funding.

A New Neighborhood Every Fall: Aging in Place in a College Town

ABSTRACTOlder adults who live in residential neighborhoods adjacent to college and university campuses have a unique experience that makes them vulnerable to marginalization and displacement. As these neighborhoods become increasingly dominated by college students living in rental properties, older adults find themselves in the minority in a neighborhood where they have lived for many years. In addition, these neighborhoods are attractive to universities, city governments, and private companies for their development potential, which can result in gentrification. A year-long ethnographic study of a campus-adjacent neighborhood in a small US college town that is home to a medium-sized public university sheds light on the relationships between members of 5 stakeholder groups that have a vested interest in the neighborhood. The study highlights the need for additional research on different types of neighborhoods and their effects on aging in place in addition to outlining social work interventions in campus-adjacent neighborhoods that are designed to enhance these intergenerational spaces.

Performance and Persistence Outcomes of GEAR UP Students: Leveling the Playing Field in Higher Education

Given the major investment in the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) grant, rising postsecondary access, trends in poor persistence and retention rates, and the ongoing accountability measures in higher education, it is critical to examine factors related to postsecondary performance and persistence of GEAR UP students in comparison to their peers. College performance and persistence of 298 State GEAR UP students were compared with other first-time, first-year students (1,841) who entered a moderately selective, medium-sized public research university in Fall 2012. The GEAR UP students were more likely to be from disadvantaged, underrepresented backgrounds; despite less advantageous beginnings, they entered college with similar high school grade point average and Scholastic Assessment Test scores, though lower American College Test scores. Also, students’ first-term grade point average and credit loads served as predictors of persistence. Most importantly, GEAR UP students were just as likely to perform and persist as their peers.

(How) Do research and administrative duties affect university professors’ teaching?

We analyse the interaction between university professors’ teaching quality and their research and administrative activities. Our sample is a high-quality individual panel data set from a medium-size public Spanish university that allows us to avoid several types of biases frequently encountered in the literature. Although researchers teach roughly 20% more than nonresearchers, their teaching quality is also 20% higher. Instructors with no research are 5 times more likely than the rest to be among the worst teachers. Over much of the relevant range, we find a nonlinear and positive relationship between research output and teaching quantity on teaching quality. Our conclusions may be useful for decision-makers in universities and governments.

The Interplay of International Students’ Acculturative Stress, Social Support, and Acculturation Modes

This study examined the relationship between acculturation modes (assimilation, integration, separation and marginalization), social support, and acculturative stress in undergraduate and graduate international students (N=104) at a medium-sized public university in the Midwestern United States. The study found that international students with broad-based social support and an Integration approach to acculturation experienced lower levels of acculturative stress. Implications for more effective counseling with international students are addressed.

Hostile territory: employers’ unwillingness to accommodate transgender employees

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to enhance the understanding of employers’ responses to the restroom requests of transgender employees, and to assess the ability as educators to reduce transphobia in the students.Design/methodology/approach– Subjects were 194 undergraduate business students at a medium-sized public university in the northeastern USA who were enrolled in an undergraduate course in organizational behavior. During class, they read a brief case which asked the students to play the role of a CEO in Little Rock, Arkansas, receiving a complaint from a female employee about using the same restroom as a coworker who is transitioning from male to female.Findings– The most inclusive response was also the rarest, with only 27 percent of students recommending unisex bathrooms. Hostile actions, forcing the transitioning employee to use the men's restroom, were recommended by 38 percent of those who correctly realized that an employee would be unprotected by sexual orientation discrimination law in this case and by 30 percent of those who thought that she could sue for that type of discrimination in that jurisdiction.Research limitations/implications– It would be interesting to replicate this with non-student samples such as human resource managers and executives. The use of a US sample and of a text-based case can also be viewed as weaknesses. Because gender identity is embodied, self-constructed, and socially constructed, no single research study can capture the totality of work life for transgender employees.Practical implications– Transphobia is so powerful that a substantial percentage of the students recommended courses of action that they believed to be illegal even though the study was designed to discourage a hostile response. Employers that are concerned about transgender rights will need to do a lot more than just grafting the word “transgender” onto their extant set of policies.Social implications– Since today's business students are tomorrow's business leaders, the authors could eventually make the business world more tolerant if the authors could identify a message that resonates with the students and causes them to re-evaluate their homophobia and transphobia.Originality/value– Empirical studies of transgender issues have been dominated by the qualitative approach, so there is a need for more quantitative research on this topic. The hostile responses usually indicated greater acceptance of transgender employees who have completed gender reassignment surgery. This seems difficult to reconcile with a conception of transphobia as a generalized distaste towards all those who transgress gender norms.

A Mentoring Program for Inquiry-Based Teaching in a College Geometry Class

This paper describes a mentoring program designed to prepare novice instructors to teach a college geometry class using inquiry-based methods. The mentoring program was used in a medium-sized public university with approximately 12,000 undergraduate students and 1,500 graduate students. The authors worked together to implement a mentoring program for the first time. One author was an associate professor and experienced using inquiry-based learning. The other author was a graduate student in mathematics education. During the course of the year the graduate student first observed and then taught a college level inquiry-based geometry course for pre-service teachers. This article describes the details of this mentoring program and our reflections on how the program went.

Class size effects on student achievement: heterogeneity across abilities and fields

In this paper, we analyze class size effects on college students exploiting data from a project offering special remedial courses in mathematics and language skills to freshmen enrolled at an Italian medium-sized public university. To estimate the effects of class size, we exploit the fact that students and teachers are virtually randomly assigned to teaching classes of different sizes. From our analysis, it emerges that controlling for a number of individual characteristics, larger classes determine a significant and sizeable negative effect on student performance in mathematics. Importantly, this negative effect is significantly larger for low-ability students and negligible for high-ability ones. On the other hand, class size effects do not appear to be relevant for student achievement in language skills.