Evaluation of King Abdullah Scholarship Program

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the King Abdullah Scholarship Program. Three research questions were addressed by this study. The questions were how Saudi students perceive the King Abdullah Scholarship Program. Was there a difference between male and female Saudi students regarding their King Abdullah Scholarship Program. Were there differences in Saudi students based on the level of education regarding their King Abdullah Scholarship Program. Interpretation of the study was subject to the following limitations. The study was limited to Saudi students in Saint Louis University and analyzed king Abdullah scholarship program. The study was limited to only Saudi students in Fall 2012. There were 46 Saudi students in the different gender and educational levels. The survey had 25 questioners about the Saudi student experiences with this program. The survey consisted of three sections. There were quality program, service and student needs. For the quality program, the king Abdullah scholarship program should promote partnerships with Saudi and American universities. It should help prepare students for their new job and to be part of a knowledge-based economy. To enhance the quality of service from SACM, the overall quality of telephone support should be improved. The staff must be effective in the service they provide. The time required to resolve issues must be reasonable. The quality of service should be improved. To improve the students’ skill, this scholarship monthly stipend should be adequate for students need. This program should not only be for graduate students but also for undergraduate students. This program must help students to find good jobs when they complete their program. Since all the data above showed only a 0.05, there was not a significant difference in evaluation of king Abdullah scholarship program between male and female Saudi students, and between the overall educational levels. Keywords: king Abdullah -scholarship program- Saudi Arabi

Service Learning at Cincinnati: Researching Water Treatment for Emerging Economies

Of the nearly six billion human inhabitants of planet earth, nearly two thirds lack access to sufficient quantities of potable water and access to basic sanitation. These appalling conditions result in the deaths of millions of children each year from preventable waterborne diarrheal disease. At the University of Cincinnati, two female graduate students have undertaken MS degrees with the specific objective of performing service learning where the research focus of their respective degrees is validating and deploying appropriate technology for water quality treatment in developing countries. This presentation will highlight the results of these research projects as well as the difficulties associated with implementing a service-learning approach to MS degrees within a traditional research-intensive graduate program

A critical analysis of female doctoral student advisement: implications for program satisfaction

The purpose of this study was to seek a greater understanding of the female doctoral student experience. In particular, the emphasis of this study is on exploring the dynamics and consequences of the advisor/advisee relationships that female doctoral students experience. This study was designed to address the role of ethnicity and gender in: (a) the selection of an advisor; (b) the quality and characteristics of the advisor/advisee relationship; (c) the impact of the advisor/advisee relationships on program satisfaction; and (d) the impact of external factors on the advisor/advisee relationship and academic experience of female doctoral students. To accomplish this goal, qualitative methods were utilized to study the advisor/advisee relationship experiences of six doctoral students. Results of this study suggest female doctoral students may become disillusioned with their progress or feel the weight of external factors bearing down on their progress. Students managing effective relationships with theirs advisors shared these feelings with their advisors. It appears open communication can make a tremendous difference in the type of advisement experience a female doctoral student shares with her advisor The participants of this study suggest graduate advisors should expect the most from female doctoral students, but refrain from exerting their values and beliefs academically, professionally, or personally upon them. These female doctoral student participants hold their advisors in high esteem and regard. All study participants seem to subscribe to the belief that advisors can make or break them. This study suggests the ultimate advisement goal these female doctoral student participants have with regard to their advisee/advisee relationship is that their advisors not break them, while they are making them or help to put them back together if they do break their spirits during the doctoral process. This study also suggests that graduate school and academic departmental administrators have a unique responsibility with regard to doctoral student advisement. Participants suggest it would be beneficial to have a systematic opportunity for doctoral students to acquire an appropriate advisor. These experiences though singularly unique are collectively powerful in providing an increased understanding of the shared essence of female doctoral students existing within academia today

Investigation of the Attitudes of Doctor of Psychology Students in an American Psychological Association Accredited Doctoral Program

Student and faculty/administration perceptions of a quality doctoral psychology program may vary. There is minimal research on the perceived quality of doctoral programs and how this is measured, based on student perceptions. Doctoral programs require great investments of time and money. This study focuses specifically on a program self assessment for the 2008-2009 academic year of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine Doctor of Psychology program, self-study survey with the doctoral students. The study was conducted using archival data from 108 Doctor of Psychology students identified as being currently enrolled in the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Doctor of Psychology program. A multiple regression was performed using the independent variables of student perceptions of faculty as role models, availability of faculty, promptness of faculty in returning phone calls and returning papers and assignments, approachability of the faculty, program administration investment in resolving student concerns, approachability of the program administration, and the extent to which the program administration is open to feedback; this also involved students\u27 perceptions of opportunities for involvement with faculty in scholarly activities, male student versus female student perceptions of faculty as mentors, and opportunities for meaningful interactions with peers as predictors against the dependent variables of overall quality rankings of poor, fair, good, very good, and excellent. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the degree of differences between the overall quality of the program in preparing the student ultimately to practice as a doctoral level clinical psychologist and degree of differences between the overall quality of the program in preparing the student in the cognitive-behavioral empirically supported approach to clinical psychology; this involved the factors of program faculty as role models, faculty availability, faculty promptness in returning phone calls, papers, and e-mails, as well as respect and courteousness toward students, the investment of the program administration in resolving student concerns, approachability of program administration, extent to which the program administration is open to feedback, perceived opportunity for involvement with faculty in scholarly activities, gender differences in overall quality of faculty as mentors, and opportunities for meaningful interactions with peers. A probability level of .01 was used for statistical significance of the findings with the Pearson Correlation and Coefficient of Determination. A multiple analysis of the variance (MANOVA) was completed, using the variance of students who are years in the program beyond 5 years versus those students who are maintaining academic pace to graduate in 5 years as the independent variables and the overall rating of preparation to practice as a doctoral level clinical psychologist and for preparation in a cognitive-behavioral empirically-supported approach to clinical psychology as dependent variables. Results find significant correlations between factors related to student perceptions of program faculty, student perceptions of program administration, student perceptions of the quality of mentoring they receive from program faculty, and overall quality rating of the quality of their interactions with their peers; it also includes preparing students to practice as doctoral level clinical psychologists as well as overall quality ratings in preparing students to utilize cognitive-behavioral empirically-supported approaches. No significance was found regarding gender differences and overall rating of quality based on the quality of mentoring perceived by the students or based on the year of enrollment in the program. The results of the current study are of great importance to the ongoing support and advocacy of students who enroll in costly and time consuming educational programs and for programs that are dedicated to ensuring both the educational integrity and positive experience of their students

Relationship Quality Associations Family Values for Online Graduate Students with Intimate Partners

Previous research found that relationship quality (RQ) for intimate couples may be adversely effected in times of stress, potentially decreasing marital satisfaction up to 36% during a four-year period for high stress couples. Previous research indicated family values (FV) may mediate RQ in stressful times; however, no research has examined this relationship for online/blended program graduate students. Students in these programs experience unique stress, change, and at times, physical distance from an intimate partner. Coombs\u27s theory on values consensus postulated that the more alike family values are in a relationship, the better the RQ will be. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine differences between graduate students in online/blended programs and their partners in RQ and FV. Forty-five participants were surveyed using convenience sampling through a university participant pool. The majority of the online/blended program graduate participants were Caucasian and female. Variables were measured using the Family Assessment Device (FAD), the Perceived Relationship Quality Components Scale (PRQC), and demographic information. Mean scores for FAD were elevated indicating dysfunction in FV. A hierarchical multiple linear regression tested the hypothesis that family values are associated with RQ for study participants. The PRQC and FAD were significantly and negatively associated (R = -.80, α = .05) indicating as FAD increases PRQC decreases. Online/blended program students may need supports to maintain FV to mediate decreases in RQ during graduate study. Identifying FV impacts RQ can assist in the development of more targeted intervention, design, planning, and implementation of online and hybrid student assistance programs

The Perceived Relationship between Wellness and Microaggressions in African American and Latina American Female Doctoral Students in Counselor Education Programs

Wellness has been identified as one of the primary goals in the counseling profession (Myers, 1992; Myers & Sweeney, 2005; Roscoe, 2009). Although wellness is one of the main goals of counseling, and there has been a plethora of research on wellness, there is a scarcity of wellness research focused on counselors, and counselors in training (Myers & Sweeney, 2008). Research on racial discrimination and microaggressions in students, as well as faculty in higher education suggests that many colleges and universities are hostile settings for people of color (Bradley & Holcomb-McCoy, 2004; Salazar, 2009; Salazar et al., 2004). Day to day experience with racial microaggressions can be detrimental to the well-being of people of color (Sue, Lin, Torino, Capodilupo, & Rivera, 2009; Troxel et al., 2003). This study utilized qualitative methods to examine the perceived relationship between racial microaggressions and wellness in female graduate students of color. A phenomenological approach (Creswell, 2007; Moustakas, 1994) guided this methodology. Participants included seven African American and one Latina American females who were enrolled in CACREP accredited counselor education doctoral programs in one region of the United States. Participants were interviewed face to face and/or by phone in two rounds of interviews. Interview questions addressed participants’ experiences, their definitions of wellness, and their perceptions of the relationship between wellness and racial microaggressions. Participants discussed seven themes including: program experience, day to day experiences of microaggressions, types of microaggressions, wellness, the impact of microaggressions on wellness, wellness strategies in coping with microaggressions, and program expectations. The primary types of microaggressions experienced were microinsults (n=8) and microinequities (n=7). Microaggressions were found to have an impact on emotional, academic/career, overall, interpersonal/social, physical, psychological, personal, and spiritual components of wellness. Wellness strategies helped to decrease participants (n=4) vulnerability to racial microaggressions. This study provides information which informs counseling programs of the unique experiences and needs of Latina and African American female graduate students, with implications for increasing retention rates and improving the overall quality and wellness of these students

Recruitment, Preparation, Retention: A case study of computing culture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Computer science is seeing a decline in enrollment at all levels of education, including undergraduate and graduate study. This paper reports on the results of a study conducted at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign which evaluated students attitudes regarding three areas which can contribute to improved enrollment in the Department of Computer Science: Recruitment, preparation and retention. The results of our study saw two themes. First, the department's tight research focus appears to draw significant attention from other activities -- such as teaching, service, and other community-building activities -- that are necessary for a department's excellence. Yet, as demonstrated by our second theme, one partial solution is to better promote such activities already employed by the department to its students and faculty. Based on our results, we make recommendations for improvements and enhancements based on the current state of practice at peer institutions.Comment: 37 pages, 13 figures. For better quality figures, please download the .pdf from http://www.cs.uiuc.edu/research/techreports.php?report=UIUCDCS-R-2007-281

The Correlation between Enrollment Status and Graduation Rates of Master of Public Administration Programs

Statement of the Problem The Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) is an international association of universities and colleges that grant professional master’s degrees in public policy, affairs and administration. In the academic year 2017-18 there were 301 member schools (NASPAA, 2017). NASPAA’s mission is to advocate for quality education in the field of public service (Kellough, 2014). NASPAA promotes the global standard in public service education by ensuring the quality of master’s degree programs in policy, administration, and public affairs of their member schools. This is evidenced by the association incorporating standards in their mission-based accreditation process (NASPAA, 2018a). The Master’s in Public Administration (MPA) degree program is designed to prepare students for a career in public service. Graduates of the program find careers in public sector management, healthcare, policy analysis, and in local, state and federal government organizations. NASPAA has noticed a decline in public service degree program applications and is concerned about retaining top-quality students to pursue careers in public service (Cheng, 2017). Research Question What is the correlation between part-time and full-time enrollment status and graduation rates for the MPA degree programs in NASPAA accredited schools