Examining the Role of the Catholic Environment in Students’ Search for Meaning

Emerging research illustrates that undergraduate students are searching for meaning in their lives, yet postsecondary institutions generally do little to support them in exploring such issues (Astin et al., 2005b). We speculated that religiously affiliated institutions might offer guidance on supporting students’ spiritual development, and thus examined students in the context of Catholic postsecondary environments, focusing on whether the students’ religious affiliations and perceptions of their institution as supporting their spiritual development affected their search for meaning. Further, we examined the aspects of the environment that strengthened students’ perceptions of their college environment as closely aligned with the Catholic mission, and thus supportive of their spiritual development. We discuss implications for secular and religious institutions

The Black Ceiling: The Underrepresentation of African American Females in the CES Professorate

This qualitative phenomenological study highlighted the lived experiences of six African American female professors in the counseling education and supervision professorate. The professors were faculty within universities across the United States in the mid-Atlantic, southern, and midwestern regions. This study obtained data from semi-structured interviews as well as photovoice submissions from the interview participants in order to identify experiences which facilitated their persistence in the professorate and overcoming internal and external barriers. The research problem was the underrepresentation of African American females within the counseling education and supervision professorate, which further facilitates minority students’ attrition and underrepresentation. A thematic analysis of the source data revealed five themes and three subthemes. The themes were mentors facilitated persistence, belief in concepts of calling and gifts, encouragers and positive family support, external barriers (referred to as the Black ceiling), and persistence. The subthemes were encountered racial discrimination, feelings of loneliness and invisibility, and realities of intersectionality and minority status. The study revealed that in the face of adverse external barriers, persistence in the counseling education and supervision professorate was facilitated by the positive influence of mentors, callings, and encouragers despite discrimination, loneliness and invisibility, and intersectionality and minority status

Pursuing the Professoriate: The Academic Career Development of Black Female Doctoral Students at Predominantly White Institutions

This qualitative study explored the lived experiences of Black female doctoral students enrolled in education doctoral program at Predominantly White Institutions (PWI). Using semi-structured interviews, the study investigated the academic career development of Black female doctoral students guided by four research questions: (a) What perceptions do Black female doctoral students have of an academic career? (b)What factors shape Black female doctoral students’ academic career perceptions during the doctoral process? (c) What are the academic career intentions of Black female doctoral students? and (d) What factors influence the development of Black female doctoral students’ academic career intentions during the doctoral process? Participants included 13 individuals who self-identified as female, of African/African Diaspora descent, and were enrolled in an education on-site/face-to-face doctoral program at a PWI. Participants reported career intentions to either pursue a full-time faculty position or an administration positions within higher education. Three themes emerged from the data: (1) Higher Education is a Tough Terrain, (2) Access Makes a Difference, and (3) Self-Efficacy: I Can Do It! The findings from the study highlight Black women’s experiences with the intersection of race and gender during their doctoral studies, their perception of the academic environment as challenging, and their self-efficacy to continue pushing forward in pursuing the professoriate despite the perceived challenges. The study offers important implications for the development of interventions and career support for Black female education doctoral students in pursuit of the professoriate

Actualizing Organizational Core Values: Putting Theory into Practice

The literature on organizational culture and leading by shared values suggests a prescriptive model for use by leaders in actualizing stated organizational core values. Utilizing a qualitative case study approach, this study sought to examine the efficacy of this theoretical model in representing actual efforts by practitioners to embed diversity as a new organizational core value. Leadership actions to embed and actualize diversity as an institutional core value at two private universities were examined and compared. Findings suggest the theoretical model inadequately addresses the critical role of contextual assessment and under represents the dynamic cyclical nature of value embedding and actualization processes, particularly with respect organizations with high stakeholder turnover such as institutions of higher education

FACULTY PERCEPTIONS OF ACADEMIC FREEDOM AT A METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY: A CASE STUDY

This research study examines how faculty perceive academic freedom at a metropolitan university. Thirty structured interviews were conducted with social science faculty, who have been tenured for 10 years or more, at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). These faculty came from the departments of Sociology, Psychology, Anthropology, Political Science, Urban Studies, Criminal Justice, Women’s Studies, and African-American Studies. The following five questions were the central research questions: (a) how do core faculty in the social sciences at VCU define academic freedom; (b) do these same faculty perceive academic freedom to be a significant feature of a career in higher education; (c) do these same faculty perceive any existing threats to their academic freedom; (d) how do these faculty define academic tenure; and (e) how did these faculty learn about academic freedom and tenure. Where previous research has often focused on comparing and contrasting faculty perceptions of academic freedom from different institutions, ranks and disciplines, this research targeted a fairly homogenous population of faculty in order to identify any common socialization experiences, both formal and informal, which may have contributed to common perceptions. The findings suggest that these faculty do not share a common perception of academic freedom. Where most of the respondents did agree that academic freedom protected both research and teaching, approximately half of the respondents did not associate any institutional limitations or professional responsibilities with academic freedom. Most of the respondents considered academic freedom to be a significant feature of an academic career. They perceived the current threats to academic freedom to be largely stemmed from within the institution. In particular, they believed that a top- down business model of leadership coupled with a weak academic culture to be the most significant threats to academic freedom. They defined tenure primarily as a means of protecting their own academic freedom through job security. Lastly, most of them learned about academic freedom very vicariously and informally, which helps explain the varied perceptions of what academic freedom means to them and how it should be exercised

Examining CPE\u27s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Policy and its Impact on HR Directors to Recruit and Hire Faculty of Color at Associate-Level Colleges in the Commonwealth of Kentucky

Strategies to recruit and hire faculty and staff of color to the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s population levels have continued for 57 years. From Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to the Kentucky Plan in 1982 to the Strategic Plan for Kentucky Higher Education from 1982 to 1995, to the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education’s 2010-2015 Policy and Framework for Institution Diversity Plan to its current 2016-2021 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Policy. Despite five policy implementations, a problem still exists in recruiting and hiring faculty of color at associate-level colleges in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.The need for public community colleges in Kentucky to intensify their effort to recruit and hire this demographic is evident. However, current data and trends do not reflect the current CPE policy mandates. According to Integrated Postsecondary Education Data Systems (IPEDS), from 2016-2021, there were 1,596 total faculty and staff working in the 16 Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) colleges yearly. Six percent of the total comprise Black/African American, Latinx, American Indian/Native Alaskan, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and two or more races. Five years after CPE DEI Policy implementation, it remains at 6%. The research was essential to address deficiencies in CPE and KCTCS initiatives that mandate each institution to recruit and hire more faculty of color over five years. The formal and informal experiences of HR directors at associate-level colleges to increase recruiting and hiring percentages of color to the CPE mandates created the study’s foundation and analysis. Five human resource directors from KCTCS colleges participated in the phenomenological research study in December 2020 to examine why the phenomena faculty of color percentages were not increasing as the policy intended. The interviews targeted the policy and its impact on recruiting and hiring faculty of color to meet statewide mandates. Data were collected and analyzed from structured interview questions. The study revealed that HR directors are working hard to achieve DEI goals. Still, there is a systemwide failure to implement consistent policy and procedures to expand faculty of color at associate-level colleges in Kentucky. Four major themes emerged from the interview data. The themes were 1) CPE\u27s DEI percentage mandates are unrealistic given the population totals in which these colleges serve, 2) there is a lack of funding from KCTCS to recruit and hire faculty of color to the same level of students, 3) KCTCS office needs to hire a person to help recruit and hire and hire faculty of color at both urban and rural colleges, and 4) KCTCS office personnel needs to change their traditional ways of thinking when it comes to DEI issues. The findings add validity and significance to why this demographic is vital to associate-level colleges\u27 overall success in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Both entities need a concrete policy to address these inadequacies in the system’s policy. A Pathway to Professoriate Action Plan (Appendix A) was created by the researcher to address these institutional shortcomings. Faculty of color make a significant impact on every level of higher education, and this impactful study provided relevant evidence to support this decades-long conclusion

Inclusive teaching circles : mechanisms for creating welcoming classrooms.

This essay examines the Inclusive Teaching Circle (ITC) as a mechanism for faculty development in creating instructional tools that embrace an inclusive pedagogy reflecting diversity, cultural competence and social justice. We describe one group’s year-long participation in an ITC at a large, metropolitan research university in the south. Next, we share several members’ strategies for promoting more inclusive and equitable learning for students in our classrooms. Finally, we consider the implications of ITCs for its group participants and the professorate at large

Veterans in Counseling Programs: Military Service and the Counselor Training Process

The authors conducted a transcendental phenomenological study to acquire a deeper understanding of graduate student veterans’ experiences in counselor training programs and explore how military background influences counselor development. Results are based on semi-structured interviews with eight graduate student veterans enrolled in counseling programs across the United States. Four themes resulted which impacted counselor training processes (a) military behaviors, values, and identity (b) military counseling cultural contrasts, (c) integrating military service into counselor training, and (d) veteran-friendly suggestions for counseling programs. This study presented a range of experiences graduate student veterans have in counselor training programs, concluding that this student population provides a unique and valuable cultural perspective that warrants independent consideration and representation in counselor training. We further discuss implications for counselor education and future research to better support this student population

Doc 3 Research Forum Abstracts

This document provides titles and abstracts of doctoral students critical engagement projects (dissertations) held at a Research Forum April 11-13, 2003 in Chicago. These students are in Cohort 3 in the Adult and Continuing Education Doctoral Program in the College of Arts and Sciences at National Louis University

Advancing the Next Generation of Higher Education Scholars: An Examination of One Doctoral Classroom

Course content in graduate school is especially important in terms of helping students make progress toward a doctorate. However, content is merely one aspect of developing successful students. This article highlights the value of creating an affirming learning environment by discussing one graduate class on Qualitative Policy Research. The majority of student participants were graduate students of color. The authors discuss the pedagogical approaches guiding this course and outline ways in which the instructor served to create safe spaces that invited as well as validated diverse perspectives and made the research process transparent. These efforts resulted in the production of high quality research used as pilot studies for successful dissertation defenses, accepted presentations at scholarly conferences, and published articles in peer-reviewed journals. Throughout this article, suggestions for replicating a similar course environment are discussed