Student Engagement in Higher Education: Theoretical Perspectives and Practical approaches for Diverse Populations. (2nd edition)

As enrollment in postsecondary education increases, so does the diversity of students. Because merely attracting students to college is not enough if we want them to flourish and graduate, institutional leaders and college and university constituents aim to create welcoming teaching and learning environments to retain students while preparing them for the diverse workforce they will enter upon graduation

Toward a Theory of Engineering Professorial Intentions: The Role of Research Group Experiences

This article advances the Theoretical Model of Engineering Professorial Intentions to explain why individuals do or do not choose to pursue faculty careers. A 13-month ethnographic study of members of a diverse chemical engineering research group was conducted. The resulting theoretical model accounts for six emergent components that contribute to members’ identification with faculty careers: (1) social identities and personal factors; (2) sociocultural factors; (3) participation, interactions, and learning in research group experiences; (4) faculty prototype; (5) social comparisons; and (6) individual and institutional experiences. The article concludes with implications for further research and recommendations regarding mentoring and design of research group experiences that may promote greater interest in and identification with the professoriate

Learning Competencies Through Engineering Research Group Experiences

Purpose - In some fields, research group experiences gained in laboratories are more influential than the classroom in shaping graduate students\u27 research abilities, understandings of post-graduate careers, and professional identities. However, we know little about what and how students learn from their research group experiences. This article explores the learning experiences of engineering graduate students in one chemical engineering research group to determine what students learned and identify the practices and activities that facilitated their learning. Design/methodology/approach – Ethnography was utilized to observe the experiences of one 20-member research group in chemical engineering. Fieldwork included 13 months of observations, 31 formal interviews (16 first-round and 15 second-round interviews) and informal interviews. Fieldnotes and transcriptions were analyzed using grounded theory techniques. Findings – Research group members developed four dominant competencies: (1) presenting research, (2) receiving and responding to feedback, (3) solving problems, and (4) troubleshooting problems. Students’ learning was facilitated by the practices and activities of the research group (e.g., weekly full group and subgroup meetings), and mediated through the interactions of others (i.e., peers, faculty supervisor, and lab manager). Originality/value – This study adds to the engineering education literature and contributes to the larger discourse on identifying promising practices and activities that improve student learning in graduate education

The power of Language: Exploring Foundations of Neoliberalism in Federal Financial Aid Policy

Despite claims that colleges and universities are isolated from ideological preferences, sociopolitical discourse regularly shapes policies and practices of postsecondary education. This article considers how national discourse on federal aid for postsecondary education during the 1970s reflected a monumental shift in higher education policy. Specifically, we critique neoliberalism, a tenet of Critical Race Theory (CRT), to examine key testimonies from six expert educational leaders during a 1978 hearing on the Middle Income Student Assistance Act (MISAA). The key testimonies examined in this article highlight how language shifted the focus of national discourse on federal financial aid from public to private good, and from equal opportunity for traditionally underrepresented populations to equitable education for all

It Takes a Village: The Role of Emic and Etic Adaptive Strengths in the Persistence of Black Men in Engineering Graduate Programs

Black men, underrepresented in engineering, constitute a missing segment of the population who could contribute to the global knowledge economy. To address this national concern, stakeholders need additional research on strategies that aid in Black men’s persistence. This study explores the experiences of 30 Black men in engineering graduate programs. Three factors are identified as helping them persist from year to year, and in many cases through completion of the doctorate: the role of family, spirituality and faith-based community, and undergraduate mentors. The article concludes with implications for future research and professional practice that may improve the experiences of Black men in engineering graduate programs, which may also increase the chances that they will remain in the engineering workforce

Into the Storm: Ecological and Sociological Impediments to Black Males’ Persistence in Engineering Graduate Programs

While much is known about how Black students negotiate and navigate undergraduate studies, there is a dearth of research on what happens when these students enter graduate school. This article presents the results of a study of 21 Black male graduate students in engineering from one highly ranked research-intensive institution. This article provides evidence of structurally racialized policies within the engineering college (e.g., admissions) and racialized and gendered interactions with peers and advisors that threaten Black males’ persistence in engineering. We argue for taking an anti-deficit approach to understanding Black males’ persistence in engineering. We conclude with implications for policy, practice, and research that could further improve the scholarship and experiences of Black males in engineering graduate programs

Racializing Experiences of Foreign-Born and Ethnically Diverse Black Male Engineering Graduate Students: Implications for Student Affairs Practice, Policy, and Research

Despite a growing body of work on the experiences of Black collegians, the higher education knowledge base lacks scholarship focused on Black men in graduate programs who are foreign-born and/or identify ethnically as other than African American. In this article, we provide a domain-specific investigation (i.e., based on students’ field of study), centering on nine Black men in engineering graduate programs. Three themes emerged regarding students’ racialized experiences and effects of racialization: (1) racialization as a transitional process; (2) cultural identity (dis)integrity; and (3) racialized imposter syndrome. We conclude with implications for developing and implementing promising practices and activities that aid students throughout graduate school. Such targeted efforts might also improve the likelihood of students remaining in the engineering workforce

New Priorities in Prevention of Oral Disease *

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65793/1/j.1752-7325.1982.tb04057.x.pd

Introduction to the Symposium

January 25, 1995, is the 50th anniversary of the first controlled addition of fluoride to a public water supply. Those 50 years have seen extraordinary advances in oral health and consequent quality of life, for which fluoride use is generally considered the primary reason. More extensive exposure to fluoride in the modern era, however, has led to both a continuing decline in caries experience and an increased prevalence of dental fluorosis in children. At the other end of life, fluoride's role in bone strength among older people is not well defined. This symposium examines several aspects of fluoride use in the United States today, and has the purpose of helping to define the balance between maximizing the benefits of fluoride while minimizing its undesirable side effects.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65193/1/j.1752-7325.1995.tb02329.x.pd

Pre- and Posteruptive Fluoride: Do Both Actions Control Caries?

Discussion, which can get spirited, has been going on about fluoride's primary mode of action for some years. In the early days of fluoride research, it was assumed that the anticaries benefits of fluoride came from preeruptive effects; however, posteruptive action was soon evident. Today the primacy of the posteruptive hypothesis is hardly questioned; remaining questions concern the role of preeruptive fluoride. We are in the age of evidence-based dentistry, where we expect scientific evidence to shape our conclusions. In this cursory look at the data from fluoride studies, the data to support the posteruptive hypothesis are consistent from laboratory to epidemiology; findings in human populations support the mechanisms of action that have been demonstrated in the laboratory. With the preeruptive hypothesis, there is some evidence in support; however, the data are not consistent across the different areas of study. As a result, the posteruptive hypothesis can be readily adopted as the primary mechanism for fluoride's anticariogenic action. Preeruptive fluoride may have some anticaries action; but when the evidence-based philosophy is applied, the inconsistencies around the preeruptive hypothesis make it hard to adopt.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66035/1/j.1752-7325.2004.tb02778.x.pd