Assessing the Level of Curriculum and Scholarship Diversity in Higher Education

In January of 2007, Kennesaw State University (KSU), a comprehensive state university in the southeastern United States, embarked on the trail to garner an understanding of the extent to which diversity is embedded in the curriculum, scholarship, and creative activities of the campus. This project, the KSU Diversity and Equity Assessment Initiative, consisted of four separate work teams, and each team was charged with assessing the state of diversity in a specific area of the institution. Each work team was comprised of both faculty and staff representatives from all seven colleges on the KSU campus. For the purpose of this project, diversity focused on age, ability/exceptionality, ethnicity, family structure/gender, geographic region/language, religion, sexual orientation/identity, and socioeconomic status. The focus of this paper is to report the processes utilized to assess the level of diversity in the Coles College of Business curriculum and faculty scholarship. The Education and Scholarship Diversity research team analyzed diversity in the curricular offerings of Kennesaw State University and the coverage of diversity topics in the scholarship (including research and creative activities) of KSU faculty members. While a previous diversity group had prepared a preliminary course title analysis, the team decided that a list of course titles that suggest diversity topic coverage was limiting for several reasons. The team decided to solicit information directly from faculty members regarding course coverage and research activities that address diversity topics. Direct data collection allowed for analysis of both completed works and works in development. Additionally, the team interviewed business school leadership in order to solicit information and the perspectives of the dean regarding curriculum and scholarship efforts addressing diversity. Other activities included collecting information from peer and aspirant institutions and contributing questions to campus focus groups regarding curriculum and scholarship diversity. The Diversity Inventory became the primary focus of the team\u27s work during Spring 2007. The inventory combined information directly reported by the faculty on diversity in the curriculum and in research and creative activity. The overall response rate was an impressive 45.7% of all Coles College of Business faculty

Impact of Fiscal Resources Allocation to Schools Based on a Differentiated Supervision Model

This study examines the ability of a differentiated supervision model to initiate quality improvements in school systems by classifying schools according to several identified factors and modifying the resources allocated to all schools based on their supervision classification. Conceptual development and an archival post-hoc analysis approach were used to analyze the effects of the supervision model on the improvement of schools in a large urban school district. The researcher developed the supervision model and collected data regarding school characteristics, classification, and performance for individual schools during the first and sixth years of implementation. The researcher found that the grade level of schools, the years of experience of school principals, the socioeconomic status of schools, and monetary funding significantly impact the ability of the differentiated supervision model to impact school improvement. Additionally, the results of the study indicate that schools with the lowest performance at the initiation of the classification model had significantly higher levels of improvement than schools with higher initial performance. The conclusions drawn from the findings suggest that utilizing a customized approach to the supervision of individual schools and the resources allocated to those schools can lead to performance improvements

A Frame Work for Identifying Factors to Consider When Implementing an Academic Program at a Satellite Campus

Making a strategic decision to launch an academic degree program at a satellite site offers unique challenges. Many factors should be carefully considered in creating degree offerings, supporting student needs, allocating faculty resources, satisfying accreditation concerns, and meeting student demand. This paper establishes a framework and decision model regarding a satellite campus program utilizing an undergraduate accounting degree program as a case analysis. The case analysis provides details of how the components of the framework should be considered in making decisions regarding the possible implementation of a satellite academic program. The purpose of this paper is to propose a roadmap while highlighting the resources required and information to be considered in order to launch a 2+2 BBA- Accounting degrees at a satellite campus. The Kennesaw State University (KSU) BBA- Accounting program at the satellite campus in Paulding County is designed for graduates of Georgia Highland College’s (GHC) Associate of Science in Business Administration degree, located at the KSU/GHC Paulding County Instructional Site

Principal\u27s Preparation Program: Managing The Learning Environment Using ELCC Standards

School principals need to be well prepared to manage school facilities assigned to their care. Educational leadership programs can make best use of the Educational Leadership Constituent Council (ELCC) Standards to develop a course of study to address school facility management issues. Every standard has its facility implications that lead to designing course activities to prepare school principals to be facility managers. A school facility management course can be effectively delivered by meeting all ELCC Standards

The Multi-Object, Fiber-Fed Spectrographs for SDSS and the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey

We present the design and performance of the multi-object fiber spectrographs for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and their upgrade for the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). Originally commissioned in Fall 1999 on the 2.5-m aperture Sloan Telescope at Apache Point Observatory, the spectrographs produced more than 1.5 million spectra for the SDSS and SDSS-II surveys, enabling a wide variety of Galactic and extra-galactic science including the first observation of baryon acoustic oscillations in 2005. The spectrographs were upgraded in 2009 and are currently in use for BOSS, the flagship survey of the third-generation SDSS-III project. BOSS will measure redshifts of 1.35 million massive galaxies to redshift 0.7 and Lyman-alpha absorption of 160,000 high redshift quasars over 10,000 square degrees of sky, making percent level measurements of the absolute cosmic distance scale of the Universe and placing tight constraints on the equation of state of dark energy. The twin multi-object fiber spectrographs utilize a simple optical layout with reflective collimators, gratings, all-refractive cameras, and state-of-the-art CCD detectors to produce hundreds of spectra simultaneously in two channels over a bandpass covering the near ultraviolet to the near infrared, with a resolving power R = \lambda/FWHM ~ 2000. Building on proven heritage, the spectrographs were upgraded for BOSS with volume-phase holographic gratings and modern CCD detectors, improving the peak throughput by nearly a factor of two, extending the bandpass to cover 360 < \lambda < 1000 nm, and increasing the number of fibers from 640 to 1000 per exposure. In this paper we describe the original SDSS spectrograph design and the upgrades implemented for BOSS, and document the predicted and measured performances.Comment: 43 pages, 42 figures, revised according to referee report and accepted by AJ. Provides background for the instrument responsible for SDSS and BOSS spectra. 4th in a series of survey technical papers released in Summer 2012, including arXiv:1207.7137 (DR9), arXiv:1207.7326 (Spectral Classification), and arXiv:1208.0022 (BOSS Overview