Tuition Policy Setting: The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 1960 - 2000

The purpose of this study was to describe tuition policy setting at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 1960-2000. A case study method was employed that involved interviews with current and former chancellors, campus business officers, presidents, system business officers, THEC officials, and a member of the board of trustees. A variety of documentary evidence was also reviewed to assist in triangulation of the data. Four significant themes emerged during the study. These four themes include: (1) there is no formal tuition policy at the University of Tennessee, (2) there is significant input in the decision making process, (3) there is minimal formal communication regarding decisions, and (4) the proliferation of special fees is a recent phenomenon. The overwhelming evidence confirmed there were no formal policies guiding tuition setting at the University of Tennessee, although the palpable long standing philosophy was “keep tuition low.” This low tuition approach was adopted as an informal policy dating back to at least the 1950s and held throughout most of the 40 year period of this study. There were considerable discussions every year during the budget process regarding the needs of the university, the likely state funding, and the share of expenses expected to come from students. The reality was tuition paid by students became the balance wheel, for the most part, in the budget planning process. The interviewees discussed many factors that influenced the tuition discussion including “what will the traffic bear”, peer comparisons regarding both tuition and faculty salaries, inflation, the state budget situation, enrollment, and the need for new programs and facilities. There was an overwhelming desire to remain competitive in the SREB region as it relates to tuition, but this desire continually competes with the desire for improved quality and expanded programs. The budget process was fairly consistent throughout the 40-year history. Keeping tuition low and shifting a portion of the expenses to fees is perceived to put the university in a more competitive position rather than combining these additional costs with the general tuition. This trend is expected to continue not only at the University of Tennessee, but also throughout higher education. Overall, the research participants were extremely committed to the purpose of higher education, fervent in their support for state funding for higher education, firmly convinced that students should pay a “fair share” of their own education, and skeptical of an improved state funding situation. In fact, only one of the twelve participants believed tuition should continue to rise, but all twelve believed it would continue to do so. In addition, none of them believed the state funding situation would significantly improve, at least not in the short-run. There must be a public policy debate in Tennessee regarding the significance of higher education to the state and why increased funding for higher education is important. We must develop a policy that recognizes the cumulative consequences of our decisions before they cause irreparable harm to some students by forcing them out of the higher education syste

Assessing technology literacy: The Case for an authentic, project-based learning approach

This whitepaper takes a comprehensive look at the research, policies, and practices of technology literacy in K-12 settings in the United States. It builds a research-based case for the central importance of doing as part of technology literacy, meaning more than just being able to answer canned questions on a test. It also explores the current approaches to develop meaningful assessment of student technology literacy at a national, state, and local level, including TechYES

Indigenous Methodology in Practice: Starting a Community-Based Research Center on the Yakama Reservation

In our paper, we examine the process, possibilities, and tensions of building a new community-based research center at a small liberal arts college on the Yakama Reservation. We view our work with the Center for Native Health & Culture as an example of human rights-based educational transformation, as our work is about honoring indigenous land, community, and values. This mission stands at odds with Western educational approaches, which typically view indigenous peoples, cultures, and well-being as a side note to frequently marginalized campus diversity initiatives. Our work to establish the new research center takes up the challenge of placing indigenous peoples’ health and culture at the center of the academic enterprise. We, as academics engaging in this work on traditional Yakama homeland, are uniquely situated to analyze and articulate this form of academic decolonization work. We draw from the interwoven liberation model proposed by Falcón and Jacob to critically examine our center’s work process and product to articulate our indigenous methodology in practice. Our indigenous methodology is guided by three principles: (a) understanding the importance of partnerships; (b) viewing our work in terms of building on existing strengths within campus and local tribal communities; (c) engaging in work that promotes a vision of academic excellence that has a “good spirit” and inspires all parties involved. We conclude by discussing some of the challenges faced in doing decolonizing work, and affirm the urgent need to further indigenize the academy

Statistical analysis of word-initial /k/ and /t/ produced by normal and phonologically disordered children

The acoustic characteristics of voiceless velar and alveolar stop consonants were investigated for normally articulating and phonologically disordered children using spectral moments. All the disordered children were perceived to produce It/ for /k/, with /k/ being absent from their phonetic inventories. Approximately 82% of the normally articulating children's consonants were classified correctly by discriminant function analysis, on the basis of the mean (first moment), skewness (third moment) and kurtosis (fourth moment) derived from the first 40 ms of the VOT interval. When the discriminant function developed for the normally articulating children was applied to the speech of the phonologically disordered group of children, no distinction was made between the velar and alveolar stops. Application of the model to the speech of individual children in the disordered group revealed that one child produced distinct markings to the velar-alveolar contrast. Variability measures of target /t/ and /k/ utterances indicated greater variability in this disordered child's productions compared with the normally articulating children. Phonological analysis of this child's speech after treatment, in which the velar-alveolar contrast was not treated, revealed target appropriate productions of both It/ and /k/. By contrast, the other three phonologically disordered children, for whom no acoustic distinction was found between target It/ and target /k/, did not evidence any knowledge of the contrast after treatment with other target phonemes.National Institutes of Health DC00433, RR7031K, DC00076, DC001694 (PI: Gierut)This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics on January 1990, available online: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/10.1080/026992000750020341

The lived experience of the older registered nurse working at the bedside in the critical care unit

This study focuses on the lived experience of the older RN, an area lacking research. The purpose of the study was to discover why the older RN remains working at the bedside in the critical care unit. The purpose of the study was to explore the experiences of older nurses involved in direct patient care in the critical care unit. Traditionally hospitals have invested their efforts into recruiting rather than retaining RNs. What is not known is how to retain the older RN involved in direct patient care in the critical care unit. The research questions asked 1) How older nurses describe their work lives while working at the bedside in critical care. 2) What are the intrinsic motivators for older RNs employed in critical care? 3) What are specific challenges for older RNs working in the critical care unit? A purposive sample of 11 RNs over the age of 50 employed full time at the bedside in the critical care unit were recruited. Preliminary analysis has indicated categories including: a rewarding career; conflict of interest; my self-image; and altruism is its own reward. Findings from this study are important for the profession of nursing to develop practices and policies, which may help to retain older RNs working at the bedside in the critical care unit. Findings from this research study may lead to larger studies with the goal of developing retention strategies specific to older workers

Parathyroid hormone resistance from severe hypomagnesaemia caused by cisplatin

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