The Implicit Costs of Regulatory Compliance in Higher Education: A Case Study

It has been proposed that higher education is the most highly regulated sector in America (Lee, 2010). Broadly speaking, institutions are regulated by government at the federal, state, and local levels, as well as other implied sources. While sharing commonalities with other sectors, higher education institutions are differentiated by their educational mission

Chapter 1: Developing Social Empathy with Higher Education

The purposes of this chapter are to demonstrate the need for social empathy in a democratic society, identify polarization barriers, and explore how American higher education can be a leading agent for developing social empathy. The United States has seen a recent rise in political tribalism, and it now faces rising antipathy between those holding polarized perspectives. Higher education is uniquely situated to address these problems. Like a mixing bowl, college is a place where students of all backgrounds can be combined in deep discourse at a key point in their psychological development. However, higher education has struggled to fulfill its potential, as efforts toward diversity have rarely achieved their goals. Utilizing the concepts of social empathy (Segal, 2018) and honest diversity (Manji, 2019), a new approach to diversity work in higher education may hold the key to establishing the sector’s prominence in developing a society of diverse people who can function respectfully toward one another

Virtually There: Distant Freshmen Blended in Classes through Synchronous Online Education

Synchronous online education occurs when the students and faculty member are in different locations geographically and interaction occurs simultaneously through the internet at scheduled times. In this study I investigated the phenomenon of using synchronous online classes blended with a face-to-face classroom to complete the freshman year of college. The essence of the experience emerged around the concept of ambiguity, specifically in regard to group membership, functionality of technology, and place. This understanding of ambiguity provides a framework upon which to design practices for engaging such distance students and best promoting their learning

Through Army-Colored Glasses: A Layered Account of One Veteran’s Experiences in Higher Education

There is a lack of research on military veterans in higher education that captures the issues from an insider’s perspective. To that end, I sought to reflect upon my own experiences with higher education as military veteran—from a budding recruit all the way through to now being an administrator and faculty member. I utilized a layered-account autoethnographic approach (Ronai, 1995) to interrogate my multiple perspectives that developed over time on veterans’ issues in higher education. I found that the GI Bill—the modern iteration of the Serviceman’s Readjustment Act of 1944—was a powerful motivator both in starting my military career and continuing my studies; my thinking on transfer credits from the Joint Service Transcript evolved from seeing them as an entitlement to lacking rigor. I felt out of place as I left the military and attended a traditional university campus, and then I sought out the faculty members who reminded me of the no-nonsense military from which I had departed. My experiences in the military continually guided my behavior as a student and that of other student veterans I observed, thus, I recommend that institutions glean lessons from these experiences to better serve the unique demographic presented by the growing population of student veterans

Book Review: Tyranny of Metrics & Accreditation on the Edge

Review of Jerry Muller, The Tyranny of Metrics and Susan Phillips and Kevin Kinser, Accreditation on the Edg

Preface to the Special Issue: Student Affairs at the State Comprehensive University

In this special issue of Teacher-Scholar: The Journal of the State Comprehensive University, authors are encouraged to submit original manuscripts based on new data collection and/or analysis that investigate student affairs within the context of the state comprehensive university. For the purposes of this special issue, “student affairs” is defined broadly and does not exclude specific divisions of practice (ex. academic advising); rather, it may include anything that extends beyond the standard curriculum of academia in order to develop the whole student. This may even include coursework wherein it is oriented toward the student affairs mission (ex. freshman orientation taught as a for-credit curricular requirement). Submissions do not need to specifically investigate the pandemic crisis, though such submissions are welcome

International Students’ Transition to a Rural State Comprehensive University

International students face challenges as they transition to higher education in the United States. In this article, we explore that transition process when it intersects with an institution in a rural setting. We used Schlossberg’s transition theory—with a particular emphasis on the 4Ss of situation, self, support, and strategies—as the theoretical framework for this case study, and we found that the situation for international students in this transition was fraught with concurrent stressors of isolation, food, and safety. While their sense of self included a strong desire to experience United States culture and language, they struggled apart from familiar support networks, leaving them reliant upon the institution of higher education for support. When struggling through the transition process, students often used the strategies of social withdrawal and inhibition of engagement behaviors. We conclude with recommended interventions to situational stresses for rural institutions and further research opportunities

Pink and Blue Lenses: Duoethnographic Reflections on Biological Sex in Conservative Christian Education

In this duoethnography, we explored how experiences in conservative Christian high schools were viewed through the different lenses of our binary-constructed, biological sexes. Our perceptions varied along the axes of gendered roles, gendered responsibilities, and romance and sexuality. Through reflecting on our own experiences, we critiqued what we were taught and the lasting repercussions those teachings left on our lives. The approach of indoctrination proved counterproductive in our schools, as graduates left unprepared to enter meaningful romantic relationships or to encounter a world outside their previously sheltered environs

Un[bracketed]: Phenomenological Polyethnography

Purpose Because of limitations to the purpose and practice of both phenomenological and duoethnographic research methodologies, our purpose in this paper was to propose phenomenological polyethnography as a hybrid qualitative methodology, which would guide skilled researchers in conducting phenomenological exploration of an emergent experience as insiders. Design/methodology/approach A hybridization approach to phenomenology and duoethnography as two distinct qualitative research traditions. Findings Employing a poststructuralist perspective, researcher-participants with relevant difference co-investigate a phenomenological question together. Borrowing elements from both hermeneutic phenomenology and duoethnography, this methodology involves the consideration of a phenomenon, the use of authors with relevant difference who have both special insight into that phenomenon as participants and skill as qualitative researchers, the intentional collection of prereflective data while all researcher-participants are experiencing the phenomenon or immediately after, the subsequent reflection upon and interpretation of the phenomenon as it was similarly and differently experienced by the researcher-participants, and the description of both the essence and meaning of the phenomenon. Research limitations/implications This new, hybrid qualitative methodology will enable researchers to more efficiently analyze and disseminate the research of insider knowledge on emergent phenomena in higher education and other settings. Originality/value As a new methodology, it may be used to investigate events and provide rich, thick description in a way not before seen

Improving the quality of critical tractor parts through the dynamic stabilisation of the manufacturing process in regard to CNC machines

ArticleThis article focuses on the evaluation of a rod improvement which is considered in detail below. The rod in question is part of an hydraulic cylinder manufacturing process which takes place on CNC machines. The need for ensuring a process improvement in this area arose because the rod often breaks down under operational conditions. It was found that the cause of this is a finishing operation in the existing production process. The effect of charging which occurred during the grinding process brings about the embedding of abrasive particles into the workpiece surface layer. Therefore, at the running-in stage, the mating surfaces on the rod and the system being used to seal the rings both experience intense wear in their contact areas, with this being caused by abrasive microparticles which serves to reduce the performance characteristics of the part in question. However, even if we dispense with the grinding process, ensuring the necessary roughness of Ra = 0.63 μm at the machining stage alone will present problems of their own for a number of reasons. First and foremost is the connection with the phenomenon that results in an autooscillation processes which is generated by the manufacturing system, as well as the formation of flow chips during machining on CNC machines. In this regard, in order to avoid any negative factors creeping into the process, we propose that a new approach be taken in achieving the necessary surface roughness, one which is based on the suppression of the auto-oscillation process during machining by means of creating a selective metastable structure. At the machining stage, any inhomogeneous structure in the local chip formation area will be destroyed, thereby suppressing the auto-oscillation process and reducing the surface roughness. Eventually, the proposed method will allows the grinding operation to be dispensed with entirely from the manufacturing process