Critically Observing the Challenges and Changes: an Analysis on Covid-19’s Impact with an Emphasis on Students in Higher Education

This project involves comparing different visualizations related to COVID-19 and higher education in order to determine key impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on students in higher education, as well as higher education as a whole. The main metrics used to determine the impact were mental health indicators for anxiety or depressive disorders, enrollment numbers by control type (public, private non-profit, or private for-profit) and state for 2020 and 2021, and state mandate lift dates for a variety of mandates implemented across the United States. These metrics were analyzed both individually and against each other to determine if they had any effect on each other. The project finds that mental health indicators for higher education demographics do not generally follow the state of COVID-19 case trends, but rather it was determined by circumstances of the start of the pandemic that led to a peak in mental health indicators. In addition, an immediate impact from COVID-19 can be seen in a vast majority of universities in the United States. Overall enrollment in higher education saw a substantial decrease in the United States. Despite this, private non-profit schools were not impacted like public schools, and some of the largest private non-profit schools actually saw a large increase in enrollment per capita compared to other types of universities

Final Design Report: The Library Cartel

The Trinity University library is in need of new and improved library carts. Specifically, the improvements should focus on the level of noise produced by the cart, the cart’s book retention capabilities, and the relative ease of use for the library worker. These parameters were chosen based on the needs of the Library as expressed by our sponsor. A budget of $1200 was provided for developing and prototyping a cart that would improve on these aspects. In order to confirm the success of the prototype, the capabilities of the wheels, shelves and chassis were tested and analyzed. These capabilities were tested by measuring noise level, book retention and ease of use for both the existing carts and the prototype. These values were then compared in order to confirm that the prototype improves on the issues present in the current design used by the Library. It was concluded that the prototype was measurably quieter, had greater book retention and was easier to use than the current library cart. Overall, the prototype we produced met all of our project objectives. However, the wheels were not as quiet as we wanted. Although our cart was measurably quieter than the current cart, it was not as significant of a difference as we wanted. We plan to switch the wheels we have on the prototype with slightly larger pneumatic ones. This wheel change will improve the design and lower the measured noise levels as the cart travels through the library

A Vision for Rehabilitation Counseling: Appreciative Inquiry Through the Eyes of Our Legacy Leaders

Rehabilitation counseling (RC), which grew out of vocational rehabilitation legislation in 1920, has quietly developed and expanded its range of services for people with disabilities. As a smaller specialty of counseling, RC has faced challenges to being recognized and valued for its diverse expertise within the counseling field, as well as the broader social service and allied health fields. With a changing landscape of accreditation, state licensing, and service reimbursement requirements, there is now a need for guidance, leadership, and collaborative planning to preserve the vitality of the profession. The purpose of this project was to capture the positive history of the profession through its leaders, utilizing an appreciative inquiry framework, to become more aware of strengths and opportunities, to begin drafting a blueprint for the future of RC. The authors conducted semi-structured interviews with 18 leaders in rehabilitation counselor education and research. Four main themes emerged: (a) formative influences, (b) threats, (c) current assets, and (d) future direction. Focusing on the influence of threats to the RC profession, a solution-focused response model is presented toward a vision of the future of RC practice, education, and research