Fostering Innovation Among Staff Members in a Multicampus Higher Education Institution

This study addresses low organizational readiness for change at a U.S. multicampus higher education institution formed by a merger in 2010 between a liberal arts college and a professional graduate school. A needs assessment conducted in the spring of 2019 employed Cameron and Quinn’s (2011) competing values framework of organizational cultures and found that staff members across the two campuses desired more flexibility and discretion in their work. Semi-structured interviews with senior administrators also identified a tension between staff members’ desires and those of leadership: administrators felt that the institution would not become fully integrated until the graduate school was financially self-sustaining. To address this tension, an intervention program was delivered in the fall of 2020 to build innovation skills among staff members of the graduate campus. Using Ireland, Hitt, and Sirmon’s (2003) model of strategic entrepreneurship as a framework, the intervention sought to increase the entrepreneurial mindset of individuals to create long-term wealth for the institution. Eleven staff members participated in a twelve-week Innovation Mentors program. After learning about innovation principles, teams presented proposals to campus leadership addressing needs identified within the institution. A concurrent mixed methods design evaluated the process and outcomes of the intervention. Nine of the eleven initial participants successfully completed the program, and a comparison between pre- and post-program surveys indicated a statistically significant difference (p < .05) in participants’ knowledge of innovation principles. Participants appreciated working with and learning from colleagues in different job roles and from different departments across campus. During and after the program, many staff member participants began applying the innovation principles in their work and sharing what they learned with departmental colleagues. However, despite perceived support from campus leadership and managers, some staff members struggled to find the time and space to apply the innovation principles in their jobs

Correction to: Cluster identification, selection, and description in Cluster randomized crossover trials: the PREP-IT trials

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article

Two-Year, randomized, controlled study of safinamide as add-on to levodopa in mid to late Parkinson's disease

In a 6-month double-blind, placebo-controlled study of Parkinson's disease patients with motor fluctuations, safinamide 50 and 100 mg/d significantly increased ON-time without increasing dyskinesia. Further long-term safinamide use in these patients was evaluated over an additional 18 months. Patients continued on their randomized placebo, 50, or 100 mg/d safinamide. The primary endpoint was change in Dyskinesia Rating Scale total score during ON-time over 24 months. Other efficacy endpoints included change in ON-time without troublesome dyskinesia, changes in individual diary categories, depressive symptoms, and quality of life measures. Change in Dyskinesia Rating Scale was not significantly different in safinamide versus placebo groups, despite decreased mean total Dyskinesia Rating Scale with safinamide compared with an almost unchanged score in placebo. Ad hoc subgroup analysis of moderate to severe dyskinetic patients at baseline (36% of patients) showed a decrease with safinamide 100 mg/d compared with placebo (P50.0317). Improvements in motor function, activities of daily living, depressive symptoms, clinical status, and quality of life at 6 months remained significant at 24 months. Adverse events and discontinuation rates were similar with safinamide and placebo. This 2-year, controlled study of add-on safinamide in mid-to-late Parkinson's disease with motor fluctuations, although not demonstrating an overall difference in dyskinesias between patients and controls, showed improvement in dyskinesia in patients at least moderately dyskinetic at baseline. The study additionally demonstrated significant clinical benefits in ON-time (without troublesome dyskinesia), OFF-time, activities of daily living, motor symptoms, quality of life, and symptoms of depression

Criteria Air Pollution and Marginalized Populations: Environmental Inequity in Metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona

Our objective is to examine spatial relationships between modeled criteria air pollutants (i.e., nitrous oxides, carbon monoxide, and ozone) and sociodemographics in metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona. Modeled air pollution offers environmental justice researchers a new and robust data source for representing chronic environmental hazards. Copyright (c) 2007 Southwestern Social Science Association.