Transformational Leadership Characteristics of College and University Presidents of Private Title III and Title V-Eligible Institutions

The purpose of this descriptive, quantitative study was to investigate the transformational leadership characteristics of college and university presidents of Title III and Title V-eligible institutions. Private institutions of higher education comprise approximately half of the total postsecondary institutions in the U.S. However, they are at greater risk for closure than their public counterparts. The U.S. Department of Education's Strengthening Institutions Program, also known as Title III, was created as part of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide competitive grant support to institutions with higher percentages of low-income students and comparatively smaller general and educational expenditures per student. These institutions were considered vulnerable and at the same time, deemed to be important for the nation's growing number of college-bound students. The Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program, also known as Title V, was established a few decades later to serve institutions with a significant percentage of Hispanic students in addition to the Title III institutional characteristics. Higher education leadership theorists vary in their views on the efficacy of president transformational leadership in the college and university setting. However, by nature, private Title III and V-eligible institutions are at some risk for survival and president transformational leadership practices could provide the leverage needed for continued existence and prosperity. The 219 Private, four -year Title III and V-eligible college and university presidents were invited to complete Kouzes and Posner's Leadership Practices Inventory-Self (LPI) in order to measure their leader behaviors through the LPI descriptors, "Model the Way," "Inspire a Shared Vision," "Challenge the Process," "Enable Others to Act," and "Encourage the Heart." President and institutional demographic information was also collected on gender, race/ethnicity, number of years in current position, total undergraduate student population, percent undergraduate minority population, urban or non-urban campus setting, and institutional religious affiliation to analyze for potential relationships and differences in LPI-descriptor responses. The data-generating sample was comprised of 146 presidents (66.67%) of private, four-year Title III and Veligible institutions located throughout the United States. Presidents reported levels of engagement in transformational leader behaviors that were higher than a national average of executive managers, as measured by the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) (Posner, 2009). The presidents' strongest transformational leader behavior was reported as "Enable Others to Act," followed by "Model the Way," "Inspire a Shared Vision," "Encourage the Heart," and "Challenge the Process." Undergraduate enrollment was the only variable in the study that demonstrated significance with regards to the LPI descriptor scores. The relationship between enrollment and president responses to three of the five LPI descriptors approached significance. Undergraduate enrollment approached significance as a predictor variable in a multiple regression of institutional characteristics for two LPI descriptors and was a significant positive predictor for the leader behavior,"Challenge the Process.

Transformational Leadership Characteristics of College and University Presidents of Private, Title III and Title V-Eligible Institutions

The purpose of this study was to investigate the transformational leadership characteristics of college and university presidents of private Title III and Title V-eligible institutions. Private institutions of higher education comprise approximately half of the total post-secondary institutions in the U.S. However, they are at greater risk for closure than their public counterparts. The U.S. Department of Education’s Strengthening Institutions Program, also known as Title III, was created as part of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide competitive grant support to institutions with higher percentages of low-income students and comparatively smaller general and educational expenditures per student. These institutions were considered vulnerable and at the same time, were deemed to be important for the nation’s growing number of college-bound students. The Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program, also known as Title V, was established a few decades later to serve institutions with a significant percentage of Hispanic students in addition to the Title III institutional characteristics. Higher education leadership theorists vary in their views on the efficacy of president transformational leadership in the college and university setting. However, by nature, private Title III and V-eligible institutions are at some level of risk for survival and president transformational leadership practices could provide the leverage needed for continued existence and prosperity. The 219 private, four-year Title III and V-eligible college and university presidents were invited to complete Kouzes and Posner’s Leadership Practices Inventory-Self (LPI) in order to measure their leader behaviors through the LPI-descriptors "Model the Way", "Inspire a Shared Vision", "Challenge the Process", "Enable Others to Act", and "Encourage the Heart". President and institutional demographic information was also collected on gender, race/ethnicity, number of years in current position, total undergraduate student population, percent undergraduate minority population, urban or non-urban campus setting, and institutional religious affiliation to analyze for potential relationships and differences in LPI-descriptor responses. The data-generating sample was comprised of 146 presidents (66.67%) of private, four-year Title III and V-eligible institutions located throughout the United States. Presidents reported levels of engagement in transformational leader behaviors that were higher than a national average of executive managers, as measured by the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) (Posner, 2009). The presidents’ strongest transformational leader behavior was reported as "Enable Others to Act", followed by "Model the Way", "Inspire a Shared Vision", "Encourage the Heart", and "Challenge the Process". Undergraduate enrollment was the only variable in the study that demonstrated significance with regards to the LPI descriptor scores. The relationship between undergraduate enrollment and president responses to three of the five LPI descriptors approached significance. Undergraduate enrollment approached significance as a predictor variable in a multiple regression of institutional characteristics for two LPI descriptors and was a significant positive predictor for the leader behavior, "Challenge the Process"

UB Breakthroughs Spring 2014

The UB Breakthroughs newsletter for spring of 2014. This issue contains articles discussing professor Perle's study into chiropractic manipulation of the ankle and its effect on walking, Dr. Mahmood and Dr. Sobh’s work on facial recognition software, professor Lehman’s book about Tom Thumb, Dr. Li’s research into reduced gravity sample holder/manipulation tool for NASA’s Deep Space Geo-Lab, Dr. Robert Riggs’ research in Najaf, Iraq and its influence on global Shi’ite communities, Dr. Faezipour’s research into using smartphone technology to a Virtual Reality biofeedback tool for lung cancer and other breathing disorders, Dr. Gherasimova’s research into the semiconducting properties of germanium, professor Martignetti’s research into music education in inner-city schools, Dr. McAdam’s research into the relationship gap between IT and non-IT employees in a corporate environment, Dr. Ryan and Director Lopez’s research into substance abuse and HIV infection and group-level prevention programming for college students, Dr. Patra’s research into nanostructures to advance technology and medicine, and the collaboration of UB professors to create a new experimental course in New Product Commercialization for engineering, business, and design students

UB Breakthroughs Fall 2012

The UB Breakthroughs newsletter for fall of 2012. This issue contains articles discussing Dr. Sobh's robotics research in the Robotics, Intelligence Sensing and Control (RISC) Laboratory, Dr. Elleithy's and UB's involvement in developing a camera system for a new small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), professor Noe's research in Cherokee healing practices and indigenous plant use for cancer and HIV treatment, professor Gary Munch's creation of fonts for the Cherokee Nation's written language, how UB's new transmission electron microscope (TEM) is helping UB collaborate with other research institutions, research projects in biomedical engineering, Dr. Queenan's research on the incorporation of science content and reading comprehension instruction, Dr. Kongar's research on the recycling and remanufacturing of electronic components, Dr. Engelmann's research into plant genetic variation in thermal tolerance, professor Funk's research examining the link between proprioception and pain, Dr. Benjamin's research into international corruption, Director Brett's study in an integrated team treating patients across health disciplines, Dr. Zhang's work in renewable energy and the creation of the Renewable Energy Research Laboratory at UB, Dr. Wu's research analyzing the differences between the US and Chinese financial markets, professor Risom's study in the use of video tutorials to supplement the instruction of instrument skills, and UB's CTech IncUBator program for incubating the creation of high-tech start-up companies

UB Breakthroughs Summer 2016

The UB Breakthroughs newsletter for summer of 2016. This issue contains articles discussing Dr. Faezipour's research into a smartphone app for skin cancer detection, Dr. Katsifis' research into the mutagenic and carcinogenic effects of heavy metals, Dr. Oberleitner’s research into the link between social isolation and exclusion and physical and emotional pain, Dr. Lee’s classes and camps teaching college and high school students big data analytics, professor Good’s study into teaching chiropractic warm-up with resistance bands, professor Brett’s research into the safety and efficacy of electro-acupuncture, Dr. Picardi’s research into employee and employer perceptions and how to create better matches in employment, Dr. Richmond’s new book examining African-American student activism in the northeast from the 1960s through 2015, Dr. Xiong’s new MEMS-based sensor for detecting miniscule air pollutants, UB’s 3-D Printing and Advanced Manufacturing Center, Dr. Wei’s study of China and international relations regarding the South China Sea, and Dr. Pallis’ support of the UB CanSat Competition team

UB Knightlines Fall/Winter 2016

The UB Knightlines newsletter for fall and winter of 2016. This issue contains articles discussing winners of the UB Alumni Association's Distinguished Alumni Award, Alumni Association Scholarship winner Mendel Murray, professor Jeongkyu Lee’s Young Data Science program, president emeritus Richard Rubenstein and this book After Auschwitz, UB receiving a National Institutes of Health grant to expand research, SASD students winning third place in the Sherwin-Williams STIR Student Design Challenge, the opening of the new dorm University Hall, student Michael Asmerom a National Association of Black Accountants, professor Marsha Matto and SASD students work with couple to design beach home, faculty news, alumni news, books published by alums and faculty, and other campus and sports news

The UB-Discovery STEM on Wheels Project (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics)

Bridgeport Public Schools (BPS) in Connecticut serve 21,260 students from 39 minority groups in low performing schools. BPS have limited funds for curriculum improvements and resources necessary to address STEM achievement gaps. Thus, the University of Bridgeport (UB) has partnered with the Discovery Museum and Planetarium (DMP) to purchase and retrofit a bus that will bring STEM education and precious resources to high-needs K-12 schools in the community that are lagging behind. A city bus is transformed into a mobile classroom and laboratory and UB-DMP offer the required technical, logistical, and science literacy and pedagogy expertise that is essential in reaching targeted students. UB-DMP collectively brings space and astronomy themes (rocketry, satellites, mission control, high altitude ballooning, remote sensing, citizen science) as well as robotics, 3D printing, virtual reality, and renewable energy programming to students of all ages. In sum, STEM on Wheels: 1) offers STEM experiences to schools lacking resources, 2) provides K-12 students with hands-on, STEM-focused skills aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), and 3) trains UB engineering, science, and math students in effective teaching practices that communicate the excitement of STEM activities. This project is sponsored in part by the CHEFA Client Grant Program, The Greater Bridgeport Transit Authority, 21 Century Fox and NASA CT Space Grant Consortium