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This paper uses critical archival analysis, paired with textual analysis of grant descriptions, to understand how nine foundations — all with endowments derived from the student loan industry — have motivated their college completion work and the relationship between these commitments and grantmaking over time (2000–2019). Mobilizing concepts of theorization and racialized change work (RCW) to analyze the relationship between funders' deployed racial frames and their theory of change, this paper offers three primary contributions: 1) A methodological approach to analyzing philanthropic or intermediary-led reform campaigns (e.g. the college completion agenda) as a form of theorization — a core mechanism of institutional change and diffusion — inclusive of funders' racial projects; 2) Insights on the qualitative, causal pathway by which one foundation created organization-specific interest convergence that facilitated engagement in RCW, and 3) Evidence demonstrating how race-evasive theorizations, even if efficacious mechanisms for change, fail to deinstitutionalize a core mechanism of racialization: investment in deficit-minded, individual-level projects. These insights speak not only to the material differences between race-evasive and race-conscious theorizations, but also organizational pathways toward durable race-conscious commitments in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has chronicled the experiences of Black students transitioning into college and best practices for supporting Black students as they move through the collegiate context. The collegiate context is nested in white supremacy, and a microcosm of white culture. Thus, this study is rooted in the assumption that racism experienced within college is a reflection of its permanence, and sets the stage for the importance of examining Black students’ sense of self-love. In this paper, we utilize critical frameworks to examine how seven Black students conceptualize self-love within anti-Black environments. An analysis of testimonies and interviews generated by participants produced several considerations on the praxis of self-love in and beyond the educational context. Specifically, findings point to the ways Black students conceptualize self-love as affirmations of the Black being, manifesting as presence, knowing, feeling, seeing, doing, and regard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

States have adopted a variety of policies to encourage universities to expand research production, with the hope of supporting economic growth and competitiveness. This paper considers whether a state-level initiative succeeded in influencing university-based research outputs among regional public universities. We test whether the Texas Research Incentive Program increased research production at a set of state universities as measured by total research spending, federally-funded research spending, the number of scholarly publications, and the share of publications published in high impact factor journals. Using a novel dataset and difference-in-differences analytic strategy, we found that TRIP adoption was associated with a 19%-25% increase in research expenditures at emerging research universities in Texas relative to a matched set of comparable universities. However, TRIP did not influence federally-funded research expenditures or journal publication outputs. We also show that federally-funded research expenditures influence publication outputs — both in amount and quality — and that number of full-time faculty influences both federal research expenditures and publication outputs. We discuss contributions to the literature on regional public universities, loose coupling, and research production, as well as implications for policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In U.S. 4-year postsecondary institutions, predominant institutional logics — the embedded assumptions that guide organizational action — have traditionally focused on prestige seeking via acquisition of resources, reputation, and research capabilities. This focus can hinder the design and implementation of teaching approaches and structures that support equitable student experiences and outcomes, particularly for minoritized students. This study examined the institutional logics guiding the organizational behavior of four broadly accessible Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) computer science departments. All were participating in a multi-institutional network of HSIs designed to advance science equity efforts and postsecondary attainment for Latinx students in the discipline. A multiple case study of these four departments included 63 interviews with faculty and administrators, 69 observations of departmental activities, and extensive participant-observations of the network before, during, and after site visits. Data analysis revealed three themes — inclusivity, talent development, and cultural responsiveness — that indicate how departmental personnel employ institutional logics alternative to prestige-seeking institutional logics. The paper discusses the implications of these alternative institutional logics, characterized as opportunity-centered logics, to effect equity-focused institutional transformation, strengthening of HSIs’ capacities to serve Latinx and minoritized students, and inclusive efforts in science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the developmental trajectories of students' self-authored worldview commitments over four years of college and the reasons they offered for making associated developmental gains. Through a longitudinal, mixed methods approach, we unearthed four distinctive developmental trajectories of a nationally-representative cohort of 9,470 students enrolled across 122 institutions. We found that provocative encounters with worldview diversity — those that appropriately challenged students to examine their own religious commitments — served as catalysts for growth during college. The varied contexts of those provocative encounters, both inside and outside the college classroom, are highlighted in students' own words. Implications for research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This meta-analysis assesses the predictive validity of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) across outcome variables, including grade point average, for graduate students. In addition to aggregate effects, this paper also assessed changes in observed effects over time as related to increasing diversity in the graduate student population and as a function of gender and racial/ethnic composition of study samples. Framed using a lens of critical whiteness, this analysis examined n = 1,659 individual effects across k = 201 studies. Overall, 62.3% of reported effects were nonsignificant (i.e. no predictive value of GRE scores on student outcomes). Further, the magnitude of observed predictive relationships decreased significantly over time. The aggregate mean effect across all studies and outcomes was small, significant, and positive: GRE score predicted 3.24% of variance across measured outcomes, 4% of variance in overall GPA, and 2.56% of variance in first-year graduate GPA. Sample composition effects by race/ethnicity were notable under some conditions, but nonsignificant, with increasing proportions of people of Color within a study sample associated with poorer predictive validity for GPA. Likewise, the magnitude of negative effects where lower GRE scores predicted stronger student outcomes showed increasing trends from 0.16% of variance for all-white samples to 7.3% for samples comprised entirely of people of Color. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing the number of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degrees is a national priority and one way to promote the socioeconomic mobility of students from low-income families. Prior research examining why students do not complete STEM majors often points to students' lack of academic preparation, preferences for non-STEM majors, or lack of information about the value of STEM. This paper uses a randomized experiment to investigate an alternative explanation, that some students lack the financial resources to succeed in demanding majors. In a control group of university students from low-income families, 18.6% of students had declared a STEM major by their third year of college. In a treatment group who were offered additional need-based grant aid upon entering college, 26.5% of students declared a STEM major. Among students who had graduated within six years after entering college, 12.2% of control group graduates had earned a STEM degree compared to 20.2% of treatment group students. Need-based grants thus appear to have the potential to increase the share of low-income students studying and earning degrees in STEM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to document the indirect effects of the Texas Top Ten Percent Plan on professional school degrees awarded and to propose the far reach of the law as an alternative argument in support of race-conscious admissions policies challenged under the strict scrutiny standard. Designed around the two tests of strict scrutiny, this study first highlights the essential need for a diverse constituency of professionals to enable societal advancement as a compelling state interest established by the courts and then provides empirical evidence to support additional narrowly tailored race-conscious admissions policies. Complementary interrupted time series analysis and logistic regression find that current admissions policies fail to improve diversity in professional school degrees awarded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's higher education expansion policy implemented in 1999 has substantially increased higher education opportunities. This paper investigates whether rural students do benefit more from the expansion policy and achieve educational equity between urban and rural areas. Based on the four waves of nationwide micro survey data, collected in 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015, we find that the expansion policy increases the rural-urban gap in higher education participation in the short- and medium-term, but reduces the educational inequality in the long-term. However, when we examine the impact of the expansion policy on access to elite higher education, the results show that the expansion policy is not conducive to reducing the rural-urban gap in elite higher education participation. Therefore, to achieve educational equity between rural and urban areas, compensation policies should be designed to benefit rural students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many policies in higher education are intended to improve college access and degree completion, yet often those policies fall short of their aims by making it difficult for prospective or current college students to access benefits for which they are eligible. Barriers that inhibit access to policy benefits, such as cumbersome paperwork, can weigh more heavily on members of marginalized communities, including racially minoritized students. Such administrative burdens can thus reinforce patterns of inequity. In this paper, we present a conceptual framework for examining administrative burdens embedded in higher education policies that can negatively affect prospective and current college students, especially those who are racially minoritized. With the use of our proposed framework for addressing racialized administrative burdens, researchers can improve the understanding of ethnoracial disparities in higher education, inform policymakers’ design of racially equitable policies for higher education, and enable practitioners to implement those policies to promote racial equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we employ Punctuated Equilibrium Theory to consider institutions' shifting goals, priorities, and constraints, and to explore the nature of change at colleges and universities in the United States. By exploiting annual changes in institutional budget decisions over a 29-year period, we seek to understand the extent to which institutions exhibit patterns of punctuated equilibrium, which are characterized by long periods of relative equilibrium (stasis) and of occasional extreme changes (punctuations). Broadly, we find that institutions of higher education allocate funds in a pattern characteristic of Punctuated Equilibrium, and that certain types of institutions are more likely than others to exhibit this pattern. Taken in whole, this paper calls into question a prevailing perspective on change in higher education — that change is slow-moving, moderate, and incremental. Instead, we posit that a framework of Punctuated Equilibrium may better describe how researchers and practitioners should consider institutional change within higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Saying the author should have used a different methodology is not usually that helpful because the author has already used a particular methodology to collect data. If numerous previous authors have already made the same contribution, tell the author that and see if what they are trying to accomplish is different or builds on the previous work. Sometimes, the author will close this introduction with an advance organizer that describes how the author has organized the paper. In this section, the author tells readers what the author learned from analyzing the data. [Extracted from the article]

Conceptualizing and measuring trends in segregation in higher education is difficult as both vertical and horizontal sorting is prevalent and patterns vary across racial groups. In this paper, we measure various trends in racial segregation in California for 20 years. We find significant sorting by race both between and within sectors of higher education, though the overall levels of segregation are lower in California's colleges than they are in California's high schools. These trends have and remained relatively stable over time. We also find important differences between groups. We see that most Latinx-White and Black-White segregation is due to students attending different schools within the same sector, while Asian-White segregation is increasingly due to students attending schools in different sectors. We also find evidence that policy and structural changes, such as opening a new campus, can affect patterns of segregation across and within sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities across the globe continue to reckon with memorialization and symbolism tied to racist histories. In this paper, the author uses Critical Race methodology to examine how 23 Black undergraduate students at the University of Cincinnati interpret and experience one such symbol—the namesake of an enslaver—memorialized throughout campus. The enslaver, Charles McMicken, bequeathed money for what would become the University of Cincinnati explicitly for the "education of White boys and girls." The author begins with the assumption that the namesake is a symbol of White supremacy. Using Critical Race Theory, the author analyzes 1) to what extent this symbol shapes students' campus experiences and 2) the mechanisms by which students' learned of the racist histories behind the symbol. The data presented demonstrates how counternarratives surrounding this symbol were shared and how the concept of racial realism—the belief that racism is permanent—might be useful in understanding how Black students are not completely demoralized by such symbols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

U.S. universities are fraught with institutional barriers that challenge Black faculty members' ability to thrive in academia, while they also make attempts to broaden access and participation in fields like engineering and computing. The diversity-related service requested of Black faculty members can negatively complicate their chances for tenure and promotion. This qualitative research centers on the narratives of 39 Black faculty members in engineering and computing, guided by the equity ethic framework, which we use to understand their motivations to reduce racial inequities in their fields. We found that due to being overburdened with service requests, Black faculty responded by guarding their time and energy to focus instead on self-initiated, diversity-related service. In this paper, we focus on how these Black faculty members work to broaden participation in their fields by mentoring Black students during critical academic junctures while offering supportive anti-deficit teaching and mentoring. We argue that their self-initiated activities are a form of service that is critical to widening Black participation in engineering and computing and should not be overlooked in reviewing yearly raises or in the tenure and promotion process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we address whether the provision of contextual information about where students live and learn has the potential to expand postsecondary opportunities to students from disadvantaged neighborhoods and high schools. To examine this question, we describe the results of field experiments with admissions officers working in eight universities who re-read real applications from previous admissions cycles with a dashboard of contextual data about the applicant's neighborhood and high school. In this low-stakes context, admissions officers from institutions utilizing holistic admissions practices were more likely to recommend admitting low-SES applicants when provided with contextual data. The experiment also primed admissions readers to treat students from highly disadvantaged high school and neighborhood contexts more favorably relative to the results of the high-stakes official read, even when the dashboard was not shown to study participants. The results of this experiment suggest that contextualized data can improve equity in admissions, but fidelity to holistic admissions practices is crucial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Institutional practices and conditions at community colleges can improve rates of transfer, as can access to transfer student capital. However, we know little about how institutions attempt to build students' transfer capital, or about students' experiences within community colleges as they accumulate transfer capital. In this paper, we examine how students' institutional experiences, particularly their engagement with student supports at community colleges and transfer destinations, influence their understanding of, and ability to navigate, the transfer process. We view the accumulation of transfer student capital as an interactionist model between the students and their institution, where students' transfer knowledge and success is conditioned by an interaction between their background and institutional conditions. We draw on longitudinal qualitative interview data with transfer-intending community college students over the course of 3 years to understand how students access, receive, and accumulate transfer capital as they work toward their educational goals. By leveraging student experiences, our study can inform community colleges and transfer destinations about practices and policies interpreted as most effective from the perspective of students. Our work also connects to broader conversations about how institutions reproduce, ameliorate, or exacerbate inequalities based on student background. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Doctoral student recruitment is a dynamic, complex, and under-researched phenomenon. There is steep competition between programs for recruiting students with large amounts of resources at stake, especially within the STEM fields, and programs do not operate in isolation within such environments. In this paper, we explore how graduate programs position themselves relative to other programs as they recruit STEM doctoral students. Drawing from 47 interviews with graduate program leaders, 49 interviews with graduate students, and 63 questionnaire responses from graduate program staff and administrators, this research analyzes common recruitment practices of STEM doctoral programs alongside student perspectives about their decision processes. We reveal how competitive forces may lead programs to adopt non-evidence-based recruitment strategies that may not align with either program leaders' stated values or students' priorities. Although program leaders expressed the importance of students prioritizing academic factors in their decisions, our data revealed that programs commonly utilize financial resources as their main recruitment mechanism in practice. By demonstrating this incongruence, our paper aims to illuminate a potential blind spot so programs might choose to change seemingly institutionalized processes that may be out of alignment with their own stated values and those of the students they are seeking to recruit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper was to examine the institutional conditions and educational practices associated with the development of first-term students' appreciative attitudes toward Jews. Using a longitudinal design, we administered a theoretically derived and empirically validated measure of interfaith experiences to 7,194 first-term students enrolled in one of 122 institutions. Analytically, we weighted data to reflect national figures regarding first-year students and used hierarchical linear modeling to account for students nested within institutions. Results indicated that development during the first term in college was related to having space for support and spiritual expression, attending two or more interfaith activities, and productively engaging in provocative experiences that spurred dissonance and subsequent meaning making about worldview diversity. Implications for research and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper documents the involvement of students who advocated for what eventually became the federal designation for Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs). Through interviews with 12 student activists, we document students' motivations for mobilizing, as well as the challenges they encountered. Students identified motivations such as gaining additional resources, seeking recognition through the legislation, and fostering proactive approaches to activism. Challenges included motivating their peers beyond immediate self-interest and the overshadowing of individual subgroup concerns within the broader Asian American and Pacific Islander community. We comment on the ways in which the push for AANAPISIs represents a racial project within a broader process of racial formation, and highlight both the possibilities and limitations of student advocacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the creation and negotiation of disciplinary culture, through ethnographic fieldwork about socialization in a critical learning environment: scientific fieldwork. Field-based science has received scant research attention relative to its importance as a degree requirement, a professional rite of passage, and a site where sexual harassment and assault are disturbingly commonplace. We conducted a comparative ethnographic case study of two field-based geoscience courses, one each for undergraduate and graduate students. The data include 264 hours of participant-observation and 34 interviews with students and faculty. Three prominent qualities of the culture — eroding temporal and spatial boundaries, navigating challenging conditions, and normalizing alcohol — reflect and/or reinforce disciplinary norms of informality, togetherness, and toughness. We observed these qualities and norms could be leveraged for exclusion or inclusion; they are tools that, together, create a gendered disciplinary culture. Some women resisted the narrow definition of these norms, reframing toughness to include mental toughness, for example. Implications for course design and field leadership, as well as the possibilities and limits of disciplinary cultural change, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Institutions of higher education are relying on philanthropy and fundraising at a greater level than ever before seen. This increased focus has led scholars to investigate various predictors regarding which alumni are likely to give and which are likely to give the most. To date, however, scholars have not yet examined the role of timing and when alumni give their first gift to their alma mater. Using discrete-time hazard modeling (DTHM), this paper seeks to re-center the current conversation surrounding educational philanthropy by exploring not simply who gives the most, but rather who gives and when. Using data of alumni from a predominantly White, private-research university in the United States (n = 3,404), we find that those alumni who were in cultural clubs, as well as Black and multi-racial alumni, are more likely to give their first gift at an earlier date than other alumni. Additionally, alumni that participated in fewer student activities while at school appear more likely to give their first gift sooner, while gender, income, and alumni activity participation show no significance in the model. This study upends some commonly held stereotypes of who are donors to higher education. We share implications for practice and future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2015, 65 universities in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I autonomous conferences changed their scholarship policy by allowing universities to give student-athletes cost of attendance stipends. While student-athletes welcomed this policy change, many people within the higher education community felt the policy change would lead to higher costs for the general student body. This paper provides the results of a difference-in-differences estimation designed to examine if the 2015 NCAA student-athlete scholarship policy change correlated with higher university-published estimated cost of attendance. The findings show a positive, statistically significant relationship between the policy change and estimated student cost of attendance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study illuminates how common holistic admissions practices at so-called "elite" colleges and universities favor high-SES, high wealth applicants through the ways they define and consider "exceptional" performance in extracurricular activities. While many studies have established advantages to high-income applicants based on school resources, standardized testing, and myriad other factors, few have examined the consideration of exceptional performance in extracurriculars. Drawing on higher education literature and Bourdieu's theory of cultural capital, and utilizing high school and college athletics data, the authors introduce and corroborate a mathematical model that illuminates the accumulated advantages to wealthy students on three fronts: opportunity, specialization (i.e., breadth of options available), and support. While this paper focuses on elite athletics as one example of exceptional performance, it also explores the usefulness of the model for understanding how "race-neutral" admissions systematically advantage high-income—and white—students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introductory mathematics courses, including precalculus and calculus, largely influence Black and Latin* students' persistence and sense of belonging in STEM. However, prior research on instruction in these courses for advancing more equitable outcomes is limited. This paper presents findings from a study of 18 Black and Latina/o students' perceptions of introductory mathematics instruction as a racialized and gendered experience at a large, public, and historically white research university. Sociological perspectives of logics and mechanisms of inequality guided an analysis of Black and Latina/o students' group interview responses on how instruction perpetuates racial and gendered oppression. Two logics were identified: (i) Instructors hold more mathematical authority than students in classrooms; and (ii) Calculus coursework is used to weed out students 'not cut out' for STEM. These logics, coupled with the influence of broader sociohistorical forces (e.g., cultural scripts of behavior, stereotypes), gave rise to mechanisms of inequality through seemingly neutral instructional practices that reinforce racial-gendered distribution of classroom participation and STEM persistence. Our findings inform implications for STEM higher education researchers and mathematics faculty to foster socially affirming STEM instruction, especially in introductory courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically analyzes the narratives of 62 White male undergraduates and their consistent use of the n-word during their college years. Almost all heard and/or used the n-word, but rarely did they believe using the n-word was racist. Despite these beliefs, the participants almost never used any form of the n-word in the presence of People of Color, Black people in particular. There were some who felt uncomfortable with their friends' casual use of the n-word, but they rarely challenged their peers fearing social discomfort. The analyses highlight different levels of responsibility for the racism embedded in both speaking and hearing this word as well as the White campus-based segregation that allowed the use of the term to flourish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roughly 1 in 59 children in the United States is diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a rate that has more than doubled during the last 10 years. As students with autism increasingly pursue higher education, college educators must understand these students' experiences and actively address issues that affect their college outcomes. This paper draws from interviews with autistic students who have had widely varying experiences and outcomes in higher education. Using an iterative analytic strategy that combined elements of grounded theory, multiple case study, and constant comparative approaches, researchers developed a series of propositions that were subsequently deconstructed and reconstituted as a conceptual model. The resultant conceptual model not only provides a descriptive portrait of how these students experienced interactions with their postsecondary institutions but also outlines specific ways in which tensions between the student and institution manifest as acute problems that students were often able to recognize, sometimes able to reframe, and occasionally able to resolve. The "3R" model can be used to help students and their institutions anticipate, address, and overcome challenges in ways that improve college experiences and outcomes for students on the autism spectrum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elite higher education institutions work hard to secure diverse classes, and students seek out these institutions in part because they believe that diversity will enhance their own educational experiences. Institutional theories would predict that practices set by the elite institutions in the field would isomorphically trickle down, however, case studies of individual institutions indicate that higher education structures and cultures vary significantly across the spectrum of selectivity. Do all higher education institutions market their ethno-racial diversity to prospective students in the same ways as elite institutions? Are higher education institutions trying to send similar messages about their ethno-racial diversity or does this vary by selectivity level? This paper provides an examination of higher education at the organizational field level in order to answer questions that have previously been at the institutional level. Through analyzing the admissions webpages at 278 universities across the United States, we find that more selective institutions are more likely to represent their diversity, and more likely to engage in practices that emphasize their traditionally under-represented minority student populations than less selective institutions, though it is the less selective institutions that have higher populations of these students. We argue that variations in institutional habitus across selectivity help to explain these differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the growing number of affiliations between research universities and the “affiliated nonprofit organizations” (ANPOs) that exist to support them. We posit that universities’ increasing ties to ANPOs represent strategic responses to unfavorable environmental conditions. In other words, it is likely that the practice of affiliating with many ANPOs reflects an institution’s position within the field of research universities. Panel regression results indicate that the practice of affiliating with large numbers of ANPOs is associated with particular indicators of field position (e.g., tuition revenues for public universities and research spending for private universities). These results indicate that universities that were relative incumbents were more likely to affiliate with ANPOs than were either low-status or the highest-status institutions. The paper concludes with implications for research on institutional stratification, university management, and the nature and role of ANPOs in US universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper was to examine the institutional conditions and educational practices associated with the development of first-year students' capacities to script their own religious, spiritual, and worldview narratives through exposure to and thoughtful reflection on encounters with diverse others. We longitudinally administered a theoretically-derived and empirically-validated measure of interfaith learning and development to 7,194 first-year students enrolled in one of 122 institutions. In addition, we weighted data to reflect national demographic presentations for first-year students and used hierarchical linear modeling to account for students nested within institutions. Results indicated that development gains were related to institutional interfaith commitments, including the provision of opportunities for students to participate in at least two formal interfaith co-curricular experiences during the first year in college. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last three decades, interdisciplinary cluster hiring programs have become popular on research university campuses as an approach to fostering interdisciplinary collaboration. These programs have not yet been rigorously evaluated across multiple institutions and multiple thematic fields. The paper reports the results of a survey of 199 cluster hires across 20 research universities, supplemented by interviews with 18 administrators and cluster leads at nine universities. Against the expectation of advocates, the survey responses indicate that cluster hire groups are often loosely organized and members do not typically spend much time collaborating with others in their group. Both the existence of common research agendas and the participation of individuals capable of translating across disciplinary languages are associated with higher levels of satisfaction with the collaborative environment of clusters, net of covariates, as are adequate lab spaces. Even if they do not typically lead to high levels of collaboration, clusters can, in the best case scenarios, help universities to align with emerging research areas in ways that departments may have difficulty doing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-income, first-generation (LIFG) students complete college at disproportionately low rates. This qualitative study examines this gap from the perspective of university actors who directly support LIFG students in two student support programs at one public university. Drawing on in-depth interviews and observations, this study investigates how these actors conceptualize the problems that LIFG students face, the solutions that will yield success, and their work in relation to the wider goals of the university. The researcher finds that program staff and mid-level administrators have a deep understanding of the barriers that LIFG students face in mastering the rules of the academic field and the high costs when they fail. While both programs identify six common barriers to success, three structural and three individual, the programs work to mitigate only individual barriers. This one-sided solution reflects the staff and administrators' own position within the academic social field; they do not have enough social, economic, or symbolic capital to enact structural changes within the university and feel largely powerless to change the inequitable rules of the game. This paper concludes with recommendations for future research and institutional efforts to support the success of LIFG students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though much has been written about the benefits that Black sororities and fraternities offer its members as well as broader communities within and beyond the ivory towers, comparatively fewer studies have addressed how these organizations interact with men's constructions and embodiments of masculinities. Moreover, even fewer studies examine the intersections of masculinities, race, and religion. As such, this paper examines how members of one Black Christian fraternity construct their manhood amid these intersections. To do this, we conduct an interpretative phenomenological analysis based on interviews, a photovoice exercise, and field notes taken during a fraternity retreat to examine how members of this fraternity negotiate race-gender-religion as they navigate both college life and emerging adulthood. Our analysis reveals that the men embody Black Christian masculinities as responsibility, assuming leadership roles, and actively working against stereotypes and tropes of Black Christian manhood. Ultimately, we argue that colleges and universities should be cognizant of the ways that Black Christian fraternity men experience and respond to gendered racism and that educators themselves be aware of the subtle ways (cisgender heterosexual) Black manhood can sometimes reinforce heteropatriarchy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Postsecondary institutions in the global north have rapidly internationalized, driven mainly by the proliferation of international students and responses to these changing demographics. This internationalization has captured attention across various platforms, including increased media focus directed toward these students and the primary and ancillary influences of their participation in PSIs and surrounding communities. The project explored in this paper examines this phenomenon by connecting internationalization of higher education research with insights from critical media studies and framing theory to investigate news media representations of international and refugee students' participation in Canadian universities and colleges. A critical thematic analysis was performed on 391 news media texts published between 2000 and 2017. Findings reveal the Canadian news media's tendency to construct issues related to international students and internationalization into one or a combination of four broad macrothemes: (1) Canada as benevolent and ideal; (2) international students and internationalization as commodified assets; (3) international students and internationalization as threats; and (4) the strategic neutrality of data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More states are using performance-based funding (PBF) systems in an effort to incentivize public colleges to operate more effectively. Responding to concerns about equity, states are also adopting provisions that encourage colleges to serve more students who at risk of not completing college. In this paper, I examine whether PBF policies in general—and more specifically policies that have provisions designed to incentivize colleges to enroll underrepresented students—are associated with the number of lower-income, underrepresented minority, and adult students enrolled at four-year public colleges. Using a generalized difference-in-difference framework, I find little evidence that PBF systems as a whole meaningfully affect underrepresented student enrollment. However, the presence of bonuses for serving at-risk students appears to help mitigate any efforts to enroll a more advantaged student body that may be present in other PBF systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using various methods and analytical angles, researchers consistently show that members of non-dominant groups, including women, experience academia as a hostile and marginalizing space. Such work is important, and yet, it is equally important that researchers approach the study of women’s academic careers by elevating their intellectual labor. In this study, I take up two questions: (1) What are the origins of women's intellectual work and (2) How do women go about doing their intellectual work? My findings suggest that women tend to locate the origins of their work in the everyday rather than in formal educational sites, such as disciplinary contexts or classrooms. In terms of the doing of their intellectual work, I found that most women utilize subversive tactics, as they challenge disciplinary and professional boundaries that have historically governed the recognition and legitimation of knowledge within academe. However, drawing from critical race feminism, I also find some notable distinctions between Women of Color and White women, and suggest that future researchers attend more carefully to how power and privilege yields particular conditions and consequences among women. This paper offers important insights for peer reviewers (e.g., hiring, promotion, disciplinary award committees, and publication reviewers) as to the grounding(s) and distinctive contribution(s) of women's intellectual work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using detailed administrative data from Virginia, this paper examines whether community college “vertical transfer” students who resemble “native four-year” students in their accumulated college-level credits and performance at their point of entry into the four-year sector perform equally well in terms of both academic and labor market outcomes. We compare matching strategies typically used in existing literature to one where we match vertical transfer and native four-year students based on prior credits earned, accumulative GPA, and the destination four-year institution, and find substantial differences in estimates based on different matching strategies. We also examine potential mechanisms underlying vertical transfer students’ relative performance at the four-year institution and in the labor market. The results show that vertical transfer students’ probability of baccalaureate attainment is comparable to that of similar native students attending the same four-year institution. However, when considering their earnings eight years after initial college enrollment, vertical transfer students experience a significant and nontrivial earnings penalty. Subsequent analyses examining possible mechanisms suggest the earning decrement is partly due to a delayed entry into the labor market as a result of credit loss at the point of transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many public research universities fail to enroll a critical mass of low-income and underrepresented minority (RUM) students. Though founded with a commitment to access, public research universities face pressure to increase tuition revenue and to recruit highachieving students. These pressures create an incentive to recruit nonresident students, who tend to pay more tuition and score higher on admissions exams, but who also tend to be richer and are less likely be Black or Latino. This paper examines whether the growing share of nonresident students was associated with a declining share of low-income and RUM students at public research universities. Institution-level panel models revealed that growth in the proportion of nonresident students was associated with a decline in the proportion of low-income students. This negative relationship was stronger at prestigious universities and at universities in high-poverty states. Growth in the proportion of nonresident students was also associated with a decline in the proportion of RUM students. This negative relationship was stronger at prestigious universities, universities in states with large minority populations, and universities in states with affirmative action bans. These findings yield insights about the changing character of public research universities and have implications for the campus climate experienced by low-income and RUM students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the workplace practices within which mid-career women faculty in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) carry out their careers. Findings from this case study of 25 faculty at one research university revealed three institutional processes that constrained their careers: (a) access to and integration into career networks; (b) distribution of labor in the department and institution; and (c) promotion and leadership. Using Acker's (1990, 2012) theory of gendered organizations and subtexts I uncovered systemic inequities that could compromise professional advancement for midcareer women faculty in STEM. Implications for these findings; Acker's theory; and recommendations for policy, practice, and future research are included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on an increase in the number of authors which university and college research papers have seen since 2000 and on the impact it has had on ethical dilemmas faced by university scientists. A discussion of the impact the increasing complexity of science is having on the conventional authorship assignment on published papers and on the methods scientists are using, including professional guidelines and situation specific interpretations, to address dilemmas they face when assigning credit on publications is presented.

The world is rapidly becoming more educated at higher education level. In nearly all countries with per capita GDP of more than about $5,000 per annum there is a longterm tendency to growth of participation. The worldwide Gross Tertiary Enrollment Ratio (GTER) increased from 10% in 1972 to 32% in 2012, and is now rising by 1% a year. By 2012 the GTER had reached 50% in 54 national systems, compared to 5 systems twenty years before, and there were 14 countries with a GTER of 75% or more. The tendency to high participation systems (HPS) is common to countries that vary widely in rates of economic growth, education system structures, and financing arrangements, but share the tendency to urbanization. Possible causes include state policies, economic development, aspirations for social position, credentialism, global factors, and combinations of these. The paper describes the tendency to HPS, explores the possible explanations, and begins to reflect on the implications; on the way reviewing prior discussions of growth in participation including Trow (1974), Schofer and Meyer (2005), and Baker (2011). It closes with suggestions for further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The persistently low college attainment rates of youth from poor families are partly attributable to their uncertainty about college affordability. The current federal financial aid system does not provide specific information about college costs until just before college enrollment and the information is only available to students completing a complex application. Evidence suggests this late timing reduces their motivation and ability to adequately prepare for college. This paper evaluates the fiscal consequences of instead making an early commitment of the full Pell Grant to eighth graders from needy families, using a simplified eligibility process. Analyses conducted using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics suggest the predicted costs are low relative to the benefits estimated using prior research findings. A simulation of the estimated fiscal effects indicates that Pell program costs would grow by approximately $1.5 billion annually and the benefits would exceed the costs by approximately $600 million. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our understanding of how social identities matter is greatly enhanced by paying attention to the contexts in which these identities develop. The academy is one critical context in which social identities matter (Ostrove & Cole, 2003; Stewart & Dottolo,2005). In this paper we endeavor to show how an important but understudied (Frable, 1997) dimension of social identity-social class-has implications for the extent to which graduate students are interested in becoming faculty members at top research universities. Specifically,we examine the extent to which graduate students' social class backgrounds structure a sense of belonging in graduate school, and the relation between that sense of belonging and graduate students' academic self-concept. We examine the ways in which all three of these variables(social class background, sense of belonging, and academic self-concept),as well as gender, inform graduate students' career goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What do recent doctoral graduates have in mind when they evaluate their program's quality? Do graduates consider the quality of academic or other job training, mentoring, and/or socialization when evaluating their programs? Do these doctorate-holders consider similar factors when making their assessments, or does each individual rely on their own idiosyncratic considerations? Do the types of considerations that inform evaluations vary across the many status characteristics that differentiate doctorate-holders (such as gender, field of study, and status of graduate training program)? In this paper, we address these questions. Understanding how doctoral degree recipients approach the evaluation of their programs is an important first step in integrating their evaluations (and thus their perspectives which we think are valuable) into the more general assessment of doctoral degree granting programs [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a rubric developed to assess writing in interdisciplinary college courses. The authors discuss increases in the popularity of interdisciplinary curricula but note the use of grades and surveys to measure curriculum effectiveness. They describe a targeted assessment rubric designed to evaluate interdisciplinary writing by measuring the purposefulness, grounding in disciplinary understanding, integration and critical awareness in college papers. The rubric was applied to essays by students enrolled in Miami University's interdisciplinary courses. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to confirm the validity of the rubric.

Presents a paper on the homosexual student population in higher education. Belief that most studies on the topic have been unable to deal with the students outside the traditional model of gay or straight; Binary nature of how sexual identity has been conceptualized; Need for inclusion of more diverse models; Methods, procedures and analysis of the study; Definition of 6 identities within the homosexual community in colleges; Distinguishing between the types; Possibility of many more classifications.

Presents a paper that explores how institutionalized organizational elements and politics can shape the scope and limits of programmatic change, while increasing the importance of these reform efforts as symbolic action. Examination of a reform process at one university, National Sectarian University, to explore organizational and institutional dimensions in general education reform; Description of three major components of the reform process; Need for advocates of reform to be mindful of the underlying matrix of values and organizational constraints within their settings; Conclusion that the symbolic act of renewing or establishing connection between meaning and a general education curriculum is itself an important result in a reform effort.