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- All Subjects: Higher Education Administration
- Creators: Ott, Molly
In the first essay, findings from statistical modeling using instrumental variables suggest that academic researchers who receive administrative support for grant writing and management obtain fewer grants and have a lower success rate. However, the findings also suggest that the grants these researchers do receive are much larger in terms of dollars. The results indicate that administrative support is particularly beneficial in academic grant situations of high-risk, high-reward. In the second essay, ordered logit models reveal a statistically significant and stronger relationship between staff intensity (i.e., the ratio of faculty to staff workers) and faculty stress than the relationship between executive intensity (i.e., the ratio faculty to executive and managerial workers) and faculty job stress. These findings confirm theory that the work of faculty is more loosely coupled with the work of executives than it is with staff workers. A possible explanation is the increase in administrative work faculty must take on as there are fewer staff workers to take on administrative tasks. And finally, in the third essay results from multi-level modeling confirm that both role clarity and institutional support positively affect both a global measure of faculty job satisfaction and faculty satisfaction with how their work time is allocated. Understanding the effects that administrative structure has on faculty outcomes will aid universities as faculty administrative burdens ebb and flow in reaction to macro trends in higher education, such as unbundling of faculty roles, unbundling of services, neoliberalism, liberal arts decline, and administrative bloat.
Three sources provided data for this study: (1) Pre/Post Hiring Manager/Committee Questionnaire, (2) Interviews with key hiring managers, and (3) Google Analytics.
The study found that all participants found the overall hiring resource “useful” and “effective.” All measured components of the hiring resource were also found to be “useful” and “effective.” The site continues to increase in new users and returning users weekly. The hiring resource is used regularly by the college’s Human Resources Department and is sent to all hiring managers when they begin their hiring process and is introduced in “Managing the UA Way” which is a professional development program for new managers at the college. This study shows that web-based resources are a useful and effective instrument for training staff in a medical school context. More research needs to be conducted to measure the full potential of training higher education staff via web-based and online programs. This research project hopes to inspire other higher education institutions to create, measure, and implement training programs for staff.
This study examined the relation between a resource website and the engagement, sense of belonging, homesickness, and retention of out-of-state freshmen at Arizona State University (ASU). Mixed methods of inquiry were utilized; data sources included a pre- and post-intervention student survey, student interviews, student essay artifacts, website utilization records, and university retention reports.
This study demonstrated that freshmen coming to ASU from another state experienced four main challenges related to being an out-of-state student. Those challenges were homesickness, adjusting to living in Arizona, managing finances, and making friends at ASU. Out-of-state students therefore needed extra support for their transition. The study found that an out-of-state student resource website had a positive association with co-curricular engagement and homesickness frequency reduction. Moreover, the site provided useful information on the challenges experienced by out-of-state freshmen. Discussion includes possible explanations for the findings and implications for practice and research.
The cost of education is increasing, and the use of mandatory fees to offset costs is increasingly becoming more prevalent. Mandatory fees in higher education are not a new occurrence and have been associated with higher education institutions since their inception. However, the use and number of mandatory fees have grown, especially within the last decade, to include more fees that support core initiatives that were once covered by higher education institutions. Despite the vast amount of research concerning costs associated with attendance at higher education institutions, there is less research on how undergraduate students understand these costs, and how understanding of educational expenses may influence students’ behavior. Moreover, there is a dearth of research that explores students' engagement in services and programs supported by mandatory fees at higher education institutions.
This investigation fills the gaps, as it studies undergraduate students’ understandings of and attitudes toward mandatory fees while addressing their engagement in fee-supported services and programs. The data collection process utilizes a survey given to undergraduate students at a large research institution in the southwest United States. The survey uses multiple formats (i.e., Likert-scale, open-ended questions, multiple choice), to measure students’ understandings of costs and information about mandatory fees, frequency of use of services, and students’ prior knowledge about higher education institutions before enrollment.
Students’ perceptions of costs differ by individual and family, and the costs associated with fees can be a surprise for many students entering institutions of higher education. While fees are utilized to help retain and graduate all students, increasing fees change the total price for students. There are relatively few studies that measure the extent to which students engage in services or programs funded by the mandatory fees. While price is at the forefront for many federal and state policymakers, the need to make college more affordable for everyone without losing quality services and programs, must be addressed.