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As American colleges and universities become more diverse, expanding our vision and working around what it means to be a legacy, especially at Predominately White Institutions, will be essential. This paper examines Black families' experiences at Churchill, a small liberal arts PWI in the Northeast. With the aid of Yosso's community cultural wealth and Bourdieu's notions of cultural and social capital, it examines how parents' experiences at Churchill and exposing their child to Churchill shaped and informed their child's decision to attend their parent's alma mater and the passing of social and cultural capital between the generations. Findings suggest that while navigational and familial capital passes between generations, Black cultural capital does not pass smoothly and impacts their child's experience at Churchill. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In higher education institutions, critical race theory (CRT) is known to be associated with fields that study racial disparities or systemic oppression such as law, education, and ethnic studies. The impression that CRT is unrelated to fields like business or computer science may have led scholars and practitioners from these disciplines to put their focus on elsewhere than on racial inequality and its implication in their research and practice, despite apparent need. To counter such fallacy, this review article—focusing primarily on the US context—discusses CRT literature in fields where its presence is less known which are nevertheless among the major domains of higher education institutions: health sciences, computer science and information technology, sports, business, and religion. By discussing example research of how scholars have utilized CRT in different fields to challenge the race-neutral thinking that often obscures structural racism, this paper exposes racism's ability to alter manifestations and to appear through various shapes and forms within the higher education context. Initial recommendations on how educators may engage in further discussions or actions will also be considered. This paper concludes that racist ideologies are often hidden behind discipline-specific vocabulary or technical language, and it is by tackling the ideologies at work underneath the technicalities can we address the chameleon-like nature of racism more effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on empirical research that examines the mentoring experiences of minoritized postdocs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, the researchers conceptualized a framework to cultivate inclusive, supportive, and mutually beneficial mentoring relationships among faculty mentors or Principal Investigators (PIs) and postdocs. The paper begins with an introduction to the STEM postdoc landscape, reviews relevant literature, and leverages data from 31 STEM postdocs at a research-intensive university in the southeast United States to introduce a conceptual framework that sheds light on and expands our understanding of STEM faculty-postdoc mentoring. The paper concludes with practical implications for improving STEM postdoc mentoring in research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This introduction to the 50th anniversary special issue of Higher Education recounts the history of the journal and reflects on the evolution and expansion of the journal and the field. Higher education studies is an object-oriented field that combines academic explanations with practical interventions. The journal takes an agnostic approach to disciplinary frameworks, theories, and methodologies and an eclectic and inclusive approach to topics. It began in 1972 with a preoccupation with the nature and implications of mass higher education systems, including internationally comparative analyses, and with a focus on policy and planning. Most of the earlier themes of research in the field have continued to the present, but as mass higher education systems have spread across the world, so has the journal's author list and editorial group. Higher education studies remain biased to the Anglophone and Euro-American worlds in their topics, theorizations, and author lists. Between 1996 and 2018, the USA and other English-speaking countries accounted for about 70% of authorship in the six journals with the highest impact factor. However, in Higher Education, that proportion was just over 45%, indicating some progress in the journal's efforts to pluralize, partly through the growth of papers from China. The introduction looks forward, anticipating growth in contributions from the global South, and further inquiry into the purposes of higher education and into its relations in social context. Finally, the introduction discusses the 50th anniversary papers that follow, contributed by twelve present and past editors of the journal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faculty book clubs are one way to engage in discussion and promote action with colleagues around topics that impact our classrooms. One of the many benefits of book clubs is that the format and process can be altered to fit the needs of the intended audience. This paper describes one faculty group's use of three different models of a book club process, which all capitalize on the utility of book clubs to both identify and implement practical strategies for student engagement. The book club resulted from an interdisciplinary college-wide initiative focused on increasing student engagement within a College of Education and Human Services in a large midwestern public university in the United States. The purpose of this paper is to provide a model for book clubs to be used as a professional development opportunity for faculty. Concrete ideas for implementing similar efforts in the university or college setting are shared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While considerable attention has been given to the ways that parents contribute to undergraduates' success, far less attention has been given to what these students do for their families, variation in students' provision of help, or the consequences of giving. Drawing on 61 interviews with Asian American college students from diverse ethnic and class backgrounds, this paper extends conventional understanding of families and college by analyzing the financial assistance and translation support Asian American undergraduates give their parents. Using a trichotomous model of class—comparing disadvantaged, advantaged, and ambiguous students—I show that class disadvantage motivated students' helping, advantage deterred it, while the ambiguous fell in between. Culture (i.e., filial piety) and a broad view of family (i.e., siblings' contributions) also influenced students' help. Finally, based on interview data combined with partial support from analysis of participants' grade point averages data, I demonstrate that helping had positive and negative implications for students' college experience. [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]

Across the globe, the COVID-19 pandemic has taken an extraordinary toll on racially minoritised and economically disadvantaged communities. The United States has been no exception. In the U.S., serious illness and death are two- to three-times more common among Black, Latinx, and Native American populations than among white people. In the summer of 2020, growing outrage over the racialised impact of the pandemic coincided with weeks-long protests of police killings of Black Americans—George Floyd in Minnesota, Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, and Tony McDade in Florida, among others. The convergence of two racialised phenomena, a public health crisis and police violence, intensified public scrutiny of the practices that sustain racial inequalities, including within higher education. Even as U.S. colleges and universities issue statements decrying the burden of the pandemic and the concomitant racialised violence on communities of colour, racial inequalities persist in higher education and pedagogical practices centring racial justice remain largely uncommon. In this paper, we argue that U.S. institutions of higher education are complicit in the perpetuation of fallacies surrounding race and racism when their curricula fail to prepare students to understand and address these issues. Using survey data from two undergraduate courses taught at an elite, predominantly white institution in Fall 2020, this paper examines how specific pedagogical approaches led to increases in students' self-reported confidence and capacity to discuss race and racism. Based on our findings, we demonstrate that undergraduates benefit from teaching that specifically develops their capacity to understand, discuss, and address racism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While most of the discourse surrounding high-impact educational practices is laudatory, the current manifestation of these practices is not above scrutiny. The benefits of integrating high-impact educational practices into the United States college experience are well-documented, especially for students from groups that have been historically underserved by higher education; however, relative to their more traditionally advantaged counterparts, these populations face greater barriers in accessing these beneficial learning experiences. This paper synthesizes existing high-impact educational literature in the United States, highlights the importance of using an equity-minded framework when exploring the often-overlooked pitfalls in their implementation, and focuses on equal access and outcomes for historically underserved populations. In order to rectify inequities, this paper suggests an ambitious new direction that should systematically catalog existing, more accessible, modified high-impact practices and, subsequently, evaluate their effectiveness. Without this research agenda, high-impact educational practices may continue to perpetuate inequity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper highlights findings from the first phase of an ongoing qualitative Youth Participatory Acton Research (YPAR) study with a group of students with foster care experience at a large public university in the Northeastern United States. The first phase of data collection consisted of a focus group designed and carried out by co-researchers, amongst themselves. Data was analyzed in two ways, by a faculty member and doctoral student, using thematic content analysis, and through a collaborative analytic process with student co-researchers using an adapted version of Carol Gilligan's, "Listening Guide" in which co-researchers created, analyzed and performed "I Poems" from the focus group transcript. Findings from each data analytic process were compared and contrasted; discrepancies amongst themes from each analytic process led to the merging and creation of new modified themes. Findings illuminate the barriers and facilitators to completion of high school, and applying to college for this cohort of students, as well as barriers and facilitators to retention once in college. Additionally, recommendations are made for university professionals to become more affirming of scholars connected to foster care systems. This study is unique in that it is the first known study to engage with college students with foster care experience in a participatory research process that centers their voices, concerns and priorities in both research design and data. Student organizing and action emanating from the PAR approach are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we theorize the intersectional gendered impacts of COVID‐19 on faculty labor, with a particular focus on how institutions of higher education in the United States evaluate faculty labor amidst the COVID‐19 transition and beyond. The pandemic has disrupted faculty research, teaching, and service in differential ways, having larger impacts on women faculty, faculty of color, and caregiving faculty in ways that further reflect the intersections of these groups. Universities have had to reconsider how evaluation occurs, given the impact of these disruptions on faculty careers. Through a case study of university pandemic responses in the United States, we summarize key components of how colleges and universities shifted evaluations of faculty labor in response to COVID‐19, including suspending teaching evaluations, implementing tenure delays, and allowing for impact statements in faculty reviews. While most institutional responses recenter neoliberal principles of the ideal academic worker that is both gendered and racialized, a few universities have taken more innovative approaches to better attend to equity concerns. We conclude by suggesting a recalibration of the faculty evaluation system – one that maintains systematic faculty reviews and allows for academic freedom, but requires universities to take a more contextualized approach to evaluation in ways that center equity and inclusion for women faculty and faculty of color for the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we explain changes made in an introductory Real Analysis classroom that address common challenges and that may allow for all levels of students to meet a high standard of learning and written work. We aim for this goal by fusing elements of a hybrid course with scaffolded collaborative work to improve student learning. The hybrid structure allows students to engage new material at their pace, while the scaffolding allows for more challenging coursework and models for students some typical arguments in analysis. As a result, students that initially submitted proofs needing significant improvement in coherence and organization show positive gains in self-confidence and are enabled to progress quickly to submitting mathematical writing of a high calibre. Our case study occurred at a large institution serving many underrepresented and non-traditional student populations. The approach may be effective at schools with similar goals and challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Micro-credentials vis a vis competency-based certifications of skill domains have existed for decades across vocational-technical education and the professions. What appears to be changing is the priority ascribed to different micro-credentials along a credentials continuum that has focused on formal degrees and certificates. This paper will provide a descriptive analysis of the emerging trend toward micro-credentials by colleges, universities, and other public-private providers in the United States. A major question that emerges for institutional leaders is: Can micro-credentials help position the institution's academic, public service, and economic and workforce development market positions for the future? Driven by student graduates unable to find good jobs, by employers who cannot find the skill-based workforce they need, by increasing competition, by insurmountable student debt, and by a need for faster pathways from school to work, this aggregate 'credentials rethink" is forcing colleges and universities to consider reframing their traditional credentials arsenal. The paper will conclude with some observations and key considerations for leaders to navigate their institutions during this period of "strategic reset" for potentially shifting institutional directions to adapt and compete in this new higher education landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As universities around the world have begun to use learning management systems (LMSs), more learning data have become available to gain deeper insights into students' learning processes and make data‐driven decisions to improve student learning. With the availability of rich data extracted from the LMS, researchers have turned much of their attention to learning analytics (LA) applications using educational data mining techniques. Numerous LA models have been proposed to predict student achievement in university courses. To design predictive LA models, researchers often follow a data‐driven approach that prioritizes prediction accuracy while sacrificing theoretical links to learning theory and its pedagogical implications. In this study, we argue that instead of complex variables (e.g., event logs, clickstream data, timestamps of learning activities), data extracted from online formative assessments should be the starting point for building predictive LA models. Using the LMS data from multiple offerings of an asynchronous undergraduate course, we analysed the utility of online formative assessments in predicting students' final course performance. Our findings showed that the features extracted from online formative assessments (e.g., completion, timestamps and scores) served as strong and significant predictors of students' final course performance. Scores from online formative assessments were consistently the strongest predictor of student performance across the three sections of the course. The number of clicks in the LMS and the time difference between first access and due dates of formative assessments were also significant predictors. Overall, our findings emphasize the need for online formative assessments to build predictive LA models informed by theory and learning design. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Higher education institutions often use learning analytics for the early identification of low‐performing students or students at risk of dropping out.Most predictive models in learning analytics rely on immutable student characteristics (e.g., gender, race and socioeconomic status) and complex variables extracted from log data within a learning management system.Prioritizing prediction accuracy without theory orientation often yields "black‐box" models that fail to inform educators on what remedies need to be taken to improve student learning.What this paper adds Predictive models in learning analytics should consider learning theory, pedagogy and learning design to identify key predictors of student learning.Online formative assessments can be a starting point for building predictive models that are not only accurate but also provide educators with actionable insights on how student learning can be improved.Time‐related and score‐related features extracted from online formative assessments are particularly useful for predicting students' course performance.Implications for practice and/or policy This study provides strong evidence for using online formative assessments as the foundation for predictive models in learning analytics.Student data from online formative assessments can help educators provide students with feedback while informing future formative assessment cycles.Higher education institutions should avoid the hype around complex data from learning management systems and instead rely on effective learning tools such as online formative assessments to revolutionize the use of learning analytics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This phenomenological study explored the experiences of students in a macro practice social work elective, which integrated critical service-learning and creative placemaking. In a community-university partnership, twenty-four students from a variety of disciplines worked with a university Artist in Residence and social work professor to create a participatory mosaic mural in an ethnically diverse and rapidly gentrifying area. Of the 21 students in the class, eight participated in the study and completed hour-long semi-structured interviews. Analysis revealed three primary themes: (1) role and power of art, (2) importance of relationships, and (3) impact of this community engagement class. The findings support the importance of art and community- embedded learning in engaging students. Especially relevant to social work education, student learning focused on cultivating communication and collaboration skills across individuals, groups, and communities. This paper will contribute to the growing body of literature which supports the value of critical service-learning, creative placemaking, and community-based collaborations in social work education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 pandemic greatly disrupted educational systems around the world. Given their extensive stakeholder network, Schools and Colleges of Education played an important role in providing leadership across all dimensions of education throughout the pandemic. This paper presents results from an interview-based study of Deans of Schools of Education in the United States with a special focus on how they sought to address issues of diversity, equity and inclusion throughout the pandemic. Results show that while there was a great deal of variability in the responses of Deans and Schools of Education many promising practices emerged that are potentially scalable and shareable to other institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the introduction of COVID-19 vaccines, many colleges and universities decided to mandate vaccination for all students and employees. The objective of this paper is to empirically investigate the effect of the mandate policy on Fall 2021 COVID-19 cases in institutions of higher education. We construct a unique dataset of a sample of 94 colleges and universities in the east and southeast regions of the United States, 41 of which required vaccination prior to Fall 2021. A difference-in-differences analysis is conducted, considering vaccine requirement as a policy implemented only in a sub-group of these institutions. We control for several factors, including state-level case per capita and student population. Our analysis shows that mandatory vaccination substantially decreased cases in institutions of higher education by 1,473 cases per 100,000 student population (95 CI: 132, 2813). The results suggest that a COVID-19 vaccine requirement is an effective policy in decreasing cases in such institutions, leading to a safer educational experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article maps and compares four universities' policies and procedures for addressing faculty and staff sexual misconduct in higher education in the UK and US. While universities have engaged in significant work to grapple with student-student sexual misconduct, attention to misconduct perpetrated, and experienced, by higher education employees is relatively nascent. In this paper, we explore the maze of institutional processes and actors that victimsurvivors of FASSM might encounter. We describe what is known about prevalence of FASSM in the US and UK and offer an overview of the policy landscape in both settings. Inspired by Patricia Yancey Martin, we analyze publicly available policy documents on FASSM from two US and two UK universities and map out visually the range of investigative, reporting, and sanctioning processes. We introduce an analytic distinction between an actor and a practitioner within the FASSM context, whereby actors are those tasked with administrative duties in handling sexual misconduct reports, while practitioners are those with specialized knowledge and training that enables them to prioritize victim-survivor needs. These illustrative diagrams suggest that while university employees are tasked to act on reports and disclosures of sexual misconduct, it is difficult to identify specialist practitioners with expertise to support victim-survivors of FASSM. Ultimately, this work provides a deeper understanding of what practice looks like in relation to higher education FASSM, and we outline implications for future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior to the pandemic, approxiately 42,000 students from countries in sub-Saharan countries in Africa enrolled in U.S. universities (IIE 2021). Despite this strong and growing presence, little research exists focusing on their experiences of education in the U.S. Through a small-scale study of the experiences of graduate students from sub-Saharan African countries, we see evidence of material and discursive representations of race that produce material inequalities that are then used to legitimize racial formations. We couple these experiences to the background of campus internationalization policies and the university's responses to argue that the policies reproduce and reinforce cultural and social racism that positions white Americans as the norm and unproblematically contributes to Western supremacist positionality in the academy and beyond for economic benefit. In this paper, we demonstrate ways in which the implementation of campus internationalization programs is part of the larger discourse of racism on both the national and international arenas, perpetuating white superiority and implementing policies that reproduce the inequities that reify and legitimize neoracism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study investigates perceived stress and coping styles among undergraduate students using a mixed-methods design. The quantitative study data came from a cross-section of 210 undergraduate social work students from two large public universities in the United States, using paper survey questionnaires. Thirty students from the same quantitative study participated in a follow-up qualitative focus group. Our mixed data revealed that most students are stressed, and primary factors related to stress include academic demands, personal and family-related issues, and financial concerns. Students in senior year, and female students, reported higher perceived stress than students in junior year and their male counterparts. Results of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that problem-focused coping was negatively associated with perceived stress. In contrast, avoidant coping and the sum of life events experiences were positively associated with perceived stress. Notably, students who utilized avoidant coping strategies and reported experiencing more significant life events also reported higher perceived stress. Our study results demonstrate the importance of enhancing positive coping strategies among students to cope with the stress and pressure of academic demands. Implications for educators and administrators are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents findings from a scale validation study of discussion engagement using data from multiple in-person courses from a public flagship university in the United States. The Discussion Engagement scale conceptualizes discussion as a collective inquiry that requires an inclusive classroom climate and individual contributions that promote the engagement of others. The scale measures individual behaviors and experiences along four dimensions: skills, confidence, openness within classroom discussions, and perception of an inclusive classroom climate. The methodology included: conceptual development of the construct, expert reviews, cognitive interviews, data collection of the target group, exploratory factor analysis, data collection of the target group using a revised scale, confirmatory factor analysis, and comparison with an existing scale. EFA and CFA find that the scale has a strong factor structure that parallels the theoretical framework. The subscales have strong reliability, as well as evidence of convergent and discriminant validity. The Discussion Engagement scale has potential for measuring student-reported experiences with discussion in university courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a research project conducted with international doctoral students documenting student and faculty members' experiences in a writing workshop. The purpose of this study was to understand the complexities associated with international students' academic writing competencies and develop a supportive culture as they pursue their education in the US. Participation in the writing workshop aided students in progressing through the four stages of Burch's learning model. The findings suggest that, intensive writing experiences improve writing abilities, perceptions of writing, and knowledge of when to pursue writing assistance. In addition, the workshop supported the researchers in gaining insight into their international students' experiences leading towards improved pedagogy for this student population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities are not only the front line of national ideological and political works but also the gathering place of national talent training, which is of far-reaching significance to the national strategic development, and it is vital to do a good job of ideological and political education in universities for the construction and development of the country. "The university has become a place where wireless network technology can be used. The paper examines the current state of mobile learning in the United States and abroad, explains the principles for developing a mobile ideological and political learning system, designs and studies the system's overall structure and functional modules, and shows how the system's application can replace traditional ideological and political learning methods, allowing students to improve their ideological and political abilities using mobile devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student borrowing is a major higher education public policy issue, with students in both England and the United States increasingly relying on loans to finance postsecondary education. Our paper examines prospective higher education students' attitudes towards debt in England and the United States. It exploits a unique dataset which allows us to compare students' responses to similar surveys conducted in both countries during the same time period. Our study is the first of its kind to explore how students' borrowing attitudes differ across the two countries. It confirms widespread loan aversion among prospective higher education students in both countries. But students in the United States are more debt averse than their peers in England. These debt averse attitudes also predict lower intentions to pursue higher education, potentially exacerbating existing inequalities in access. We consider how these attitudes to borrowing are likely shaped by each country's distinctive student loan system. We conclude that the design of loans matters. England's income‐contingent loan repayments, in contrast to North America's mortgage style repayments, make borrowing less risky and reduce the impact of loan aversion on participation decisions, while borrowing is more common, and the system less complicated, in England. Thus, there are lessons for other countries considering introducing student loans or reforming their provision. We contribute to the extant literature on the determinants of, and socioeconomic differences in, higher education participation and the overlooked role of student debt aversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research has documented that diversity climate positively influences individual and organizational outcomes. However, there is void in current literature on how gender diversity influences subordinates' perception of a leader's effectiveness. In this paper, the researchers investigated how diversity climate affects the relationship between gender of leader and subordinate perceptions of a leader's effectiveness. To investigate this problem, a convenience sampling method was used to select a gender-diverse faculty members sample at a research university in the southern region of the United States. The researchers analyzed the data using exploratory factor analysis to tease out significant factors that underlie structure of the diversity climate and perceptions of a leaders' effectiveness scales. The data shows that diversity climate correlates with faculty's gender and perceptions of leadership effectiveness. That finding also revealed that diversity climate does affect individual, unit, and/or organizational outcomes. The researchers recommended that additional studies be conducted to further examine diversity climate impact on leadership effectiveness and organizational outcomes as organizations embrace diversity, inclusion and equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social work's (SW) goal of preparing a workforce more representative of the diversity of people served by the profession requires the use of theories that actively confront long-held assumption of White hegemony. This paper centers the discussion of race for its simultaneous invisibility and its power to transform SW educational spaces in the United States (US) context. An overview of the cultural competence (CC) model, a theoretical framework often used to prepare SW practitioners, is provided with a critique of its avoidance of any analysis of race and racism. The ways in which this "color-blind" approach severely limits the CC model's ability to both recognize and meet the needs of Black SW students as they navigate their dual-identities as professionals-in-training and members of a racial group who has endured historical oppression are explored. Critical race theory (CRT) is offered as an alternative conceptual framework which centers discussions of race and racism, offering opportunities to both recognize and support the learning needs and experiences of Black SW students. Guidelines for adapting SW curricula and assignments to utilize CRT in ways that support the development of critical analytic skills for SW practice are provided. Global implications for this work beyond the American context are discussed throughout. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social reproduction theory names at least two distinct traditions, one of which has a long history in educational research. Social reproduction theory in education emerged out of a concern with education's relationship to capitalist inequalities. By contrast, social reproduction feminism developed out of feminist interventions regarding the role of women's unpaid care-work in the reproduction of capitalism. In this paper, we suggest that the renewed energy surrounding social reproduction feminism provides an opportunity to revisit social reproduction theorizing in education. We review the fields' histories and ready the ground for an integrated framework. At the heart of this integration is a feminist analysis of reproductive labor in its contradictory relationship to capitalism. Expanding the analysis from the reproduction of capitalist relations to the reproduction of life under capitalism, this approach avoids the pitfalls of determinism and attends to students' participation and teachers' work in the contested labor of social reproduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using collective biography, this paper examines the ways that rural identity mediates the leadership of two women working as administrators in higher education in the United States. We, the authors, examine our own leadership, as college administrators raised in rural environments, and seek to describe how the notion of rurality manifests in our administrative roles. Our collective biography reveals that rural identity influences our definitions of home, fear of irrelevancy, relationships with others, and work ethic. At the same time, our interesting identities as rural, women leaders are fluid and constantly shifting, manifesting themselves in both implicit and explicit ways. As women from rural America, we find our own geographic identities under-researched and under-theorized within our own field. This research bridges the gap between the intellectual work we do, the identities we hold, and the physical spaces we inhabit, addressing a void in current higher education research and providing an opportunity to weave our scholarship with practice for leaders in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local-level, place-based scholarships – synonymous with "promise" scholarships – are a policy strategy to improve college completion in the United States by directing financial aid to students in a particular school, district, or geographical area. There are currently upwards of 90 place-based scholarship programs across the US, most of which share three broad goals: to increase postsecondary access by making college more affordable, to build a college-going culture, and to catalyse economic development by drawing middle- and upper-class families to an area and retaining existing residents. As place-based scholarships grow in popularity and more communities, especially ones seeking economic revitalisation, consider investing resources in their own scholarships, there is interest in what impact, if any, these programs have. This paper reviews the research on place-based scholarships, which demonstrates generally positive effects on district enrolment, postsecondary enrolment and persistence, and housing prices. While there is some evidence of improvement in teacher expectations and school climate, the scholarships have not been associated with fundamental changes inside schools. Although most programs have not been empirically studied, the 33 studies included in this review indicate that place-based scholarships have the potential to foster change within school districts and struggling cities and promote positive student outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the student population in higher education has become more ethnically diverse the professoriate in universities remain predominantly of European descent. Reflecting this disparity of representation within the context of higher education in the United States, women faculty of color continue to experience tokenization, among other dissolutions. Within this inequitable context, we continue to find ways to resist these moments of fragmentation. We draw upon an analogy of spider weaving as a way to re-member the fragmented parts of being Women of Color scholar activists in the academy. In this paper, two Xicana Indigenous scholars highlight moments of resistance and transformation in the past 20 years of engagement with higher education. We begin with an undergraduate summer research experience and continue to the present moment as assistant professors. We share the context, our narratives of growth and resilience to unveil effects of the lived realities for Women of Color invested in social transformative justice. We offer a reflective opportunity for those who enter and continue struggling to survive and thrive within academia while navigating the shoals of privilege and marginalization. This awareness can offer a starting point for further discussions focused on the recruitment and retention of Women of Color faculty in the academy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efforts to diversify and make historically white organizations more inclusive are as varied as they are numerous. Yet, for all their ubiquity in U.S. higher education, few studies have examined them in real time. This case study thus features a two-day meeting where stakeholders were invited to consider how to make science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields not only more diverse but also inclusive. Drawing on observational, documentary, and interview data, we offer three findings. First, we share how facilitators were ill-prepared to define diversity for their project. Second, we share that facilitators and most white participants hesitated and sometimes directly avoided conversations about historical and contemporary exclusion in STEM, especially regarding racism. Third, we show that, while facilitators and most white participants avoided specific conversations about the exclusionary nature of STEM spaces, racially minoritized participants repeatedly requested more concrete conversations. We conclude the paper with several implications for future research and practice for administrators, professors, DEI practitioners, and funders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1980, diversification of university funding sources has been an important trend in higher education all around the world. Obtaining non-governmental fund has been on the agenda of most universities. Top American universities have been long participants and beneficiaries of capital campaigns. The object of this study is to explore the characteristics and trends of fund-raising movement in top universities in the United States. This study used a multiple-case study research design. Primary data were gathered through multiple sources, principally face-to-face, in-depth individual interviews and field notes, and all data are allowed to be published publicly. Secondary data included published reports, and archived data in the form of university's financial reports, donation activities' reports, and alumni association's work reports. From the multiple-case study, the paper concludes three results. The first result is to explain characteristics and tendencies of capital campaigns in the top American universities from the perspective of value orientation, objectives, projects, forms, platform, operation, performance, industry organization and layout. The second result is to clarify the benefits of capital campaigns for the development of universities. And the last result is to reveal the implications for other universities. The current study's findings suggest that the universities should take an all-round reform of the fund-raising campaign and cultivate a vibrant alumni donation ecosystem, so as to more efficiently transform private wealth into public education resources, promote fair opportunities for higher education, alleviate social contradictions, explore the unknown frontier, and advance social stability and sustainable human progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: About 18% of college students have disabilities. Social capital, resources we can tap from relationships, may be particularly valuable for students with disabilities. Yet, disabilities often limit the individual's ability to develop or use social capital. We studied how college students with developmental disabilities understand, develop, and use social capital.Methods and Procedures: We conducted in-depth semi-structured Zoom interviews with 10 women with developmental disabilities enrolled at a public university in the southeastern United States early in 2021. We examined the qualitative data with thematic analysis.Outcomes and Results: Participants averaged age 20; 70% reported attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; 90% reported multiple diagnoses. Most participants described COVID-19 pandemic-related isolation and stress, which magnified both the need for relationships and awareness of that need, prompting participants to become proactive in forming and maintaining relationships despite anxiety about them. Themes were: foundational relationships, reciprocity, expanding horizons, a need for new relationships, focus on the future and relationship barriers.Conclusions and Implications: Results highlight the importance of social relationships and the resources they provide to students with disabilities, particularly in stressful times. Colleges can help students by connecting them with others and providing strategies for building and maintaining social capital.What This Paper Adds: College students with developmental disabilities often face challenges developing and maintaining social capital, resources derived from relationships with other people. These resources are key to success in school and after graduation, as students continue into adulthood. We studied how students with developmental disabilities build social capital. The students described their relationships with others and the types of support they contributed to and received from those relationships. We also extended previous research by examining pandemic-related effects, interviewing participants nearly one year into the COVID-19 pandemic. We provide recommendations for further research and ways colleges and universities can encourage social capital development among all students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented wherein the editor discusses papers within the issue, including the success of Rutgers workers in fighting cuts and problems with the higher education systems in the U.S.

The present paper reviews empirical literature on stress and social support relative to first-year post-secondary students, published between 1996 and 2020. Empirical studies included in the literature search focused on stress, coping, and social support specifically among first-year undergraduate students while studying in countries adopting North American higher education models comparable to the United States and Canada. This review examines contextual and psychological antecedents and correlates of stress, as well as associated demographic and achievement variables. Furthermore, this review extends to studies on social support categorized by source (peers, family, faculty, institution, and multiple sources of support). A synthesis and critique of the literature explores the themes in the empirical research presented, as well as considerations for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]