Browsing by Author "Smith, Kenneth S."

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    Characteristics of Students Who Enroll in Summer Session
    Smith, Kenneth S. (Virginia Tech, 2011-10-31)
    Participation in summer session has benefits for students including improved retention and degree completion and increased contact with faculty (Adelman, 2006; DiGregorio, 1998). Just as some characteristics of students limit their access to participate in higher education in general, participation in summer session may also be affected by certain student characteristics. This study used a nationally representative sample to explore how undergraduate students who enroll in summer session may differ from undergraduate students who do not enroll in summer session in a variety of financial, geographic, academic, programmatic and cultural/social/physical characteristics historically associated with access to higher education. Significant differences between summer enrolled and not enrolled students were found in a number of instances. Some characteristics that are negatively associated with enrollment, persistence and attainment in higher education were positively associated with summer enrollment. A regression analysis revealed that the combined predictive value of student characteristics accounts for only a small portion of the overall decision to enroll in the summer term.
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    College-Going Behaviors: Are there School Effects for the Rural Student?
    Hamill, Bridget (Virginia Tech, 2018-04-30)
    This study considered the school effects of college going behavior for rural students. Of interest were the effects of location and college-going culture within a given school. The research questions asked, included: 1. What are the effects of rural school location and college-going culture on public high school graduation? 2. What are the effects of rural school location and college-going culture on college enrollment? 3. For the public high school graduates who enrolled in college, what are the effects of rural school location and college-going culture on the control structure of the college program enrolled? 4. For the public high school graduates who enrolled in college, what are the effects of rural school location and college-going culture on type of college program enrolled (two-year vs. four-year)?> 5. For the public high school graduates who enrolled in college, what are the effects of rural school location and college-going culture on full-time vs. part-time enrollment? The study used data from the HSLS:09 survey. The data was analyzed using Hierarchical Generalized Linear Modeling. This study found that the odds of attending college decreased 18.7% for rural students. There was also a 4.8% decrease in the odds of college enrollment by students from majority White high schools. School's with high mean GPA's were more likely to have students graduate from high school, enroll in college, and attend 4-year institutions. High rates of school problems negatively affected students and demonstrated decreased odds of high school graduation and college enrollment. The role of counselors had demonstrated effects on students. Schools with counseling offices that focused a high number of hours on college counseling increase the odds their students graduate would from high school and attend a 4-year institution. Students attending high schools with a college counselor dedicated to college applications were 4.30 times more likely to attend a not-for-profit institution than a for-profit institution.
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    Factors Influencing the Timing of FASFA Application and the Impact of Late Filing on Student Finances
    Daku, Feride (Virginia Tech, 2017-12-06)
    A college degree provides benefits to individuals and society, but education is an expensive endeavor. College costs are high and they continue to rise while the median family income shows only modest increases. By lowering the cost of attendance, financial aid makes it possible for many students, especially those from low and middle-income families to attend college. FAFSA is the main instrument used in distributing financial assistance although completing the form is not an easy task. Each year, many students do not file the FAFSA or file it too late, missing valuable financial resources. The focus of this research was on students who file FAFSA late. The purpose of the study was two-fold: to explore the relationship between the timing of FASFA filing and the characteristics of financial aid applicants, and to assess the impact of late filing on student finances. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine how much of the variation in timing of FAFSA filing could be explained by students characteristics. The findings indicate late FAFSA filers tend to be in-state, male students, coming from single households, with weak high school academic performance. Focusing on low-income group, the study found the odds of filing late were nearly 2.8 times higher for in-state students than they were for out-of-state students. Being male increased the chances of late filing; the odds of filing late for low-income male students were 1.53 times higher than they were for low-income females. The impact of late FAFSA filing on student finances was assessed through linear regression analyses. The results show late filers received less grant aid but larger loan amounts. Compared to on time filers, late FAFSA filers received, on average, $2,815 less in grant aid and $662 more in loans. The current study shed light on several key factors that make students more likely to miss the FAFSA deadlines. In addition, it demonstrated that late filing has major financial consequences for students and their families. The findings can be used by high school guidance offices, college administrators, state and federal governments, and higher education leaders concerned with improving college affordability.
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    The Process of Design for General Classroom Facilities in Higher Education Institutions
    Kutnak Jr, Michael John (Virginia Tech, 2017-05-01)
    This study examined the process of design for general classroom facilities in American four-year public higher education institutions. Combining grounded theory, case study methods, visual methods, and portions of the Authentic, Action-Oriented, Framing for Environmental Shifts Method (Watt, 2015), I was able to address the four research questions posed in this study. I conducted interviews with participants involved in specific general classroom facilities design/construction while asking participants to co-create a diagram of the steps of the process. The data collected from this process produced the Train Model of Design for General Classroom Facilities. The process begins with the specifics of the institution or college and its chosen direction. The conditions specific to the institution act as a departing station for the process. The conditions specific to the wider context function as the rails on which the train moves. The rails are held together by crossties consisting of the constant collaboration of the triumvirate and stakeholders. A triumvirate consisting of the project manager, the construction manager, and the representative from the academic department move the project through each phase of the design process. These decision-makers functions as the conductor of the train, driving the process while feeding it two distinct types of fuel: budget and time. The triumvirate must continuously monitor the fuel supply to reach the end of the process. In addition, the triumvirate continuously monitors the passengers, to incorporate their feedback into the trip. The stages of the process function similarly to boarding and disembarking on a train. In Stage 1 you prepare to leave the station. You make a case for what travels on the train with you and what gets left at home. You also determine the fuel needs of the train by setting the project budget and schedule. Stage 2, or Making the Space, consists of the travel to the final destination, carrying along those well-laid plans from Stage 1. The triumvirate drives the train while carefully monitoring the fuel levels. You can make a few minor adjustments once you have left the stations, based on feedback from the passengers, but drastically altering the plans is not a viable option. The type of train you drive represents the different ways in which the process can play out at specific campuses. A passenger train works differently compared to a freight train. The number and sequence of steps in the process of design will vary depending on the type of project you are undertaking (new construction vs. renovation), the available state procedures, and the timing of your procurement of a construction management firm (i.e. the different types of trains you can take). The final destination of the train is the completed general classroom facility.
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    The Relationship Between Responsibility Center Management, Faculty Composition, and Faculty Salaries
    Lyles, Chelsea Haines (Virginia Tech, 2020-06-19)
    In 2006–2007 ten public universities were utilizing responsibility center management (RCM), and that number increased to 24 in 2014–2015 (Jaquette, Kramer, and Curs, 2018), but little is known about the relationship between the implementation of RCM, faculty composition, and faculty compensation. Inequities in faculty composition and salaries exist based on gender and race/ethnicity. My study explored whether the implementation of RCM, an increasingly popular budget model in public higher education, was associated with further faculty salary and compositional inequities by gender and race/ethnicity. Deans, as heads of revenue centers under RCM, have increased budgetary power and decision-making responsibility. Organizational justice theory, specifically the tenets of distributive justice and procedural justice, grounded this study by connecting the implementation of RCM to the diffusion of decision-making throughout the organization and potential association with inequities in faculty composition and faculty compensation. This quantitative study examined the relationship of RCM with institutional average salary and numerical proportions of assistant professors on the tenure track at public, doctoral universities based on the 2015 Basic Carnegie Classification. I used difference-in-difference estimation to compare institutions that implemented RCM (treatment group) to institutions that did not (control group) to determine whether there were differences in salary and proportional trends for assistant professors by gender and by gender and race. In addition, I explored engineering in a specific set of analyses because it has been cited as a field that should especially benefit from an RCM budgeting approach. I compared the change in proportions of assistant professors of engineering by gender and by gender and race/ethnicity at universities within the sample. Finally, the annual salaries of a subset of assistant professors of engineering within the sample of doctoral institutions in the treatment and control groups in Ohio were compared. Across these different analyses, I did not find evidence that RCM implementation between FY2012 – FY2017 had a significant effect on average institutional salary generally or by gender or race/ethnicity for assistant professors broadly or within engineering, specifically. Lacking a comprehensive dataset with institutional and individual predictors of faculty compensation and composition, and as RCM models vary among institutions, these findings should be interpreted cautiously. As RCM did not appear to be associated with any changes in faculty composition or compensation practices, I did not find evidence that RCM implementation had a significant impact on the procedural justice (i.e., decision-making criteria and processes of deans or department heads) or distributive justice (i.e., salary amounts or proportions of who was hired by gender and race/ethnicity) of faculty composition or faculty compensation at public, doctoral universities.
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    Understanding Academic Advising at Institutions with a First-Year Engineering Program
    McGlothlin Lester, Marlena Brooke (Virginia Tech, 2019-06-05)
    Academic advising has been a part of United States (U.S.) colleges and universities since their inception, yet academic advising as we know it today is a relatively new profession. Over the last several decades, many colleges and universities have employed professional advisors, rather than teaching and learning faculty, to carry out the academic advising functions however little is known about the structures of these advising programs. Academic advisors often serve on the front lines (i.e., high student contact hours) and advocate for student success by supporting students in learning about their institutions, uncovering their personal and professional goals, and encouraging them to pursue life goals. However, the responsibility of academic advising and advisors varies at institutions of higher education across the country and this variation is not well understood. The purpose of this research was to better understand the structures of engineering academic advising at large four-year, primarily residential institutions with a first-year engineering program. To accomplish this purpose, the following overarching research question guided my study: How do first-year engineering programs structure academic advising, and what services, programs, and support are in place for academic advisors and students? To answer this question, I used a qualitative multi-case study design to understand the landscape of advising in first-year engineering programs and the organizational structures of their advising programs. I used Habley's Organizational Models for Academic Advising (1983) as a way to categorize the structures of academic advising and Frank's (1993) Integrated Model of Academic Advising Program Development as a conceptual framework for understanding how academic advising programs develop, the services provided, programming available, and how to enable the advisors to better support the student population. My findings include identifying: 1) several similarities between case sites' organizational structures of advising, 2) new student orientation and major exploration as main services offered at all sites, 3) a lack of formalized planning across all case sites, and 4) the prominence of advisor training with a desire to have more formal advisor recognition programs. Recommendations for future research, practice, and policy are provided along with a proposal for a new model for First-Year Engineering Advising Programs.