What Sustains Inter-institutional Collaborations? An Exploratory Study of Research Collaborations between Faculty at HBCUs and PWIs
| dc.contributor.author | Jalali, Yousef | en |
| dc.contributor.committeechair | Matheis, Christian | en |
| dc.contributor.committeechair | Lohani, Vinod K. | en |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Duma, Stefan M. | en |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Murzi Escobar, Homero Gregorio | en |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Grohs, Jacob Richard | en |
| dc.contributor.department | Engineering Education | en |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2022-06-01T08:00:23Z | en |
| dc.date.available | 2022-06-01T08:00:23Z | en |
| dc.date.issued | 2022-05-31 | en |
| dc.description.abstract | Despite the significant growth of inter-institutional research collaboration, there has been a disparity of partnerships between universities with different history, missions and identities. In competition for limited resources, inter-institutional collaborations among Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) and research-intensive universities appear more frequent and better supported than between PWIs and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) or other minority-serving institutions (MSIs). Developing grant funding strategies is one way to enhance collaboration between faculty at HBCUs/MSIs and faculty at PWIs and improve pathways for success among traditionally underrepresented groups. The Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS) at Virginia Tech, a research-intensive PWI, launched a unique seed funding program, the ICTAS Diversity and Inclusion Seed Investment (ICTAS DandI Investment), in 2016 to build direct faculty-to-faculty research partnerships between faculty at Virginia Tech and faculty at various HBCUs/MSIs. With the rarity of such initiatives and recognizing the primacy of the topic, this doctoral study was defined in the context of the ICTAS DandI Investment to investigate the little-understood phenomenon of research collaboration between faculty at HBCUs/MSIs and faculty at PWIs. The study informed by several bodies of literature including social psychology, inter-organizational relationships, and ethics and moral philosophy. A qualitative multiple case study approach was employed to explore factors that influence the sustainability of collaboration considering the perspectives of faculty in the context of the ICTAS DandI Investment. The ICTAS DandI Investment-related reports as well as survey and interview data were collected from 15 faculty members representing eight collaborative teams, across Virginia Tech and six different HBCUs. The findings indicate that potential collaboration and sustainability of partnerships rely on dynamic interactions between three dimensions in temporal context: Structure, broader institutional and contextual elements, Diversity, similarities and differences between team members' characteristics, abilities, and identities, and Relation, interactions and exchanges between collaborators and their outputs in doing collaboration. The study shows ICTAS has been successful in facilitating fruitful collaborations among faculty participants at different institutions. Based on the findings in this study I recommend that forging and maintaining long-term relationships of collaborative teams across HBCUs and PWIs need attention to the importance of capacity building over time and broader organizational and administrative factors such as support structure and credit allocation. Further, I recommend that administrators and policymakers to develop similar programs as a strategy for broadening participation and enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion, not merely as a means for enhancing research productivity. | en |
| dc.description.abstractgeneral | Research collaborations between faculty members have become a common practice in higher education. The number of research collaborations across institutions, inter-institutional research collaborations, has increased significantly over the last few decades. However, there has been a disparity of partnerships between universities with different history, missions and identities. Collaborations among elite universities and Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) appear better supported and far more common than collaborations between Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) or other minority-serving institutions (MSIs) and PWIs. Considering the rarity of faculty collaboration across HBCUs/MSIs and PWIs and the lack of research studies on the process and dynamics of faculty collaboration, this dissertation study aimed to enhance the understanding of research collaboration between faculty at HBCUs/MSIs and PWIs. The study was defined in the context of a seed funding program, the ICTAS Diversity and Inclusion Seed Investment Program (ICTAS DandI Investment) at Virginia Tech. The program aims to facilitate research partnerships between faculty at Virginia Tech, a PWI, and faculty at HBCUs/MSIs. The general phenomenon of interest was faculty research collaboration across HBCUs/MSIs and PWIs. The dissertation specifically investigated factors that facilitate sustainable collaboration between faculty at HBCUs/MSIs and a PWI, primarily through understating faculty experiences with collaboration. In this study, sustainability has been characterized as continued working relationship between faculty at Virginia Tech and faculty at HBCUs/MSIs beyond the funding period, when they first received support through the ICTAS DandI Investment. Fifteen faculty members representing eight collaborative teams, across Virginia Tech and six different HBCUs, participated in this study. The primary sources of data were individual interviews and survey questionnaires. The data analysis and comparison across different teams indicated several factors essential to sustainable inter-institutional faculty collaboration. The factors were further aggregated to three broader dimensions: Structure, broader institutional and contextual elements; Diversity, similarities and differences between team members' characteristics, abilities, and identities; and Relation, interactions and exchanges between collaborators and their outputs in doing collaboration. In addition, the findings indicated that time plays an essential role in team processes. Based on the findings in this study, I recommend that forging and maintaining long-term relationships of collaborative teams across HBCUs and PWIs need attention to the importance of capacity building over time and broader organizational and administrative factors such as support structure and credit allocation. Further, I recommend that administrators and policymakers to develop similar programs as a strategy for broadening participation and enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion, not merely as a means for enhancing research productivity. | en |
| dc.description.degree | Doctor of Philosophy | en |
| dc.format.medium | ETD | en |
| dc.identifier.other | vt_gsexam:34371 | en |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10919/110373 | en |
| dc.language.iso | en | en |
| dc.publisher | Virginia Tech | en |
| dc.rights | In Copyright | en |
| dc.rights.uri | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ | en |
| dc.subject | Inter-institutional Collaboration | en |
| dc.subject | Research Collaboration | en |
| dc.subject | Faculty | en |
| dc.subject | Collaboration Processes | en |
| dc.subject | Sustainability | en |
| dc.subject | HBCU | en |
| dc.subject | PWI | en |
| dc.title | What Sustains Inter-institutional Collaborations? An Exploratory Study of Research Collaborations between Faculty at HBCUs and PWIs | en |
| dc.type | Dissertation | en |
| thesis.degree.discipline | Engineering Education | en |
| thesis.degree.grantor | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | en |
| thesis.degree.level | doctoral | en |
| thesis.degree.name | Doctor of Philosophy | en |