Joseph B. Berger

The Role of Student Involvement and Perceptions of Integration in a Causal Model of Student Persistence.

This study uses a revised integrated model ofundergraduate persistence to examine first-yearretention at a private, highly selective researchuniversity. Findings from the study provide strongsupport for use of the model in futurestudies.

Understanding the Organizational Nature of Student Persistence: Empirically-Based Recommendations for Practice:

This article builds on the assumption that colleges and universities are organizations and subsequently that the organizational perspective provides important insights for improving retention on college and university campuses. A review of existing organizational studies of undergraduate persistence serves as the basis for ten empirically-based recommendations for practice that are designed to help campus leaders improve the effectiveness of retention efforts on campus.

Assessing the Transition of Transfer Students from Community Colleges to a University

The purpose of this study was to examine how pretransfer experiences and preparation, along with posttransfer experiences, influence the adjustment of community college transfer students (as measured by academic achievement and satisfaction with various aspects of the university experience) to life on a four-year university campus. A survey of 372 community college transfer students attending a large, public four-year university provides empirical evidence that those students who are best informed and who have most actively prepared for transfer are most likely to achieve higher grades and be more satisfied in the university environment. The findings from this study also suggested that patterns of academic and social involvement shift as students move from two-year college settings to a four-year university. The article concludes with a discussion of strategies that can be instituted at both two and four-year institutions to assist community college transfer students in making a successful transition to a four-year college or university.

The Impact of Community Service Involvement on Three Measures of Undergraduate Self-Concept

The central purpose of this study is to increase our understanding of how community service involvement affects the development of undergraduate self-concept. The findings from this study suggest that the quality of service involvement is more important than the amount of service performed by students.

Rankings, accreditation, and the international quest for quality

Purpose – This paper seeks to analyze the internationalization of quality practices in higher education. In light of insufficient theorization about quality in the global dimension, the paper presents a model for value construction in higher education. Design/methodology/approach – The authors reviewed different models for quality in higher education vis-a-vis emerging international quality practices in higher education. Findings – After reviewing quality models and international quality practices, the authors argue that, in order to evaluate and improve quality in higher education, a model of value in higher education that connects quality with relevance, access, and investment is necessary. Research limitations/implications – Thus far, quality in higher education has been explored in isolation from access, relevance, and investment. The integrative approach suggested here may prove generative for researchers and help address complex educational interrogations. Practical implications – Higher education l...

Women's Ways of Drinking: College Women, High-Risk Alcohol Use, and Negative Consequences

The purpose of this study was to explore college women’s high-risk alcohol use and related consequences. This study employed a qualitative approach to understand and provide visibility for a gender-related perspective on college women’s alcohol experiences and related outcomes. Data were collected from interviews with 10 undergraduate females at a large research university in the northeastern United States. The results of the data analysis generated four major themes, which include a conceptual model, the relational ritual reinforcement (R3), for understanding the recurring high-risk alcohol use and related negative consequences among some university women.

Student Veterans in Higher Education

Military veterans are a diverse and important subpopulation of students on college and university campuses. The extant literature on student veterans consists of a few WWII era studies of student veteran success, GI Bill utilization, and a nascent body of contemporary scholarly articles about student veterans. Historically, there is a dearth of scholarship on student veterans or veterans’ experiences in higher education. To begin filling the substantial gaps in knowledge about student veterans, this chapter provides a historical overview of veterans in higher education, a conceptual definition of student veteran, a demographic profile of this subpopulation, an assessment of student veteran success in higher education, a conceptual model for understanding the student veteran experience in higher education, and recommendations for future research. The comprehensive synthesis of literature covered in this chapter is designed to generate further study of student veterans as the basis for future research and improved policy and practice related to the experience of veterans in higher education.

Recent and Anticipated Changes in Postsecondary Admissions: A Survey of New England Colleges and Universities

In this article, the authors report the results of a survey of postsecondary institutions in New England regarding recent changes in their admissions processes and the factors that influenced those changes. Their results indicate that traditional admissions criteria continue to be weighted heavily in the admissions process and that recruiting and retaining underrepresented minority students remains a concern of many institutions. The implications of these findings for public, private, two-year, and four-year institutions are discussed.

Leading Organizations for Universal Design

The purpose of this article is to provide a model for helping campus leaders create and sustain efforts to fully incorporate Universal Instructional Design (UID) throughout their institutions. The article uses a multiple dimension model of organizational behavior as the basis for making recommendations to support this type of institutional transformation.

Faculty Work Practices in Material Environments: A Case Study

This case study examines the implications of the interaction between the material campus and work practices of faculty at a large research institution in the northeast. Analysis of interview data and historical document review concludes that the alignment of faculty role, reward, and place is an important policy mandate for the improvement of faculty work practice.