Sydney Freeman

Leaders Wanted! The Skills Expected and Needed for a Successful 21st Century Historically Black College and University Presidency

This study examines the 21st-century Historically Black College and University (HBCU) presidency. First, we gathered information on the skills needed for the 21st century HBCU president. Then, we examined the background of future HBCU presidents. Through an analysis and discussion of the responses of current HBCU presidents, trustees,1 and presidential search consultants, we determined what skills are pertinent for HBCU presidential hopefuls to attain. Lastly, we made recommendations, based on our findings, regarding the skills needed for HBCU presidential aspirants to not only reach the presidency but to perform well upon doing so.

Is there a Core Curriculum across Higher Education Doctoral Programs

Currently the study of higher education has been referred to as a multidisciplinary field. Consensus is continuing to evolve regarding both what is considered the appropriate coursework and the foundational knowledgebase of this field. The study of higher education is maturing and has the potential to transition from being seen as a field to being respected as an academic discipline. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the status of the core curriculum in higher education doctoral programs from the perspective of program directors with programs that required the completion of standardized coursework prior to beginning a dissertation. We used online survey analytic techniques to query program directors about their EdD and PhD programs in higher education, credit hours, and curricular content. Our study confirms previous work finding that there is common agreement in the subject matter areas of organization, leadership, administration, and history. What our work adds is that there is a growing consensus among higher education doctoral programs about the position of higher education law and finance in the curricular core. In addition, we find there is a growing interest in public policy and community colleges over time, with a majority of EdD programs including instruction in these areas. Nevertheless, majoritarian agreement does not meet at a level wherein consensus can be inferred, especially within PhD programs where requirements are more varied across programs. In addition, while there is an increasing trend in the inclusion of multiculturalism in higher education doctoral programming, multiculturalism is not currently part of higher education’s core. We conclude with research and practice implications for doctoral programs in higher education as a field of study.

Who really selected you? Insights into faculty selection processes: In top-ranked higher education graduate programmes

Abstract Over the past decade, the number of advertised tenure-track faculty positions in higher education institutions in the United States and abroad has steadily declined while the competition for these positions has become fierce. This situation has caused some scholars to seek perspectives into the factors that influence the tenure-track faculty selection process. This study investigates the elements that impact higher education graduate programme faculty searches. A total of 39 programme coordinators, department heads and deans who had previously participated in higher education programme searches were surveyed to explore their experiences and perceptions regarding the selection process. The findings indicate that the search committee’s faculty votes within the higher education hiring programme are more influential in selection decisions than the votes of either a programme chair or dean. Additionally, participants identified a candidate’s academic accomplishments, interview performance and presentation skills as the determining characteristics influencing their selection. These findings provide useful information to tenure-track job seekers who seek faculty positions at higher education graduate programmes in the United States and around the world.

The Negentropic Professor and the Online Curriculum

Entropy, the notion of a gradual decline toward disorder, randomness and, eventual collapse, affects all human, living and social systems, including universities. While strictly speaking, entropy is a measure rather than a construct; it has been understood in more metaphorical colloquial ways and has been applied to concepts within the social sciences, such as education. One of the primary negentropic forces in today s university is the enrollment increases that online classes bring as a form of order and integration. This paper focuses on negentropy as it is lived out through online learning, strategically applied in higher education contexts. This paper briefly reviews the literature on faculty work, presents a definition of negentropic faculty work, and proposes the application of this kind of faculty work within the online higher education space.

Introducing the Journal for the Study of Postsecondary and Tertiary Education (JSPTE)

As Les Goodchild (2014) was so eager to remind scholars in the higher education as a field of study, our field began just over 120 years ago with a course at Clark University offered by G. Stanley Hall in 1893. That course, the “Present Status and Problems of Higher Education in this Country and Europe,” was designed to encourage future and aspiring leaders to think scientifically and systematically about teaching and learning within colleges and universities, institutional development, expansion, and direction into a new century, and partnership with a modernizing society. From this singular course offered in 1893 to the 1920s when the first program dedicated to the study of postsecondary and tertiary education was established, Hall and colleagues added courses at the graduate level for both master’s and doctoral students. Coursework encompassed higher education governance, both comparatively and domestically, education legislation and policy, finance and administration, curriculum and instruction, literature and theory (Goodchild, 2014). Contemporarily, our programmatic foci are not so different (Card, Chambers, & Freeman, 2015; Hyle & Goodchild, 2014). The largest shift is that the avocation of Hall and colleagues was then innovation. For us, it is now history.

Strategies for Doctoral Students Who Desire to Become Higher Education Faculty Members at Top-ranked Programs

This study investigated what strategies doctoral students could employ to ensure their competitiveness in higher education graduate program faculty searches. A total of 39 program coordinators, department heads, and deans were asked how graduates from non-ranked higher education programs could prepare themselves for faculty opportunities, including searches at top-ranked schools. The findings indicate that developing grantmanship, networking, presentation, and publishing skills will help students to become more competitive. Additionally, participants suggested that students collaborate with other scholars, show initiative in their own professional development, understand the expectations of different program types, and be willing to participate in post-doctoral fellowships. These findings will help students who desire to serve at top-ranked doctoral higher education programs upon graduation. A unique feature of this paper includes a discussion of the unwritten values, rules, expectations, and social mores that influence a search process, including the roles of institutional fit, previous academic preparation, tokenism, and race. This study is designed to inform the decision-making of higher education program faculty as they prepare their students for the professoriate.