News

Cyberbullying study finds it doesn't stop after high school

A multi-institutional study conducted by Ohio University's Division of Student Affairs and Center for Higher Education is providing insight into just how prevalent the problem of cyberbullying is among undergraduate students.
Read the complete story.

Webinar: Career Success for Female STEM Faculty at Public Two-Year Colleges

The Center for Higher Education hosted a free webinar on August 17, 2011 from 1:30 to 2:30 pm to present key findings of the research initiative "Academic Career Success in Science and Engineering-Related Fields for Female Faculty at Public Two-Year Institutions." This empirical mixed-methods research study, one of the first of its kind to focus on two-year institutions, is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation's ADVANCE-PAID program.

Ohio Student Education Policy Institute

A select group of students at Ohio University and other institutions of higher learning in the state have embraced an opportunity to help shape higher education policy for Ohio’s coming generations. The Ohio Student Education Policy Institute (OSEPI), a brain-child of the Ohio College Access Network (OCAN), involves participants from University of Akron’s Bliss Institute and Ohio State University’s John Glenn School of Public Affairs, in addition to those from Ohio University’s Patton College of Education and Voinovich School of Leadership and Communications & Marketing.
Learn more

Service-Learning Workshop

The Center for Higher Education sponsored a service-learning workshop February 11 from 10 AM to 3 PM in the Friends of the Libraries Room. This workshop engaged participants in exploring the rationale for service learning and learning practical strategies for creating and sustaining effective service-learning experiences. The workshop leaders included Peter C. Mather, PhD, Assistant Professor, Higher Education and Student Affairs; Kevin Smith, Assistant Director, Campus Involvement Center; and Lisa Nelson, Community Service Graduate Assistant.
Download the workshop PowerPoint presentation

Faculty and Student Research in the News...

Brandon Wolfe, senior graduate research associate in the Center, was part of a research team that conducted a multi-institutional study of the prevalence of cyberbullying among undergraduate students. The study was conducted in partnership with Ohio University's Division of Student Affairs. Findings were published as a chapter of the book Misbehavior Online in Higher Education (2012, Emerald Group Publishing Limited), which is available online. Team members also presented the findings at the conferences of two national organizations in March 2012: NASPA (Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, formerly the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators) and the American College Personnel Association.

Dr. Valerie Martin Conley presented a one-hour audio conference on “Retirement Incentives in a Rapidly Changing Fiscal Environment: Radical Transformations in Higher Education?” on June 22, 2011 as part of Inside Higher Ed's audio conference series. Professor Conley, a leading expert in the field, explored the current issues facing colleges and the academic employees who might consider retirement with the right incentives.

Dr. Valerie Martin Conley co-authored an article in the spring 2011 issue of The Journal of Higher Education, the premier research journal in the field of higher education. The full APA citation of article is:
Ponjuan, L., Conley, V.M., & Trower, C. (2011). Career stage difference in pre-tenure track faculty perceptions of professional and personal relationships with colleagues. The Journal of Higher Education, 82(3), 319-346.

Dr. Valerie Martin Conley was featured in the Cleveland Plain Dealer in February 2011 for her expertise regarding faculty retirement trends. The story is titled "Ohio State University to allow colleges to offer buyouts to employees." See the full story on the Cleveland Plain Dealer website.

Dr. Valerie Martin Conley presented Regenerating the Faculty Workforce: A Focus on Teaching and Scholarship at the Ohio University Regional Higher Education Conference in Lancaster, Ohio in December 2010.

Larisa Harper and T. Ramon Stuart, doctoral students in the Higher Education program, presented Concepts that Promote or Hinder Shared Governance at the AAUP Shared Governance Conference and Workshops in Washington, D.C., November 12–14, 2010. Their work examines four key areas that faculty and administrators should consider if they wish to effectively practice shared governance at their institution.

The Chronicle of Higher Education featured a story on November 9, 2010 about a survey of faculty-senate leaders at doctoral and master's institutions that was conducted by Center Director Valerie Martin Conley and Senior Graduate Research Associate James Archibald, in collaboration with the American Association of University Professors. The two also presented their findings at a conference on shared governance that the AAUP held in Washington, D.C. in November. See the full story by Peter Schmidt: Many Faculty-Senate Leaders at Doctoral Institutions Lack Clout, Survey Finds.

The 2009 issues of the Athenaeum, the annual magazine of Ohio University's The Gladys W. and David H. Patton College of Education, featured the Center's ADVANCE-PAID research initiative to study the academic career success of female faculty at community colleges. See the full story on page 19 of the 2009 Athenaeum.

Inside Higher Ed featured a story on May 12, 2009 citing research conducted by Center faculty member David Horton, Jr. See the full story by David Moltz: Making the Grade, Missing the Goal.

Inside Higher Ed featured a story on September 18, 2008 citing research conducted by Center Director Valerie Martin Conley. See the full story by Scott Jaschik: Will Professors Delay Retirements?

Honors and Awards

Krista McCallum–Beatty, a doctoral student in the Higher Education program, was named a Fulbright Scholar to Germany. Krista was hosted by a University known as a leader in higher education research in Europe, with a Center that specializes in higher-education research: International Centre for Higher Education Research Kassel (INCHER-Kassle).

Center Director Valerie Martin Conley has been named a TIAA-CREF Institute Research Fellow. Membership in the Fellows Program is restricted to nationally prominent scholars with interests in research, teaching, and policy issues in areas of interest to TIAA-CREF... more

Melissa L. Freeman, an alumna of the higher-education doctoral program and former research associate in OHIO’s Center for Higher Education, received the Association for Institutional Research (AIR) Charles I. Brown Dissertation Fellowship. This nationally competitive award provided Freeman with a $15,000 stipend to complete her dissertation, Gender, Geography, Transfer, and Baccalaureate Completion... more

Meeting and Conference Presentations

During the American Association for the Advancement of Science's 2012 annual meeting in Vancouver, B.C., Dr. Valerie Martin Conley was part of a panel titled "New Findings in Broadening Participation Research in STEM Education." The panel featured STEM education researchers who have been studying the factors that impact the participation and success of different underrepresented groups in various levels of STEM education and in STEM careers. Dr. Conley shared research being conducted under the CC-ADVANCE research project.

Two members of the CC-ADVANCE research team, Drs. Cynthia D. Anderson and Christine Mattley, presented qualitative findings from the mixed-method research initiative to the American Sociological Association's August 2011 annual conference. Their presentation was covered in Inside Higher Ed: Parity in STEM Faculty.

Dianne Bouvier presented Females Who Teach Business; Exploring the Impact of Positive and Negative Affect in the Workplace at the North American Management Society conference in March 2011. The study, co-authored by Dr. Josetta McLaughlin of Roosevelt University and Dr. Valerie Martin Conley, examines how persistence of female faculty who teach business may be impacted by workplace context, using data collected through the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education from 2005-2009. The study was published in the NAMS Proceedings, March 2011. Ms. Bouvier also presented the results at the Patton College's Research Forum in May 2011 and plans to continue her work in this area.
Download the study

T. Ramon Stuart and Brandon Wolfe conducted a poster presentation titled Informing Institutional Decision-Making: Trends in Faculty Members' Perceptions and Intentions Regarding Retirement Options, at the Association for Institutional Research conference in Toronto, Ontario, May 21–25, 2011. Their work focused on the emerging issue of faculty retirement options, particularly early and phased retirement.

Dianne Bouvier, a graduate research associate in the Center, presented findings of a research initiative titled "Females Who Teach Business: Exploring the Impact of Positive and Negative Affect in the Workplace" on March 25, 2011 at the Midwest Business Administration Association Conference in Chicago. Using faculty survey data from the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education, Ms. Bouvier presented preliminary findings about pre-tenure female faculty who teach business, looking at demographic data and responses related to relationships within the department that may positively or negatively impact their affect, job satisfaction and persistence within academia. The research team included Ms. Bouvier; Center Director Valerie Martin Conley; and Josetta McLaughlin, Associate Professor in Management at Roosevelt University in Chicago.

Dr. James Archibald, Senior Graduate Research Associate in The Patton College’s Center for Higher Education and recent graduate of the Higher Education Administration and Student Affairs doctoral program, presented “The Role of Faculty Senate in Budget Planning” at a PCOE Research Forum on February 11. His research topic stemmed from a study conducted by the Center for Higher Education at Ohio University titled “A National Study of Faculty Leadership...” more

Larisa Harper and T. Ramon Stuart, doctoral students in the Higher Education program, presented Concepts that Promote or Hinder Shared Governance at the AAUP Shared Governance Conference and Workshops in Washington, D.C., November 12 – 14, 2010. Their work examines four key areas that faculty and administrators should consider if they wish to effectively practice shared governance at their institution.

Center Director Valerie Martin Conley and Senior Graduate Research Associate James G. Archibald presented findings from the Center's survey of faculty-senate leaders at doctoral and master's institutions at the AAUP Shared Governance Conference and Workshops in Washington, D.C., November 12 – 14, 2010. The survey was also featured in the November 9, 2010 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education. See the full story by Peter Schmidt: Many Faculty-Senate Leaders at Doctoral Institutions Lack Clout, Survey Finds.

James G. Archibald, Center for Higher Education Senior Graduate Research Associate, presented Are Institutions Retiree Friendly? at the 49th annual forum of the Association for Institutional Research in Atlanta, Georgia. James analyzed data drawn from the 2007 Survey of Changes in Faculty Retirement Policies. Findings indicated over one-third of institutions had a faculty retiree organization and provided space for faculty to meet on campus.

Center Director Valerie Martin Conley presented Higher Education Employee Compensation: Toward a Better Understanding of Issues in Ohio to members of the OEA Higher Education Advisory Council (HEAC) September 5, 2008 in Columbus, Ohio. Click here for a copy of the handout.

Jen Flowers Maskiell, doctoral student in the Higher Education program and Collateral Research Associate with the Center for Higher Education, presented at AIR's 2008 Annual Forum in Seattle Washington.
Topic: Location and socio-economic status differences in student financing of undergraduate education.

Two Student Proposals were accepted at AIR's 2007 Annual Forum in Kansas City, Missouri. Below are the topics and abstracts of the two proposals.

Proposal 1. Topic: An Empirical Test of the Nontraditional Undergraduate Student Attrition Model Using Structural Equation Modeling by Chad M. Brown
Abstract: Nearly 50% of the students attending college for the first time this year will do so at a two-year college, and nationally, there is an increasing call for accountability. This means that two-year colleges, which have predominantly focused on access, now must place equal importance on student success. Conceptual models traditionally used to study persistence and success, do not adequately address the diverse needs and the unique characteristics of two-year college students. Using structural equation modeling to examine direct and indirect effects, this research intends to test an alternative model described by Bean and Metzner (1985) using data from BPS:96/98.

Proposal 2. Topic: Examining Students Who Stopout of American Community Colleges by Larry Hunter
Abstract: This study is designed to describe characteristics of students who stopout of American community colleges and to examine if
these characteristics influence students in their decision to stopout. In addition, a review of the literature highlights interventions that could be used to shorten the time students stopout. Stopping out is not always a detriment to the students’ educational endeavors; rather, it may help students to refocus their energy toward fulfilling their academic goals once they return to school (Brunsden et al., 2000). The data used for this study are taken from the National Center for Education Statistics BPS:1996/2001 Study.

For more information, please contact:
Center for Higher Education
The Gladys W. and David H. Patton College of Education
Ohio University
McCracken Hall 138
Athens, OH 45701
Telephone: 740.597.1862
c4he@ohio.edu