Forging Research Partnerships in Higher Education Administration

DOS RESEARCH INSTITUTE Office Of The Dean Of Students

Heather Cole, Doctoral Student and GRAAudrey Sorrells, Ph.D.

Associate Dean of Students for ResearchAssociate Professor, Special Education, College of Education

Fellow, Lee Hage Jamail Regents Chair in Education

Session Purpose and Rationale

Overall, this presentation seeks to build understanding of the importance and need for research within the administration of higher education.

Anecdotal educational practices are not acceptable.

Research and evidence-based practices are new standards.

Research should inform practice but in the field of higher education and student development, entrenched and sustainable research has not been the norm.

Objectives of Presentation

Provide a contextual framework for research to practice models in student development and higher education.

Provide concrete examples of how research and practice can be linked.

Explain in practical terms how partnerships can be forged between educational administrators and academic faculty that undertake research.

Provide context by documenting current research projects underway and how these projects are being applied to bridge the research to practice gap.

The DoS Research Institute

Created with the mission to bridge research to practice between academics, student services and community-based agencies to advance opportunities for collaboration and professional development within the University.

Overview & Mission

• The Research Institute is built upon three foundational legs: Research, Partnerships and Professional Development.

• Unique to this Initiative is the reliance on data-driven decisions and practices informed by applied and translational research. This research is generated and disseminated through intentional collaborative networks within and beyond the University.

• Our approach to design, implementation and evaluation of programs and services is intended to build the overall capacity of DoS to provide value added support and learning opportunities for all students at The University of Texas at Austin and in other institutes of higher education.

Vision Statement – Link to University MandateThe vision of the Research Initiative in the Office of the Dean of Students is to fulfill mandates outlined in the Commission of 125, and to advance the mission of the Division of Student Affairs through applied and translational research in these areas: Leadership and Ethics, Civic Responsibility, Intercultural Education, Student Development, and Academic Success.

CORE VALUES – Defining Characteristics

Collaborative relationships, networks, and learning.

Research-driven programs and services that bridge academic and co-curricular experiences, enhance student development, and encourage higher education completion.

Scholarly contributions to student development theory, applied and translational research and practice, and dissemination of findings.

Interdisciplinary, interagency and multidimensional approaches to applied and translational research as the foundation for planning and decision-making.

Project-oriented learning experiences that are student driven and produced.

What Our Office DoesOversees the DoS Research Initiative, leading and conducting research and professional development to inform programs and services in: Leadership and Ethics, Civic Responsibility, Intercultural Education, Student Development, and Academic Success.

Develops academic, interagency and community-based partnerships and networks that generate and disseminate empirically validated knowledge and practices in postsecondary access, persistence and completion for diverse and at risk students

Seeks internal and external funding to ensure development, growth, efficacy and sustainability of programs and services.

Serves as a liaison between the Office of the Dean of Students and university professors and staff.

Creates opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to participate in research and student development in postsecondary education.

Our Strategy Develop a 3-year (plus) Research Initiative Strategic Plan to

guide the development, implementation and evaluation of the DoS Research Initiative.

Develop a research to practice model between academics, student services, and community-based agencies that advances new opportunities for research partnerships and professional development, as well as evidence-based foundations for developing programs and services.

Design and sustain interdisciplinary professional development programs to enhance the knowledge and capacity of university-wide faculty, administrators, graduate students, and student affairs professionals for improving student learning and development.

Contextual Factors of Higher Education

• Changing demographics, and issues of college access, persistence, and completion, preparedness to effect the state, nation, global economy and diversity of the population.

The context of learning: Where do students learn on campus? How do they learn? What do they learn? Is it applicable to beyond graduation, expectations and realities?

The changing roles of student affairs and interdisciplinary, collaborative nature of their work.

Student experience vs. academic experience: the implications for student affairs and translational research to practice.

Issues of Access and Success

for All StudentsSignificant and persistent gaps exist in enrollment,

achievement, and completion of subpopulations.

We must understand better what facilitates and impedes student access, persistence and success.

We must understand better who our students are and what experiences they have in order to create greater opportunities, better services and ensure success.

Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College

Campuses by Richard Arum and Josip Roksa

New national study of approximately 3,000 undergraduate.

Collegiate Learning Assessment (designed to measure gains in critical thinking, analytic reasoning and other higher level skills taught at colleges; gains measured at various points before and during college).

FindingsOverall, students report limited efforts, low course expectations, and demonstrate great disparities in learning.

Students are spending 50 percent less time studying than their 1970s and 1980s counterparts.

Nearly half (45 percent) of college students made no significant gains in learning in their first two years on campus.

Students have become increasingly fixated in their social lives.

Students report that 75 percent of their time is spent socializing, sleeping, and just 16 percent of it studying or attending classes.

Relationship Between Rigor and

Gains in LearningStudents who study by themselves for more hours each week gain more knowledge -- while those who spend more time studying in peer groups see diminishing gains.

Students whose classes reflect high expectations (more than 40 pages of reading a week and more than 20 pages of writing a semester) gained more than other students.

Students who spend more time in fraternities and sororities show smaller gains than other students.

Students who engage in off-campus or extracurricular activities (including clubs and volunteer opportunities) have no notable gains or losses in learning.

Students majoring in liberal arts fields see "significantly higher gains in critical thinking, complex reasoning, and writing skills over time than students in other fields of study.” Students majoring in business, education, social work and communications showed the smallest gains.

Implications for Student Affairs Administrators- Why

We Need Research"[E]ducational practices associated with academic rigor improved student performance, while collegiate experiences associated with social engagement did not."

How then do we view engagement activities outside of the classroom?

What are students learning in their extracurricular, non-academic activities? Are they gaining skills? Are they relevant and have utility for expectations beyond graduation?

Are their disparities among our students’ knowledge and skills? How do we bridge the gap?

Our Partners UT Faculty

Dept. of Special Education (Drs. Herb Rieth, James Patton, and Randall Parker )

Dept. of Educational Psychology (Drs. Rico Ainslie and Kevin Cokley)

Education Administration (Drs. Patricia Somers, Richard Reddick, Julian Heilig, Victor Saenz, and Barbara Pazey)

Department of Veterans Administration Veterans Health Administration Veterans Benefits Administration Office of VA Rehabilitation and Development

(Drs. Sharon Wills,. Daphney Ainslie, David Tharp, and Suzy Gulliver)

Dr. Walter E. Penk, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Texas A & M College of Medicine and Health Science Center

Our Partners – Cont.UT Mental Heath and Counseling Center (Dr. Jane Bost, Director)

Capitol City Rehabilitation Group (Mr. Calvin Turner, President; Ms. Lisa Geistweidt, Executive Assistant)

Texas Workforce Commission, Texas Veterans Leadership Program (TVLP) (Mr. Laurence M. Jones, Director; Mr. Sherman Weeks, Veterans Resource and Referral Specialist)

Center for Teaching and Learning (Dr. Lynn Jones Eaton, Director)

Dr. Gale Stuart, SA Assessment Coordinator

Dr. Frank Martin, Statistician and Consultant (Mathematica Policy Research, Washington, DC)

RESEARCHPROJECTS

Greek Life Descriptive Study

Partnering with Dr. Gale Stuart, SA Assessment Coordinator.

Study conducted in cooperation with Greek Life and Intercultural Education, Registrar.

Based on descriptive variables, data has been collected and a profile compiled of students who are members of Greek-lettered organizations at the University to determine inter- and intra-group disparities in academic performance.

The project will help profile the group and subgroups and recommend areas of future study.

A Review of the Research on Members of Fraternities and

Sororities: Race, Academics and Psychosocial Issues

This literature review builds upon a previous literature review by Molasso (2005), covering research from 1995-2005, published in two student affairs journals.

This is a current review of the first decade of the 21st century (2000-2010) expanding beyond two journals and moving beyond issues of alcohol/substance use/abuse and hazing, to race, academics and psychosocial issues.

We sought to answer: What research exists on students who are members of GLOs pertaining to race, academics and psychosocial issues?

40 studies included in the review

An Examination of Academic Self-Concept and Leadership Self-Efficacy Among Members of Fraternities and

SororitiesPartnering with Dr. Kevin Cokley, Department of

Educational Psychology.

The goals of the project are (1) to better understand the student development of members of fraternities and sororities in terms of academic self-concept, self-esteem and leadership self-efficacy, and (2) to examine within-group differences among fraternities and sororities to identify potential differences and disparities by gender, race/ethnicity, and underclassmen/upperclassmen status.

Engaged Parents Study

• Partnering with Dr. Pat Somers, Department of Higher Education Administration and New Student Services.

• Data collection and analysis was conducted over the summer 2010 and we are currently analyzing the results.

• Dr. Somers, Sorrells, and Ms. Heather Cole presented six parent engagement sessions in June/July. Average parent attendance/session: 65-70.

Veteran Students

Partnering with VA, faculty in Department of Educational Psychology, DoS Deans, Registrar, Mental Health and Counseling Center, Texas Workforce, Capital City Rehabilitation Group of Austin

Veterans and Beyond

Mental health issues - once traumatized (and/or seriously stressed), how does one go about returning to learning?  How does one cope ?  How does one become resilient ?  

What services are needed? How will they be provided.

Forging partnerships writ large: applications for 3 federal grants.

Speaking at APA conference in Washington, DC with partners about collaborative efforts to address the needs of student veterans.

Veteran Students Study – Part I

(Quantitative) – Research was conducted by Drs. Sorrells and Latoya Hill, in cooperation with Dr. Gale Stuart, Alyssa (GRA) and Registrar. Based on descriptive variables, data were collected and a profile compiled of veteran students at the University. This is virtually an unknown student sub-group on college campuses today. The project will help profile the group and recommend areas of future study.

School Choice Study and Veteran Students – Part II

Partnering with Dr. Pat Somers, Department of Higher Education Administration.

Conducting a small study with combat veteran students to explore their choices about college attendance and persistence. This Project is a qualitative study of veteran students’ experience at a higher education institution.

Needs AssessmentCombat Veteran Students on

Campus – Part IIIVeteran Student Center

Research and grant proposal submission

Needs AssessmentSchool Choice and Admissions Process, Transition, and Vocation-related

Mental Health and Psycho-social Adjustment

Academic Success– Questionnaire: Student Veteran Adjustment

• Paper has been accepted for presentation at the American Psychological Association in Washington DC in August 2011

Postsecondary and Disability Studies

• We are currently conducting a synthesis of studies on disability in higher education administration, and a secondary study of the perceptions and knowledge about disability and accommodations of student affairs administrators.

• This is designed to inform student affairs on best practice in the field and provide a framework for research and future practice for this subpopulation on campus.

First Generation Students in Honors Programs

This is a joint research project involving DoS staff and Dr. Reddick in the Dept. of Educational Administration.

Investigators: Rich Reddick, Audrey Sorrells, Heather Cole, Linda Cavazos, Gilbert McCray.

Goals of the Project: To undertake a phenomenological study to understand the academic, social, and transitional experiences of first-generation college students who successfully applied to, and are enrolled in competitive honors programs at UT-Austin. This study will examine freshman’s first and second semester experiences, both academic and co-curricular to gain better understanding of:

The typology of postsecondary student engagement and disengagement. Theory of postsecondary student engagement verse student alienation. Formal and informal connections on campus and engagement. Postsecondary students’ perceptions of diversity on campus and their

engagement.

Transition to College Study of Students From High and Low

Performing High Schools in Texas

• This study will be done in partnership with Dr. Barbara Pazey (Special Education Administration) and Dr. Heilig (Educational Administration) and will track students from low and high performing high schools into the UT system. The study will gauge their experience once enrolled, and specifically look at the types of supports available to them once they arrive at UT. The study will follow the students throughout their first year of university, and into the first semester of their second year. This study is currently in the design phase.

Professional Development

2009-2011Spring 2010

Institutional Review Board

Fall 2010Research Design, Analysis, and Reporting

Preparing SA/DoS Professionals to Work Effectively with Veteran Students

Diversity Mentoring Fellowship

• Awarded a Diversity Mentoring Fellowship from the Graduate School to recruit and mentor an entering doctoral student in fall 2010.– Grace Hamilton is the first recipient.– Doctoral student in College of Education, SED.– Student with a hearing impairment, first

generation.– Partnership with SSD.– Partnership with Texas Dept. of Assistive and

Rehabilitation Services (DARS).– Award in the amount of $25,000.

COSIG

• Fall 2010 – monthly Community of Scholars Interest Group (like brown bag luncheons)

• UT faculty and Student Affairs educators, graduate students, other interested partners engage in formal and informal discussions around planned topics, review and critique research literature and studies, discuss methodologies, and provide feedback for research projects, professional development activities, and publications.