Through no fault of our own, higher education and the world writ large were metaphorically without vision and clarity of sight for the initial few months of the COVID-19 global health crisis as we all tried to stand up protocols, processes, and systems to better identify how our institutions could continue forward safely -- supporting both our…

Big qualitative data (Big Qual), or research involving large qualitative data sets, has introduced many newly evolving conventions that have begun to change the fundamental nature of some qualitative research. In this methodological essay, we first distinguish big data from big qual. We define big qual as data sets containing either primary or…

Excessive college course withdrawals are costly to the student and the institution in terms of time to degree completion, available classroom space, and other resources. Although generally well quantified, detailed analysis of the reasons given by students for course withdrawal is less common. To address this, a text mining analysis was performed…

In this article, I test claims made about rhetorical education for women in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by examining Florida State College for Women (FSCW), one of eight public women's colleges in the South. I recover the voices of instructors and students by looking both at the interweaving strands of literature, journalism,…

The invention of Hispanic-serving Institutions (HSIs) in the 1980s was grounded in the theory that institutions enrolling a large concentration of Latino students would adapt their institutional practices to serve these students better. Specifically, critical mass theory suggests once a definable group reaches a certain size within an…

In this fifth brief in "Excelencia" in Education's series on Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) the focus is on the methods and strategies that are producing successful results in a growing sector of colleges and universities we call, "Emerging" Hispanic-Serving Institutions. These Emerging HSIs are institutions that…

One of the most common questions asked about the State University System (SUS) is "What is enrollment within the SUS?" The answer to the question will depend on how and when enrollment is counted. This information brief is an effort to provide an easily accessible, written explanation of the principal methods of measuring enrollment and…

The State University System has low tuition and fees for resident undergraduates compared to public universities nationally. But just how low is tuition in Florida compared to other states? The answer varies slightly between the two commonly-cited surveys of tuition and fees, although both agree that Florida is among the least expensive states.…

Florida's new standards for college admission are outlined and support and criticism from the academic and general community are discussed. Among the issues are unevenness of pre-collegiate academic experience, increased barriers to minority group access and success, and the ability of the new standards to assure equivalent undergraduate…

This report outlines the criteria for establishment of new public colleges and universities in Florida between May 1991 and the early part of the 21st Century; the plan emanated from legislative concern about Florida's ability to meet projected future demands for highly educated workers. Issues addressed include goals for degrees granted and…

Most of the students in the State University System have been admitted to a program that leads to a graduate or undergraduate degree. Out of the 271,337 students in the SUS, however, 15,304, or approximately six percent, are "unclassified" students who are not formally admitted to a degree program. This percentage in fall 2003 represents…

This information brief highlights the graduation rates for full-time first-time-in-college students in Florida's State University System (SUS) institutions as well above the national average for public four-year colleges, based on early release data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Of those who entered the SUS as…

This report presents a review and evaluation of the accountability plans in public postsecondary education as they relate to the mission and goals of postsecondary institutions. A review of current accountability activities found that existing legislation and institutional responses do not sufficiently embody the kinds of characteristics that…

The likely retirement age of "baby boomers" among the tenured faculty in the State University System (SUS) will coincide with a steep increase in the population of traditional college-age students over the next ten years. The majority (53.5%) of SUS faculty were born in the baby boom years between 1943 and 1959. This group is already…

The Chancellor and the Board of Regents of the State University System (SUS) of Florida initiated a comprehensive review of Florida's colleges of education and related programs during 1984-85. The following concerns were addressed: (1) strengths and effectiveness of teacher education programs in the SUS; (2) the impact of teacher certification…