Cyclical program reviews (CPRs), also called periodic or academic reviews at institutions of higher education, are undertaken to ensure that academic programs meet a variety of objectives related to teaching and learning, as well as professional credentialing, quality assurance, and institutional requirements. Preparing, reviewing, and…

We developed a framework for characterizing an institution's quantitative skills/reasoning support ecosystem to consider how various activities contribute to student success in areas connected to students' quantitative preparation. Through discussions with faculty and staff stakeholders at eight selective small liberal arts colleges, we…

Using a collaborative autoethnographic approach, four administrators who previously were simultaneously employed in a small, private university in the State of Florida examined perceptions of continuous-improvement initiatives from their varied viewpoints as administrators who also had experience teaching at the collegiate level. Supervision of…

In fall 2019 the Access Services and User Engagement librarians at the Woodbury University Library undertook to identify campus library marginal and nonusers among faculty and students. We administered an online survey and conducted follow-up, one-on-one interviews in an effort to understand: (1) Why some Woodbury community members visit the…

Collaboration between academic and student affairs fosters meaningful student engagement, supports academic achievement, and facilitates a robust campus community. Although these partnerships can be challenging to develop, small institutions occupy a unique position in higher education, as these collaborations are highly valued as fundamental to…

This ethnographic study answers the following overarching research question: How do faculty perceive community college transfer students' academic preparedness and ability to academically succeed at a small, private university? Using data collected from faculty interviews, analysis yielded salient themes: 1. The faculty perception of academic…

What do you do when employees want sustained, in-person, dialogic learning opportunities, but the realities of their work prevent participation in such learning events? Microlearning can offer an important solution to this conundrum but also requires careful navigation between design recommendations, learner preferences, learning objectives tied…

Due to the unequal geographical distribution of HE institutions in many national HE systems, living in a rural or remote area and attending HE can be mutually exclusive. The implication is that those who remain in a rural area beyond school age do not study at the undergraduate level. In discussions of rural stayers, HE is therefore understood as…

This study explores faculty beliefs about teaching and learning in different institutional settings and over time. This study surveyed faculty at two Canadian universities, one research-intensive, the other teaching-intensive, using a conceptual replication of a survey originally administered in 1976. Some results differ from the original survey,…

From 2016 to 2020, ten smaller schools in one regional library consortium participated in a user needs assessment project. This article documents the process for implementing a collaborative user needs assessment by utilizing the shared interest and enthusiasm of a team of librarians to create a consortial toolkit. The toolkit supplied direction…

Controversial topics are important parts of academic discussions, and due to the nature of these topics, students may be reluctant to speak freely about them in college classrooms. This study aims to explore factors that influence students' reluctance to speak at a small midwest college, and the effect this may have on academic performance. We…

Faculty members impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic inadvertently participated in a historic, widespread, and rapidly occurring educational development phenomenon: the global shift toward emergency remote teaching. We surveyed faculty members (n = 502) at four different institutions (a community college and a small, medium-sized, and large…

Saint Mary's College of California is a small, Catholic Lasallian, liberal arts institution located in the San Francisco Bay area. Founded in 1863, the institution currently serves approximately 2,000 enrolled students. The Catholic Institute for Lasallian Social Action (CILSA) is the social justice and community engagement center that provides…

Community-based research (CBR) as a form of community-engaged learning (CEL) offers students valuable sociological practice and learning experiences. Although CEL strategies are well documented for enhancing students' sociological imagination, gaps persist in the literature regarding the impact on community partners. This article addresses the…

As online learning continues to grow and became an integral component of many higher education institutions, the role of leadership in guiding those online learning initiatives differs from institution to institution. This paper explores the experiences of leaders in centers for teaching and learning who have a role in online learning leadership…