Academic spin-offs have become widely recognized vehicles for the commercialization of research results, fostering regional growth by universities. However, expectations of benefits are accompanied by high failure rates, low survival rates and fragile development paths. Our study addresses the role and contribution of the parent university in ASO…

This study explores school district leaders' strategies for managing the intersecting challenges of ambiguity, befuddlement, and contestation produced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on interview data from district leaders in the United States, the analysis is framed in existing research regarding how public administrators navigate competing…

Title IX is often viewed as vague and contentious, causing scholars and practitioners much grief in understanding and enforcing the legislation, particularly regarding the rights and experiences of trans students. This manuscript offers a new conceptual framework to assist scholars and practitioners in recognizing how two factors, ambiguity and…

Students encounter difficulties when entering into the fog of historical analysis, a place where evidence rarely lines up neatly and contradictions abound. Too often, novices conveniently ignore any sort of counterevidence that could muddy a clean explanation, thus reverting to safe truisms that sidestep key problems. Meanwhile, professional…

Employers participate in mental health initiatives in a number of ways. Key amongst these is the provision of accessible places and events for employees to discuss mental health issues. Inspired by these conversations, we held a workshop for staff to encourage the discussion to develop more widely, facilitated by the first two authors of this…

This study examined young children's deception in a conflict situation. A puppet show was prepared involving a protagonist who went into hiding, an enemy who wanted to catch the protagonist, and a friend who was looking for the protagonist. In the no-conflict condition, the enemy asked the children about the location of the protagonist. In the…

The study's target is to analyze how field-level coalition leaders, namely, the founding principals of Israeli specialized schools, perceive a "high-ambiguity and high-conflict" symbolic educational policy that apparently opposes the basic values that underlie the foundation of specialized schools. Based on an analysis of qualitative…

This paper questions whether are we able to foster uncertainty and ambiguity within higher education arts programmes, specifically alongside current institutional demands and embedded pedagogies. If not, then what effect does this have on current dance graduates? I attend to these questions through critical reflections upon my work as a pedagogue,…

This mixed-methods study employed Hargreaves and Fullan's (Professional capital: transforming teaching in every school, Teachers College Press, New York, 2012) concept of professional capital to re-examine whether professional learning communities (PLCs) transformed instructional practices in contexts that endorse hierarchical cultures. PLCs that…

In this paper we philosophically explore the notion of darkness within higher education teaching and learning. Within the present-day discourse of how to make visible and to explicate teaching and learning strategies through alignment procedures and evidence-based intellectual leadership, we argue that dark spots and blind angles grow too. As we…

The department chair is a complex middle-management position located at the organizational fulcrum between faculty and senior administration. This qualitative study sought to develop a deeper understanding of chairs' experiences when enacting their dual roles as managers and scholars. Using a basic interpretative study design, we interviewed 10…

This article discusses the need for chairs to recognize the changing and interconnected nature of postmodern times by engaging with policy makers, politics, and coalitions in this age of supercomplexity. Chairing a kinesiology department is a rewarding and complex position fraught with uncertainty; nevertheless, tolerating and planning for…

There remains uncertainty in scientific discussions regarding the governance of universities in new public management regimes in terms of who actually "rules" in the university. Apparently, a strengthened management leadership is confronted with continuing elements of academic self-regulation and professional autonomy in knowledge…

This paper is about the notion of conflict in the work of John Dewey. Special attention is given to "Democracy and Education" (1916) because of its centennial and its acclaimed status of "magnum opus". After depicting "conflicts as gadflies" that stir thinking--reflection and ingenuity--and relating it to Socrates, in…

The paper is based on an analysis of interviews with individuals engaged in systemic reform of higher education (HE) in Poland. The reform is perceived as controversial: it is supported by the media and claimed to be in line with the expectations of external stakeholders of HE, as well as being congruent with Poland's international commitments; at…