For many years, the U.S. has underutilized its human resources, as evidenced by the pervasive underrepresentation of several racial and ethnic groups within academia in general and the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, in particular. To address this underutilization, academic departments within U.S. universities…

Assessment information should be actionable in that findings must be used to improve the student experience and educational effectiveness. Assessment is a worthwhile undertaking when campuses generate meaningful data, thoroughly consider and discuss evidence-based improvement initiatives, and ultimately use results to improve educational…

The NEAIR (North East Association for Institutional Research) 2012 Conference Proceedings is a compilation of papers presented at the Bethesda, Maryland conference. Papers in this document include: (1) Can a Marketing Campaign Increase Response Rates to Online Course Evaluations? (Kimberly Puhala); (2) Developing Community College Peer…

Although ambiguity exists regarding how states must respond to the mandates of Fordice to dismantle dual systems of education in previously segregated states, several scholars note Fordice should manifest itself in the enhancement of public Black colleges. Responding to Fordice, the state of Maryland entered into an agreement with the Office of…

As an enterprise that relies heavily on state funding, public higher education has long seen its support rise and fall with the boom-and-bust cycle of the economy. This chapter examines how the University System of Maryland repositioned itself as a state system able to thrive in an era of permanently diminished resources and perpetually escalating…

During the past five years the college's career programs have been growing steadily. Each year this growth has been noted mainly by comparison with the previous year. The present report shows how career programs have been growing in the longer term. A five-year time frame has been selected for comparison. The number of students enrolling in career…

This document presents a creatively written description of Antioch College in Columbia, Maryland, written by a college consultant who was hired as a consultant to the governing council of the college to make an analysis of the college's governance system and the learning and social environment of the school. The author describes how the…

A report that describes some of the characteristics of Harford Community College students is summarized. The 12 variables investigated in order to develop a description of the student population and pinpoint trends were: (1) part-time students--the proportion of part-time students was found to be rising dramatically; (2) Age--the average age of…

Students' reasons for leaving Montgomery College after one semester, dropout trends, current activities of nonreturnees, and the impact that the one semester had on their careers or course of action were elicited by questionnaires mailed to 389 students. A total of 120 usable questionnaires were returned. The data collected showed that: (1) the…

The results of an evaluation of the Medical Assistant Program's first year are presented. Specifically, the matriculation, course enrollment, and program completions for the first year are compared with goals established at the program's inception. The evaluation findings were: (1) the program was offered as planned; (2) the discrepancy between…

As part of a statewide followup study of all students who entered a community college in the fall of 1970, a questionnaire was mailed in April 1974 to the 3,615 students who had entered Montgomery Community College in fall 1970. Twenty percent of the questionnaires were nondeliverable; thus, 2,890 students received the questionnaire, and of these,…

This document reports the results of a survey of all registered dental hygienists reported by the State of Maryland as residents of southern Maryland (n=397), 82% of whom responded. The purpose of the survey was to examine the employment patterns of dental hygienists in the Montgomery College service area in order to determine if hygienists who…

The purpose of this study was to test the relationship between selected factors and voluntary attrition occurring during the freshman year at Montgomery College (Maryland) in the 1969-70 academic year. The study sample was 952 of the 1748 freshmen: 476 students that had voluntarily terminated attendance at college prior to beginning their second…

This journal chronicles a sample of the papers and presentations delivered during previous annual meetings of the Maryland Association for Institutional Research on the fifth anniversary of that association. A first paper, one from the first annual meeting in 1987 titled "Environmental Scanning: Assessing Local Business Training Needs"…

An overview is provided of the responses made by Maryland's community colleges to growing concerns for accountability and the measurement of educational outcomes. First, the paper reviews the legislative initiatives and agency actions that characterized the state's movement toward a formalized, state-coordinated institutional assessment procedure.…