This article reports the authors' research which combined quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze a rather intangible phenomenon of interest to higher education researchers and administrators, that being "departmental climate" (often referred to as "academic climate"). This investigation required the authors to develop a method by which…

This dissertation examines the similarities and differences in perceptions between division chair people and adjunct faculty regarding teaching support, mentoring, and professional development opportunities. Adjunct faculty have a significant presence in higher education institutions and need to feel supported so they are prepared to teach. A…

This study sought to explore and understand the perceptions that faculty members have of community development in living-learning communities at a large, private research institution in the Northeast. Boyer's (1990) tenets of community development provided a theoretical lens for the study. The article concludes with implications for practice and…

The purpose of this study was to investigate university faculty's perceptions of teaching support and their teaching efficacy in Taiwan. In addition, the relationship of perceived teaching support to faculty' teaching efficacy was examined. Questionnaires measuring three dimensions of teaching support and six dimensions of teaching efficacy were…

The author discuses transformative learning as a means to explore the centrality of experiences, provide critical reflection, and a rational discourse to examine a set of conditions which need to be fulfilled to foster the application of the transformative learning process for professors and the students at the University of Prishtina. The author…

This article presents qualitative results from a campus climate study at one predominately white university. Data analysis uncovered "what lies beneath" a seemingly positive campus climate. Gender differences in survey responses suggest that men and women experienced the climate in vastly different ways. Additionally, lack of deep diversity…

We maintain that an understanding of the working contexts of staff is a critical consideration when designing for effective professional development. The process of embedding theory into good practice does not simply depend on the design of a good seminar, because it may also be affected by who else attends, or perhaps by who the participants talk…

This study identified the fundamental lifestyles adopted by a university community in Malaysia. Rapid growth and expansion of higher education in Malaysia is inevitable as the country moves from a production-based economy to one that is innovative and knowledge-based, requiring the development of a highly skilled and knowledgeable workforce.…

Notwithstanding political science professors' concerted efforts to remain politically neutral in the classroom, we find evidence that students are able to successfully identify the partisan loyalties of their professors. Furthermore, we find that there is a tendency for students to drift toward the Democratic Party over the course of the semester,…

This article explores what motivates junior researchers to engage in academic work and what questions are central for their academic identities. The context of the study is the entrepreneurial orientation of today's university, which according to many leaves little space for the academic calling. The main argument is that the identity work of the…

It is well established that universities encourage the acquisition and dissemination of new knowledge among university community members and beyond. However, what is less well understood is how universities encourage entrepreneurial (opportunity discovery, evaluation, and exploiting) behavior. This research investigated a multilevel model of the…

While community colleges have been accessible for adult learners with an immigrant and an English Language Learning (ELL) background, there is a gap between preparation and academic success on the college level among these students. Within community colleges, older adult English as a Second Language (ESL) students have the lowest first-semester…

This study examines variability in the extent to which faculty members in the disciplinary-based academic environments of Holland's theory emphasize different student learning outcomes in their classes and whether such differences are comparable for those in "consistent" versus "inconsistent" environments. The findings show wide variation in the…

This article describes a mixed-methods approach to integrating the methodological tools of social network analysis and qualitative research to explore intersectionality as it pertains to faculty experiences in institutional contexts. These research strategies, employed at the individual and aggregate levels, can be useful tools as institutions aim…

Trust in the workplace has been linked to higher levels of organizational performance and competitiveness. The imperative of variants of trust among a spectrum of institutional types, including colleges and universities, has been deemed to be considered essential for organizational effectiveness, stability and continuity. One variant,…