College Student Journal

Solving the Problem of Promoting Distance Library Services

Promoting services is a conundrum for any organization. This is especially true for an academic library promoting distance library services. Systems thinking, process mapping, team learning, and diffusion of information practices offer ways of thinking about promoting services that help those involved find novel ways to approach promoting distance library services.

An Academic Survey of Engineering Student Athletes at a Division I University

This paper explores the academic success of NCAA Division I collegiate student athletes that enroll in engineering majors. At the University of South Carolina, which is a member of the NCAA Division I Southeastern Conference, nineteen engineering students were on an active athletic roster during the spring semester of 2005. The mean cumulative grade point average of these engineering student athletes is 3.24 on a 4.00 scale, which is well above the college mean. Twelve of these student athlet...

Caring for the Whole Person: Guidelines for Advancing Undergraduate Mentorship

Most commentaries and empirical investigations on mentorship have focused on academic and professional outcomes to date. Drawing on literature from various areas of mentorship, we propose an approach of effective mentorship based on caring and compassion for personal aspects of young adult mentees. As such, we outline characteristics of a successful mentor for undergraduates and provide suggestions for hiring considerations and research.

Factor Structure of the New Imaginary Audience Scale in a Sample of Female College Students

The New Imaginary Audience Scale (NIAS; Lapsley, FitzGerald, Rice, & Jackson, 1989) has been used as a research tool with both high school and college aged samples, yet there is no structural validity evidence for its use with college students. This study examined the structural validity of the NIAS via an exploratory factor analysis, using a sample of 321 female college students in a general education class. While the questionnaire's authors hypothesize a unidimensional structure, this s...

What Leads Students to Have Thoughts, Talk to Someone About, and Take Steps to Leave Their Institution?

The purpose of this quantitative research study is to identify variables that lead students to having thoughts of leaving their institution, talking with someone about leaving their institution, or taking steps to leave their institution. This attrition study identifies variables that institutional faculty, administrators, and staff can address with current students. The negative variables can be reduced while the positive variables can be enhanced to improve the overall retention of students...

Acknowledging the 'Professional' in a Professional Degree Program: Waiving the Standardized Exam for in-Service Applicants to a Mpa Program

The use of standardized examinations as a factor in admission decisions in Master of Public Administration (MPA) programs is a customary practice at many universities. Aptitude testing of pre-service, recent baccalaureate recipients is a means of assessing continued academic success in a graduate program. However, we contend, a growing diversity in an applicant pool, which includes large numbers of mid-career, working professionals, demands admissions criteria that also recognizes professiona...

Student Ratings of Teaching Effectiveness: An Analysis of End-of-Course Faculty Evaluations

The purpose of this study was to describe student ratings of teaching effectiveness for faculty in the College of Education (COE) at a Research I institution in the Southern United States. Student ratings of teaching effectiveness were analyzed for the 190 tenure-track faculty in this study based on race (White, Black, and "Other" racial groups which included Asians, Latinos, and Native-Americans). Three academic years of undergraduate and graduate level courses combined were used to analyze ...

African American College Students and Stress: School Racial Composition, Self-Esteem and Social Support

College students are a very vulnerable group to experience stress, the latter of which is related to a variety of outcomes, such as health and academic performance. However, there is a dearth of research examining African American college students and stress. Further, fewer studies have compared stress for students attending predominately white institutions to those attending historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). We first examined the relationships between self-esteem, social ...

Cinematic College: National Lampoon's Animal House Teaches Theories of Student Development

The purpose of this qualitative study is to analyze how potential college-bound and current college students make meaning about the higher education experience from the legendary film that is pivotal in the American college culture, sets the trend for future college-themed films, and is a national phenomenon - National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) (Cross, Errigo, Karney, Finler, Oppedissano, Bergan, & Hirchhorn, 2002). Since the film's release in 1978 higher education films have distorte...

The Relationship of Family Closeness with College Students' Self-Regulated Learning and School Adjustment

Family is a key factor to one's development. Family closeness is thus fundamental to the development of happy and competent children and adults. Self-regulated learners usually exhibit greater academic performance. Students who adjust well to school settings build confidence toward learning and exhibit appropriate school behavior. This paper examines the correlations among family closeness, self-regulated learning, and school adjustment in college students. The self-reported questionnaires we...

Effect of Gender On the Value Perception of the Young: A Case Analysis

This article evaluates the young's perception of the values with consideration of the gender factor. The study covered a total of 240 young , consisting of 100 girls and 140 boys continuing high school education in Ankara. The values of young were assessed with scales such as "terminal values", "instrumental values" and "values making life meaningful". It has been determined in this study to the young give importance to the values such as a sense of accomplishment, happiness, independent, hon...

Diversity in Adult Experiences and Criteria for Adulthood Among College Students

Recent literature suggests that emerging adults are more likely to use individualistic criteria to define adulthood, rather than traditional criteria such as role transitions and family capacities. In this study of 425 college students from a northeastern university, we identified several sources of variation in both the ways in which young people define adulthood and the nature of their adult experiences. The study's key findings are that females are more likely than males to emphasize indiv...

Preparing African American Counselor Education Students for the Professorate

The purpose of this article is to highlight the underrepresentation of African American faculty in CACREP-Accredited counseling programs and to discuss ways of creating and sustaining a pipeline of potential counselor educators for the academy.

College Adjustment Among Freshmen: Predictors for White and Hispanic Males and Females

The purpose of this study was to assess personal and interpersonal variables as predictors of college adjustment among a sample of 883 freshmen. Specifically, we examined the extent to which self-esteem, parental education, parental support, and peer support predicted adjustment during the first year of college. Furthermore, we were interested in determining if these predictor variables varied by race and gender. Regression analyses revealed that self-esteem was predictive of better adjustmen...

'Are You a Perfectionist?' a Perfectionist Scale for College Students

For some people throughout the world, perfection is a must, but for others, it actually seems that the realization of perfection isn't even good enough. For both of these groups of people, and possibly for others, too, nothing seems worthwhile that they wish to do. This situation locks them into havoc within themselves, for others expect them to do good work, but they won't settle for anything less than 1st place trophies on their shelves. Ascertaining the level or the degree of one's perfect...

Accountability and Discipline in Classroom Management: Case Study: Jarash - Jordan

This study aimed at identification of the undesired student's behaviors, which are investigated, by teachers and the strategies followed by beginner's teachers in classroom discipline at the schools of Jarash government - Jordan. To achieve the aim of the study, both researchers used the organized interviews size of the sample was 50 males and females teachers. The researchers reached the following results of the study; the investigated un desired student's behaviors are divided into: behavio...

Improving Students' Memory for Musical Compositions and Their Composers: Mneme That Tune!

Students enrolled in music appreciation and music history courses may find it difficult to remember composers' names and the titles of their compositions - particularly when retrieval is prompted by corresponding classical music themes. We sought to develop and validate a mnemonic approach in which musical themes were first recoded as more concrete referents, and then meaningfully associated with names and titles. Undergraduates were randomly assigned to either "own best method" or mnemonic c...

Ways to Beat the Stresses of Going to College

Among younger children "school phobias" are often problematic, but even among college students stresses linger that make their college-related experiences more "worrisome" than they should be. Therefore, this paper will propose ten strategies that should greatly aid individuals in their efforts to beat various kinds of college-related stress.

Personal Safety Practices, Beliefs and Attitudes of Academic Staff On a Small University Campus: Comparison of Males and Females (Part 2)

The current study reports on a study examining the safety concerns of male and female staff members on a small university campus. A 160-item questionnaire was distributed to 231 staff employees (49 males and 182 females), which asked individuals questions pertaining to socio-demographic information, daily routines and campus activities, awareness of campus services directly/indirectly related to safety issues, personal safety precautions taken while on campus, beliefs about safety on campus, ...

The Abc's of How to Succeed in College

[...] here are some helpful tips regarding what you need to do in order to help you to do well in school. S STUDY, study, study for goodness sake, but don't forget to take an occasional break.

The Scholar As Change Agent: W.E.B. Du Bois

W.E.B. Du Bois spent the vast majority of his 95 years working for the hearts and minds of Americans. Although consumed with equal rights and opportunity for Blacks, his larger vision was of a world in which all persons could progress as far as their unique knowledge, ability and efforts would permit. Intellectual and largely inward directed Du Bois utilized scholarship and the written word to advance his ideas and to secure a place of leadership in the Civil Rights movement of his day.

Gender Differences in Student Attitude for Seating Layout in College Classrooms

This study examined whether gender influenced college students' attitudes regarding classroom seating layout. Seating layouts included: a) rows of tablet-arm chairs, b) U-shaped, c) clusters, and d) rows of tables with individual chairs. The sample consisted of 912 college students. Factor analysis yielded two dimensions: "Feeling at Ease" and "Social Interaction." Results of a 2x4 ANOVA revealed that females had greater feeling at ease in rows of tablet-arm chairs and in clusters, while male...

National Study of Student-Athletes Regarding Their Experiences As College Students1

There is a received wisdom that the student experiences of student-athletes are deficient and that student-athletes are, and are treated as, athletes first and students second. We surveyed student-athletes at 18 Division IA (major football programs) schools to learn from them what they experience as students and how they assess those experiences. Student-athlete responses showed a generally positive picture of college life. While they regret that their participation in varsity athletics means...

Learning Activities in the Curriculum

Much is written about selecting objectives for student attainment and this is important. Objectives do need to be chosen carefully. They are vital to attain. Assessment, too, receives much attention in educational literature. Valid and reliable measurement/evaluation procedures do need to be in the offing to determine how well learners are achieving. Also, the kinds and types of errors made by learners should be noticed in order to provide remedial instruction and reteach what was missed by t...

Analysis of Technology Ownership and Selective Use Among Undergraduates

Extent of technology ownership and use has been documented for teens and even pre-teens. However, little is known as to whether such ownership and use patterns change over time. This study examined these issues by surveying a sample of undergraduates as to their ownership and selective use of technology. Compared to teens, undergraduates had higher ownership rates of laptop computers, cell phones, and PDA's. Undergraduates used technology for communication purposes about five-and-a-half hours...

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Anxiety Among College Students

A number of studies have continued to investigate cross-cultural differences in anxiety. However, the cross-national research on anxiety is still far less advanced than other psychological constructs such as schizophrenia or depression. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to compare and contrast the levels of anxiety experienced by American, Turkish, Mexican, and Philippines college students as measured by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. A total of 1709 college students participated...