Current and Past Issues

Current Issue

Volume 11 (2014)

Editor's Introduction
Talia Carroll
I am excited to welcome readers to our eleventh volume of Higher Education in Review. As I reflect on the past year of serving as Editor of Higher Education in Review, I recognize that change and adapting to it was rather central to this volume. At the close of a highly productive and successful tenth anniversary of the journal, there were many exciting goals brought to the table. We were able to grow the journal’s reach through our online presence, continue our outreach to graduate students, and discuss how to better involve our graduate student community in our journal. READ MORE

“Leave Your Discipline At the Door”: Matching Expectations for Interdisciplinary Collaboration among Faculty Members
Daniel Boden, Lisa D. McNair, and Maura Borrego
This study explores why interdisciplinary collaborations succeed or fail. We used Tannen’s (1993) discourse method of frame analysis to uncover individuals’ implicit assumptions toward interdisciplinary collaboration and mapped these expectations to one of three stages in Amey & Brown’s (2004) model of interdisciplinary team development. In analyzing meetings between an established team and four potential collaborators, we found that potential collaborators who interacted with the team at their current stage of development engaged in long-term collaborations, while others interacted at an earlier stage and were not asked to join the team. The findings can guide academic researchers in becoming better interdisciplinary collaborators.  READ MORE

Understanding the Backlash Against Race-Based Affirmative Action
Jessica Baron
This study examines the current backlash against affirmative action policy in higher education in the courts and posits, through a Critical Race theory framework, why Whites often describe the policy as being unfair. The historical context of affirmative action policy, the views of Critical Race theorists, and the recent research on attitudes of Whites toward the policy are examined in order to draw conclusions about the policy in the current moment. Implications for educators and administrators in higher education are explored in light of this contextual research.  READ MORE

Academic Capitalism and the Social Charter between the University and the Public
Allison Palmadessa
The traditional purpose of higher education is to serve the public by creating knowledge for free exchange for the benefit of all members of a given society.  With the dominance of the global knowledge based economy, academic capitalism is forcing the university to renegotiate its social contract with the public to allow the university to operate as a private good. The question for research lies in how the university will negotiate this change and if it will abandon the public willingly or forcibly.  READ MORE



Special Online Submission

Performance Funding in the States: An Increasingly Ubiquitous Public Policy for Higher Education
Amy Y. Li
Performance funding for higher education has experienced a renaissance in recent years. More states have adopted or are in the process of adopting performance funding models, an accountability tool that allocates state appropriations based on college performance on predefined metrics. This paper provides a comprehensive literature review of past and current topics in performance funding, such as performance metrics, policy design, institutional knowledge, and institutional responses. Specific state examples, including Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and Washington, illustrate main points about policy implementation and impacts. Unintended consequences of performance-based funding are also discussed by exploring troublesome examples of policy “side effects”. This paper concludes with major policy and practice recommendations from the literature.  READ MORE

Past Issues

Volume 10 (2013)

Editor’s Introduction

Travis York

It is my distinct privilege to begin this introduction by welcoming you, our readers, to the tenth volume, and thereby our decade anniversary edition, of Higher Education in Review. A brief survey of the past year’s activities and accomplishments serves to highlight not only the tremendous dedication of the graduate student editorial board, but also the previous of decade of students’ diligence and commitment to quality that has laboriously gone into making Higher Education in Review (HER) the premier graduate student-run, peer reviewed, academic journal in the field of higher education. READ MORE


KerryAnn O'Meara
The purpose of this essay is to consider the role of agency in the lives and careers of graduate students.  Three questions guide the discussion. First, what is agency and what does it look like in the careers and lives of graduate students? Second, what can departments do to cultivate and support it? Third, what can individual graduate students do to assume agency? READ MORE

Christos Korgan, Nathan Durdella, and Mark Stevens
This qualitative study investigated the intrapersonal and environmental factors that affect the development of academic self-efficacy in freshman college students in an ethnically diverse, comprehensive, public institution in the western United States. READ MORE

Kathryn A. E. Enke and Kelly T. Winters
In this research, we explored the ways that junior and senior students at two Catholic women’s colleges in the Midwestern United States understand community engagement, and we examined how they came to know and understand their gender and spiritual identities in relation to their engagement activities. READ MORE

The Impact of State Financial Support on the Internationalization of Public Higher Education: A Panel Data Analysis
Chrystal Annunciata George Mwangi
Levels of state appropriations to public higher education have not kept pace with rising enrollment and costs. Subsequently, internationalization may provide a lucrative revenue source for postsecondary institutions. This study employs an analysis of annual, state-level panel data of 50 states from 1990-2010 to address: How does state financing for higher education influence undergraduate international student enrollment at public four-year institutions? READ MORE


Special Online Submission

Predictors of Success in a STEM Gateway Mathematics Course for HBI Summer Bridge Students
Yvette E. Beersingh, Carrol S. Perrino, and R. Trent Haines
This study examined the predictive factors of success in a STEM gateway mathematics course among first-year students at an historically Black institution (HBI). The study consisted of 758 students; 49% males and 51% females who participated in a pre-college summer bridge program between 2007-2010. READ MORE

Volume 9 (2012)

Editor’s Introduction and Front Matter
Rodney Hughes and Ezekiel Kimball

With the writing of this piece, we have the privilege of bringing to a close what has proven to be a most interesting volume of Higher Education in Review. This year we have received the largest number of submitted pieces in the history of our publication, and we have been . . . READ MORE

Crossing Boundaries: Mass Higher Education in Multiple Perspectives
Sir Peter Scott

The theme of 'crossing boundaries' is addressed in terms of both personal biography and shifts in the nature of higher education institutions and systems. The author has moved over the past two decades from being the editor of a higher education weekly to becoming a professor . . . READ MORE

A Longitudinal Analysis of Organizational Determinants of Part-time Faculty Employment in Private Baccalaureate Colleges and Universities
Natasha Rumyantseva

The purpose of the present study is to examine the driving and constraining forces of part-time faculty employment using a conceptual framework grounded in organizational sociology. Rather than positioning higher education institutions as economic organizations seeking to maximize cost saving . . . READ MORE

Leadership in Crisis: A Historical Analysis of Two College Presidencies in Reconstruction Virginia
L. Neal Holly and Jeremy P. Martin

Presidential leadership beyond the burgeoning universities of the mid-19th century is an often overlooked area ripe for historical analysis.  This paper focuses on two presidents in the Reconstruction South: Robert E. Lee at Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) and Benjamin Stoddert Ewell at the College of William and Mary . . . READ MORE

Reaching Out, Connecting Within: Community Service Participation and Sense of Belonging Among College Students
Krista M. Soria, Jordan N. Troisi, and Michael J. Stebleton

This study examined the relationship between students’ participation in community service and their sense of belonging on campus. Furthermore, the study explored whether the ways in which students become involved in community service yield different associations with their sense of belonging . . . READ MORE


Special Online Submission

Publishing in Graduate School: A Narrative of the Process
Liz Shelby and Nathern S. A. Okilwa
Publishing during graduate school has become essential since potential employers in academia consider publications in the determination for employment. This article describes the experience of two graduate students... READ MORE


Volume 8 (2011)

Editor’s Introduction
Peter L. Moran

With the publication of our eighth volume, Higher Education in review (HER) continues to expand its efforts to make substantive contributions to higher education literature and provide graduate students with firsthand publish experience.  The articles in this volume were selected from the largest number of submissions. . . READ MORE

Scholarship and Practice in higher Education: What Lies at the Intersection?
Stanley Ikenberry

In this invited essay, Dr. Stanley Ikenberry considers the interaction between scholarship and practice in higher education.  A greater reliance on evidence among academic leadership and a greater focus on quality, cost-cutting, and access among researchers would facilitate. . . READ MORE

The Era of the Student Bureaucracy and the contested Road to the Harvard Redbook, 1925-1945
Nathan M. Sorber and Jordan R. Humphrey

From the 1920s through the 1950s- a period we term "the Era of the Student Bureaucracy"- students in governance positions, newspapers, and other leadership roles greatly impacted the direction of higher education. . . READ MORE

Academic Departments and related Organizational Barriers to Interdisciplinary Research
Daniel Boden and Maura Borrego

This qualitative case study examines the disincentives faculty members encountered in working toward interdisciplinary research centers.  The barriers stem from the organizational structure of most U.S. universities. . . READ MORE

The Curious Life of In Loco Parentis at American Universities
Philip Lee

In this article I trace the legal history, through court opinions of in loco parentis (Latin for "in the place of the parent") as applied to the relationship between American Universities and their students.  I demonstrate that until the 1960s, the in loco parentis doctrine allowed universities. . . READ MORE

Volume 7 (2010)

Editor’s Introduction
Nathan Sorber

On a February day 50 years ago, four African-American freshmen from the segregated North Carolina Agriculture and Technology (A&T) College entered the Greensboro Woolworth’s department store and sat down at the Whites-only lunch counter. Fellow North Carolina A&T. . . READ MORE

Defining and Achieving Success: Perspectives from Students at Catholic Women’s Colleges
Kathryn A. E. Enke and Rebecca Ropers-Huilman

This paper explores the concept of success, as defined through interviews with 26 senior students at two Catholic women’s colleges in the Midwestern United States. Participants described success in expansive ways, grouped into five themes: (a) success is subjective and . . . READ MORE

The Effect of Prices on Postsecondary Access: An Update to Heller
Jiyun Kim

Given significant tuition increases since the 1990s, this study reviews the prior literature related to the price elasticity of college enrollment since Heller’s extensive reviews of student price responses. The studies reviewed in this article indicate that the price of attending college . . . READ MORE

Coveting More Than Thy Neighbor: Beyond Geographically Proximate Explanations of Postsecondary Policy Diffusion
Brian Sponsler

In theorizing about how and why higher education policy spreads among the states, scholars have consistently assumed that the existence of policy in a nearby state increases the likelihood that other states will subsequently adopt a similar policy. However, limited empirical . . . READ MORE

Complicating “Just Do It”: Leaders’ Frameworks for Analyzing Higher Education for the Public Good

Penny A. Pasque and Lesley A. Rex

This study explores various conceptualizations of higher education’s relationship with society. We analyze policy discussions among 150 higher education leaders including community partners, legislators, foundation officers, university presidents, faculty, administrators . . . READ MORE


Volume 6 (2009)

Editor's Introduction
Bradley E. Cox and Meghan J. Pifer

This year, to advance both the scholarly and the educational components of our mission, Higher Education in Review welcomed new participants and reached out to new partners. We focused on establishing a presence in academic departments and professional organizations . . . READ MORE

Cultivating Excellence in Academic Writing and Publishing: Our Individual and Collective Responsibilities
Bradley E. Cox and Meghan J. Pifer

As graduate students, we are often told of the importance of academic publishing. For those who become faculty members, publishing one’s scholarship is reiterated as a key standard by which one will be reviewed for hiring, promotion, and tenure. Higher Education in Review. . . READ MORE

“Believe You Have a Mission in Life and Steadily Pursue It”: Campus YMCAs Presage Student Development Theory, 1894-1930
Nathan F. Alleman and Dorothy E. Finnegan

During the 20th century, the field of student affairs transitioned from a philosophy-based practice rooted in the Student Personnel Point of View of 1937 (SPPOV) to a psychology-based profession, as researchers developed and practitioners accepted psychosocial theories. . . READ MORE

Neoliberalism in the Spellings Report: A Language-in-Use Discourse Analysis
Willis A. Jones

The purpose of this study is to use language-in-use discourse analysis to illustrate the abundance of neoliberal ideology in the Spellings Report. Specifically, this paper examines the way language in the Spellings Report recasts U.S. higher education as merely a venue for commercial investment where success is . . . READ MORE

Becoming a Writer
Ann E. Austin

In this invited essay, Dr. Ann E. Austin reflects on the process of becoming a writer. Drawing from her own experiences as a graduate student and faculty member, as well as her scholarship on socialization in doctoral education, Austin identifies four key components of . . . READ MORE


Volume 5 (2008)

Editors' Introduction
Jennifer M. Domagal-Goldman and Betty J. Harper

This volume of Higher Education in Review marks the fifth anniversary of the Journal and presents an opportunity to celebrate its success. It also is an important time for the Journal’s Editorial Board to take stock – to consider where we have been and where we are headed. In 2007-08, the number of manuscripts. . . READ MORE

The Politics of State Higher Education Funding
David A. Tandberg

An analysis of the theoretical and empirical connections between state funding for public higher education as a share of the total state general fund budget and various political attributes (e.g., interest groups, political ideology, voter turnout) of the U.S. states is presented in this article. Based upon data. . . READ MORE

The Invisible Immigrants: Revealing 1.5 Generation Latino Immigrants and Their Bicultural Identities
Holly Holloway-Friesen

The dual identities of 1.5 Generation immigrants have the potential to marginalize them from both their culture of origin and their new culture. Bicultural competence appears to buffer immigrants from acculturative stress and protect their self-esteem. Using the bicultural competence model proposed by. . . READ MORE

The Spellings Commission on the Future of Higher Education: Global Competitiveness as a Motivation for Postsecondary Reform
Casey E. George-Jackson

In this article, the author examines the U.S. Department of Education’s “A National Dialogue: The Secretary of Education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education.” Discourse and political economy analyses of the Commission’s meeting transcripts, issue papers, final report, and the Congressional. . . READ MORE

A Phenomenological Study of How Selected College Men Construct and Define Masculinity
Jerry L. Tatum & Ralph Charlton

This phenomenological study is focused on how selected African American college men attending a private Historically Black College or University (HBCU) and selected White college men attending a public Predominantly White Institution (PWI) view and define masculinity. Adopting a constructivist. . . READ MORE

Getting It Almost, Approximately, Just About Right
Patrick T. Terenzini & Ernest T. Pascarella

This essay is a reflection on the nature of scholarly collaboration and the important role a collaborative partnership has played in the careers of two esteemed higher education scholars. We invited Drs. Terenzini and Pascarella to co-author an essay sharing personal insights and advice regarding the research. . . READ MORE


Volume 4 (2007)

 Editor's Introduction
David A. Tandberg and Stephen John Quaye

Since the conception of Higher Education in Review (HER) in 2004, members of the editorial staff have introduced a number of changes to enhance the quality of the journal. For 2007, HER editorial staff actively solicited submissions from graduate students nationwide. We also reviewed and accepted manuscripts on. . . READ MORE

Access and Equity in Dual Enrollment Programs: Implications for Policy Formation
Samuel D. Museus, Brenda R. Lutovsky, and Carol L. Colbeck

Each year, a substantial number of high school students throughout the United States participate in dual enrollment programs to simultaneously earn high school and college credit. Such dual enrollment programs offer numerous benefits to students, institutions, and society. Specifically, dual enrollment can be viewed. . . READ MORE

Revenue Diversification: A Comparison of Russian and Chinese Higher Education
Ying Liu

The author examines the rise of nongovernmental sources of higher education finance in Russia and China. The conceptual framework incorporates cost-sharing theory and Johnstone’s (1998) five primary vehicles of supplementation of governmental with nongovernmental revenues: 1) tuition and fees. . . READ MORE

Accountability for Learning Belongs to the Learner
Janice A Wiersema & Barbara L. Licklider

One goal of higher education is to develop productive citizens who solve challenging problems and seek new insights. A first step toward such an end is getting students to take charge of their own thinking, actions, and ultimately, their own learning. This paper examines findings from a. . . READ MORE

Academic Advising for High-Achieving College Students
Sarah B. Dougherty

In this article, the author examines the current literature on academic advising for high-achieving college students, an area that constitutes a sparse and unexplored field. Researchers use a number of terms and definitions to refer to high-achieving college students. An exploration of these terms aids in specifying the. . . READ MORE

Will Work For a College Education: An Analysis of the Role Employment Plays in the Experiences of First-Year College Students
April K. Heiselt & Amy Aldous Bergerson

College students across the United States struggle with the challenges of balancing work and school. In 2005, 29.5% of full-time students worked over 20 hours a week while attending college, with 70.1% of their part-time counterparts in the workplace for 20 or more hours each week (NCES, 2005). Given. . . READ MORE


Volume 3 (2006)

Editor’s Introduction
Christian K. Anderson

Should graduate students engage in the scholarly process of publishing? And, if so, how should they go about doing so? Three years ago these questions were posed by David Tandberg (the current associate editor), then a new student in the higher education program at Penn State. To the first question (probably. . . READ MORE

Women’s Colleges in the Era of Gender Equity: A Review of the Literature on the Effects of Institutional Gender on Women
Betty J. Harper

For over three decades, the existence of a women’s college advantage has been the subject of ongoing debate. Widely cited studies by Tidball and others argue that graduates of women’s colleges achieve higher levels of success and are more likely to enter male-dominated fields than female graduates of. . . READ MORE

State-Level Higher Education Interest Group Alliances
David A. Tandberg

This study asks: Do higher education institutions form lobbying alliances and if so why, when, and how do they function within those alliances? The study employs the conceptual framework developed by Hojnacki and finds her framework useful in understanding state higher education interest group alliances. Institutions . . . READ MORE

The Promise of Public Scholarship for Undergraduate Research: Developing Students’ Civic and Academic Scholarship Skills
Emily M. Janke

The American goal of education is to change lives, not in an abstract sense of personal enlightenment, but as an active influence on thought and behavior. Hence, educators are charged with the responsibility of providing students with the learning experiences necessary to develop, as Bowen suggests. . . READ MORE

Why We Write
Roger L. Geiger

This essay examines why scholars engage in the writing process and what is to be gained by this endeavor—not only by the reader but also by the author. We invited Dr. Geiger to write this essay, asking him simply: Why is the publication of academic research important and what purpose does it serve? Why should. . . READ MORE


Volume 2 (2005)

"Slow Down:" The Legacy of the G.I. Bill on Women's Enrollment Patterns, 1935-1955 – A Survey of Big Ten Universities
Jackie Esposito

The G.I. Bill (or Veteran's Readjustment Act of 1944) was, arguably, the single most dramatic event for colleges and universities in the twentieth century. The requirements of the bill, the numbers of veterans who participated, the changes for delivery of higher education, the impact on American. . . READ MORE

A Castle in the Air: The William and Mary Flight School
Jodi Fisler

In the 1920s and 1930s, the world was captivated by aviation, and the College of William and Mary was no exception Under the progressive leadership of Dr. Julian A. C. Chandler, the college made aviation history in 1931, when it established the world’s first college-sponsored flight school. The new Department. . . READ MORE

Test Scores, Self-Efficacy, and the Educational Plans of First-Year College Students
Samuel Museus and Darwin Hendel

Educational aspirations and expectations are important factors in the success of students in postsecondary education, yet they are not well understood. This study examines the demographic and psychological factors that contribute to the development of educational aspirations, expectations, and plans. . . READ MORE


Volume 1 (2004)

Editors' Introduction
Radhika Prabhu and Victor Arcelus

As the Editors of Higher Education in Review (HER) it is our pleasure to introduce the inaugural issue of the journal. HER was born out of a series of conversations by students in the Higher Education Program regarding the need to better understand the publication process. These students, with the. . . READ MORE

An Analysis of Deep Spring Colleges
Christian K. Anderson and Kirk A. Diehl

Abstract: Deep Springs College, a two-year, all-male college that is also a working ranch situated in an isolated mountain valley in California is a unique educational experiment. It was founded in 1917 as a place to develop future leaders dedicated to service through its "three pillars" of academics, labor. . . READ MORE

Exploring Information Technology Related Organizational Change within Higher Education
Michelle Stine

Jane, a Professor of Music, was annoyed. "Listen," she snapped at John, a technical support staff member, "all I want is an IP address so I can bring in my own computer and use it in my office. This will save the department money and my computer is newer than the department's. I don't understand". . . READ MORE

Presidential Search Consultants in Higher Education: A Review of the Literature
Marcus Lingenfelter

The American Council on Education (ACE) study on the academic presidency reported that half of four-year college and university presidential searches finalized in 2001 utilized the services of an executive search consultant (Corrigan, 2002). This figure is up from 16 percent for searches. . . READ MORE
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