Description: Alcohol and other drug use continue to be a major issue on college and university campuses. Few studies have examined alcohol and other drug related issues for a graduate or professional student population. This study examines attitudes, incidents, and consequences of alcohol and other drug use among students enrolled at an academic heath science center. This study incorporated a descriptive research design and utilized the CORE Alcohol and Drug Survey for the collection of data. The data were then analyzed using descriptive statistics and represented in tables as frequencies and percentages. The survey was mailed to all students enrolled in didactic course work at the University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC) during the fall 2001 semester. This included master's students in physician assistant studies, master's and doctoral students in the biomedical sciences, master's and doctoral students in public health, as well as first and second year medical students. Of the 565 students enrolled in didactic course work, 321 responded to the survey for a return rate of 56.8 %. Statistically significant findings are reported for students at UNTHSC in relation to perceptions of use, actual use, reasons for use, and consequences for use. Similar findings are shown relative ...

Description: Learning communities have emerged as an efficient and effective paradigm for improving undergraduate education, especially for entering freshmen. The academy has become increasingly interested in learning outcomes and student retention, especially as they are related to the assessment of various approaches to educating the whole student. Learning community pedagogy has developed through rigorous research. However, little is known about the impact of this pedagogy upon college students' cognitive development and writing aptitude. Cognitive development theory has been most significantly influenced by the work of William G. Perry, Jr. Though no theory exists which would address the stages of writing development in university students, many composition theorists suggest a correlation between cognitive development and writing aptitude. This study measured cognitive development and writing aptitude in learning community students and non-learning community students, matching them for SAT scores, high school grade point averages, gender, and ethnicity. The research questions of interest were: 1) How does participation in a learning community affect students' cognitive development; and 2) How does participation in a learning community affect students' writing aptitude? The participants were pre- and post-assessed for cognitive development, using the Measure of Intellectual Development (MID). Additionally, participants were preand post-assessed for writing aptitude, using ...

Description: This study examined the career paths of women administrators serving as chief academic officers in Christian colleges and universities which belong to the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU). The CCCU is a professional association of evangelical Christian institutions dedicated to integrating faith and learning. The exploration included each administrator's demographic information; her early, adolescent, college, and graduate school experiences; early vocational experiences; the effect of marriage and motherhood on her career; critical factors she identified as important in achieving her current position; and the importance of spiritual convictions or Christian faith in career decision making. Sixteen of the eighteen identified women holding the rank of chief academic officer agreed to participate in the study. The typical woman administrator was 50, married, and the mother of one or more children. She most likely had received her education in the humanities, with the terminal degree of choice being a Ph.D. She had served at her current institution for more than five years, but in her current administrative position for less than five. As an adolescent she excelled in the humanities, less so in math and science, and was involved in many extracurricular activities, including music endeavors, leadership, and her local ...

Description: This study investigated the conflict management styles of chief student affairs officers in 4-year public institutions of higher education in the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The data for the study were collected using Hall's Conflict Management Survey. The sample for the study consisted of 25 chief student affairs officers. The purpose of the study was to identify the conflict management style preferences of chief student affairs officers. The other variables studied to ascertain if they had an impact on the style preferences were age, gender, number of years of experience as a chief student affairs officer, ethnicity, and the size (enrollment) of their employing institution. The study found statistically significant associations (p<.05) between ethnicity and conflict management style, specifically the synergistic and win-lose styles, and between the synergistic style and age. The association between ethnicity and conflict management style could be attributed to the fact that the Caucasian group of chief student affairs officers comprised 66.7 % of the synergistic styles and 100 % of the win-lose styles. The association between the synergistic style and age could be due to the fact that the majority of the chief student affairs officers had a synergistic style, and of that ...

Description: This is a case study of the historical development of a private Christian faith-based school of higher education in post-Soviet Russia from its conception in 1990 until 2006. This bi-national school was founded as the Russian-American Christian University (RACU) in 1996. In 2003, RACU was accredited by the Russian Ministry of Education under the name Russko-Americansky Christiansky Institute. RACU offers two state-accredited undergraduate academic programs: 1) business and economics, and 2) social work. RACU also offers a major in English language and literature. The academic model of RACU was designed according to the traditional American Christian liberal arts model and adapted to Russian higher education system. The study documents the founding, vision, and growth of RACU. It provides insight into the academic, organizational, and campus life of RACU. The study led to the creation of an operational framework of the historical development of RACU. The study also provides recommendations for the development of new Christian liberal arts colleges and universities based on the experience and the underlying structure of RACU.