Assessing Merit Aid and Need-Based Aid At Private Institutions

Institutions provide students with full tuition merit awards through formal scholarship programs for outstanding performance in academics, leadership, community service, and athletics. This brief outlines how institutions fund and utilize merit to increase retention rates, particularly for minority and first generation students.

Interview with Dennis Stamper

In his January 12, 2015 interview with Michelle Dubert-Bellrichard, Dennis Stamper shares his memories of being one of the first male, day students from 1969-1972. Stamper details his studies and professors from the Philosophy and Religion Department, as well as the Psychology Department. Stamper includes his perception of the atmosphere at Winthrop during a time of great change in the country, and how that experience coupled with his work in the Wesley Foundation and the influence he received from professors paved the way for he currently lives his life. Stamper concludes his interview detailing his studies and careers after Winthrop. This interview was conducted for inclusion into the Louise Pettus Archives and Special Collections Oral History Program.

Student Reactions to Professor Use of Facebook

Mazer, Murphy and Simonds (2007) recently demonstrated that high self-disclosure, compared to low self-disclosure, on a fictitious professor's Facebook profile was related to students' expectations of a positive classroom environment and high levels of motivation. These findings raise the question of whether all types of self-disclosure would have the same effect. This study examined college students' perceptions of specific ways that professors might use Facebook. We created six Facebook profiles for a fictitious male professor, each with a specific emphasis: Republican, Democrat, religious, family- oriented, socially oriented, or professional only. While viewing a printed version of one of the randomly distributed profiles, participants responded to questions that assessed their perceptions of the professors' teaching ability, classroom demeanor and appropriateness of self-disclosure, as well as their own Facebook use. Students responded most negatively, but sometimes with greatest interest, to professors' posting of social and political information. Appropriate use of Facebook, including professional and family information, increased students' respect for the professor and his classroom. These findings could be very helpful in guiding professor Facebook use.