I want to be my own person: the meaning-making and psychosocial processes of legacy students at Bucknell University

This study examined the meaning-making and psychosocial processes of five female legacy students at Bucknell University, each of whom having had at least one parent graduate from the institution. With a research philosophy, design, and methodology rooted in qualitative inquiry and phenomenology, inductive data analysis led to three primary categories that underscored legacy identity development. The first, Paradox of Influence and Identity, revealed through six themes nuanced experiences of separation-individuation. Second, Teaching and Learning, comprised of five themes, illuminated the impact of family — and of Bucknell parent alumni in particular — on their children’s internal working models. Lastly, Bucknell — the Environmental Contextand the five themes grouped therein highlighted the contributions of University community members, and of the campus culture and climate itself, to the co-construction of psychosocial formation. A tentative outline of grounded theory was offered, which explored categorical relationships; Paradox of Influence and Identity emerged as thedominant phenomenon, informing and being reinforced by the data of Teaching and Learning and Bucknell — the Environmental Context. Provisional intervention strategies for student affairs practice, in the contexts of academics, residential life, and career development, were discussed. Further, triangulated research is needed to substantiate and evolve the findings and theoretical model of this thesis.

Teacher Self-efficacy and Accommodating for Students with Disabilities in the Regular Education Classroom

The purpose of the present study is to investigate how teachers feel about their abilities to educate students with special needs, how their degree of teacher self-efficacy compares to intended courses of action, if teachers develop learned helplessness over time, if there is a relationship between low teacher efficacy and high learned helplessness, and if teacher self-efficacy and learned helplessness differ by gender, educational level, years of teaching experiences, and grade level taught.

Toward the Equitable Distribution of Enriching Educational Experiences: Faculty Engagement with Racial Minority Students

Peña, Bensimon, and Colyar (2006) noted: “Not only do African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans have lower graduation rates than [do] Whites and Asian Americans, they also experience inequalities in just about every indicator of academic success – from earned grade point average to placement on the dean’s list to graduation rates in competitive majors” (p. 48). While these and other racialized outcomes disparities cannot be attributed to a narrow set of explanatory factors, one thing is known for sure: College students who are actively engaged inside and outside the classroom are considerably more likely than are their disengaged peers to persist through baccalaureate degree attainment. Furthermore, engaged students typically accrue the desired outcomes that are central to liberal education. This is especially true for engagement in what Kuh (2008) refers to as “high-impact” educational experiences – study abroad programs, learning communities, undergraduate research programs, service learning opportunities, and summer internships, to name a few. Unfortunately, racial minority undergraduates are considerably less likely than are their White peers to enjoy the educational benefits associated with these experiences.

Key Aspects Affecting Students’ Perception Regarding the Instructional Quality of Online and Web Based Courses

This study assessed the perceptions of college students regarding the instructional quality of online and web based courses via a content management system. [See PDF for complete abstract]

Community College Student Participation in Undergraduate Research: An Explanatory Case Study for Faculty and Research Mentors

This study adapted the current model of science undergraduate research experiences (URE's) and applied this novel modification to include community college students. Numerous researchers have examined the efficacy of URE's in improving undergraduate retention and graduation rates, as well as matriculation rates for graduate programs. However, none have detailed the experience for community college students, and few have employed qualitative methodologies to gather relevant descriptive data from URE participants. This study included perspectives elicited from both non-traditional student participants and the established laboratory community. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the traditional model for a non-traditional student population. The research effort described here utilized a qualitative design and an explanatory case study methodology. Six non-traditional students from the Maine Community College System participated in this study. Student participants were placed in six academic research laboratories located throughout the state. Student participants were interviewed three times during their ten-week internship and asked to record their personal reflections in electronic format. Participants from the established research community were also interviewed. These included both faculty mentors and other student laboratory personnel. Ongoing comparative analysis of the textual data revealed that laboratory organizational structure and social climate significantly influence acculturation outcomes for non-traditional URE participants. Student participants experienced a range of acculturation outcomes from full integration to marginalization. URE acculturation outcomes influenced development of non-traditional students? professional and academic self-concepts. Positive changes in students? self-concepts resulted in greater commitment to individual professional goals and academic aspirations. The findings from this study suggest that traditional science URE models can be successfully adapted to meet the unique needs of a non-traditional student population – community college students. These interpretations may encourage post-secondary educators, administrators, and policy makers to consider expanded access and support for non-traditional students seeking science URE opportunities.

The articles which all that belong to the private meeting instituted at Harvard College, 1719, assent unto, January 10, 1723

This one-page document contains the handwritten laws of an unnamed Harvard College religious society. The document is dated January 10, 1723 and includes the signatures of twenty-six students in the Harvard Classes of 1724 through 1728.

A catalogue of books in the College library: [which Benjamin Welles wished to read], 1797

In this small paper-bound catalog, Benjamin Welles (1781-1860) listed books in the Harvard College Library which he wished to read. He presumably compiled the list by consulting the Library's 1790 printed catalog, as the works are categorized according to subjects outlined in that catalog (Antiquities, Astronomy, Ancient Authors, Biography, Sacred Criticism, Ethics, Geography, Geometry, History, Nature, Travels / Voyages, Natural Law, Logic, Metaphysics, Miscellaneous Works, Dramatic, Phililogy, Natural Philosophy, Poetry, Rhetoric, and Theology). The final pages of Welles' catalog, which he titles "Another Selection," list additional volumes he wished to read. These are listed alphabetically, A - G. Some titles throughout the catalog have been marked with a "+" perhaps to indicate that Welles had read them.

Harvard College Lottery Book, 1794-1797

The long hardcover account book contains handwritten records of the Harvard College Lottery in the hand of College Treasurer Ebenezer Storer. The volume begins with a transcription of the Massachusetts General Court June 13, 1794 legislation sanctioning the lottery, and a note that the managers of the lottery gave security bonds to the Corporation. The bulk of the volume records the activities of the four classes of the lottery including lists of the individual tickets returned by the managers Benjamin Austin Jr., George R. Minot, Henry Warren, and John Kneeland, and the accounts of prizes drawn and tickets returned. The volume has a table of contents and there is a note pasted onto the third page calculating the sum raised if all tickets had been sold.

An abridgment of what I extracted while an undergraduate at Harvard College, 1766-1769

The bound volume contains excerpts copied by Benjamin Wadsworth from books he read as a student at Harvard in the late 1760s. The volume includes almost no personal commentary on the readings. The excerpts are arranged by year of study for the academic years 1766-1769, beginning when Wadsworth was a sophomore. Each entry begins with a title indicating the book title and author for the passage, and there is an alphabetical index at the end of the volume. Wadsworth selected “extracts” from both religious and secular texts including several histories of England, American histories (with a focus on Puritans), the Bible, and in his senior year, “the Koran of Mohammed.” He also read several books on the art of speech and the art of preaching. There are few science texts included, though the final five-page entry is titled, “What I thought fit to note down from Mr. Winthrop’s experimental Lectures” and contains notes both on the content of Professor John Winthrop’s lectures as well as the types of experiments being performed in class. Wadsworth’s commonplace book offers a window on the state of higher education in the eighteenth century and offers a firsthand account of academic life at Harvard College.

Letter from Lemuel Shaw to Susanna Shaw, January 3, 1797

This single page handwritten letter was sent from Lemuel Shaw to his mother, Susanna, during his freshman year at Harvard. In the letter, he requested that his mother wash and return his dirty laundry and send him clothes, including a pair of overalls, some neck-handkerchiefs, and a new hat. Shaw also asked for money to be sent to pay off his debt of $21.25 to Mr. Richard Hunnewell for board and rent, $18.93 for the previous quarter’s bill, and $1.15 for Mr. Timothy Alden, the College Butler.

Letters from Timothy Pickering to his brother and father, 1797-1798

These two handwritten letters by Timothy Pickering were written on February 14, 1797 and June 14, 1798 to his brother John Pickering and his father Timothy Pickering, respectively. The letter to his brother, John, discusses mutual friends, classmate Thomas Lee, and John’s recent attendance at a sermon by Dr. Joseph Priestley. The letter from Timothy to his father includes a discussion of Timothy’s expenses and the amount of money needed to pay his debts, a request for new shoes for commencement, the news of Timothy’s invitation to join honor society Phi Beta Kappa, and a few comments on his forensics course at Harvard.

Student enrollment at Boston College in the nineteenth century /

"January, 1984."

College freshmen with disabilities preparing for employment /

"A statistical profile--"--Cover.

Some courses of study of interest to college women relating to the War and Post-War.

Mode of access: Internet.

Voluntary stepping stones of preparation for service-minded women students.

Mode of access: Internet.