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Building and Sustaining a University-Anchored Collaborative Public Safety Data Network: The Northwest Indiana Model
Get PDFThis article details the Northwest Indiana Public Safety Data Consortium (NWIPSDC), a privately funded data-sharing network housed at Indiana University Northwest, an anchor institution, that includes several private-sector participants and over 30 public safety agencies at all levels of government (local, county, state, and federal). The NWIPSDC is fully explained, as are the academic underpinnings that supported its foundation (anchor institutions, network governance, and organizational and systems theory). The consortium is then detailed. The article concludes by overviewing, from the faculty perspective, the benefits and opportunities as well as challenges and drawbacks for those considering this type of community-engaged service/research on such a scale and how administrators can help to alleviate these issues and concerns.
Identity Status, Service-Learning, and Future Plans
Get PDFMarcia’s (1966) identity status paradigm served as the theoretical framework to study the impact of service-learning on clarifying future plans for emerging adults with varying identity statuses. The study participants were 195 undergraduates at a large urban public university in the southeastern United States. The Dimensions of Identity Development Scale (Luyckx, Schwartz, Berzonsky, et al., 2008) was administered at the beginning and end of the semester during which participants completed their service-learning class. The Service-Learning Impact on Future Plan Clarity Questionnaire developed by the authors for this study was administered at the end of the same semester. A two-step cluster analysis resulted in five identity status groups. Students in all five groups indicated that service-learning helped them clarify their future plans. Moratorium identity status group members reported significantly less benefit from service-learning for clarifying future plans. Results are discussed and implications for research and practice are provided
First Encounters, Service Experience, Parting Impressions: Examining the Dynamics of Service-Learning Relationships
Get PDFThrough a collected case study, this research study examines the relationships between college students and community partners in three separate service-learning projects. Although all of the service-learning relationships can be characterized as transactional, the reciprocity within each relationship manifests in different ways based on the presence and complexity of Mills’ (2012) “four furies.” Findings from this study can inform and help to redeem university– community partnerships operating under less than ideal conditions (e.g., limited service-learning hours, unorganized service-learning projects). The study suggests that transactional service-learning relationships have merit and can serve as a positive introduction to service-learning for both college students and community partners.
Financial capability: Literacy, behavior, and distress
No full textWe inspect the influence of individual financial knowledge and financial behavior on the proba- bility of experiencing financial distress. Using the 2015 National Financial Capability Study, we examine three measures of financial distress related to bill payment, retirement saving, and being late with a mortgage payment. Financial literacy and financial behavior indices are constructed using questions from the survey that pertain to financial knowledge (ranging in complexity) and financial decision-making. In addition to the influence of socioeconomic factors, the conclusion suggests that financial literacy and positive behavior reduces financial distress stemming from simple financial matters. However, the opposite is observed for more complex financial decisions
Public Purpose Under Pressure: Examining the Effects of Neoliberal Public Policy on the Missions of Regional Comprehensive Universities
Get PDFNeoliberal ideology that narrows higher education’s purpose to strengthening the economy is a threat to the civic engagement agenda and public purposes of U.S. higher education. Regional comprehensive universities (RCUs) are broad-access institutions founded to embody public purposes of student-centeredness, access, and civic and economic engagement. These institutions educate 20% of all college students, including large proportions of low-income, first-generation, minoritized, nontraditional, and veteran students. This article presents a qualitative case study of four RCUs grappling with their public purposes within a state policy and funding context shaped by neoliberal ideology. Despite administrators’ efforts, the universities abandoned aspects of their public purposes to address neoliberal demands from state policymakers. Given the important role these institutions play in expanding educational opportunity and strengthening regional civic life, these findings carry long-term implications for the future of community-engaged research, the civic education of students, and the public purposes of higher education
College Students’ Perceptions on Effects of Volunteering with Adults with Developmental Disabilities
Get PDFThe purpose of the current study was to address the research question, “Does direct contact with individuals with developmental disabilities positively alter college student attitudes toward people with developmental disabilities?” Subjects were undergraduate students from various majors who participated in an alternative spring break trip working with adults with disabilities. A mixed-methods study was used. Two instruments were administered before and after the volunteer experience: (a) Demographic and Open-Ended Questionnaire and (b) Multidimensional Attitude Scale Toward Persons With Disabilities (MAS). During the week, research participants kept daily journals where they reflected on their experiences as camp counselors and activity facilitators. Results were consistent with previous research that found significant changes in students’ self-perceptions, perception of others, and increased appreciation for social issues (Mann & DeAngelo, 2016). Further, results led to the identification of three distinct themes: transformation, enlightenment, and adjourning
Local creative culture and dividend policy
No full textThis paper examines the role of local risk-taking propensity on dividend demand by using local creative culture as a measure of local risk-taking. We find that firms located in areas with a strong creative culture are less likely to pay and initiate dividends and exhibit lower levels of dividend yield. The empirical findings also remain robust after addressing endogeneity and a series of robustness checks. Furthermore, our paper highlights the local component of corporate dividend policies and offers additional evidence supporting dividend catering theory. Our results underscore the importance of cultural determinants of investors’ risk-taking for the financial industry participants
Retrofitting the Ivory Tower: Engaging Global Sustainability Challenges through Interdisciplinary Problem-Oriented Education, Research, and Partnerships in U.S. Higher Education
Get PDFVarious experts and institutions, including the United Nations, have stressed the complexity of the 21st century’s global sustainability challenges. Higher education institutions should be at the center of research and education to meet these challenges. However, these institutions also find themselves in crisis, in part due to the economic recession, but also due to traditional disciplinary barriers that do not always incentivize interdisciplinary collaborations and public outreach. Challenges to interdisciplinarity are discussed, and examples of successful approaches are presented to demonstrate possibilities for prioritizing problem-oriented research and education tied to community and industry partnerships across higher education