Professional and Support Staff in Higher Education
Professional and Support Staff in Higher Education

Author: Carina Bossu

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-09-05

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9789811068560

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This volume, Professional and Support Staff in Higher Education, is focused on the issues and experiences of professional and support staff in higher education. The 29 chapters of this book span a broad range of topic areas, ranging across professional practices and identity, leadership and inclusion in higher education, professional development, and how the current higher education landscape impacts on their work, careers, aspirations and performance. The broad aims of this book are twofold: to contribute to the limited body of knowledge regarding professional and support staff in higher education, and to explore the key issues facing these professionals today through their own contributions. Professional and support staff are one of the universities’ most valuable assets, as they hold much of the corporate knowledge required to ensure that universities operate efficiently and effectively. The increasing professionalization of university professional staff has impacted on the roles they currently perform, as more professionals now occupy senior executive positions within universities; positions there were previously occupied by senior academics. Similarly, the boundaries between some professional and academic roles have blurred, creating a sub-category; the para-academic staff. Given the contribution professional and support staff make, and the increasing importance of the roles they perform within their institutions and to the society as a whole, it is surprising that their work, impact, careers, and aspirations remain largely unexplored in the literature and research to date. We hope readers find this book useful and insightful, that it enables greater and deeper insight among and between professional staff and their institutions, and that it contributes meaningfully to the growing body of knowledge and scholarship regarding professional and support staff in higher education globally. We also hope that the book assists in raising awareness about the professions that are part of our educational institutions, and the contributions that they make not only to their organisations, but to society as a whole.

The Gig Academy
The Gig Academy

Author: Adrianna Kezar

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2019-10-29

Total Pages: 259

ISBN-13: 1421432714

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Why the Gig Academy is the dominant organizational form within the higher education economy—and its troubling implications for faculty, students, and the future of college education. Over the past two decades, higher education employment has undergone a radical transformation with faculty becoming contingent, staff being outsourced, and postdocs and graduate students becoming a larger share of the workforce. For example, the faculty has shifted from one composed mostly of tenure-track, full-time employees to one made up of contingent, part-time teachers. Non-tenure-track instructors now make up 70 percent of college faculty. Their pay for teaching eight courses averages $22,400 a year—less than the annual salary of most fast-food workers. In The Gig Academy, Adrianna Kezar, Tom DePaola, and Daniel T. Scott assess the impact of this disturbing workforce development. Providing an overarching framework that takes the concept of the gig economy and applies it to the university workforce, this book scrutinizes labor restructuring across both academic and nonacademic spheres. By synthesizing these employment trends, the book reveals the magnitude of the problem for individual workers across all institutional types and job categories while illustrating the damaging effects of these changes on student outcomes, campus community, and institutional effectiveness. A pointed critique of contemporary neoliberalism, the book also includes an analysis of the growing divide between employees and administrators. The authors conclude by examining the strengthening state of unionization among university workers. Advocating a collectivist, action-oriented vision for reversing the tide of exploitation, Kezar, DePaola, and Scott urge readers to use the book as a tool to interrogate the state of working relations on their own campuses and fight for a system that is run democratically for the benefit of all. Ultimately, The Gig Academy is a call to arms, one that encourages non-tenure-track faculty, staff, postdocs, graduate students, and administrative and tenure-track allies to unite in a common struggle against the neoliberal Gig Academy.

Other Duties as Assigned
Other Duties as Assigned

Author: Mark P. Curchack

Publisher: R&L Education

Published: 2009-10-16

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 1607091747

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The position of presidential assistant is relatively new in the world of higher education and can still be a very hard-to-define occupation. In Other Duties as Assigned, veteran presidential assistants from all types of institutions describe the varied duties and responsibilities that they hold. The chapters span analyses of career paths, of gender, and of personal characteristics, as well as practical issues such as writing speeches, handling complaints, serving as the board secretary, and raising funds. The contributors have based their writing both on their experiences and on data from a national survey of the profession. This book is a seminal body of work that gives a comprehensive understanding of the many dimensions of presidential assistants, as well as providing practical advice about several key features of the role. As such, Other Duties as Assigned serves as a reference to existing presidential assistants as well as a guide to presidents contemplating the creation of such a position.

Universal Design in Higher Education
Universal Design in Higher Education

Author: Sheryl E. Burgstahler

Publisher: Harvard Education Press

Published: 2010-01-01

Total Pages: 369

ISBN-13: 1612500935

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Universal Design in Higher Education looks at the design of physical and technological environments at institutions of higher education; at issues pertaining to curriculum and instruction; and at the full array of student services. Universal Design in Higher Education is a comprehensive guide for researchers and practitioners on creating fully accessible college and university programs. It is founded upon, and contributes to, theories of universal design in education that have been gaining increasingly wide attention in recent years. As greater numbers of students with disabilities attend postsecondary educational institutions, administrators have expressed increased interest in making their programs accessible to all students. This book provides both theoretical and practical guidance for schools as they work to turn this admirable goal into a reality. It addresses a comprehensive range of topics on universal design for higher education institutions, thus making a crucial contribution to the growing body of literature on special education and universal design. This book will be of unique value to university and college administrators, and to special education researchers, practitioners, and activists.

Shaping Higher Education with Students
Shaping Higher Education with Students

Author: Vincent C. H. Tong

Publisher: UCL Press

Published: 2018-03-06

Total Pages: 348

ISBN-13: 1787351114

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Forging closer links between university research and teaching has become an important way to enhance the quality of higher education across the world. As student engagement takes centre stage in academic life, how can academics and university leaders engage with their students to connect research and teaching more effectively? In this highly accessible book, the contributors show how students and academics can work in partnership to shape research-based education. Featuring student perspectives, it offers academics and university leaders practical suggestions and inspiring ideas on higher education pedagogy, including principles of working with students as partners in higher education, connecting students with real-world outputs, transcending disciplinary boundaries in student research activities, connecting students with the workplace, and innovative assessment and teaching practices. Written and edited in full collaboration with students and leading educator-researchers from a wide spectrum of academic disciplines, this book poses fundamental questions about learning and learning communities in contemporary higher education.

Introduction to University Teaching
Introduction to University Teaching

Author: Richard Bale

Publisher: SAGE

Published: 2021-09-08

Total Pages: 169

ISBN-13: 1529773407

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The essential guide to teaching and learning in higher education for early career academics, postgraduate researchers, graduate teaching assistants and professional services staff. This accessible text offers practical guidance for anyone new to teaching in higher education. It covers key aspects of teaching and learning relevant for early career academics, postgraduate researchers, graduate teaching assistants and professional services staff, including those working towards Advance HE/Higher Education Academy (HEA) recognition. Understand how to plan and evaluate teaching sessions, the dynamics of teaching in small and large groups, how to use technology effectively, the particular challenges of laboratory and fieldwork and the importance of inclusive practice and career development. Key features include: · Practical strategies to enhance student learning and motivation. · Case studies from higher education professionals in various roles · Activities and reflection points applying educational principles to your own teaching · Chapter links to the UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF)

Relationship-Rich Education
Relationship-Rich Education

Author: Peter Felten

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2020-11-03

Total Pages: 207

ISBN-13: 1421439379

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A mentor, advisor, or even a friend? Making connections in college makes all the difference. What single factor makes for an excellent college education? As it turns out, it's pretty simple: human relationships. Decades of research demonstrate the transformative potential and the lasting legacies of a relationship-rich college experience. Critics suggest that to build connections with peers, faculty, staff, and other mentors is expensive and only an option at elite institutions where instructors have the luxury of time with students. But in this revelatory book brimming with the voices of students, faculty, and staff from across the country, Peter Felten and Leo M. Lambert argue that relationship-rich environments can and should exist for all students at all types of institutions. In Relationship-Rich Education, Felten and Lambert demonstrate that for relationships to be central in undergraduate education, colleges and universities do not require immense resources, privileged students, or specially qualified faculty and staff. All students learn best in an environment characterized by high expectation and high support, and all faculty and staff can learn to teach and work in ways that enable relationship-based education. Emphasizing the centrality of the classroom experience to fostering quality relationships, Felten and Lambert focus on students' influence in shaping the learning environment for their peers, as well as the key difference a single, well-timed conversation can make in a student's life. They also stress that relationship-rich education is particularly important for first-generation college students, who bring significant capacities to college but often face long-standing inequities and barriers to attaining their educational aspirations. Drawing on nearly 400 interviews with students, faculty, and staff at 29 higher education institutions across the country, Relationship-Rich Education provides readers with practical advice on how they can develop and sustain powerful relationship-based learning in their own contexts. Ultimately, the book is an invitation—and a challenge—for faculty, administrators, and student life staff to move relationships from the periphery to the center of undergraduate education.

High-impact Educational Practices
High-impact Educational Practices

Author: George D. Kuh

Publisher:

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 50

ISBN-13:

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This publication¿the latest report from AAC&U¿s Liberal Education and America¿s Promise (LEAP) initiative¿defines a set of educational practices that research has demonstrated have a significant impact on student success. Author George Kuh presents data from the National Survey of Student Engagement about these practices and explains why they benefit all students, but also seem to benefit underserved students even more than their more advantaged peers. The report also presents data that show definitively that underserved students are the least likely students, on average, to have access to these practices.