Karen L. Webber

University of Georgia | UGA · Institute of Higher Education

An important part of STEM education is students’ acquisition of knowledge, skills, and abilities needed for career success, all of which emerge from a combination of classroom and co-curricular activities. Work-related experiential activities (WREAs) offer the opportunity for students to engage in experiential activities before degree completion, a...

Despite an increase in enrollments across public and private higher education sectors, Black/African American and Hispanic students in graduate and professional programs are disproportionately affected by educational debt. Using nationally-representative data from NPSAS:2000 and NPSAS:2016, findings show that, in general, Black/African American and...

Previous research highlights STEM educational inequities within various demographic groupings. However, little research explores the role of geography in STEM talent development. The present study assesses interest in and progression toward postsecondary STEM credentials among nonmetropolitan high school students (including rural areas and small to...

With enrollments rising in recent years, more than half of all graduate level students in US institutions take on educational loans. Using data from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS), this study examined educational debt for graduate and professional students in 2000 and 2016 and explored whether significant predictors of debt ch...

Data analytics is beginning to transform the culture, strategy, operations, and outcome assessment of college and university campuses in part due to the use of data, statistical analysis, and explanatory and predictive models to gain insight on complex issues across the business and learning domains of higher education. This chapter summarizes some...

Faculty members seek employment in an environment that offers good fit and work satisfaction. As in other countries, higher education institutions in the USA vary by size, disciplinary focus, and emphasis on research. This study examined faculty satisfaction by institution type (baccalaureate, master’s, doctoral, and research) for recent full-time...

final manuscript to be submitted to JHUP June, 2019.

Curriculum Vitae

Guided by Hagedorn’s (2000) theory of faculty job satisfaction, mindful of social and organizational structures of higher education, and acknowledging recent changes in the academic labor market, this study examines satisfaction for approximately 30,000 tenured and tenure-track faculty members in 100 US colleges and universities. Findings revealed...

With a focus on possible gender differences, this study used 2003–2013 data from the Survey of Doctorate Recipients to examine individual, institutional, and early employment factors that contribute to career paths of recent doctorates who enter postsecondary academic appointments. Findings showed some noteworthy differences by gender including low...

An analysis of graduate student debt points to possible implications for the future of advanced degrees—and suggests steps that higher education administrators can take to ensure continued enrollment and completion. https://www.businessofficermagazine.org/features/help-them-pay/

The volume of data, fast-changing technology, and the diverse student population require orchestrated collaboration with campus colleagues and with IR in a central and authoritative position. Due to current organizational practices and stakeholder expectations, particularly in the US, IR leaders should remain central to senior leader discussions be...

In 2012, graduate students borrowed more than $35 billion in loans to finance their education. Like some other fields of study, tuition and fees for Law school has increased precipitously in the past few decades. Using data from the National Study of Postsecondary Student Aid (NPSAS) this study examined changes in education debt for Law students fr...

This book examines the relevant roles, skills and knowledge needed to build the institutional research capacity across the higher education sector globally. The information contained herein will inform IR practitioners, senior level institution officials, and higher education scholars. With a focus on building the capacity of the IR profession, thi...

Theoretically grounded in Tinto’s model of retention and Braxton and colleagues’ revisions , this study is designed to examine the applicability of the integration model to students of different racial backgrounds. Results from a sample of full-time undergraduate students at a research-extensive university suggest that (a) academic and social integ...

Concerns are mounting that postdocs are providing institutions with greater flexibility in staffing grant projects but not necessarily advancing the postdocs' careers. In 2008, about a decade after doctoral-degree completion, 43 percent of science and engineering (S&E) doctoral recipients worked in educational institutions, and one-third held tenur...

The number of postdoctoral researchers has increased dramatically in the past decade. Because of the limited number of academic staff openings and the general levels of salary, the role and value of the postdoctoral appointment are changing. Using a sample of respondents with continuous data in the 1999 through 2008 Survey of Doctoral Recipients, t...

• This analysis uses Terenzini’s three tiers of organizational intelligence to frame the administrative work done by Institutional Researchers in U.S. higher education. Tier 1 is referred to as analytic/technical intelligence, Tier 2 is called issues intelligence, and Tier 3 is contextual intelligence (Terenzini, 2013).

Despite a recent increase in women and racial/ethnic minorities in U.S. postsecondary education, doctoral recipients from these groups report lower salaries than male and majority peers. With a longitudinal sample of approximately 10,000 respondents from the Survey of Doctorate Recipients, this study adds to the limited literature examining the eff...

Globalization, demographic shifts, increase in student enrollments, rapid technological transformation, and market-driven environments are altering the way higher education operates today. Institutional Research and Planning in Higher Education explores the impact of these changes on decision support and the nature of institutional research in high...

The number of postdoctoral researchers has increased dramatically in the past decade. Because of the limited number of academic staff openings and the general levels of salary, the role and value of the postdoctoral appointment are changing. Using a sample of respondents with continuous data in the 1999 through 2008 Survey of Doctoral Recipients, t...

The higher education administrative function known to many as institutional research has existed for a long time, but took distinct shape in the 1950s. Since then, it has grown and gained prominence in all higher education systems across the world. IR While it is known by a variety of terms, it is fundamentally the set of functions, activities, and...

Contemporary higher education institutions (HEIs) are faced with new challenges, including economic reductions, debates on the public versus private good of higher education, changing governance and academic structures, rapidly changing technologies, increasing requirements for quality assurance and institutional rankings and how to balance the mis...

https://blogs.elon.edu/purm/purm-4-1/

https://ir.library.louisville.edu/jsfa/vol44/iss2/2/ College student debt and loan default are growing concerns in the United States. For each U.S. institution, the federal government is now reporting a cohort default rate, which is the percent of students who defaulted on their loan, averaged over a three-year period. Previous studies have amply...

Despite record student debt and the growing importance of graduate education, little is known about what drives graduate student borrowing. In response to that research gap, this study draws on several national data sources to analyze the patterns and predictors of education-related debt among graduate students specifically. Adjusted Wald tests sho...

An increasingly globalised world means that higher education institutions are employing a diverse set of academic staff from across the world, and a better understanding of these scholars and their work roles is important for effective teaching, learning, and institutional management. Using the most recent data available from the National Study of...

Theories of involvement and quality of effort posit that student engagement in academic activities is critical to success. College officials invest substantial resources in activities and facilities to encourage student involvement, yet some reports find that many students study few hours per week and commit little time to academic activities. A cr...

Available at: https://www.scup.org/resource/cultivating-the-future-of-graduate-education/ The number of individuals receiving a U.S. doctorate degree continues to grow; however, we know little about the precise factors that affect wages for recent doctorate recipients over time. Using data from approximately 10,000 respondents who completed the Su...

Undergraduate research (UR) is a valued co-curricular activity that has involved an increasing number of students and faculty members in recent years. While there is a growing body of research on student participation in UR, there is less research available examining faculty perceptions of, participation in UR, and how those factors influence stude...

Globalization, growth, and competition are challenges faced by many postsecondary institutions across the world. Institutional researchers have a prominent role to play in examining the issues related to these challenges and alerting campus leaders to the impact they may have on the institution and higher education in general.

https://caarpweb.org/jotp-spring-2013/ US postsecondary institutions employ a growing number of foreign-born faculty members, yet there is inadequate literature examining faculty who come to US doctoral universities and how outputs from foreign-born faculty compare to US-born peers. Using data from the 2004 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty...

All around the world, postsecondary institutions are facing competitive environments, declining resources, and changing societal needs. Institutions are affected by globalization, state and local government needs, economic restructuring, information technology, and student and staff mobility. Institutional researchers have a critical role to play i...

Similar to trends in postsecondary education across the world, today’s US universities are an increasing mix of native and foreign-born scholars. US institutions are experiencing a growing number of international faculty members, but there is limited literature examining foreign-born faculty who work in US institutions and how outputs from foreign-...

Armed with a strong toolkit of knowledge and skills, institutional research (IR) professionals often serve as collaborators with campus colleagues who may need assistance with survey design, statistical analysis, program review, and assessment of individual programs or the institution. This paper discusses the role that an IR professional played in...

Over a decade ago, Barr and Tagg (Change Mag 27(6):12–25, 1995) declared that a shift had occurred in higher education from an instruction paradigm to a learning paradigm. A central element in this new paradigm is learner-centered assessment. While a growing body of literature suggests that this approach to assessment is a best practice in higher e...

For postsecondary institutions, organisational change is an inevitable and ongoing process. Institutions face a growing need to assess student learning assessment as part of an institution's comprehensive assessment plan. While a growing body of literature suggests that learner-centred assessment is a best practice in higher education pedagogy, it...

Assessment of undergraduate research (UR) programs using participant surveys has produced a wealth of information about design, implementation, and perceived benefits of UR programs. However, measurement of student participation university wide, and the potential contribution of research experience to student success, also require the study of extr...

As with other aspects of higher education, we now have rankings of faculty productivity. A better understanding of the breadth of measures used for faculty productivity is discussed in this chapter.

Now more than ever, interest in measuring the research performance of colleges and universities is at an all-time high across the globe. There are several factors that have precipitated this growth of interest in assessing research productivity, particularly in the United States. First, colleges and universities are increasingly competing with each...

This study examines the change in undergraduate term grade point average (GPA) for students at one large research university over a 20-year period. Results show that SAT scores, high school GPA, receipt of merit aid, gender, race, and major play a significant role in predicting term GPA. A decomposition of the net change in term GPA (assessing the...

Although an increasing number of students enroll in U.S. postsecondary education, concerns about costs, transparency, and outcomes continue to rise.

The issues of accountability, affordability, and access loom large for postsecondary education not only in the United States, but across the world. The educational system of some countries is based on a long history with strong traditions and administrative processes, and yet other countries are just now beginning to expand their educational system...

Although time and resource intensive, longitudinal studies offer the ability to examine the direction and magnitude of causal relationships that cannot be accomplished through cross-sectional design.

The relationship between students' gender, personality traits, predicted first-year grades, and quality of effort put forth in academic and personal/social activities with academic achievement and critical thinking was examined for 265 first-year science and engineering undergraduates enrolled at a selective doctoral-extensive university. Results s...

On a survey of 986 alumni from a research-extensive university, respondents with undergraduate research experience, when compared to those with no research experience, reported greater enhancement of important cognitive and personal skills as well as higher satisfaction with their undergraduate education. They were also more likely to pursue gradua...

To examine the educational effectiveness of the undergraduate research experience, a content analysis was conducted on 183 randomly selected free-form evaluation letters (1-4 pages long) written during the period 1985 to 1995 by undergraduate research students in engineering and the sciences. Students perceived their learning to be greater through...

A survey of alumni from the College of Engineering at the University of Delaware was conducted to assess the impact of the undergraduate research experience. Students who had participated in undergraduate research were matched with a comparable group of alumni who had no research experience. Alumni were unaware that their responses would be used to...

This presentation describes the research design and IR member's role in a multi-year research project that sought to evaluate the effectiveness of an academic support program, the Undergraduate Research Program (URP), at one mid-sized research university. The four main components of the evaluation will be discussed as well as the origin of the proj...

ABSTRACT A regular analysis conducted by many institutional research offices relates to student retention and persistence. Despite voluminous research, no definitive model has been developed to provide guidelines for institutional officials to enhance student persistence through graduation. This study examines the academic progression of a cohort o...