Explore the vast range of titles available.

In this institutional ethnography, we explored how women faculty members at a Midwest Research University (MWU)experienced the promotion and tenure evaluation (PTE) process through the lens of feminist standpoint theory. Beginning from the standpoint of women faculty navigating the PTE process, we employed institutional ethnographic methods first to identify the work of giving and receiving care among women academic workers. We then explored the institutional and organizational ruling relations that coordinated that work. Our findings consist of the disjunctures or conflicts between the day-to-day experiences and how women faculty interact with the institutional structures that coordinate their work. Women focus group participants described feeling like they were at a disadvantage because they were experiencing additional pressure to take on caregiving work, and that their care-receiving work was undervalued; participants reported conflicts between the work and what they perceived as required by organizational PTE policy. We conclude by calling for systemic support for faculty mentoring activities. We also recommend that for these changes to be lasting, recognition for mentoring activities be included in the Promotion and tenure evaluation (PTE) process with formalized measurement methods. Keywords: institutional ethnography, women faculty, caregiving, care receiving, receiving care, uncompensated work, ideal academic worker, promotion, tenure, career advancement, feminist standpoint theory, gender equity

I've long been haunted by the image of Cosette, in the film adaptation of Les Misérables , singing from her lavish bedroom about wanting to be free. Her life would have seemed charmed from the outside, especially by those in nineteenth-century France who struggled to stay alive, yet she envied the freedom of those outside her door. She couldn't, of course, know how hard the lives were of those whom she watched, and those she watched would have scoffed at the suggestion that they had it better than she did. I, however, keenly saw and felt her struggle. I've spent my life constructing a cage for myself, with bars built out of societal and familial expectations for women. But inside the cage, I simultaneously long to be free and am afraid to leave. In my desire to appear normal, to fit in, I have constrained myself out of fear of what will happen if I leave this cage. So I watch the world around me, and like Cosette, I wonder what it's like to live outside the walls I've carefully constructed to make it appear as if I'm embodying, or at least trying to, Western societal expectations for what it means to be a woman.

This study explored the gendered nature of STEM higher education institution through a feminist critical discourse analysis of STEM course syllabi from a Midwest research university. I explored STEM syllabi to understand how linguistic features such as stance and interdiscursivity are used in the syllabus and how language and discourses used in the syllabus replicate the masculine nature of STEM education. Findings suggest that the discourses identified in the syllabi reinforce traditional STEM academic roles, and that power and gender in the STEM syllabi are revealed through exploration of the themes of knowledge, learning, and the teaching and learning environment created by the language used in the syllabus. These findings inform and extend understanding of the STEM syllabus and the STEM higher education institution and lead to recommendations about how to make the STEM syllabus more inclusive for women.

Objective We examine research related to effective mentoring relationships for graduate students. Background Graduate mentoring, comprising educational, professional, and psychosocial development, plays a crucial role in graduate students' successful completion of their degrees. Effective mentor relationships can increase academic satisfaction, increase retention, keep graduate students on time to graduate, and have positive influences on future career goals. Methods We conducted a literature review of 14 articles to examine graduate mentoring and make recommendations for family science graduate education. Results Five major themes emerged: aspects of effective mentorships, choosing a mentor, characteristics of a successful mentor, diverse graduate students, and online mentoring. Conclusions We discuss future research suggestions including the need for research on discipline‐specific mentoring and the call for more writings on the scholarship of teaching and learning. Implications These findings have implications for family science as organizations create mentoring approaches, universities increase remote work during the COVID‐19 pandemic, and diversity remains important in the field.

In 2017, the Trump administration announced plans to reduce the size of the Bear's Ears National Monument (BENM) in Utah, greatly reducing the monument designated by the Obama administration and reducing protections on land viewed as sacred by multiple indigenous communities in the United States (Creadon & Bergren, 2019). In response to this Executive Order, a team of scientists and endurance athlete participants visited portions of the former BENM in May of 2019 to identify and map areas of cultural interest to help build a case for why and where the BENM’s original boundaries should be preserved. Through the lens of transformative learning theory (Mezirow, 2000, 2003), we sought to understand what and how learning occurred on this expedition to BENM. As there have been numerous calls to implement citizen science into higher education settings (Borrell et al., 2016; Rosenberger & Aukema, 2016) and to incorporate more outdoor education in the higher education classroom, these findings will provide insight into how content learning occurs through citizen science as outdoor education.

This historiography of Hungarian higher education focuses on the evolution of academic freedom and institutional autonomy at Hungarian institutions of higher education. Through an exploration of trends in higher education policy, structure, and funding, the evolution of institutional autonomy and academic freedom provided a framework for understanding the impact of authoritarian leaders on higher education. Findings suggests that recent legislation poses a critical and immediate threat both to Central European University and, more broadly, to academic freedom in Hungarian higher education. Future research should explore the impact of recent legislation on institutional autonomy and academic freedom in Hungary as well as on inclusion, diversity, and social justice.

Through the lens of feminist standpoint theory, we explore if and how the processes, procedures, and discourses that coordinate the everyday work of transitioning from K12 or a community college created challenges for women students in computer science and physics. Data collection and analysis focused on describing the day-to-day work of transitioning into a computer science or physics major, identifying what coordinated the work (policy, procedure, or discourse), and if and how participants experienced challenges during their transition into their majors. Women students majoring in computer science or physics and transitioning as a freshman or transfer participated in 1–3 interviews throughout the study. Participants reported challenges with the transition process into STEM education (e.g. credits from previous institutions not transferring, adjusting to the academic rigor of STEM courses, sense of belonging). The findings also suggested the participants found ways to navigate these challenges through privilege and confidence in their own voice to gain access to information that may not be readily available to other women.

Using qualitative survey data and focus groups, this statewide study explored the experiences of the North Dakota rural principal. The intent of this study was to develop an understanding of the rural principalship in a state with a predominantly rural population and informed by personal experiences of principals. Using qualitative thematic analysis subsequently layered upon instructional leadership theories, the data supports recognition that principals' roles, power, and constraints in rural schools differ according to enrollment size. Leadership was defined and discussed as either transactional or instructional leadership, with participatory and transformative leadership relatively absent from the data. A different type of support and resources are needed by rural principals to enhance school success. These findings suggest that principal training programs and professional development programs must be tailored to meet the needs of the rural principal with an eye to providing experiences in transformative leadership.

A persistent disadvantage for females is systemically embedded in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education in postsecondary institutions. As a result, undergraduate women majoring in STEM fields face a uniquely difficult path; yet, for the most part, recommendations made and supported in the literature have focused on recruitment of women to STEM fields or on ways to make women more successful and comfortable in their STEM major. These recommendations have so far proved to be insufficient to remedy a gender gap and serve to replicate the existing male hierarchy. In order to truly make the STEM classroom one in which women are welcome and comfortable and to challenge the existing social and scientific systems, it is necessary to explore and understand the social and political implications embedded within teaching and learning choices. This institutional ethnography addresses that gap. The purpose of this study was to uncover and describe the institutional practices of STEM education at a Midwest research university (MRU) from the standpoint of female undergraduate students. Using the framework of feminist standpoint theory, this study explored the everyday “work” of female undergraduate STEM students to provide a unique perspective on the STEM education teaching and learning environment. Data collection began with in-depth interviews with female undergraduate math and physics students. As the institutional processes shaping undergraduate participant experiences were identified, subsequent data collection included classroom observations, additional interviews with students and faculty, and analysis of the texts that mediate these processes (e.g., syllabi and student handbooks). Data analysis followed Carspecken’s process of ethnographic data analysis that began with low-level coding, followed by high-level coding, and concluded by pulling codes together through the creation of themes. Analysis of data led to three key findings. First, undergraduate participants reported being challenged by difficult and intimidating aspects of the teaching and learning environment. Second, undergraduate participants reported challenges meeting some of the characteristics of successful math and physics students (e.g., taking risks, asking questions, putting school first) and preferred a collectivistic environment. Third, participants described challenges from conflicting STEM academic expectations and institutional policies, which made it harder for them to meet STEM expectations. Findings indicate that efforts to reduce the “chilly” climate have been unsuccessful, largely because discourses that motivate the chilly climate have not changed. Those discourses are evidence of a masculine STEM institution, which also creates a male ideal that female students are expected to meet, further exacerbating their discomfort in the STEM environment. The masculinized nature of a STEM institution is reinforced by neoliberal policies that emphasize the importance of meeting gendered ideal STEM student characteristics. The result is that while women persist, they face stress, anxiety, and discomfort. Recommendations to improve the chilly climate include: revising the STEM institution from one that is masculine to one that is inclusive of women; and, to create a STEM educational environment that supports, validates, and gives women an equal voice.