Academic literature on the topic 'Four-year college education'

Students starting at a two-year college are much less likely to graduate than similar students who start at a four-year college, but the sources of this attainment gap are largely unexplained. This paper investigates the attainment consequences of sector choice and peer quality among recent high school graduates. Using data on all Preliminary SAT (PSAT) test-takers between 2004 and 2006, we develop a novel measure of peer ability for most two-year and four-year colleges in the United States—the average PSAT of enrolled students. We document substantial variation in this measure of peer quality across two-year colleges and nontrivial overlap between the two-year and four-year sectors. We find that half the gap in bachelor's degree attainment rates across sectors is explained by differences in peers, leaving room for structural barriers to transferring between institutions to also play an important role.

Community colleges offer many students an alternative route to achieving a baccalaureate degree. In this article, Kevin Dougherty analyzes data on these institutions to see how effective they are in helping students transfer to and succeed in four-year colleges. After controlling for differences in family background, high school record, and educational aspirations of students entering two- and four-year colleges, the author finds that community college entrants receive fewer bachelor's degrees. While finding a strong case for reform, Dougherty argues that present reformers need to keep in mind the comprehensive nature of the community college and be sure that their reform proposals will preserve rather than diminish the services it offers students. Dougherty then discusses two sweeping reforms: transforming community colleges into four-year colleges, and converting them into two-year branches of state universities.

This study had two purposes. The first was to identify present articulation practices within Tennessee public colleges. The second was to select recommendations for ideal articulation practice that might lead to improved transfer/articulation among two- and four-year public colleges in Tennessee. A survey instrument was sent to persons identified as chief articulation officers within Tennessee public colleges. They were asked to evaluate identified articulation practices according to present practice and according to ideal practice. Results were used to determine which transfer and articulation practices were currently used in Tennessee public colleges, which transfer and articulation practices ideally should be used in Tennessee public colleges, and whether there were significant differences between present practices and ideal practices in articulation among Tennessee public colleges. Research has found that there may be differences in two- and four-year colleges in articulation practice; therefore, survey results were evaluated to determine if differences in perception existed between Tennessee community college chief articulation officers and university chief articulation officers with regard to the actual usage of identified articulation practices, as well as differences in perception concerning the ideal usage of articulation practices. Significant differences were identified, especially within the areas of leadership, faculty, interinstitutional relationships, record keeping, and evaluation. Results were used to develop recommendations that may facilitate smoother student matriculation between Tennessee public colleges.

Thesis (D.A.)--Illinois State University, 1993.
Title from title page screen, viewed Mar. 14, 2006. Dissertation Committee: L. Dean Hiebert (chair), John F. Chizmar, Alan E. Dillingham, Ronald S. Halinski, David D. Ramsey. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-82) and abstract. Also available in print.

This research examines the stress producing life events experienced by private college students and their possible effects on the retention rate of students at these colleges. A comparison of selected success factors was made between ATB students (students entering college without first completing a GED or high school diploma) and Non-ATB students (students completing a GED or high school diploma before entering college). A comparison was also made of selected success factors between past students who completed a program of study successfully and those who left college before successful completion of a program of study. Comparisons were made when the sub-populations of past students were further broken in ATB students and Non-ATB students. Comparisons were made of the total stress levels and the stress producing life events that were reported by ATB students and Non-ATB students. Data was collected during September 1998 at a small, private, four-year college in Southern Arizona, made up of 411 adult students enrolled in certificate, diploma, associate degree, and bachelor's degree programs. As with all adult students, the students at the college have enrolled in college to complete a program of study while maintaining the responsibilities of an adult life. The primary data collection instrument was a survey based on the Holmes and Rahe Social Readjustment Scale. Students were asked to indicate all of the events that they had experienced in the previous 12-month period. Students were asked for a variety of demographic data. Data was also collected from the college-maintained databases of all students enrolled at the college during 1993-1998. Few significant differences were found between ATB students and Non-ATB students to support the difference in the retention rates of the two populations. This suggests that it may not be the actual stress producing life events that affect the student's ability to persist until successful completion of his or her chosen program, but rather the individual student's ability to cope with those life events. Although there was a variety of slight differences, and the issue of the additive affect was not addressed by this study.

Every college age student should have the opportunity to attend college and earn a degree, but the fiscal realities for lower income students prevent the majority from attending and the vast majority from completing college, thus perpetuating an intergenerational trend of limited postsecondary education and a likelihood of marginal income and status. Past research studies have shown that, among lower income students, those who receive higher levels of grant funding to offset college expenses are more likely to persist toward completing their educations than those who do not receive the same level of grant funding and thus are forced to rely upon other means, such as student loans or employment, to pay for college. The majority of this research was conducted prior to the recession that began in December 2007 (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2008), which has been more severe and longer lasting than any economic contraction since the Great Depression (Dwyer & Lothian, 2012); more current research is needed to determine whether the educational retention behaviors of lower income students in the current challenging economic climate are positively impacted by grant funding. In this study I used quantitative methods to analyze a specific state policy change to determine whether a significant change in the grant funding provided to lower income students resulted in increased retention rates for these students. This study examines school years from 2006–2010, thus encompassing the recent financial crisis and affording an opportunity to explore the persistence behaviors of lower income students during the greatest financial crisis of modern times. The ultimate purpose of the study is to provide conclusions from the research to postsecondary policy makers in the hopes of informing policy and supporting continuing funding of need-based financial aid for lower income students.

The purpose of this study was to explore characteristics that influence Latino male students' enrollment in four-year colleges. This study utilized a mixed-methods approach and acquired information specifically pertaining to the high school Latino male population. Participants for the study included Latino male high school students in Grades 9-12, parents of Latino male high school students in Grades 9-12, and counselors of high school students in Grades 9-12. The study was conducted across two campuses. Data for student and parent participants were obtained through an online survey questionnaire and counselor data was obtained through face-to-face semi-structured interviews. The results of this study reveal that there are influential characteristics that contribute to Latino males' potential enrollment in college. Of the data obtained from student participants, 70.2% of participants on Campus 1 and 90.5% of participants on Campus 2 planned on attending college. Responses from parent surveys found that 85.8% of parents had expectations for their Latino male student to attend college. Through the semi-structured focus group interviews, it was found that the school district and campuses in which the study was conducted had several procedures or processes in place to positively encourage Latino male student enrollment in four-year colleges. Results of this study provide a better understanding and insight on characteristics that influence the high school Latino male student in Grades 9-12 to enroll in college.

Thesis (M.S.) -- Central Connecticut State University, 2009.
Thesis advisor: H. Jane Fried. "... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Counseling." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 51-53). Abstract available via the World Wide Web.

This study compares the demographic characteristics, academic experiences, and socioeconomic factors of California community college students who transfer to private for-profit four-year institutions with those who transfer to public or non-profit higher education institutions. Using logistic regression analysis, this study showed that academic experiences have the greatest influence on the decision to enroll at a for-profit institution. Controlling for academic experiences and socioeconomic factors, transfer students who are African American, female, and over the age of 25 are the most likely to enroll at for-profit institutions. Students receiving financial aid at community colleges also have a higher probability of choosing for-profits as their transfer destination. Using data from the largest and most diverse community college system in the world, the results of this study determined that community college students who transfer to for-profit institutions are indeed different from students who follow traditional routes defined as public and non-profit institutions. Transfer to· four-year institutions remains a critical mission of the community colleges, especially in providing opportunities towards a bachelor degree for economically and academically disadvantaged students. Therefore, an understanding of the impact of higher education privatization on transfer choice is critical. The report discusses implications of these study results for community college and higher education administrators and policymakers.

This chapter will explore the perception millennial college students hold regarding the engagement of social media use and its impact on their college persistence at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The topic of student persistence in postsecondary education continues to be a matter of significant importance. A third or more students leave four-year public colleges and universities at the end of their first year, and about 40% of students who begin college will never earn a degree. Despite all the attention to improving student retention, most institutional persistence rates have remained stagnant.

Since its origins at the turn of the century, the junior college has had a complex, and at times uneasy, relationship with a public that has looked to the educational system as a vehicle for the realization of the American dream. Despite its self-portrayal as “democracy’s college” and its often heroic efforts to extend education to the masses, the two-year institution has faced widespread public skepticism. For to most Americans, college was a pathway to the bachelor’s degree, and the junior college—unlike the four-year institution—could not award it. Moreover, the early public junior colleges were often tied administratively and even physically to local secondary schools, a pattern that compounded their problems in gaining legitimacy as bona fide institutions of higher education. The two-year institution’s claim to being a genuine college rested almost exclusively on its promise to offer the first two years of a four-year college education. Yet the junior college was never intended, despite the high aspirations of its students, to provide anything more than a terminal education for most of those who entered it; indeed, at no point in its history did even half of its students transfer to a four-year institution. Nonetheless, for at least the first two decades of its existence, almost exclusive emphasis was placed on its transfer rather than its terminal function. As the early leaders of the movement saw it, the first task at hand was to establish the legitimacy of this fragile institution as an authentic college. And this task could be accomplished only by convincing the existing four-year institutions to admit junior college graduates and to offer them credit for the courses that they had completed there. If the pursuit of academic respectability through emphasis on transfer dominated the junior college movement during its first decades, by the mid-1920s a countermovement stressing the role of the junior college as a provider of terminal vocational education began to gather momentum. Arguing that most junior college students were, whatever their aspirations, in fact terminal, proponents of this view saw the institution’s main task not as providing a platform for transfer for a minority but, rather, as offering vocational programs leading to marketable skills for the vast majority.

There has been a good deal already written about health and safety with education abroad at four-year colleges and universities. Although the authors found significant publications with a university focus, they found no published literature that specifically addresses community college overseas health, safety, and legal issues. The purpose of this chapter is to review what the literature already says about health and safety challenges and apply it to community colleges. In so doing, they bring forth US court cases and real-life examples at community college education abroad programs in order to ground recommendations and strategies for responding to today's challenges. In the same way that community colleges implement “on campus” policies and procedures to both limit and respond to student health and safety crises, community colleges should also implement policies and procedures to limit “study abroad” risks to students and be prepared to act if issues arise overseas. This chapter provides essential strategies to improve health and safety and legal standards for community college education abroad programs.

First generation college students, students who are the first in their families to enroll in college, are a unique group, in that their parents' level of education in addition to their race, gender, or socioeconomic status, is an indicator of persistence to degree completion. While colleges and universities have historically created programs to assist this group, those initiatives have ranged in purpose, level of institutional and/or government support, and intended audience. This chapter develops a typology of the support programs that currently exist to serve first generation college students attending four-year colleges and universities in the United States. It begins by exploring the academic and financial challenges many first generation college students face, and concludes by offering recommendations that institutional policymakers can implement to expand the possibilities for improving the success of this distinctive group of students.

Of all the changes in American higher education in the twentieth century, none has had a greater impact than the rise of the two-year, junior college. Yet this institution, which we now take for granted, was once a radical organizational innovation. Stepping into an educational landscape already populated by hundreds of four-year colleges, the junior college was able to establish itself as a new type of institution—a nonbachelor’s degree-granting college that typically offered both college preparatory and terminal vocational programs. The junior college moved rapidly from a position of marginality to one of prominence; in the twenty years between 1919 and 1939, enrollment at junior colleges rose from 8,102 students to 149,854 (U.S. Office of Education 1944, p. 6). Thus, on the eve of World War II, an institution whose very survival had been in question just three decades earlier had become a key component of America’s system of higher education. The institutionalization and growth of what was a novel organizational form could not have taken place without the support and encouragement of powerful sponsors. Prominent among them were some of the nation’s greatest universities—among them, Chicago, Stanford, Michigan, and Berkeley—which, far from opposing the rise of the junior college as a potential competitor for students and resources, enthusiastically supported its growth. Because this support had a profound effect on the subsequent development of the junior college, we shall examine its philosophical and institutional foundations. In the late nineteenth century, an elite reform movement swept through the leading American universities. Beginning with Henry Tappan at the University of Michigan in the early 1850s and extending after the 1870s to Nicholas Murray Butler at Columbia, David Starr Jordan at Stanford, and William Rainey Harper at Chicago, one leading university president after another began to view the first two years of college as an unnecessary part of university-level instruction.

The growth of the Internet and the impact of the Community College system in Indiana have had a profound impact or the traditional two and four year programs in Computer Information Systems (CIS). Purdue University Calumet has recognized this impact and has revised and implemented an innovative Internet/Web B.S. program and related courses to support it. The B.S. program was developed and refined with input from the University’s local business/industry advisory committee. This paper presents the new four year Internet/Web B.S. program, which gives students a strong foundation in basic concepts and a high degree of employability.

Robotics Model Design Competition sponsored by the Two Year College Division (TYCD) of American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) provides an avenue for freshman and sophomore student teams in two year as well as four year colleges and universities to participate in a creative engineering design project. Historically Black Colleges and University - Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) at National Science Foundation (NSF) have provided support for development of ACTION (Advanced Curriculum and Technology-based Instructional Opportunities Network) at UMES. The ACTION program promotes inquiry based active learning and research projects among undergraduate STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) majors. Engineering, Technology, and Mathematics students responded enthusiastically when the authors proposed the idea of participating in the (ASEE) 2006 Robotic Model Design Competition at one of the American Society for Mechanical Engineers (ASME) student section meetings at UMES in the fall of 2005. (The authors serve as the advisors for ASME student section chapter at UMES). The student leader of the section quickly put together a team of five freshman and sophomore engineering, engineering technology and mathematics students to develop a proposal to UMES ACTION program. The authors supported the proposal development efforts. The proposal got funded and provided the resources for project execution and travel. A team of eleven freshmen and sophomore students from Engineering, Engineering Technology and Mathematics departments of University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) participated in the American Society for Engineering Education’s (ASEE) 2006 Robotics Model Design Competition project. The event was sponsored by the Two-year College Division (TYCD) of ASEE and was open to freshman and sophomore student teams from two year as well as four year colleges and universities. The competition required teams to design and build an autonomous robot capable of delivering ping pong balls to each of four corner pockets located on an 8ft×8ft plywood track in a sequence. Each team was evaluated on the basis of a written report, an oral presentation, and scores obtained from the best two runs out of four runs on the racing track. Sixteen student teams across the nation participated in the event. UMES entered two teams in the competition who called themselves “Hawks 1” and “Hawks 4”. The student team “Hawks 1” won the competition. Video clips of both design projects as they executed the specified task at the 2006 ASEE Robotics Model Design Competition can be viewed at: http://www.umes.edu/asme/robots.htm. This paper describes the design projects “Hawks 1” and “Hawks 4” and its relevance to ABET learning outcomes.

In an effort to provide knowledge and skills essential for successful careers, the College of Business Administration (CBA) designed and offered a course in Fall 2000 consisting of four classes (marketing, management, computer information systems, and business communication) taught together in a block by a faculty team. The overarching goal of this course format was to present business as an interdisciplinary process, to link concepts to practice. The course was named BizBlock. The BizBlock experiment for the 2000-2001 academic year showed that misinformation that leads to unfulfilled expectations results in general student dissatisfaction. The imbalance and lack of integration among the four disciplines contributed to high dissatisfaction based on unfulfilled student expectations. The results of student feedback regarding BizBlock indicate that when properly informed, people consider even an unsatisfactory experience acceptable if it is what was expected.

The Engineering Challenge for the 21st Century Program was initially based on concepts from the Transferable Integrated Design Engineering Education (TIDEE) model. The TIDEE model was developed in the mid 1990s to focus on continuous improvement of engineering design education. The primary thrust of the TIDEE model focuses on team-based activities that allow students to effectively develop the necessary skills to become qualified, productive, and successful engineers and technologists of the future. The Engineering Challenge Program focuses on project based learning in a team environment and targets two important educational groups: underrepresented students as well as faculty from high schools and community colleges in Connecticut. In order to further develop the students’ interpersonal and organizational skills, the Engineering Challenge Program expands on the TIDEE model through development of technical writing and professional skills including project management, teamwork skills, understanding behavioral diversity using DISC behavioral profiles, and personal accountability. Interdisciplinary teams of high school teachers and college faculty work with a CT-based management consultant group to deliver the program by “teaching teachers” effective methods to assess and coach teamwork in the classroom and labs. The Engineering Challenge Program has impacted over 250 students composed of high school and undergraduate students from community colleges and to a lesser degree four-year universities. By targeting underrepresented student participants, the program has been effective in engaging its participants in pursuing education and careers in STEM-related disciplines. Approximately 35% of the participants have been females and 53% of the participants’ non-Caucasian.

An engineering Summer Bridge (Engineering Summer Readiness Workshop after 2015) program has been implemented at the University of Texas at Brownsville (UTB) since summer 2012. After three years of program data accumulation, we can now track those participants from their freshman up to junior year (for those still active in UTB engineering) and further extend our study on the effect of the designed engineering summer program on a) the semester the participants take Calculus I; b) the semester the participants pass Calculus I; c) the first- and second-year engineering active rate; and d) the success rate in the selected engineering major courses of all the participants. We compared all the above mentioned data to the average data of the engineering majors at the same academic stage/level. The engineering summer bridge program was originally designed to prepare the fresh high school graduates intellectually on their math and for an early readiness for their coming engineering study. More than 90% of the targeted students are Hispanic in south Texas, and English is the second language for 86% of them. As one of the components of the University of Texas System, UTB is a minority-serving institution catering mostly to the underrepresented Hispanic population of the Lower Rio Grande Valley region. It has one of the highest concentrations of Hispanic students (both in number and percentage) compared to other universities in the nation [Table 1]. Among the overall student enrollment at the university in fall 2013, 91% are Hispanic. Most of the targeted students are academically below the top 10% in their high school graduating classes due to the pre-selection of the top 10% students by the Texas flagship universities. First-generation college-goers experience a variety of challenges as they enter and move through higher education. The Engineering Summer Bridge provides students with specific types of resources and support to ensure that they move into and through engineering study smoothly and to shorten the time for their engineering study. The 4–5 week summer bridge program at UTB intensively enhances math preparation in pre-calculus and college algebra, and also actively engages the students with the modern engineering design concepts and tools. Specific goals of the bridge programs include introducing math expectations of engineering program in the areas of College Algebra, Pre-calculus, and help students eliminate the math gap by passing the COMPASS Test as well as the Pre-calculus Test in the summer to get ready for Calculus I in the coming fall semester. The long-term goals of the ESB program aim to improve the first- and second-year retention rate and four-year graduation rate of UTB engineering majors. Study on the previous three year’s data suggests that, compared to the overall average of the students enrolling into the UTB engineering program at the same period, summer bridge program participants have statistically started and finished their Calculus I (thus becoming engineering math ready) earlier. Participants also demonstrated higher engineering interesting which was proved by the participation rate in introductory engineering projects in the first two years of their engineering study. Besides, 88% of surveyed students reported that the program was helpful and convenient, and 100% of surveyed students reported that they would recommend the summer bridge program to a friend or a fellow student. Comparison of the first- to second-year active engineering student rate also suggests the validness of the summer bridge program.

The mission of the United States Military Academy (USMA) is “To educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Country; professional growth throughout a career as an officer in the United States Army; and a lifetime of selfless service to the nation.” [1] In order to accomplish this mission, USMA puts their cadets through a 47-month program that includes a variety of military training, and college courses totaling about 150 credit-hours. Upon completion of the program, cadets receive a Bachelor of Science degree and become Second Lieutenants in the United States Army. A very unique aspect of the academic program at USMA is that each cadet is required to take a minimum of five engineering classes regardless of their major or field of study. This means that about 500 cadets will have taken the one-semester course in thermodynamics. The thermodynamics course taught at USMA is different from others throughout the country because within every class there is a mixture of cadets majoring in engineering and those that are in other majors, i.e. languages, history [2]. Topics on gas turbine machinery have been integrated into this unique thermodynamics course. Because the cadets will encounter gas turbines throughout their service in the Army, we feel that it is important for all of the students, not just engineering majors, to learn about gas turbines, their operation, and their applications. This is accomplished by four methods. The first is in a classroom environment. Cadets learn how actual gas turbines work, how to model them, and learn how to solve problems. Thermodynamics instructors have access to several actual gas turbines used in military applications to aid in cadet learning. The second method occurs in the laboratory where cadets take measurements and analyze an operational auxiliary power unit (APU) from an Army helicopter. The third method occurs in the form of a design project. The engineering majors redesign the cogeneration plant that exists here at West Point. Many of them use a topping cycle in this design. The final method is a capstone design project. During the 2001–02 academic year, three cadets are improving the thermodynamic laboratories. Among their tasks are designing a new test stand for the APU, increasing the benefit of the gas turbine laboratory through more student interaction, and designing a web-based gas turbine pre-laboratory instruction to compliment the actual laboratory exercise.

Engineering courses offered through the Honors Program allow students to conduct both research and design during their time at a community college, which is extremely valuable due to the limited number of research opportunities when compared to a four-year institution. Additionally, community college engineering courses normally serve students seeking to enter a wide range of engineering disciplines. Therefore, any research or design experience with lasting impact must also encompass a wide range of topics while also fostering communication, teamwork, creativity and life-long learning. This paper describes an engineering graphics honors course that engaged students in the development of a CAD model and prototype of a 3D brain model for use by Anatomy and Physiology students. This project allowed students to engage in the areas of personalized learning, reverse engineering the brain, manufacturing as well a computer-aided design. This paper discusses the development of technical and soft skill competencies through student performance and student perception via questionnaires. Finally, this paper sets forth recommendations for other community colleges interested in developing problem-based learning opportunities throughout their engineering curriculum.

Aim/Purpose: This paper provides the results of the preliminary analysis of the findings of an ongoing study that seeks to examine the social media use, cultural and political awareness, civic engagement, issue prioritization, and social activism of Gen Z students enrolled at four different institutional types located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The aim of this study is to look at the group as a whole as well as compare findings across populations. The institutional types under consideration include a mid-sized majority serving or otherwise referred to as a traditionally white institution (TWI) located in a small coastal city on the Atlantic Ocean, a small Historically Black University (HBCU) located in a rural area, a large community college located in a county that is a mixture of rural and suburban and which sits on the border of Maryland and Pennsylvania, and graduating high school students enrolled in career and technical education (CTE) programs in a large urban area. This exploration is purposed to examine the behaviors and expectations of Gen Z students within a representative American region during a time of tremendous turmoil and civil unrest in the United States. Background: Over 74 million strong, Gen Z makes up almost one-quarter of the U.S. population. They already outnumber any current living generation and are the first true digital natives. Born after 1996 and through 2012, they are known for their short attention spans and heightened ability to multi-task. Raised in the age of the smart phone, they have been tethered to digital devices from a young age with most having the preponderance of their childhood milestones commemorated online. Often called Zoomers, they are more racially and ethnically diverse than any previous generation and are on track to be the most well-educated generation in history. Gen Zers in the United States have been found in the research to be progressive and pro-government and viewing increasing racial and ethnic diversity as positive change. Finally, they are less likely to hold xenophobic beliefs such as the notion of American exceptionalism and superiority that have been popular with by prior generations. The United States has been in a period of social and civil unrest in recent years with concerns over systematic racism, rampant inequalities, political polarization, xenophobia, police violence, sexual assault and harassment, and the growing epidemic of gun violence. Anxieties stirred by the COVID-19 pandemic further compounded these issues resulting in a powder keg explosion occurring throughout the summer of 2020 and leading well into 2021. As a result, the United States has deteriorated significantly in the Civil Unrest Index falling from 91st to 34th. The vitriol, polarization, protests, murders, and shootings have all occurred during Gen Z’s formative years, and the limited research available indicates that it has shaped their values and political views. Methodology: The Mid-Atlantic region is a portion of the United States that exists as the overlap between the northeastern and southeastern portions of the country. It includes the nation’s capital, as well as large urban centers, small cities, suburbs, and rural enclaves. It is one of the most socially, economically, racially, and culturally diverse parts of the United States and is often referred to as the “typically American region.” An electronic survey was administered to students from 2019 through 2021 attending a high school dual enrollment program, a minority serving institution, a majority serving institution, and a community college all located within the larger mid-Atlantic region. The survey included a combination of multiple response, Likert scaled, dichotomous, open ended, and ordinal questions. It was developed in the Survey Monkey system and reviewed by several content and methodological experts in order to examine bias, vagueness, or potential semantic problems. Finally, the survey was pilot tested prior to implementation in order to explore the efficacy of the research methodology. It was then modified accordingly prior to widespread distribution to potential participants. The surveys were administered to students enrolled in classes taught by the authors all of whom are educators. Participation was voluntary, optional, and anonymous. Over 800 individuals completed the survey with just over 700 usable results, after partial completes and the responses of individuals outside of the 18-24 age range were removed. Findings: Participants in this study overwhelmingly were users of social media. In descending order, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, WhatsApp, LinkedIn and Tik Tok were the most popular social media services reported as being used. When volume of use was considered, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube and Twitter were the most cited with most participants reporting using Instagram and Snapchat multiple times a day. When asked to select which social media service they would use if forced to choose just one, the number one choice was YouTube followed by Instagram and Snapchat. Additionally, more than half of participants responded that they have uploaded a video to a video sharing site such as YouTube or Tik Tok. When asked about their familiarity with different technologies, participants overwhelmingly responded that they are “very familiar” with smart phones, searching the Web, social media, and email. About half the respondents said that they were “very familiar” with common computer applications such as the Microsoft Office Suite or Google Suite with another third saying that they were “somewhat familiar.” When asked about Learning Management Systems (LMS) like Blackboard, Course Compass, Canvas, Edmodo, Moodle, Course Sites, Google Classroom, Mindtap, Schoology, Absorb, D2L, itslearning, Otus, PowerSchool, or WizIQ, only 43% said they were “very familiar” with 31% responding that they were “somewhat familiar.” Finally, about half the students were either “very” or “somewhat” familiar with operating systems such as Windows. A few preferences with respect to technology in the teaching and learning process were explored in the survey. Most students (85%) responded that they want course announcements and reminders sent to their phones, 76% expect their courses to incorporate the use of technology, 71% want their courses to have course websites, and 71% said that they would rather watch a video than read a book chapter. When asked to consider the future, over 81% or respondents reported that technology will play a major role in their future career. Most participants considered themselves “informed” or “well informed” about current events although few considered themselves “very informed” or “well informed” about politics. When asked how they get their news, the most common forum reported for getting news and information about current events and politics was social media with 81% of respondents reporting. Gen Z is known to be an engaged generation and the participants in this study were not an exception. As such, it came as no surprise to discover that, in the past year more than 78% of respondents had educated friends or family about an important social or political issue, about half (48%) had donated to a cause of importance to them, more than a quarter (26%) had participated in a march or rally, and a quarter (26%) had actively boycotted a product or company. Further, about 37% consider themselves to be a social activist with another 41% responding that aren’t sure if they would consider themselves an activist and only 22% saying that they would not consider themselves an activist. When asked what issues were important to them, the most frequently cited were Black Lives Matter (75%), human trafficking (68%), sexual assault/harassment/Me Too (66.49%), gun violence (65.82%), women’s rights (65.15%), climate change (55.4%), immigration reform/deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA) (48.8%), and LGBTQ+ rights (47.39%). When the schools were compared, there were only minor differences in social media use with the high school students indicating slightly more use of Tik Tok than the other participants. All groups were virtually equal when it came to how informed they perceived themselves about current events and politics. Consensus among groups existed with respect to how they get their news, and the community college and high school students were slightly more likely to have participated in a march, protest, or rally in the last 12 months than the university students. The community college and high school students were also slightly more likely to consider themselves social activists than the participants from either of the universities. When the importance of the issues was considered, significant differences based on institutional type were noted. Black Lives Matter (BLM) was identified as important by the largest portion of students attending the HBCU followed by the community college students and high school students. Less than half of the students attending the TWI considered BLM an important issue. Human trafficking was cited as important by a higher percentage of students attending the HBCU and urban high school than at the suburban and rural community college or the TWI. Sexual assault was considered important by the majority of students at all the schools with the percentage a bit smaller from the majority serving institution. About two thirds of the students at the high school, community college, and HBCU considered gun violence important versus about half the students at the majority serving institution. Women’s rights were reported as being important by more of the high school and HBCU participants than the community college or TWI. Climate change was considered important by about half the students at all schools with a slightly smaller portion reporting out the HBCU. Immigration reform/DACA was reported as important by half the high school, community college, and HBCU participants with only a third of the students from the majority serving institution citing it as an important issue. With respect to LGBTQ rights approximately half of the high school and community college participants cited it as important, 44.53% of the HBCU students, and only about a quarter of the students attending the majority serving institution. Contribution and Conclusion: This paper provides a timely investigation into the mindset of generation Z students living in the United States during a period of heightened civic unrest. This insight is useful to educators who should be informed about the generation of students that is currently populating higher education. The findings of this study are consistent with public opinion polls by Pew Research Center. According to the findings, the Gen Z students participating in this study are heavy users of multiple social media, expect technology to be integrated into teaching and learning, anticipate a future career where technology will play an important role, informed about current and political events, use social media as their main source for getting news and information, and fairly engaged in social activism. When institutional type was compared the students from the university with the more affluent and less diverse population were less likely to find social justice issues important than the other groups. Recommendations for Practitioners: During disruptive and contentious times, it is negligent to think that the abounding issues plaguing society are not important to our students. Gauging the issues of importance and levels of civic engagement provides us crucial information towards understanding the attitudes of students. Further, knowing how our students gain information, their social media usage, as well as how informed they are about current events and political issues can be used to more effectively communicate and educate. Recommendations for Researchers: As social media continues to proliferate daily life and become a vital means of news and information gathering, additional studies such as the one presented here are needed. Additionally, in other countries facing similarly turbulent times, measuring student interest, awareness, and engagement is highly informative. Impact on Society: During a highly contentious period replete with a large volume of civil unrest and compounded by a global pandemic, understanding the behaviors and attitudes of students can help us as higher education faculty be more attuned when it comes to the design and delivery of curriculum. Future Research This presentation presents preliminary findings. Data is still being collected and much more extensive statistical analyses will be performed.

Gas turbine technology is a major component in the teaching and research programmes at Durham University. In 1993, the change from the three-year degree course to the four-year Master of Engineering course provided an opportunity to strengthen the teaching of turbomachinery through closer integration of lectures, laboratory work, design, investigative project work and the use of computers for flow prediction. The undergraduate projects link with research in turbomachinery aerodynamics, secondary flows, and unsteady flows. The integrated approach provides graduates with a broad based education and a good understanding of turbomachinery. Wider aspects include the placement of students for a year of industrial training with a European turbine manufacturer and the organisation of an two-week course for industry on turbine technology. An unusual feature of the Durham approach is the development of turbomachinery based projects to introduce the challenge of engineering into schools and colleges.

COVID-19 brought the public’s attention to the critical value of transportation and supply chain workers as lifelines to access food and other supplies. This report examines essential job skills required of the middle-skill workforce (workers with more than a high school degree, but less than a four-year college degree). Many of these middle-skill transportation and supply chain jobs are what the Federal Reserve Bank defines as “opportunity occupations” -- jobs that pay above median wages and can be accessible to those without a four-year college degree. This report lays out the complex landscape of selected technological disruptions of the supply chain to understand the new workforce needs of these middle-skill workers, followed by competencies identified by industry. With workplace social distancing policies, logistics organizations now rely heavily on data management and analysis for their operations. All rungs of employees, including warehouse workers and truck drivers, require digital skills to use mobile devices, sensors, and dashboards, among other applications. Workforce training requires a focus on data, problem solving, connectivity, and collaboration. Industry partners identified key workforce competencies required in digital literacy, data management, front/back office jobs, and in operations and maintenance. Education and training providers identified strategies to effectively develop workforce development programs. This report concludes with an exploration of the role of Institutes of Higher Education in delivering effective workforce education and training programs that reimagine how to frame programs to be customizable, easily accessible, and relevant.