Academic literature on the topic 'University of Florida. Office of Student Life'

Cheryl A. Rubenberg, independent analyst and former associate professor of political science at Florida International University, died on 16 June 2017 at age seventy-one. Born and raised in Pennsylvania, she earned her bachelor's in political science from Hunter College, her master's in international relations from Johns Hopkins University, and her Ph.D. in international relations from the University of Miami (1979). After a year at Florida Atlantic University, she joined the political science faculty at Florida International University. A student who took her class on American government wrote that Professor Rubenberg “changed my life forever” by exposing the business interests that motivate leaders of American government and media.

Dr. Valeria Garcia, AVP for the Office of Decision Support (ODS), at the University of South Florida (USF), a member of the Academic Affairs leadership team and has been involved in academic and student success continuation planning. Dr. Garcia was on track with scheduled planning for the 2020-21 Academic Year as her team of analysts prepare analyses, dashboards, and other analytical materials for constituents across the university. Mid-March 2020, an unexpected turn of events occurred, the “Black Swan”, as the COVID-19 pandemic that first hit China in December 2019, affected America. Very quickly, government bodies reacted to the pandemic, implementing tactics to control the spread of the virus. With a shift to online classes for the remainder of the spring semester and transition to fully online for the summer semester, USF leadership was challenged with pivoting decision-making with the best interest of the community in mind.

Student affairs records are essential components in addressing basic functionalities in the university environment as they serve diverse purposes such as the life of a student on the campus. However, these records are often not preserved properly especially at universities in rural settings. This study assessed student affairs records, with consideration to preservation strategy at the University of Venda in South Africa. Data were collected through interviews with ten purposively selected staff members from student affairs division. The key findings reveal that while the university has an archive service within the library, the responsibility of preserving student records lies with records management division that resides within the registrar’s office. However, there is no preservation strategy for student affairs records. It is concluded that collaboration between student affairs and records and archives department enhance to collect the student affairs records. A comprehensive study on the management of student affairs records in South African universities is recommended.

The University of Florida College of Agriculture and Life Sciences offers the Bachelor of Science degree program in Environmental Horticulture at the Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center (FLREC). Instructors at the FLREC deliver course work and course work is also presented using a variety of distance education (DE) technologies. These DE technologies include interactive video conferencing, videotape, and web-based courses. The question often arises as to how many courses should be delivered using DE versus live onsite instruction. This survey was conducted to ascertain how students perceive the quality of education they are receiving using a mixture of delivery methods.

Concern about graduation rates in higher education has led universities to offer courses that help students develop success skills. Scientist Life Skills, a new course for freshman at Florida A&M University, focuses on helping students matriculate into majors via development of growth mindset, grit, and critical thinking. Here, we assessed the outcomes of this course and explored the associations between building life skills and student success. A series of mindset, grit, and critical-thinking assessment measures were used to collect data before and after the course. Our results showed that the new course achieved its intended goals of providing STEM students with a set of tools that help them seamlessly transition into the university and successfully matriculate through their majors. Specifically, the course design significantly moved students toward a growth-mindset, increased their critical thinking, and their second-semester grade point averages (GPAs). This model life skills course can be adopted in non-STEM areas as well.

By 1982, the queer student group at the University of Florida (UF) had gained official recognition and space on campus. However, in 1987 they decided to remove themselves from university life. The group reemerged in 1991 with the assistance of a new, quietly radical entity—The UF Committee on Sexism and Homophobia. Anchored by the oral histories of Phyllis Meek and Irene Stevens, the founders of the UF Committee on Sexism and Homophobia, the historical analysis of this overlooked episode is designed to illuminate the quieter role faculty and staff in higher education played in sustaining the civil rights and human dignities of queer people at UF during a time when students activism had lost momentum.

Oxford University is historic and old; so, too, is Wales; study of them together thus makes an excellent book. When accomplished by a Frenchman, the result is a tour de force. Overcoming major problems of language, culture, and geography, Alexandre Delin illuminates whole aspects of medieval education, learning, office in Church or State, student life, rioting, homicide, and armed rebellion against the English Crown. His work can be warmly recommended.

For many years, the former Vegetable Crops Department, now the Horticultural Sciences Department, at the University of Florida offered a vegetable crop industries course. This one-credit course is offered each year as a 3- to 5-day field trip into vegetable production areas of Florida in the spring semester during spring break. The intent of the course is to give undergraduate students an extensive on-site evaluation of the application of scientific principles learned in lectures related to Florida's commercial vegetable industry. A new, innovative approach to structuring this course was initiated recently wherein only alumni of the department interacted with the students on all phases of commercial vegetable agriculture in Florida. These alumni had obtained degrees at the BS, MS, or PhD level and represented many professional backgrounds related to producing, handling, and marketing vegetables. Students were exposed to real-life situations and were encouraged to discuss and seek employment opportunities during the farm visitations. Student expenses were offset by donations from the Florida vegetable industry.

Working with the Duquesne University School of Nursing and Office of Military and Veteran Students, Duquesne’s Gumberg Library used grant funds to purchase a collection of resources that address the social, economic, physical, and psychological issues veterans face in the transition to civilian and student life. The library collaborated with campus partners to select materials that fit the needs of students and faculty, and purchased approximately 170 new books, ebooks, DVDs, and streaming videos. As a result of the project the library also increased programming and outreach to veteran students on campus. This article discusses the methods used to select materials, the marketing efforts to promote the new collection, usage to date, and the library’s plans to further enhance veteran student engagement with both the library and the university.

Karen L. Fingerman is an assistant professor of Human Development and Family Studies at Pennsylvania State University. Her research examines positive and negative emotions in lifelong relationships, including mother-daughter ties, grandparent-grandchild relationships, and friendships. She recently received the Springer Award for Early Career Achievement in Research on Adult Development and Aging from Division 20 of the American Psychological Association. She teaches courses in life span development, adult development, and social gerontology. Susan Krauss Whitbourne is a professor of Psychology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Coordinator of the Office of National Scholarship Advisement in Commonwealth College; the faculty adviser to the Psi Chi Chapter; and Coordinator of the Honors Program in Psychology. She conducts research on identity in adulthood and old age and its relation to physical functioning. A former president of Division 20 of the American Psychological Association, she is currently serving as Division 20 Council Representative. She has written 10 books and nearly 100 articles and chapters on the topic of aging and adult development and is active in teaching introductory psychology as well as courses on aging.

The purpose of this study was threefold: (a) to describe the impact the SLS courses had on the retention and success rates of students who were taking developmental English courses at FSCJ-Kent Campus, (b) to explain how students taking developmental English felt the SLS courses impacted them, and (c) to find out what elements of the SLS program were most and least valued by students. In order to understand how the SLS program impacted students in the developmental English program at FSCJ-Kent Campus, I conducted a mixed methods case study using FSCJ–Kent Campus as the research site. The case study included a quantitative stage, during which I examined archival data from fall 2008 to summer 2010 to determine the impact of the SLS program on student success and retention, and a qualitative stage, during which I conducted a survey and two focus groups to get an understanding of participants’ perspectives. The evidence that the SLS program affected the success and retention rates of students in the developmental English classes at FSCJ-Kent Campus was not conclusive. However, students reported that the program was extremely beneficial to them and provided insight into why they thought the program contributed to their success. The study was significant because I was able to get a deeper understanding of students’ perspectives and provide a framework for understanding those perspectives. I concluded that the SLS program was a mechanism to transition and integrate students into the institution. This study may affect the way leaders in educational institutions approach developmental English, the SLS program, and all other developmental programs.

This chapter discusses the rising ethos of affluence in higher education, which had profound implications for colleges and universities. Whereas earlier in the century, commercialism had led a growing number of Americans to value higher education as a means by which to achieve professional success, many people now concluded that a university degree was a ticket to the good life. In addition to demonstrating the effects of a social ethos of affluence on students' approaches to higher education, the history of the University of South Florida illustrates how colleges and universities similarly prioritized acquiring wealth during the second half of the twentieth century. Although established as a low-cost institution dedicated to undergraduate instruction, the University of South Florida eventually sought to become an affluent “multiversity” by pursuing lucrative research contracts, establishing technology transfer and patent and licensing offices, and raising revenue by increasing the cost of undergraduate education, all in an effort to generate financial resources and elevate institutional prestige.

Small, private colleges are run by a president, who sets strategy, while working with senior-level staff and faculty to fulfill mission. The president of a small, private college must set the tone for leadership and communication, devise strategic plans, and appoint staff to accomplish those initiatives, raise funds, and attend campus events and cheer on students. Athletics in the small, private college setting is an important component for enrollment, campus life, and budget. NCAA Division III institutions, largely small, private colleges, incorporate athletics into campus life and position the student before the athlete. The presidents of these institutions are keenly aware of how athletics influences the small, private college landscape. This chapter explores the convergence of the unique role of the small, private college presidency and the influence of athletics. The authors explore the extant literature and present key findings from a case study of one small, private college president and their view of the influence of athletics on the institution and the role of presidency.

In 2016, the Office of the Provost at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University initiated a highly competitive faculty digital learning initiative (DLI) to promote student-centered learning by retooling existing courses to reflect current and emerging technology trends. For this chapter, the experiences of four fellows were considered within the TPACK framework level of use (LoU) structure in addition to considerations of how the face-to-face to digital transformation were perceived by fellows in terms of what they knew about their pedagogic methods prior to, during, and subsequent to completion of the fellowship. Additionally, descriptions of how each fellow retooled the curriculum and construct of her/his course to reflect better the needs of the 21st century learner will be cross-analyzed through event-flow networks against her/his re-envisioned personal teaching philosophy to establish if pedagogic transformation actually occurred across the digital plane.

Boston’s three local, private, teaching and service-oriented, commuter universities—Boston University, Boston College, and Northeastern, classic urban universities in the years before World War II—undertook to change themselves in fundamental ways during the golden age. B.U., reaching back to its nineteenth-century origins, sought to re-create itself as a comprehensive regional and national university. Boston College, drawing on the ancient academic traditions of the Society of Jesus, worked to become the nation’s top Jesuit university and a leading force in Catholic intellectual and professional life. Northeastern, with its philosophical roots in service to the low-income population and business community of Boston, tried to balance its historic concerns with a new impulse toward national prominence in cooperative education. All three invested heavily in graduate education and research, and B.U. and B.C., in upgrading their undergraduate student bodies, shed their identities as local, service-oriented campuses. At the end of the period, only N.U. remained centrally committed to the functions of an urban university, though it, too, had taken steps to reduce its emphasis on local service. Boston’s three nonelite, private universities were hit hard by World War II, but campus leaders were conscious of predictions that the return of peace would bring a new period of expansion. By the middle of the war, Presidents Marsh of B.U. and Ell of Northeastern and the provincial Jesuit hierarchy that governed B.C., frustrated by fifteen difficult years, were turning their attention to postwar opportunities. Throughout the war, Marsh later wrote, “we kept getting ready” to “jump quickly” after the fighting stopped. Ell was equally eager. “When the war is over,” he wrote in 1943, “Northeastern will be prepared.” The senior president among the universities of Massachusetts, B.U.’s Marsh was in his middle sixties during World War II and was determined to make concrete progress toward his institutional goals in the short period in office remaining to him. Since his appointment in 1926, he had emphasized three aspects of B.U.: its religious heritage as a non-sectarian, Methodist university with a strong School of Theology; its public-service role as a diversified educational resource for the Boston area; and its academic possibilities as one of the nation’s largest universities with a full range of graduate and professional programs.

The Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program has enabled me to conduct more broadly relevant science by addressing questions within an interdisciplinary framework and to unravel the causes for surprising ecological phenomena through persistent studies and collaborations. Educational opportunities within the LTER program have connected me to students from grades K–12 to graduate levels in new ways from the field to the classroom, across places from Florida to Alaska, and among disciplines in a collaborative setting. The audience for my research expanded as a consequence of my experiences in the LTER program, and I have learned how to more effectively communicate integrative research to large audiences of scientists, policy-makers, and the public, often through nontraditional media. The LTER program is foremost a network of people, and I have found that science evolves most successfully when ideas and information are shared voluntarily across backgrounds, disciplines, and cultures in a network of cultivated, trusting relationships. The Florida Coastal Everglades (FCE) is the LTER site where I am currently the principal investigator, but the LTER program has been a part of my life for most of my career. My experiences in the LTER program began in the early 1990s when I was a graduate student at the University of Georgia, where the Coweeta (CWT) LTER site is based. Although I was not formally a part of CWT, many of my friends and professors were, so the program influenced my development as a scientist. I remember my first field trip to CWT, led by Gene Helfman and Judy Meyer, and the fun of snorkeling in mountain streams where we camped and conducted a few experiments, including examining the effects of rapid consumption of s’mores and boiled peanuts on preschool children (Judy and Gene’s kids). LTER-related activities wove in and out of my graduate student experience, and the rewards of sharing of ideas, data, friendships, and boiled peanuts created in me a lifelong commitment to persistent, collaborative science. This sense of fulfillment, of being part of something larger, was reinforced at the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (SREL), where I conducted my research.

At the heart of Harvard lay the College. Half of the University’s students were there, as was most of the history that fueled the Harvard mystique. Undergraduate tuition and the contributions of well-heeled College alumni provided much of the income on which the University depended. But the elitist, inbred College culture posed a substantial obstacle to Conant’s goal of a more meritocratic Harvard. Admission was the first step in the student life cycle, and admissions policy went far to set the tone of the College. Eliot did not pay much attention to the matter. But his successor Lowell wanted students who would be a social elite. Catholic students were quite acceptable to him: in comportment and values they passed his entry test for the leadership class. So, too—more doubtfully—did wealthy, assimilated German Jews, though assuredly not their Russian-Jewish brethren. Anne MacDonald, executive secretary of the admissions office since the beginning of the century, was one of those women then (and now) essential to the smooth functioning of Harvard. In a 1934 memorandum to Conant, she explained the workings of her bailiwick. She and her opposite numbers at Yale (a Miss Elliot), Princeton (a Miss Williams), and the College Entrance Examination Board (a Miss McLaughlin) met yearly “to compare notes on all matters concerning admission, and the different ways in which they are treated at the three universities.” Some of her work required special handling: “The interviews with rejected Hebrews or their relatives are particularly precarious, and one needs to be constantly on the alert. . . . For the past ten years, or since the restriction [Harvard’s unofficial Jewish quota] we have been particularly fortunate in settling these cases.” But there were snakes in this admissions Garden of Eden. A substantial portion of each entering class failed to meet the academic standards of the College: 30 to 40 percent of freshmen had unsatisfactory records in the early 1930s. And the student body was too parochial: in 1931 Harvard had the highest portion (40 percent) of students from its home state among the nation’s major colleges.

The Erasmus international mobility programme represent a significant step in a student’s development. In the past decades, millions of European students gained experience and lifelong learning period from prestigious universities abroad. Erasmus students are seen as independent people, curious about cultures and languages, open to new ideas and especially predisposed to become entrepreneurs. This study was designed to identify the entrepreneurial attitude of Erasmus students in order to ascertain the contribution of international mobility. For this purpose, the expectations of international students who benefited from the Erasmus Plus Programme were compared to the level of satisfaction after completing the international mobility programme at Institute of Business Administration (IAE), University of Sophia Antipolis, Nice. Factors that most influenced students’ departure in Erasmus mobility are academic and professional opportunities abroad. The data for this study was collected using a questionnaire and sent in collaboration with International Relations Office of IAE Nice. The results indicate that international mobility had a high impact on student’s self-confidence and relational skills. Regarding professional and social life, the entrepreneurial attitude was increased by the Erasmus experience.

This paper deals with the construction and implementation of the Off-Grid Zero Emissions Building (OGZEB), a project undertaken by the Energy Sustainability Center (ESC), formally the Sustainable Energy Science and Engineering Center (SESEC), at the Florida State University (FSU). The project involves the design, construction and operation of a completely solar-powered building that achieves LEED-NC (Leadership in Energy and Environment Design-New Construction) platinum certification. The 1064 square foot building is partitioned such that 800 square feet is a two bedroom, graduate student style flat with the remaining 264 square feet serving as office space. This arrangement allows the building to serve as an energy efficient model for campus designers in student living and office space. The building also serves as a prototype for developing and implementing cutting edge, alternative energy technologies in both residential and commercial settings. For example, hydrogen is used extensively in meeting the energy needs of the OGZEB. In lieu of high efficiency batteries, the excess electricity produced by the buildings photovoltaic (PV) panels is used to generate hydrogen via water electrolysis for long term energy storage. The hydrogen is stored on-site until needed for either generating electricity in a Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell stack or combusted in natural gas appliances that have been modified for hydrogen use. The use of hydrogen in modified natural gas appliances, such as an on-demand hot water heater and cook top, is unique to the OGZEB. This paper discusses the problems and solutions that arose during construction and includes detailed schematics of the OGZEBs energy system.

This paper deals with the Off-Grid Zero Emissions Building (OGZEB), a project undertaken by the Sustainable Energy Science & Engineering Center (SESEC) at Florida State University (FSU). The project involves the design, construction and operation of a completely solar-powered building that achieves LEED-NC (Leadership in Energy and Environment Design-New Construction) platinum certification. The resulting 1000 square foot building will be partitioned such that 750 square feet will be a two bedroom, graduate student style flat with the remaining 250 square feet serving as office space. This arrangement will allow the building to serve as an energy efficient model for campus designers in student living and office space. The building will also serve as a prototype for developing and implementing cutting edge, alternative energy technologies in both residential and commercial settings. For example, hydrogen will be used extensively in meeting the energy needs of the OGZEB. In lieu of high efficiency batteries, the excess electricity produced by the building’s photovoltaic (PV) panels will be used to generate hydrogen via water electrolysis. The hydrogen will be stored on-site until needed for either generating electricity in a Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell stack or combusted in natural gas appliances that have been modified for hydrogen use. Although commercial variants already exist, a highly efficient water electrolysis device and innovative PEM fuel cell are currently under development at SESEC and both will be implemented into the OGZEB. The use of hydrogen in modified natural gas appliances, such as an on-demand hot water heater and cook top, is unique to the OGZEB.

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.