Whose History?: The Americas and Music Curricula in the United States

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 457-460
Author(s):  
M. Leslie Santana

One moment from the much-discussed 2017 curriculum reform in the Music Department at Harvard University has stuck with me and transformed the way I approach teaching music in higher education. In one of the meetings leading up to the revision, graduate students in the department led an activity in which attendees—who included undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty alike—got into small groups and discussed the relative merits of three hypothetical models for the new undergraduate curriculum. Each of the models involved decentering to some extent the existing curriculum's emphasis on the history of Western European music and dominant music theoretical approaches to it. After a short while, we all gathered back together and one person from each group shared a bit about what had transpired. From the circle of desks nearest the door, an undergraduate student rose to speak and expressed enthusiasm for a broadening of curricular coverages. But, they said, their group also had some reservations about jettisoning the overall focus on Western European concert music altogether. “We still need to learn about our history,” they said, while a faculty member nodded behind them.

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 596-603 ◽  
Author(s):  
John D. Clements ◽  
Nancy D. Connell ◽  
Clarissa Dirks ◽  
Mohamed El-Faham ◽  
Alastair Hay ◽  
...  

Numerous studies are demonstrating that engaging undergraduate students in original research can improve their achievement in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields and increase the likelihood that some of them will decide to pursue careers in these disciplines. Associated with this increased prominence of research in the undergraduate curriculum are greater expectations from funders, colleges, and universities that faculty mentors will help those students, along with their graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, develop an understanding and sense of personal and collective obligation for responsible conduct of science (RCS). This Feature describes an ongoing National Research Council (NRC) project and a recent report about educating faculty members in culturally diverse settings (Middle East/North Africa and Asia) to employ active-learning strategies to engage their students and colleagues deeply in issues related to RCS. The NRC report describes the first phase of this project, which took place in Aqaba and Amman, Jordan, in September 2012 and April 2013, respectively. Here we highlight the findings from that report and our subsequent experience with a similar interactive institute in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Our work provides insights and perspectives for faculty members in the United States as they engage undergraduate and graduate students, as well as postdoctoral fellows, to help them better understand the intricacies of and connections among various components of RCS. Further, our experiences can provide insights for those who may wish to establish “train-the-trainer” programs at their home institutions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 589-606
Author(s):  
Nelson C. Brunsting ◽  
Megan Mischinski ◽  
Wenjin Wu ◽  
Tenisha Tevis ◽  
Risa Takeuchi ◽  
...  

Despite the increase in methodological sophistication and complexity of models being tested for international student adjustment to universities in the United States (U.S.), researchers often do not test or control for salient demographic differences between students, including their educational status (i.e., graduate or undergraduate) and country in which they graduated high school. The current study was designed to examine whether demographic variables are associated with a range of social outcomes. Participants ( N = 245) from 23 U.S. colleges and universities completed a survey in Fall 2017. Undergraduate students reported having a higher number of close friends at their institution than did graduate students; however, they also reported a lower sense of belonging than did graduate students. Students who graduated from high school in the United States reported less social support from international students at university. Implications for students and for future research are provided.


2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 636-640 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rocio Benabentos ◽  
Payal Ray ◽  
Deepak Kumar

Disparities in health and healthcare are a major concern in the United States and worldwide. Approaches to alleviate these disparities must be multifaceted and should include initiatives that touch upon the diverse areas that influence the healthcare system. Developing a strong biomedical workforce with an awareness of the issues concerning health disparities is crucial for addressing this issue. Establishing undergraduate health disparities courses that are accessible to undergraduate students in the life sciences is necessary to increase students’ understanding and awareness of these issues and motivate them to address these disparities during their careers. The majority of universities do not include courses related to health disparities in their curricula, and only a few universities manage them from their life sciences departments. The figures are especially low for minority-serving institutions, which serve students from communities disproportionally affected by health disparities. Universities should consider several possible approaches to infuse their undergraduate curricula with health disparities courses or activities. Eliminating health disparities will require efforts from diverse stakeholders. Undergraduate institutions can play an important role in developing an aware biomedical workforce and helping to close the gap in health outcomes.


Author(s):  
Stanley Fish

Not long ago, there was a time when I was responsible for a college with close to 30 departments and units, a budget of between 50 and 55 million dollars, 400 tenure-track faculty members, 700 staff, 10,000 undergraduate students, 2,000 graduate students, and 17 buildings. On any given day, I had to deal with disciplinary proceedings, tenure and promotion cases, faculty searches, chair searches, enrollment problems, fundraising, community outreach, alumni relations, public relations, curriculum reform, counteroffers, technology failures, space allocation, information systems, chair meetings, advisory committee meetings, deans council meetings, meetings with the provost, student complaints, faculty complaints, parent complaints, and taxpayer complaints. Office hours were 8:30 a.m. to whenever and often extended into the evenings and weekends. Vacations were few and far between. The pressure never relaxed. When I left the job after slightly more than five years, I felt that I had all the time (well, not quite all ) in the world at my disposal, and for a while, spent it by trying to improve everyone I met, whether or not those I ministered to welcomed my efforts. I took my opportunities wherever I found them. While I still lived in Chicago, but after I stepped down as dean, the building next door to mine was bought by a developer. For a long time, no development occurred, and the lawn and bushes were allowed to grow wild. The developer, however, had made the mistake of putting his telephone number on an overlarge sign, and as a reward he received a series of dyspeptic phone calls from me accusing him of being a bad neighbor, an irresponsible landlord, and an all-around no-goodnik. During the same period, I would go into a store or stand in a ticket line and was often greeted by someone who asked, “And how are you today, young man?” That is my least favorite salutation, and I quickly delivered a lecture and, I trust, a bit of improvement: “When you call someone who is obviously not young ‘young man,’ what you are doing is calling attention to his age and making him feel even older than he is; don’t do it again!” I delivered an even longer lecture to the blameless fastfood workers who routinely handed me a bagel along with a small container of cream cheese and a plastic knife that couldn’t cut butter.


2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry A. Cronan ◽  
Charles Van Liew ◽  
Julia Stal ◽  
Nicole Marr ◽  
Alan Patrus ◽  
...  

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether students’ views of mentors have changed as a function of the increased number of faculty members conducting research and the inclusion of undergraduate students in faculty mentors’ research teams, using reports from current students. The participants were 227 undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral students at two large, Western public universities located in the United States. One institution was a research-intensive university and the other was not. Students were asked to complete a questionnaire about whether they had a mentor, the characteristics of their mentors, and their perceptions of their mentors. The findings indicated that 28.5% of undergraduates and 95% of graduate students had mentors. Undergraduate students were significantly more likely to choose mentors for being inspiring instructors, and graduate students were significantly more likely to choose mentors because of interest in their research. The most important characteristic of both good and bad mentors was personality. Students at all levels perceived their mentors as very interested in their futures. Mentor satisfaction was high among students at all levels. The findings are encouraging, and they provide evidence that psychology has adapted well to the increased number of faculty conducting research and to the inclusion of undergraduate students in research.


2005 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joette Stefl-Mabry ◽  
Jennifer Goodall Powers ◽  
Carol Doll

This article outlines a K-12 college learning partnership that has evolved over the past two years at the University at Albany, SUNY. Two faculty members with the School of Information Science & Policy (SISP) Joette Stefl-Mabry and Jennifer Goodall Powers, with administrative support of their Associate Dean, Carol Doll, have integrated problem-based learning (PBL) into graduate and undergraduate curricula to establish partnerships with local K-12 school districts. Dynamic PBL environments link K-12 schools, School Library Media (SLM) graduate students, and undergraduate students majoring in information science to develop content, delivery, and assessment methods for K-12 curricula while at the same time strengthening graduate and undergraduate curricula by incorporating real-world challenges into coursework. Through this partnership, K-12 schools benefit from research-based best practices in educational technology and information science graduate and undergraduate students experience real career situations within educational environments. Over the course of a semester, SLM graduate students wrestle with theory and practice in K-12 curriculum, as undergraduate students develop Web pages based on research theory summarized by their graduate student partners. Stefl-Mabry and Powers collaboratively create and/or adapt instructional methods to meet the educational requirements of graduate and undergraduate curriculum as it relates to the specific needs and abilities of their students and the learning needs of K-12 environments. PBL enhances learning and provides new instructional models for SLM graduate students to emulate as educators when they are employed in K-12 communities.


1989 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-20
Author(s):  
Basil Karp

Despite enormous changes in the global circumstances that impinge on American government and despite a growing recognition that the undergraduate curriculum must be internationalized, relatively little has been done to incorporate a global perspective in the one place where political science teachers can reach very large numbers of undergraduate students—the introductory American national government course. The internationalization of the American economy, the developing interdependence between the United States and other countries, the growth of local-international links—these phenomena have scarcely touched the bedrock political science course.Textbooks for the introductory American government course reflect this neglect of the international dimension. They typically allude to the international factor briefly in the context of the president's powers in conducting foreign relations and discuss it more extensively in a chapter on “Foreign Policy” or “Foreign and Defense Policy.” As a practical matter, however, this chapter is usually near or at the very end of the book, which many teachers and students probably never reach. A perusal of various current textbooks confirms the conclusion made by a 1981 survey of 50 leading textbooks that very few of the books recognize the interdependence phenomenon or the importance of global circumstances. Apart from textbooks, learning packages designed for the American government course on such topics are rare.To expose students to the international dimension of American national government, the writer conducted a special project in two sections of his American national government course during the spring 1988 semester. The following instruction sheet was given to the students.


2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kunsoon Park ◽  
Narang Park ◽  
Wookjae Heo ◽  
Kim Gustafson

Online surveys are frequently used in higher education to collect students’ opinions. This study investigated the factors associated with students’ willingness to respond to online surveys. Using 540 samples from undergraduate and graduate students in the United States, this study conducted a factor analysis to categorize the reasons that students willingly participate in online surveys. Four factors were identified: Format, Affiliation, Content, and Contact. The regression analysis revealed format was significantly associated with the undergraduate students’ online survey participation, while content was significantly related to the graduate students’ online survey participation. These findings indicate the behavior of responding to online surveys may vary depending on the participants’ educational level. They also suggest a need to develop different strategies when designing online surveys for educational purposes to enhance response rates.


SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 215824402110608
Author(s):  
Christopher P. Scheitle ◽  
Ellory Dabbs ◽  
Riley Darragh

Research examining high school and undergraduate students has demonstrated the importance of identity formation for students’ confidence, retention, and aspirations in science. While we know some of the key predictors of science identity formation among these populations, relatively little work has looked at these issues among graduate students. The study presented here utilizes data from a survey of over 1,300 graduate students in the United States in five disciplines: biology, chemistry, physics, psychology, and sociology. A structural equation model is estimated to assess the demographic, experiential, and disciplinary correlates of graduate student identification with science and, separately, identification with their discipline. The analysis finds that, relative to men, women have weaker identification with science but do not differ in the strength of their identification with their discipline. Experiences, such as the quality of students’ relationship with their advisor and publishing research, are positively associated with the strength of their science and disciplinary identity. Students in psychology and sociology have weaker identification with science relative to biology students, while sociology students also have weaker identification with their discipline.


1991 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 126-128
Author(s):  
Steven E. Newman ◽  
Susan H. Ellsbury

A library skills workbook was developed for horticulture students to provide them with instruction in the use of bibliographic research materials and services available to them from the university library system. The effectiveness of the library skills workbook was tested by comparing pre- and post-test scores of undergraduate and graduate students. International and national graduate students were compared. Graduate students scored higher on the pre-test than did undergraduates. Students from the United States scored higher than Asian students, but not higher than Latin American students. Students' knowledge of the library collection and layout were improved 21.3%; however, undergraduate students' knowledge increased 13% more than that of graduate students.


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