Sexual Harassment and Assault During Field Research

ABSTRACT Political scientists have recently taken great strides to expose and address sexual harassment and assault in our academic departments and professional conferences. Little has been said, however, of the sexual violence and discrimination that political scientists confront during field research. Female field researchers may encounter a number of power disparities that put them at acute risk for sexual violence during fieldwork, and evidence suggests that experiences of sexual misconduct in the field are both pervasive and professionally devastating. This article challenges the discipline to break its silence on sexual violence during fieldwork, remove the stigma of incompetency assigned to survivors, and support field researchers in confronting sexual harassment and assault in the field.

The role of collegiality in academic review, promotion, and tenure

Review, promotion, and tenure (RPT) processes at universities typically assess candidates along three dimensions: research, teaching, and service. In recent years, some have argued for the inclusion of a controversial fourth criterion: collegiality. While collegiality plays a role in the morale and effectiveness of academic departments, it is amorphic and difficult to assess, and could be misused to stifle dissent or enforce homogeneity. Despite this, some institutions have opted to include this additional element in their RPT documents and processes, but it is unknown the extent of this practice and how it varies across institution type and disciplinary units. This study is based on two sets of data: survey data collected as part of a project that explored the publishing decisions of faculty and how these related to perceived importance in RPT processes, and 864 RPT documents collected from 129 universities from the United States and Canada. We analysed these RPT documents to determine the degree to which collegiality and related terms are mentioned, if they are defined, and if and how they may be assessed during the RPT process. Results show that when collegiality and related terms appear in these documents they are most often just briefly mentioned. It is less common for collegiality and related terms to be defined or assessed in RPT documents. Although the terms are mentioned across all types of institutions, there is a statistically significant difference in how prevalent they are at each. Collegiality is more commonly mentioned in the documents of doctoral research-focused universities (60%), than of master's universities and colleges (31%) or baccalaureate colleges (15%). Results from the accompanying survey of faculty also support this finding: individuals from R-Types were more likely to perceive collegiality to be a factor in their RPT processes. We conclude that collegiality likely plays an important role in RPT processes, whether it is explicitly acknowledged in policies and guidelines or not, and point to several strategies in how it might be best incorporated in the assessment of academic careers.

Good Governance in Jordanian Universities and Its Relationship with the Ability to Solve Administrative Problems, from the Point of View of Faculty Members

The study aimed at revealing the application of good governance in Jordanian universities and its relationship to the ability to solve administrative problems from the point of view of faculty members. The sample of the study consisted of (330) members of the Faculties of Educational Sciences, and the study was conducted in the academic year 2020/2021. Using the descriptive research method, the researchers designed a questionnaire as a study tool and verified its validity and stability. The findings showed that good governance in Jordanian universities was at a high level, with the absence of statistically significant differences in good government by gender or years of experience. The findings also showed a high level of ability to solve administrative problems by the heads of academic departments in the faculties of educational sciences, with no statistically significant differences in the ability to solve administrative problems by gender or years of experience. There was a positive relationship between the degree of good governance and the ability to solve administrative problems. Received: 3 October 2021 / Accepted: 11 November 2021 / Published: 3 January 2022

Leaning On Our Academic Shields of Gendered Support

Intersectionality reminds us that women of color face a particular kind of marginalization due to both gendered and racial oppression and underrepresentation. As such, they are more often “presumed incompetent” and may not feel as innately supported in social and professional structures as their white male and female counterparts. Additionally, the silencing effect of being one of very few women of color in academic departments puts us at risk for further marginalization, requiring that we engage in significant invisible labor that is neither recognized nor compensated. Grounded on our intersectionalities, we discuss our respective trajectories within our own fields and research, beginning with research that emphatically perpetuates the cycle of gender inequity in the academy. The discussion is then supported by analyzing the theoretical research on the salience of race, gender, and other axes of identity for the experiences of women of color. As authors, we present these narratives in an attempt to engage with ways of reflexivity that are, especially for women of color in academia, not usually discussed.

Departmental Leadership in a Post-Pandemic World

This chapter explores some of the specific departmental leadership issues that have emerged as universities around the world have struggled to adapt to restrictions imposed by governments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The chapter argues that for academic departments to succeed and flourish in a post-pandemic world, there needs to be a major reconceptualization of what we mean by academic leadership at the department level. Consequently, a new model of academic leadership is proposed, one which is based on social and relational models of leadership practice, focused on a more individualized approach to leadership development than is currently the case, and which recognizes the crucial role that all academics must play in ensuring the future success of their departments.

Perceived Safety of Learning Environment and Associated Anxiety Factors during COVID-19 in Ghana: Evidence from Physical Education Practical-Oriented Program

The outbreak of COVID-19 led to the swift migration to alternate instructional delivery models and pedagogical practices in educational institutions. This study examined the perceived safety of the learning environment and associated anxiety factors among physical education students amidst COVID-19. Using a cross-sectional design, a sample of 638 students drawn purposively and conveniently from a public university in Ghana completed a self-developed questionnaire. Frequency counts, percentages, and ordered logistic regression were used to analyze the data. Findings of the study showed that students perceived the practical lesson environment as unsafe, with self-reported moderate to high levels of anxiety during their practical lessons. The ordered logistic regression results revealed that varied factors such as age, COVID-19 information platforms, certainty about personal safety, and adequacy of preparation to manage COVID-19 cases were associated with anxiety. The study concluded that an unsafe practical physical education learning environment increases the anxiety levels of students. Academic departments/units should provide periodic interventions (e.g., positive self-talk, mental rehearsal, cognitive restructuring) and counseling services for students amidst the ongoing pandemic to help moderate situational-specific anxiety. In addition, key to the management of students’ anxiety is the provision of a safe and supportive school environment, including the provision of adequate personal protective equipment for practical lessons by school authorities.

The influence of Paternalistic leadership on the commitment and job satisfaction of the employees – A field study from the point of view of female administrators in academic departments at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah –: تأثير القيادة الأبوية على الالتزام والرضا الوظيفي – دراسة ميدانية من وجهة نظر الموظفات الإداريات في الأقسام الأكاديمية في جامعة الملك عبد العزيز بجدة –

The problem statement of this study is to check the influence of paternalistic leadership on the commitment and job satisfaction from the point of view of female administrators in academic departments at King Abdulaziz University. The aim of this study to contribute to increase the attention for the researchers to apply paternalistic leadership style, open the way for new studies, and help officials of academic departments in Saudi universities to upgrade the quality of the performance of the services provided by their subordinates through applying the paternalistic leadership style in their departments. The population of the study of female administrators in academic departments at King Abdulaziz University and a number of approximately 700 employees, the study sample was selected at random which has been adopted (63) The identification of origin (78). It has been used descriptive analytical method. And to analyze and manipulate data using a statistical computer program (SPSS). After the study data statistically analyzed the results showed that managers dealing with their employees by using paternalistic leadership style. In addition, there is a positive relationship between paternalistic leadership style and commitment of the employees. Although the leader was sometimes resorted to the use of authoritarian paternalistic leadership style, but the results showed that there is a functional commitment to the organization by the study sample. Also, there is a positive relationship between paternalistic leadership style and job satisfaction for the employees, even if the managers deal with their employees by using authoritarian paternalistic leadership style. In light of the results, researcher reached to a number of recommendations which is the most important one there is a need to apply the paternalistic leadership style by managers as it imparts the positive side on the commitment and job satisfaction of the employees. Finally, the researcher recommends to conduct more research in the paternalistic leadership style from the point of view of male administrators in academic departments at King Abdulaziz University, and comparing the results with the present study to determine the influence of Paternalistic leadership on the commitment and job satisfaction of the employees in the point of view of male and female employees.

Scholar Metrics Scraper (SMS): automated retrieval of citation and author data

Academic departments, research clusters and evaluators analyze author and citation data to measure research impact and to support strategic planning. We created a tool, Scholar Metrics Scraper (SMS), to automate the retrieval of this bibliometric data for our research team. The project contains Jupyter notebooks (publicly-shared here) that take a list of researchers as an input to export a CSV file of citation metrics from Google Scholar and figures to visualize the group's impact. SMS is a scalable, open and publicly-accessible solution for automating the retrieval of citation data over time for a group of researchers.

The Changing Landscape of Doctoral Education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics: PhD Students, Faculty Advisors, and Preferences for Varied Career Options

The landscape of graduate science education is changing as efforts to diversify the professoriate have increased because academic faculty jobs at universities have grown scarce and more competitive. With this context as a backdrop, the present research examines the perceptions and career goals of advisors and advisees through surveys of PhD students (Study 1, N = 195) and faculty mentors (Study 2, N = 272) in science, technology, engineering, and math disciplines. Study 1 examined actual preferences and career goals of PhD students among three options: research careers, teaching careers, and non-academic careers in industry, and compared the actual preferences of students with what they perceived as being the normative preferences of faculty. Overall, students had mixed preferences but perceived that their advisors had a strong normative preference for research careers for them. Moreover, students who ranked research positions as most desirable felt the most belonging in their academic departments. Further analyses revealed no differences in career preferences as a function of underrepresented minority (URM) student status or first-generation (FG) status, but URM and FG students felt less belonging in their academic departments. Study 2 examined faculty preferences for different careers for their advisees, both in general and for current students in particular. While faculty advisors preferred students to go into research in general, when focusing on specific students, they saw their preferences as being closely aligned with the career preference of each PhD student. Faculty advisors did not perceive any difference in belonging between their students as a function of their URM status. Discrepancies between student and faculty perceptions may occur, in part, because faculty and students do not engage in sufficient discussions about the wider range of career options beyond academic research. Supporting this possibility, PhD students and faculty advisors reported feeling more comfortable discussing research careers with each other than either non-academic industry positions or teaching positions. Discussion centers on the implications of these findings for interpersonal and institutional efforts to foster diversity in the professoriate and to create open communication about career development.

Technical and Vocational Education and Technology Transfer: Departments of Civil Engineering Technology at the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training, PAAE&T, Kuwait, As A Case Study

Technology transfer is the main ingredient of technical and vocational education. The transfer of know-how and know-why can take several forms either within technical and vocational institutions boundaries such as: transfer of technology from research and development department to other academic departments or interactions and exchange of technology between academic departments. The transfer of technology can transcend technical and vocational institutions boundaries to allow a free transformation and exchange of technology with local and international industries and business. The main objective is to enhance the quality of technical and vocational graduates as well as to provide industries and business with the require skilled and semi-skilled manpower able to managing, maintain, adapt, and monitor the technology applied in various production processes. Therefore, for a successful transfer of technology, a mutual interest has to be achieved for both parties (the provider of technology and the recipient of technology). The management of technical and vocational education must exert their time and efforts to gain the best fruitful results from the transfer of technology in enhancing their academic capabilities (e.g., upgrading the standard of workshops and laboratories, applying and effective scheme for reviewing and assessing curriculum development, enhancing staff competencies) in order to meet the quality assurance standard in producing a high quality of graduates. In this paper, I present some of the empirical results and observations which describe the interactions between the supplier of technology (Civil Engineering Technology) and the recipient of the technology (PAAE&T) in the field of technology transfer. In other word, whether the PAAE&T have taken the opportunity, while building its new headquarter, in the transfer of technology from the supplier Civil Engineering Technology to its academic staff in its various Civil Engineering Academic Departments in its various colleges and institutions. The paper argues that, for effective and efficient transfer of technology, the recipient (PAAE&T) must ensure that the agreement with the supplier of Civil Engineering Technology include calluses that would allow the PAAE&T academic staff in the Civil Engineering Academic Departments in its various colleges and institutions to acquire the technology embedded in the agreement. The paper concludes that the transfer of technology and the building of a local scientific and technical infrastructure must be viewed by Kuwaiti decision-makers as a complementary to one another. Thus, reducing, to great extent, the level of dependence on expatriate, particularly in essential sector of the economy.