Regular physical activity is associated with improvements in overall health. Although resident involvement in neighborhood social activities is positively associated with physical activity, neighborhood design features, including residential density, have varied associations with physical activity. Using data from a multiethnic sample of 696…

The purpose of this ex post facto study was to determine differences in the level of student engagement in (a) students attending community colleges that participated in the Achieving the Dream (AtD) in 2011 and 2012 and (b) students attending community colleges that did not participate in AtD in 2011 and 2012. The Community College Survey of…

Higher levels of civic and community engagement in higher education are positively associated with students' academic performance and they also build upon citizenship skills such as informed voting. Yet, while these are worthy and important outcomes of higher education, students from disadvantaged backgrounds can have more difficulty navigating…

The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine the relationships between a student's personality traits of grit (persistence, goal-setting, passion, tenacity, time management, goal achievement, and perseverance), a student's self-reported satisfaction in the course, and the final grade a student receives in an online course.…

Science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) degrees provide opportunities for economic mobility. Yet women, underrepresented minority (URM), and first-generation college students remain disproportionately underrepresented in STEM fields. This study examined the effectiveness of a living-learning community (LLC) for URM and first-generation…

Background. Pregnancy is an opportune time to initiate diabetes prevention strategies for minority and underserved women, using culturally tailored interventions delivered by community health workers. A community-partnered randomized controlled trial (RCT) with pregnant Latino women resulted in significantly improved vegetable, fiber, added sugar,…

We examine how Black high school students, participants in a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) program, understand issues of racial discrimination and inequality in their schools. Through semi-structured individual interviews conducted early in the program, eight students (six boys and two girls) recount experiences of racial…

The educational achievement and attainment of young people in the United States has been a long-standing issue of concern. While analyses of long-term trend data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) show that students in the United States have made gains in reading and mathematics over the past few decades, a sizeable…

The demand that today's schools shall produce better educational outcomes of their pupils is stronger than ever before, especially in front of the background of our globalized, competitive world. Past and current research has supported the hypothesis that the teacher is the most important ingredient in the educational process. As the Detroit…

This study applies competing risks survival analysis to describe outcome attainment for an entire cohort of students who first attended a Midwestern community college in the Fall Semester 2001. Outcome attainment included transfer to a four-year institution, degree/ certificate attainment from the community college under study, and transfer to a…

At Michigan State University (MSU) we have developed and are testing a faculty survey instrument to gather institution-wide information on outreach activity. We have sought to define consistent quantitative measures that can be used both to describe the whole institution's investment of resources in engagement activities and to establish…

Universities and colleges across the country are faced with growth in the campus population and the loss of surface parking lots for new buildings. The response of many institutions is to build new garages with the assumption that parking demand ratios will remain the same. Such an approach, however, can be extremely expensive--upwards of …

This article describes how Michigan State University developed and implemented an institutional framework that identifies outreach and engagement as a scholarly, crosscutting function. These efforts sought to elevate the valuation of outreach and engagement across the institution and to ensure that outreach and engagement complemented the other…

A study of loan availability in Michigan through the federal Guaranteed Student Loan Program outlines the evolution of federal lending programs for college students and describes program characteristics, funds, costs, defaults, and funding systems. The situation for borrowers and lenders in the state and its regions is examined, including…