Utilizing the concepts of time and academic capitalism in the neoliberal university, this qualitative study examined 12 tenured faculty members' sensemaking of productivity from their sabbatical leaves from one research university in the United States. The commodification of time and outputs from the sabbatical in remunerative terms as well as…

States have adopted a variety of policies to encourage universities to expand research production, with the hope of supporting economic growth and competitiveness. This paper considers whether a state-level initiative succeeded in influencing university-based research outputs among regional public universities. We test whether the Texas Research…

Through this study, I examined the experiences and perspectives of 16 administrators, faculty, and staff members (i.e. institutional actors) responsible for student success efforts in research universities. Using sociocognitive discourse analysis, I illuminated the social practices of institutional actors engaged in student success work, more…

Given racial inequality in the United States is grounded in policies and practices that have historically governed where People of Color live, where colleges go and do not go to recruit prospective students may be an important source of racial inequality in college access. This study examines the spatial distribution of out-of-state recruiting…

The trend toward continuous expansion of U.S. post-secondary enrollments was reversed in the 2010s. Using pooled state-level data in between-within models, we examine public higher education enrollment trends during the 2009-2019 period. We emphasize variation in the net associations of covariates by tiers. State economic conditions showed…

Responsibility center management (RCM) budgeting systems devolve budget responsibility while creating funding formulas that provide incentives for academic units to generate revenues and decrease costs. A growing number of public universities have adopted RCM. The desire to grow tuition revenue has often been cited as a rationale for adoption.…

Despite occupying a central position in contemporary U.S. higher education discourse, empirical research on administrative costs is limited. The purpose of this study was to extend existing research on administrative spending in higher education by empirically examining whether recently shifting to research university status in the Carnegie…

Through the analysis of alumni survey data from three graduating cohorts, this study examined the relationships between ideological interaction, college outcomes, and career achievements and explored factors that helped to promote interaction across ideological boundaries on college campuses. Its findings show that compared with less interactive…

This paper examines the growing number of affiliations between research universities and the "affiliated nonprofit organizations" (ANPOs) that exist to support them. We posit that universities' increasing ties to ANPOs represent strategic responses to unfavorable environmental conditions. In other words, it is likely that the practice of…

The purpose of this study was to understand whether and the extent to which undergraduate students' exposure to and participation in a set of innovation-specific curricular learning interventions promoted innovation capacities--a measurable set of self-perceptions and abilities students can develop to better engage in innovation. Through the use…

Over the last three decades, interdisciplinary cluster hiring programs have become popular on research university campuses as an approach to fostering interdisciplinary collaboration. These programs have not yet been rigorously evaluated across multiple institutions and multiple thematic fields. The paper reports the results of a survey of 199…

Given recent study abroad trends, Latin America (LATAM) offers untapped potential to contribute to U.S. campus internationalization. To diversify student populations and increase enrollment from LATAM, stakeholders should consider the language, academic, and cultural experiences of LATAM students admitted to U.S. graduate schools. This study…

Sense of belonging has been used to gauge students' adjustment to and persistence within higher education. Social class is associated with sense of belonging and working-class students report lower levels than their middle- and upper-class peers. In this study, I examined how working-class students described their sense of belonging through a…

Elite higher education institutions work hard to secure diverse classes, and students seek out these institutions in part because they believe that diversity will enhance their own educational experiences. Institutional theories would predict that practices set by the elite institutions in the field would isomorphically trickle down, however, case…

Trustees span the boundaries between universities and their environments, and therefore may connect universities to other organizations. We use social networks and latent profile analyses to chart changes in the affiliations that trustees of AAU member universities maintained with other organizations from 1975 through 2015. Results identify a…