%0 Unpublished Work %D 2022 %T A Case for Higher Education: Addressing Financial Sustainability in Community Colleges %A Hannah Liu '23 %X
Community colleges—two-year public institutions—are a vital part of the American education ecosystem. Providing academic instruction and vocational support to a disproportionate number of low-income students, students of color, and students who are otherwise unable to obtain similar resources, community colleges also serve as a crucial proponent of a mobile and vibrant economy. That said, community colleges have long faced challenges with finances, with a most pertinent root cause of lowered enrollment and therefore decreased tuition revenue. With the COVID-19 pandemic as an added interruption in normal operations, community colleges around the nation are encountering challenges to revitalize and continue acting upon its objectives. Through a case study on Bunker Hill Community College located in Boston, Massachusetts, interviews with its administrative members, and discussions with experts in the field, this paper finds that revitalization of community colleges relies on continued experimentation with instruction methods—including hybrid learning and non-term-time courses—as well as increased exploration of industry partnerships in order to target the growing interest that prospective college students have in career readiness and professional training.
Keywords: community college, education, finance, enrollment, industry
%G eng %0 Unpublished Work %D 2022 %T “Playing Your/The Part: Examining The Optimal Leadership Structure For Kirkland Drama Society” %A Ellie Grueskin'22.5 %X Leadership structure is an integral, yet often overlooked, component to the success and sustainability of student theatrical organizations. In this research project, I examine the optimal leadership structure for Kirkland Drama Society (KDS), an undergraduate drama organization at Harvard. I surveyed a group of KDS members from Fall 2021, conducted five expert interviews with current and former KDS leaders, and interviewed four leaders of other undergraduate drama organizations. From the survey, my primary findings were that most KDS members were content with a small leadership structure, but some were interested in a clearer schedule. Based on my expert interviews with KDS leaders, I learned that there have been modifications to the leadership structure over time to improve communication and that tutors see setting expectations as the biggest challenge. Through the interviews with other undergraduate theater leaders, I found that each organization has a stage manager position that helps with scheduling, many incorporate a mix of election and appointment to their roles, and they provide clear delineation of roles within leadership. Using this data along with my careful literature design, I set forth four recommendations for KDS leaders moving forward. The recommendations are to add a stage manager position, move to a nomination-based system for choosing leaders, designate a split of responsibilities across leaders prior to each show, and conduct an audit of members and resources before each show. My deliverable, a guide for KDS leaders included these recommendations along with a timeline of responsibilities, former email templates, and a scene-by-scene guide for stage managing. %G eng %0 Manuscript %D 2022 %T SOCIOL1104 Fall 2021 Course Review Student Handbook %A SOCIOL1104 Fall 2021 students %G eng %0 Manuscript %D 2022 %T The Efficacy, Impacts, and Limits of Harvard College’s Title IX Policies %A Lauren Yang '23 %X Given the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses in the U.S., universities have aThe present collection of research papers reflects students’ perspectives on today’s changing higher education landscape and the challenges or controversies they observe in contemporary higher education. Student research papers featured in this collection are a testimony of students’ genuine interest in studying and contributing to the established and emerging areas of higher education studies, and their commitment to achieving equity and excellence in higher education.
%G eng %0 Unpublished Work %D 2021 %T Higher EducationThrough Student Eyes: A Collection of Student Essays %A Nicholas Brennan %A Jenny Le %A Hannah Liu %A Lex Michael %A Christine Mui %A Rukaiya Sharmi %A Ann Yang %A Jonathan Zhang %A Nicole Zhang %A Chuwudi Ilozue %A Atuganile Jimmy %E Klemenčič, Manja %XThe present collection of research papers reflects students’ perspectives on today’s changing higher education landscape and the challenges or controversies they observe in contemporary higher education. Student research papers featured in this collection are a testimony of students’ genuine interest in studying and contributing to the established and emerging areas of higher education studies, and their commitment to achieving equity and excellence in higher education.
%G eng %0 Unpublished Work %D 2021 %T Free Speech and Social Justice: Opposite Sides of the Same Coin %A (Computer Science and Government '24), Kevin Ray %X College campuses have long been at the forefront of activism, social justice, and freeCultural and identity-based organizations in higher education, such as the Harvard Vietnamese Association (HVA), often have the mission to foster community and provide space to celebrate a specific culture and heritage. However, due to the highly demanded focus for academics in higher education, there are often low member engagement in social organizations like HVA. This action research project is set to investigate the reason behind HVA’s low member commitment and how to increase its member engagement. Interviews were conducted on fifteen Harva students ranging from the most active members to non active members of HVA. From the interviews, some reasons for low member engagement in HVA were found to be time commitment, different priorities, small size of HVA, amongst other reasons. Suggestions for how to increase member participations, potential events, and how to make HVA more inclusive were collected. A blueprint of actions for increasing member engagement within HVA was produced that put emphasis on outreach focusing on first-years, increasing social media presence, and expansion of type of events while keeping the already existing chill vibe of the organization.
Keywords: Higher education, cultural organization, identity-based, Vietnamese,
Vietnamese-American
This handbook is a compilation of student reviews of the course modules starting with the introduction to the field of sociology of higher education and theories in sociology of higher education, followed by the reviews of the aforementioned eight domains of inquiry in sociology of higher education. The module reviews offer students’ insights on the topics covered, reflection on the discussions in the discussion posts and in class, as well as suggestions for topics that would be interesting to explore further.
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%I Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University %C Cambridge, MA, United States of America %P 78 %G eng %0 Unpublished Work %D 2021 %T The Harvard “Bubble”:Understanding Institutions of Higher Education as Residential Property Owners %A Abigail Jade Koerner '21 (Sociology) %XThis project seeks to explore the intricacies of the Harvard “Bubble:” a term that students often use colloquially to define the space around Harvard’s campus. As a real estate professional, I am interested in understanding the ways in which institutions of higher education interact with surrounding real estate markets. As such, Harvard is a case study in understanding how institutions of higher education access exclusive residential properties, and what this exclusive housing creates around it. Through interviews, use of mapping tools, and qualitative research methods, I came to understand that the Bubble is real and exists physically as much as it does culturally, economically, and socially. In the case of Harvard specifically, university housing is made exclusive to the general public by particular legal and tax allowances. Within the bounds of the Harvard Bubble, there are low levels of crime, high property values, and high-income residents.
%G eng %0 Unpublished Work %D 2021 %T Escaping the Exodus:Exploring Korean-American Seminarians and the Korean Church %A Joshua Hong ’23 (Sociology) %XOne common experience shared among Korean Americans is a relationship with the Korean immigrant church. The strengths and weaknesses of the church have affected many second-generation Koreans. Having personally grown up in the Korean Church, I have come across countless Korean Americans with varying opinions on the church. This paper attempts to hone in on one particular group of second-generation Koreans: Korean-Americans attending seminary. In particular, I attempt to observe how, if at all, the Korean church has affected these students’ decisions and aspirations in regard to seminary and further career prospects. To explore this, I conducted six interviews through Zoom. All of my participants are male students who attend Westminster Theological Seminary. My questions remained broad, allowing my interviewees to comment on what they believed was most relevant. Questions ranged from asking about the value of a seminary education, to the events that led to their decision to attend seminary, to their background and thoughts on the Korean church. With such a small sample size, it was difficult to discern any solid patterns, but it was clear that the Korean Church had played a major role in shaping some part of my interviewees’ thoughts on seminary and on their plans after seminary. Overall, this project aims to provide a starting ground for this sparsely populated research topic. Though there is research and writings on Korean Americans and the Korean immigrant church, this paper explores a more specific area in this field, and the findings point to further areas of research.
%G eng %0 Unpublished Work %D 2021 %T Fulfilling the Promise: Creating a New Community College for Tennessee %A Starr Rhee'21 (Government) %XTennessee community colleges have cracked the code on student access to higher
education, but they still lag behind in completion rates, making the state’s ambitious Drive to 55 goal difficult to attain. This paper investigates what it would look like for Tennessee to create a new public community college that was suited to the needs of students and employers in a post-COVID-19 world. It also investigates the logistics of such an endeavor. The paper employs a mixed-methods, primarily qualitative approach that includes interviews, investigation of successful alternative models, and a review of institutional data, state laws, and community college budgets. Ultimately, the research asserts that Tennessee’s community colleges are currently coming up short of meeting the needs of the state’s students and employers. Alternative, innovative models with proven track records should instead be implemented at a new two-year public institution to later be expanded throughout the Tennessee Board of Regents Community College system. Establishing such a college is both feasible and necessary to meet the state’s goals and to best serve its residents.
%G eng %0 Unpublished Work %D 2021 %T The Pay-for-Play Debate %A Tommy O'Neil '23 (Government) %A Idan Tretout ’23 (Sociology) %XThe topic of Pay-for-Play is something that has been widely explored and debated over the years due to the growth of the NCAA and the college athletics industry as a whole. Through both qualitative and quantitative research, expert interviews, and policy analysis, this paper goes in depth into the world of college athletics and the idea of compensating athletes for the product that they provide. A deep dive into scholarly work, review of current legislation that is in place, and interviews performed on both current and former professionals within the college athletics realm, conclusions surrounding this topic on next steps within the debate were able to be made. The California State Senate Bill that was passed in 2019, and is synthesized within this paper, should be the model that is used going forward for paying college athletes. This bill allows for the most effective and efficient solution to the disagreements that continue to be had between both sides of the debate, and would be a way to satisfy both parties involved while presenting the least amount of disadvantages or areas for controversy in the future.
%G eng %0 Unpublished Work %D 2020 %T Beyond Pre-Orientation: Using the First-Year Outdoor Program for Custom Education %A Conlan Olson'21 (Math and Computer Science) %G eng %0 Unpublished Work %D 2020 %T Seeking a New Lens: Improving the Visibility and Recognition of Dorm Crew on Campus %A Meghan Tveit '20 %G eng %0 Unpublished Work %D 2020 %T Student Agency and the Possibility of Institutional Change through Harvard’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Offices %A Ellie Taylor'22 (Social Studies) %G eng %0 Unpublished Work %D 2020 %T Agency, Responsibility, and Security:A Decision Framework for the Careers of Harvard FGLI Seniors %A Denisse Cordova Carrizales '22 %A Izzy Perez '23 %A Jess Williams '20 %X This descriptive study untangles the complex influential forces on post-graduate plans for first-generation, low-income undergraduate seniors at Harvard while they think about jobs after college. Through twelve narrative-style interviews, the authors constructed a decision framework with three different branches or themes of decisions: social, financial, and personal. The three social factors that influenced their decisions include: 1) a liberal arts education differing from the vocational education they and their families had envisioned, 2) their parents’ lack of education increasing agency and autonomy, and 3) Harvard’s culture of elitism, wealth, and consulting. The major financial decisions centered around a great desire for financial security and success. Students felt indebted to their parents’ sacrifices and did not want to endure the same financial issues they did growing up. Lastly, FGLI students were very intrinsically motivated to find a career with a strong mission to give back to underserved communities and faced internal conflict while trying to reconcile their personal values. %G eng %0 Unpublished Work %D 2020 %T A Sense of Community on Campus in Pre-Professional Student Groups %A Danielle Green '20 %A Chelsea Guo '23 %A Arnav Srivastava '23 %X In this paper, we explored how exclusivity contributes to a sense of community in exclusive pre-professional Harvard College student groups (clubs mandating multiple interview rounds for admission) in contrast with Harvard-mandated “default” communities (the Harvard dorm/housing system). We sought to find the most impactful attributes that fulfill one’s sense of belonging within a community, and potentially advise how to build more fulfilling communities. Specifically, we chose two prominent and visible pre-professional organizations on campus and surveyed students on various community-evaluating questions. We found that default communities produced a greater sense of community in many scenarios than more exclusive student groups in which membership was handpicked. Some of the underlying mechanisms for these results might be that default communities involve cooperative or collaborative living, which lends itself to giving up certain aspects of privacy and likely makes it easier to communicate and share private matters in general. Nevertheless, more than 90% of students in both pre-professional groups still believed exclusivity of their pre-professional community to be valuable to the sense of community established.Our research question, “What is the role of religion at Harvard?,” aims to unearth the role that religion plays in the lives of undergraduate students at Harvard College, as well as whether Harvard as an institution is doing enough to provide students with faith-based outlets. In order to better understand this question, our three sub-questions are as follows - “How do religious beliefs affect students’ lived experiences, sense of purpose, and meaning-making at Harvard?” “Why do Harvard students opt to join religious groups, and what are these groups’ roles and impacts on campus?” And finally, “What does Harvard as an institution presently do to facilitate religious tolerance?” To yield clear results, we opted to focus on Christians, Muslims, and religious “nones” for the purpose of our study. In terms of campus-based religious groups, we honed in on Harvard College Faith and Action (HCFA), a Christian organization, and the Harvard Islamic Society (HIS), a Muslim organization. We conducted interviews with members of both faith groups, as well as with religious “nones” at Harvard, which we also supplemented with survey questionnaires.
Our research revealed a number of important trends about the role of religion at Harvard. According to the students we interviewed, we found that religion does, in fact, provide students with a deeper sense of purpose and identity, which tend to affect their career choices. With on-campus religious groups, we found that the deeper a student’s involvement, the more the group is a source of meaningful friendships and the more it constitutes a safe space to tackle tough questions. Our findings pertaining to Harvard’s institutional culture concluded that discrimination on the basis of religion, though often implicit, does still occur on Harvard’s campus. We also found that while diversity training has been a focus for the university, the topic of religious diversity in particular seems to have been neglected. Interestingly, Muslim students have also faced more difficulty when attempting to fulfill religious practices. Finally, responses to the question of whether Harvard actively encourages exploration of religion and faith were mixed, with many reporting that it did foster religious exploration, and others claiming it did not.
%G eng %9 GENED1039 Fall 2019 Collaborative Research Paper %0 Unpublished Work %D 2020 %T Q's and A's: A Mixed Methods Approach to Evaluating Student Course Selection %A Yi Chen '20 %A Kara Evans '22 %A Rick Li '21 %A Ian Saum '20 %XStudents in higher education face a wide assortment of academic decisions, with semesterly course selection chief among those concerns. While the current literature has identified correlations between student background factors—including race and first-generation status—and educational outcomes, there is a key gap in knowledge on why and how these factors cause these differences. Our group leveraged a mixed-methods study of Harvard undergraduates combining a quantitative survey with semi-structured interviews in order to understand how public school and private school background affect how students make course selection decisions at college. We found that public school students felt overwhelmingly less prepared for college academics, which factored prominently in how they selected coursework. However, the reasons why students chose certain courses and the resources they consulted exhibited less distinction between our two experimental groups, though we were able to conceptualize some broader course-selection strategies. As a whole, our project lays out key observations about student course selection considerations and demonstrates how differential access to educational resources from secondary education propagate in tertiary academic decision-making.
%G eng %9 GENED1039 Fall 2019 Collaborative Research Paper %0 Unpublished Work %D 2020 %T Inclusivity and Belonging: First-Generation and Low Income Support Mechanisms %A Tolu Adeniji (History & Science 2022) %A Ryan O’Malley (Integrative Biology 2022) %A Josh Yee (Applied Mathematics 2022) %XIn 2017, Harvard College made headlines everywhere. For the first time in its three and a half-century history, the majority of its admitted students were racial minorities. This coupled with the fact that over half of its students were on some form of financial aid, and 20% on full financial aid (Harvard College), put Harvard in a rather strange situation. Its recruitment programs designed to encourage diversity on campus had done an extraordinary job at getting a variety of students to campus, but once they were there, they faced obstacles like imposter syndrome - the sensation of not feeling good enough to be a part of campus - and the inability to find a community. This happened with plenty of minority students before them, but now that it affected such a large portion of Harvard’s community, the college decided to take action. It launched the Presidential Task Force on Inclusion and Belonging, greenlit programs based on forming a community, such as the First-Year Retreat and Experience (FYRE), and looked for ways to make underrepresented students feel at home on campus.
Unfortunately, however, these feelings of inadequacies and lack of inclusion are difficult to eliminate. That’s why our research team wants to take a closer look into what current social organizations that are meant to build a community for these students are doing, and if it is having the desired impact. We want to know whether first-generation low-income organizations fulfill their missions of fostering a sense of inclusivity in the Harvard community by helping these first-year students smoothly transition into their new environment. The program that we will be focusing on is FYRE (First-Year Retreat and Experience), a pre-orientation program designed for first-generation low-income students with the intention to show these underrepresented first-year students how to navigate campus and build community among them.
%G eng %0 Unpublished Work %D 2019 %T Gauging and Engaging: Surveying Harvard’s First-Year Outdoor Program %A Rick Li '21 %XHarvard University’s First-Year Outdoor Program provides incoming students with social support and self-reflection in a wilderness context. However, though it is an organization invested in leadership development and constant growth, FOP lacks up-to-date survey tools needed to properly measure the success of its programming. The central question of this action research project is to assemble an improved tool which can measure student experience on preorientation. By combining one-on-one interviews and focus groups with members of the community and experts, and by bridging past tools with modern analysis, this study formulates a new survey which will be officially implemented in August 2019. The new survey is guided by a set of key findings, summarized by the need for a tool to create space to share constructive criticism, break down and evaluate the experience quantitatively by specific practice, and remove confusing jargon from the wording of the survey. The tool will also be implemented with greater leader involvement in order to ensure that the survey is filled out at a significant rate. As a whole, this project has improved the tools available to FOP’s Steering Committee to make decisions, and should help inform a new generation of leaders as they endeavor to make FOP into the transitory and affirmative force that it sets out to be.
%G eng %9 SOCIOL1130 Action research paper %0 Unpublished Work %D 2019 %T Balancing Act: Coordinator Leadership Styles and Practices in Mission Hill After School Program %A Jenny Golden %XMission Hill After School Program is a student-operated PBHA program that provides after-school childcare, homework assistance and curriculum to students ages 6-13+ in the Mission Hill community in Boston. Coordinators in the program are college students in charge of managing both the students in attendance and the student tutors (counselors). The research of this paper sought to determine strong leadership styles and practices for coordinators that allows for both the children and the student counselors to be positively impacted by the program. The research focuses on leadership styles for coordinators of Blue Group, which works with 11 and 12 year olds. The research pieces together data from an expert interview, counselor survey, and current/former coordinator and counselor interviews. The paper finds that it is beneficial for coordinators to focus on building mutual trust and respect with the students, be flexible in nature, communicate clearly, and consider displaying some initial authority. Recommendations for future actions also include improving training of counselors and coordinators, developing an institutional memory, increasing feedback opportunities, and creating a list of tips and tricks.
%G eng %9 SOCIOL1130 Spring 2019 course research project %0 Unpublished Work %D 2019 %T Bursting the Business Bubble -- Expanding the Diversity of Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business %A Charlotte Kim %XThis research paper investigates the diversity, as pertains to both race represented by the membership and industries represented by the programming, of Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business (WIB). Upon laying out the blueprint for action, the paper provides introductory context about the organization and about my role as Co-President of the organization. Next, there are sections dedicated to literature review, description of the methods used, and analysis of the data collected through a survey and in-depth interviews. The piece concludes with a discussion of the findings and suggestions for further exploration and research.
%G eng %9 SOCIOL1130 Spring 2019 course research project %0 Unpublished Work %D 2019 %T Coming Back to Harvard: How Leave of Absence Policies Affect Student Success %A Sarah Rodriguez %XHow do students experience taking a leave of absence from Harvard University, and then reintegrating back into university life? To gain insight into this question, a survey of Harvard students who had taken a leave of absence was completed by 34 respondents. Survey results showed that students received a wide range of information on Harvard’s policies during the process of taking a leave of absence, indicating that more information should be provided to students to supplement Harvard’s existing publications. In addition to survey responses, a comparative analysis of the policies and information provided by Harvard University and Princeton University was conducted to formalize a list of recommendations for improvement. Recommendations include a revisit of the work requirement for students who take a medical leave of absence and the improvement of the online materials presented to students searching for information on the Leave of Absence policies.
%G eng %9 SOCIOL1130 Spring 2019 course research project %0 Unpublished Work %D 2019 %T Late Night Nibbles: Student Worker and Community Priorities at Dunster Grille %A Aidan Connaughton %XStudent food establishments at Harvard (including Dunster Grille) serve an important function in the living-learning communities of the undergraduate Houses. How are student managers empowered or disempowered in their work at Dunster Grille, and what areas of improvement exist to help Dunster Grille better achieve its goals of fostering House community and providing a fun and enjoyable work and social environment? Using interview data with other student food establishment managers and administrators, an employee feedback survey, and a community feedback survey, I create a more detailed description of the student-administrator partnership at Dunster Grille as one in which student managers must negotiate the priorities of three different groups: administrators, student employees, and customers. When these priorities are at odds, it is critical that administrators take student concerns seriously. I also propose seven recommendations for the next Dunster Grille managers. Of these recommendations, the most important is that managers must continue to solicit feedback from employees and the community to empower them to make the best decisions for the community. This data may also empower managers to have their voices heard by administrators.
%G eng %9 SOCIOL1130 Spring 2019 course research project %0 Unpublished Work %D 2019 %T Making a House a Home: The Integration of Sophomores into the Harvard Housing System %A Ian Saum %XWithin the Harvard housing system, university-funded House Committees (HoCos) sponsor events and help foster a sense of community. I conducted interviews with students in Cabot House students to figure out what students seek in a house, and how HoCo can best help integrate sophomores into house life. The interviews point to how students want their house to be a place of comfort, support, and familiarity during their college experience. However, students begin living in the house for their sophomore year, at which point many students already have pre-established communities on campus and are not looking to be engaged with their housing community. Additionally, students find it difficult to branch out beyond their pre-existing communities and take the first step towards engaging with house life. As a HoCo, it is a priority to find ways to effectively integrate incoming sophomores into the house to best enhance their residential experience. This can be done through increased interactions with upperclassmen, outreach, promoting inclusivity, and hosting a diverse series of events to help first-semester sophomores integrate themselves into the housing community.
%G eng %9 SOCIOL1130 Spring 2019 course research project %0 Unpublished Work %D 2019 %T Managing Through Music: Clarifying Radcliffe Choral Society's Decision-Making Processes %A Mona Miao %X The Radcliffe Choral Society (RCS) is a faculty-conducted choral ensemble that also happens to be a Harvard music department course, a recognized student organization and an independent, student-managed 501(c)3 non-profit. Given the rather unique but complicated organizational structure of RCS, one challenge student leaders face is navigating the different relationships that exist with the various stakeholders (members of the choir, faculty, administration, our alumni foundation, etc) involved, especially in the context of decision-making. This research project sought to clarify ambiguities surrounding decision-making processes and to start honest conversations with student leaders and artistic staff about these challenges the organization faces. Based on a survey of 18 out of 21 members on the Executive Committee and 8 interviews with some of those members and the artistic staff, the perceived issues with decision-making in RCS boiled down to clarity of voting procedures and clarity of student agency or voting implications. The findings led to recommended guidelines for future votes that included mechanisms for better communication and transparency between student leaders and artistic staff in an effort to reduce ambiguity of procedures or implications. %G eng %9 SOCIOL1130 Spring 2019 course research project %0 Unpublished Work %D 2019 %T Self-CARE: How to Manage Emotional Labor as Student Leaders %A Kimaya Cole %X As the Director of Operations for CARE (Consent Advocates and Relationship Educators), my main responsibilities, in addition to facilitating educational workshops to students that all CAREs take part in, include acting as a liaison between administrators, faculty, deans, and tutors who want to work with CARE and accept, decline, or consider requests for co-sponsorship and event help depending on CAREs’ capacities. This role is rewarding but also challenging. The purpose of this study was to examine how leaders in peer-education and peer-counseling groups balance the emotional labor needed to accomplish all of their role’s responsibilities and tend to other members, all while leaving time for self-care. The sample for this study consisted of Harvard University peer-education and peer-counseling group affiliations, including 2 CARE supervisors and 18 students. Data was collected through a qualitative survey and in-depth interviews. I found three main findings: (1) Emotional Activation is mainly spurred by the consistent type of work and content members interact with when being a resource for their fellow peers; (2) Emotionally-activating work can easily cause burnout of members because it is difficult to stay invested in the well-being of peers when it is often a one-way relationship and little explicit measure of impact; and (3) An individual’s ability to handle the emotional activation from their work and still perform at their best is dependent on how much self-care they do outside of their organization. %G eng %9 SOCIOL1130 Spring 2019 course research project %0 Unpublished Work %D 2019 %T Tell Me About Your Peer Advising Fellow: Surveying First-Year Students on their Peer-Advising Experience %A William Wang %XEvaluating the consistency and efficacy of advising programs in higher education is a critical aspect of producing more positive undergraduate student outcomes. This challenge is particularly important for large-scale advising programs, such as Harvard University's Peer Advising Fellows (PAF) program for first-year undergraduates. Despite overwhelming anecdotal evidence of PAFs' ability to make a positive contribution to the first-year experience, feedback mechanisms can still be improved. In response to current questions with the efficacy mid-year advising survey, I set out to identify the purposes and current challenges of the mid-year advising survey through expert interviews with administrators at the Harvard Advising Programs Office (APO) and researchers at the Bok Center for Learning, who also provided written feedback on the current survey tool. Additionally, I conducted focus groups with student leaders of the PAF program and PAFs at large to identify these issues and discuss potential solutions. I note three major findings. First, the PAF survey is created to be a formative tool but PAFs commonly see the survey as an evaluative tool. Second, PAFs want faster feedback mechanisms and more metrics for accountability within the program. Third, not all first-year students can articulate the responsibilities of the PAF clearly. These findings led me to make action-oriented recommendations to improve communication around the survey, hasten feedback delivery time, and facilitate first-years' understanding of the PAF role. Informed by the findings of my research, I worked to create a new modified version of the PAF survey and conducted preliminary testing on the survey's ease of use. Overall, this project's findings will culminate in better understanding of the purpose of soliciting feedback and in the launching of a new survey tool in December 2019.
%G eng %9 SOCIOL1130 Spring 2019 course research project %0 Unpublished Work %D 2018 %T After School Snacks: Student Food Establishments in Undergraduate Housing %A Aidan Connaughton %XHarvard College undergraduate housing hosts six student food establishments within the Houses. These food establishments consist of five grilles and one cafe. Students manage each of these establishments with the aid of administration, though the extent of that support varies distinctly. Operating as late-night dining for undergraduate students, the food establishments are spread throughout the campus so as to allow access to students in all Houses, not just those with food establishments contained within. Student and administrative goals for these spaces are similar: the establishments are not intended to be profitable but rather to be important spaces for social and academic engagement among students. In addition, a lack of late-night hot food from dining services and spaces in which to socialize and study led to increased student demand and the creation of the student food establishments. Administrators also lauded the opportunity for student managers to develop entrepreneurial and business skills. Interviews and ethnographic research points to the networks that student managers and employees form with other students in the House as successful outcomes. In addition, video evidence from five of the food establishments indicates that the hoped-for interaction among students within the House happens fairly often, though more research throughout the course of the semester should be taken to avoid biases from the timeline of collected evidence.
%G eng %9 SOCIOL1104 Fall 2018 course research project %0 Unpublished Work %D 2018 %T Applying to Apply How College Access Programs Impact College Admissions and Adjustment Experiences for First-Generation College Students %A Allison Scharmann %XAccording to the Pell Institute, only 11% of low-income, first-gen students complete their college degree within six years of enrolling in school vs. 55% of their non-low-income, non-first- gen peers. Increased attention to the disadvantages first-gen and low-income students face in the college admissions process has inspired the rise of college access programs, both federal and privately owned and operated, to address these challenges and help send first-gen and low-income students to college. This study builds upon previous scholarship on educational and economic mobility, as well as social and cultural capital, to analyze the impact of college access programs on the admissions and adjustment processes of first-generation college students. To understand this specifically within the context of elite institutions of higher education, this study is comprised of five personal interviews with first-generation, second-year students at Harvard College as well as a survey of 47 students, 22 of which participated in a college access program and 25 of which did not. The researcher found measurable differences between program participants and non- participants in self-assessing familial and school support, receiving essay writing assistance, and forming a social network outside of students’ own communities when applying to college. Interviews revealed that while some programs are intensive and provide exam preparation, mentorship, college essay editing, academic enrichment, leadership classes, and more, other programs simply provide a mentor or an essay editor. The level of the program’s involvement determined how students associated it. The overrepresentation in the survey data of a specific, less- involved program appeared to account for neutral survey results in categories it was initially expected to impact. The study found that gender, and gender as it intersects with income and first- gen status, may be a larger variable in understanding how first-gen, low-income students adjust to college. Interviews with students confirmed that their adjustment experiences depended on the style of program: how early it started, the resources it provided, and more. Overall this study provides insight into an area largely unresearched by academia and shows that college access programs have measurable impact, albeit dependent on their services, in the admissions and adjustment processes of first-gen and low-income students.
%G eng %9 SOCIOL1104 Fall 2018 course research project %0 Unpublished Work %D 2018 %T Are Humanities Students Less Employable? Student and Employer Perspectives and Recommendations for Harvard %A Cindy Jung %G eng %9 SOCIOL1104 Fall 2018 course research project %0 Unpublished Work %D 2018 %T Challenging Conventional Assumptions about Ethnic Studies Students describe exceptional academic rigor in courses that also strongly promote belonging %A Liana Chow %XThis paper explores Harvard students’ motivations for taking classes focused on Asian American studies, an ethnic studies discipline for which there are a few courses but no comprehensive program at Harvard. I interviewed twelve students enrolled in three Fall 2018 Asian American studies courses on their reasons for enrolling and their conception of the courses’ value in their academic, personal, and political lives, which were often impossible to separate. Interviewees perceived that their Asian American studies classes helped them develop academic and career-related skills, navigate racism, and increase their feelings of belonging at Harvard. Literary and historical content that was rigorous and “relatable” to their own lives contributed to these benefits, as did the presence of Asian American instructors and majority Asian American student bodies. This combination of factors facilitated perception-changing academic discussions in a comfortable environment and ultimately altered many interviewees’ academic pathways and expanded their views of career possibilities, students described. Especially for the Asian American interviewees, AAS classes’ dual effects of promoting feelings of belonging and furthering academic engagement facilitated each other. Most interviewees wished for more investment in ethnic studies.
%G eng %9 SOCIOL1104 Fall 2018 course research project %0 Unpublished Work %D 2018 %T Compensation & Incentives for Student Administrators %A James Bedford %X Universities could not function without the students that work alongside administrators to manage the day-to-day running. From programming and marketing to mental health support and cleaning, these so-called ‘students administrators’ are partners in providing their own education. This paper uses quantitative and qualitative information from student administrators to assess the conditions in which they work and their attitudes to them. The research finds that beyond many on-campus roles being financially inaccessible for students from low-income backgrounds, students frequently do crucial university work without pay and when students are paid through stipends, they earn fractions of the minimum wage for their labor and feel undervalued. In students eyes, over financial remuneration, they want transcript recognition and administrative and faculty understanding for the work that they do. %G eng %9 SOCIOL1104 Fall 2018 course research project %0 Unpublished Work %D 2018 %T Investigating Classroom EcosySTEMs: How Diversity of STEM Teaching Staff Impacts Students %A Cynthia Luo %XDespite the diverse gender, racial, and socioeconomic backgrounds of Harvard students studying Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM), the demographics of professors who teach these STEM courses are still predominantly white and male. Previous researchers and educators have shown that largely due to stereotype threat (stereotypes associated with academic outcomes of a particular race or gender), a student’s racial and gender identity directly influence their perception of ability and resulting performance in STEM fields. Additionally, educators— including at the Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard—have demonstrated how inclusive teaching practices can instill in students greater confidence to achieve in the immediate classroom setting and increase their sense of belonging in STEM. However, much less is known about how the gender and racial identity of the teaching staff affects students. My research focuses on this question: How does gender and racial diversity of teaching staff in STEM courses at Harvard affect students’ classroom experience and beyond? Through quantitative survey results, I found that students who shared either a gender or a racial background with their STEM teaching staff had an improved immediate classroom experience and felt a higher sense of belonging in that STEM department than students who did not share such a background with their STEM teaching staff. Students who shared a gender background with their professor were also more likely to view their professor as a role model. These sentiments were further explored in my interviews with students. Students felt that it was important to have STEM instructors of a shared background because they believed these instructors innately employed better teaching strategies to accommodate students of different backgrounds, were more empathetic to minority students’ struggles and increased their sense of departmental belonging, and also served as strong role models and “future selves” for students of diverse backgrounds. My results show that there is an urgent need for increasing the diversity of STEM teaching staff at Harvard: doing so improves students’ classroom experiences and sense of belonging, while prolonging such a process would be detrimental to all students.
%G eng %9 SOCIOL1104 Fall 2018 course research project %0 Unpublished Work %D 2018 %T Military Matters: An Analysis of Post-Graduation Military Service Decision-Making at Harvard %A Ben Sorkin %G eng %9 Soc 98 %0 Unpublished Work %D 2018 %T Outside the Harvard Bubble: Study Abroad Motivations, Experiences, and Benefits %A Ekemini Ekpo %XThe time that Harvard students spend abroad is not particularly well understood. Using Pierre Bourdieu’s reproduction theory as a starting framework, this project explores the extent to which study abroad perpetuates inequality by understanding the motivations that students have for studying abroad, the experiences that they have while abroad, the benefits they accrue from their abroad experiences, and the ways that all three of these aspects of the study abroad apparatus differ between first-generation college students at Harvard and Harvard students at large. Using publicly-available written evaluations of study abroad experiences, I captured the experiences and benefits that Harvard students, generally speaking, articulate as having gained from their study abroad experiences. Additionally, through seven semi-structured interviews, I learned about the motivations for, experiences of, and benefits to studying abroad as articulated by Harvard students who are the first in their families to attend a four-year university. Ultimately, among Harvard students generally, and even more so among first-generation students, the emergent patterns do not substantiate the hypothesis of Study Abroad as a tool primarily of class reproduction, as understood by students themselves. Ultimately, further inquiry should be dedicated to understanding a greater array of Harvard subgroups and/or the function of study abroad at other institutions.
%G eng %9 SOCIOL1104 Fall 2018 course research project %0 Journal Article %D 2018 %T Radical Shifts in Higher Education: Understanding Student Willingnesses and Preferences During Financially Difficult Times %A Aman Panjwani %XHarvard University, with the largest educational endowment in the world at approximately forty billion dollars, is concerned about financial stability. President Lawrence Bacow and other Harvard administrators cite two facets of higher education that may contribute to future instability: negative returns to the university endowment due to adverse market conditions and the cost of education gap, defined as the difference between the actual cost of a Harvard education (over $100,000) and the average net cost of attendance after financial aid (approximately $35,000). Nevertheless, reversing the current trend and repositioning the university to ensure financially solvent times in the future is a difficult, yet necessary task. Not only will it require concentrated and coordinated efforts to identify financial weaknesses across the institutional system, but it will require administrators to make difficult choices and changes to the very fabrics of higher education around the world. However, before reshaping the university’s central functions or financial position, it is important to consider the potential effects of such changes on students and their higher education experience. This study does this through surveys and interviews which gauge student preferences and provide insight into which Harvard College programs students would rather see cuts to in dire times. The paper also ends with a challenge to the traditional solution binary–either raise tuition or cut student programs–by garnering student feedback on alternative program structures that simultaneously allows students to affect their own environments and reduce the cost of education gap.
%G eng %0 Unpublished Work %D 2018 %T Students’ Perceptions and Experiences of Campus Mental Health %A Laura Kanji %XThis concerning trend in mental health service usage indicates an urgent need to better understand the factors that influence whether students seek help for mental health issues. Rates of mental illness are rising on college campuses nationwide, but many students in need of mental health care do not receive it. Additionally, Harvard’s campus mental health services, CAMHS, has been the topic of much controversy over the past year, but it is unclear how the average Harvard student perceives CAMHS. In response to these questions, I used a qualitative, open-ended survey and supplemental interviews to explore Harvard students’ thoughts on CAMHS. Five themes characterized students’ perceptions and experiences of CAMHS: issues related to CAMHS’ lack of resources, experiences with individual counselors, CAMHS’ diversity problem, CAMHS’ short-term approach to care, and the broader system unifying CAMHS with other parts of the College. Students’ views of CAMHS were quite variable; overall, however, administrative and resource-related aspects of CAMHS emerged as highly salient barriers to help-seeking. Meanwhile, experiences with individual counselors and CAMHS’ convenient location and affordability comprised its main perceived benefits. Individual factors, such as race, sexuality, urgency of mental health concerns, and experiences of close peers, may tip the balance between these costs and benefits to determine help-seeking behavior. Overall, this project’s findings constitute a nuanced picture of students’ experiences of campus mental health services and point to several areas of improvement for CAMHS and Harvard College.
Rates of mental illness are rising on college campuses nationwide, but many students in
need of mental health care do not receive it.
Additionally, Harvard’s campus mental health services, CAMHS,
has been the topic of much controversy over the past year, but it is unclear how the average
Harvard student perceives CAMHS. In response to these questions, I used a qualitative, open-
ended survey and supplemental interviews to explore Harvard students’ thoughts on CAMHS.
Five themes characterized students’ perceptions and experiences of CAMHS: issues related to
CAMHS’ lack of resources, experiences with individual counselors, CAMHS’ diversity problem,
CAMHS’ short-term approach to care, and the broader system unifying CAMHS with other parts
of the College. Students’ views of CAMHS were quite variable; overall, however, administrative
and resource-related aspects of CAMHS emerged as highly salient barriers to help-seeking.
Meanwhile, experiences with individual counselors and CAMHS’ convenient location and
affordability comprised its main perceived benefits. Individual factors, such as race, sexuality,
urgency of mental health concerns, and experiences of close peers, may tip the balance between
these costs and benefits to determine help-seeking behavior. Overall, this project’s findings
constitute a nuanced picture of students’ experiences of campus mental health services and point
to several areas of improvement for CAMHS and Harvard College.
%G eng %9 SOCIOL1104 Fall 2018 course research project %0 Unpublished Work %D 2018 %T Visiting Students’ Perception of Course Experience at Harvard College and their Home Institution %A Simon Handreke %XThe research paper investigates visiting students’ perception of course experience at their home institution – the University of St. Gallen – and their host institution – Harvard College, compared to their peers at the home and host institution respectively. First, individuals were surveyed to state their priorities of different factors of course experience. The analysis of the differences in responses between groups gives strong evidence that students’ priorities for the evaluation of course experience differ conditional on institutional exposure. Also, the analysis suggests an acculturation process of exchange students, in which they adapt their priorities according to which they evaluate experiences to the ones of their host peers. Second, individuals were surveyed to state their evaluation of course experience at both institutions. The analysis of the different responses between groups suggests that visiting students’ perceptions of course experience is conditional on their exposure to both institutional environments. This gives evidence that exchange students – who were exposed to two institutional environments – are in a unique position to compare institutions, experience quality in a relative and comparative manner, and ultimately adapt their perceptions of their home and host institutions respectively. With respect to both parts of the analysis, the data suggests that the processes of acculturation and relative perception do not follow simple logics but are dependent on the individual experience made with respect to different factors of course experience in different institutional contexts.
%G eng %9 SOCIOL1104 Fall 2018 course research project %0 Unpublished Work %D 2017 %T "American Dream is a Complete BS” : Low Income International Students’ Experience at Harvard %A Youngsun Cho %G eng %9 SOCIOL1104 Fall 2017 course research project %0 Unpublished Work %D 2017 %T Impact of Service Internships on Student Perceptions of Campus Role %A Jessica Jin %XOn-campus internships at Harvard provide the unique opportunity for students to work within an office of the university and contribute to the programming and workshops at the university available to students regarding such topics as diversity, inclusion, gender, and more. In this study I seek to understand the ways that these internships affect the student interns themselves; namely, how these on-campus internships affect students’ perception of their role and of their agency to create change on campus. Through interviews with interns at the Harvard College Women’s Center, I find that students’ sense of agency, authority, and legitimacy are increased through their work at the Women’s Center, as well as through the connections that their role as ‘intern’ allows them to forge, whether with administrators or with other students. Overall, the internship role allows for students to perceive a greater sense of connectedness with the university and with other students as a whole.
%G eng %9 SOCIOL1104 Fall 2017 course research project %0 Unpublished Work %D 2017 %T Paying for Your Own Education: A Community College Experience %A Eric Morris %XThis study explores the consequences of independently paying for one’s postsecondary education. While previous studies have discussed the impact of financial aid, grants, and debt on students, this study focuses specifically on the question, “How does paying for one’s own education affect student experiences and behaviors?” In assessing the consequences of independent payment for college, I looked most closely at how integration of the student with their institution and other members of their institution was affected, how the student was supported by their institution, and how the student’s health and well-being were impacted. My findings indicate that students paying for their own postsecondary education suffer from decreased integration and experience a decline in mental health, despite an awareness of available support from the institutions they attend. All of the students interviewed for this study work full-time jobs out of necessity to cover school expenses. These jobs, which are often low paying and tedious, are the source of a number of issues plaguing these students during their college years. Although their colleges are equipped with various support systems for all students, students that pay independently rarely have the time or resources to utilize these support programs. As such, these students tend to report suffering through their college years, with the hopes of a brighter future in mind. This study will explore all of the unique issues and advantages which come with paying independently for college, and provide analyses of six in-depth interviews with students paying their own way through a mid-sized community college in central Pennsylvania.
%G eng %9 SOCIOL1104 Fall 2017 course research project