Brucker / Ehrenberg / Zuckerman Educating Scholars

Doctoral Education in the Humanities
Course Book
ISBN: 978-1-4008-3152-4
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 360 Seiten

Meeting the challenges faced by today's U.S. doctoral humanities programs

Despite the worldwide prestige of America's doctoral programs in the humanities, all is not well in this area of higher education and hasn't been for some time. The content of graduate programs has undergone major changes, while high rates of student attrition, long times to degree, and financial burdens prevail. In response, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in 1991 launched the Graduate Education Initiative (GEI), the largest effort ever undertaken to improve doctoral programs in the humanities and related social sciences. The only book to focus exclusively on the current state of doctoral education in the humanities, Educating Scholars reports on the GEI's success in reducing attrition and times to degree, the positive changes implemented by specific graduate programs, and the many challenges still to be addressed.

Over a ten-year period, the Foundation devoted almost eighty-five million dollars through the GEI to provide support for doctoral programs and student aid in fifty-four departments at ten leading universities. The authors examine data that tracked the students in these departments and in control departments, as well as information gathered from a retrospective survey of students. They reveal that completion and attrition rates depend upon financial support, the quality of advising, clarity of program requirements, and each department's expectations regarding the dissertation. The authors consider who earns doctoral degrees, what affects students' chances of finishing their programs, and how successful they are at finding academic jobs.

Answering some of the most important questions being raised about American doctoral programs today, Educating Scholars will interest all those concerned about our nation's intellectual future.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Brucker, Sharon M.

Ehrenberg, Ronald G.

Zuckerman, Harriet

Groen, Jeffrey A.

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Pädagogik Pädagogik Bildungssystem Bildungspolitik, Bildungsreform
• Sozialwissenschaften Pädagogik Schulen, Schulleitung Universitäten, Hochschulen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Figures ix

List of Tables xi

Preface and Acknowledgments xv

List of Abbreviations xix

Chapter 1. Introduction 1

Part I. Data, Methods, and Context

Chapter 2. Data Collection, Outcome Measures, and Analytical Tools 25

Chapter 3. The Departments 41

Part II. Influences on Attrition, Completion, and Time-to-Degree

Chapter 4. The Impact of the Graduate Education Initiative on Attrition and Completion 95

Chapter 5. The Influence of Financial Support 113

Chapter 6. The Influence of Doctoral Program Designs 140

Chapter 7. The Role of Gender and Family Status 156

Part III. Transition from Graduate Study to Career

Chapter 8. Attrition and Beyond 169

Chapter 9. Early Careers 186

Chapter 10. Publications: Patterns and Influences 206

Part IV. Lessons and Findings

Chapter 11. Redesigning Doctoral Programs: Lessons Learned 223

Chapter 12. Principal Findings and Implications 249

Appendix A. Data Collection 273

Appendix B. Questionnaire for the Graduate Education Survey 280

Appendix C. Outcome Measures 300

Appendix D. Methodology 304

Appendix E. Additional Tables and Figures 309

References 331

Index 337

Über Autor(innen)

Ronald G. Ehrenberg is the Irving M. Ives Professor of Industrial and Labor Relations and Economics at Cornell University and director of the Cornell Higher Education Research Institute. Harriet Zuckerman is senior vice president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and professor emerita of sociology at Columbia University. Jeffrey A. Groen is a research economist at the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Sharon M. Brucker is a project coordinator at the Survey Research Center of Princeton University.