Date of Award

2000

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions of the chief academic officer and the chief student affairs officers at public and private Indiana baccalaureate institutions, and to determine what programs, practices, and policies those four officers groups perceive as important, which ones are available at the officers' institutions, and then how effective the officers perceived them to be. A survey instrument was developed to determine those perceptions within response modes for important,” available,” and effective” as they affected eight topics related to retention. Those topics were (1) Mission and Policy, (2) Budgeting and Funding, (3) Institutional Awareness, (4) Orientation Programs, (5) Faculty-Student Interactions, (6) Academic Advising, (7) Academic Support Services, and (8) Other Support Services. A multivariate analysis of variance was used to determine whether there was a difference in the perceptions about the importance of the eight topics between the two types of officers, between the two types of institutions, and whether there was an interaction between officer type and institution type. Results indicated that there was a statistically significant difference in public and private administrators' perceptions about Budgeting and Funding, with public officers rating it significantly more important. Academic officers at private institutions had the lowest rating for Budgeting and Funding issues and Academic Support Services as those two topics relate to retention. Additionally, an extensive analysis was made of the survey results employing descriptive statistics of means, standard deviations and frequencies. Differences and similarities among the types of senior officers and institution types were found as related to 47 items of the eight topics. For example, all officer groups rated the topic Institutional Awareness and Participation as most important. Relating Mission and Policy issues to retention efforts was the most available activity, while relating Budgeting and Funding issues to student retention was considered to be the most effective. Additionally, over one third of the officers reported that senior administrative duties related to student retention are shared by the chief academic and chief student affairs officers.

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