PHD, Kent State University, 2014, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Teaching, Learning and Curriculum Studies

The purpose of this research study was to understand perceptions of faculty members regarding their experiences of teaching nursing courses in undergraduate baccalaureate and graduate programs, using asynchronous, web-based courses. The goal of this researcher was to explore faculty perceptions of online teaching and work to clarify workload and policy issues, barriers to quality online teaching and learning, and faculty needs for professional development and support. A qualitative descriptive design method was used to explore nursing faculty perceptions of teaching online. Data were obtained through an initial demographic survey and through interviews with a subset of 10 faculty participants. The findings from this study reveal that nursing faculty members perceive (a) that relationships are key to learning and that these relationships can be complex and difficult to establish in the online learning environment, (b) that support comes in a variety of forms and is needed to make learning work well in the online environment, (c) that constraints and concerns interfere with their ability to engage students and provide the best online learning opportunities for their students, and (d) that there are opportunities to improve online teaching and learning. The findings from this study deepen our understanding of online teaching and learning in the discipline of nursing. Implications for nursing education include preparing nurse educators for the work of teaching in online environments, creating environments that foster teaching and learning, and enriching both faculty member and student experiences in online teaching and learning.

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Toledo, 2014, Higher Education

National predictions forecast a significant shortage of registered nurses by 2020, with one of the major causes of the shortage being a lack of qualified nurse educators. Predictions for the state of Ohio mirror the national picture; however, there is little research about nursing faculty in the state, or their intentions related to their academic role. This dissertation analyzed what factors, if any, predict intent to leave academe within five years. Participants included 426 full-time nursing faculty from 60 public and private, not-for-profit nursing programs in Ohio, including both pre-licensure and advanced degree programs. A web-based survey was used to obtain faculty data. Blocked stepwise regression analysis revealed four significant predictors of intent to leave academe within five years - age, years ago highest nursing and non-nursing degree were earned, and overall satisfaction. The results of the research can be used to guide the development of strategies to retain nursing faculty in academe in the state of Ohio. Future research should be encouraged to explore the underlying issue related to the faculty shortage and its implications for the nursing shortage.

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Toledo, 2022, Higher Education

Although much has been written on shared governance, research at faith-based institutions has been limited. This study sought to answer what factors influence full-time undergraduate faculty's attitudes toward shared governance, specifically shared governance satisfaction, at 10 other religious, 4-year private institutions and Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) members. Astin's theory of student involvement formed the theoretical framework and his I-E-O model was the conceptual framework. The dataset contained 51 input and environmental variables from the 2016–2017 HERI Faculty Survey and had 685 faculty respondents. A blocked form of stepwise linear regression determined which independent variables related to faculty involvement in teaching, research, service, spirituality, and intermediate educational outcomes had a statistically significant impact on the dependent variable. The findings showed 14 variables had a statistically significant relationship with shared governance satisfaction; most of them were opinion, satisfaction and stress-related variables, clustered in the intermediate educational outcomes block, which explained 80.5% of the variance in the dependent variable. This study has several policy implications: institutions should have effective policies (a) pertaining to faculty hiring, and specifically to increase faculty diversity, (b) that better promote work–life balance, (c) that recognize faculty's involvement in governance activities and a differentiated faculty reward system, and (d) on faculty advancement and promotion decisions. Practice implications include scheduling research talks to connect faculty cross-departmentally and offer research opportunities, regular communications about research conducted, hiring departmental leaders carefully, promoting work–life balance through varied methods, and helping faculty incorporate community service as part of their coursework.

PHD, Kent State University, 2019, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Teaching, Learning and Curriculum Studies

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore nursing faculty's understanding of higher order thinking test questions and practices with test preparation for undergraduate baccalaureate nursing students. Data were collected from eight full time classroom, undergraduate nursing faculty participants. The main findings from this study include higher order thinking uses critical thinking with foundational knowledge, application and analysis principles; faculty need continuing education and peer collaboration with testing preparation; and the use of a clinical care, reality focus is necessary with higher order testing. These findings are significant due to the increasing demand for complex thinking required of nurses now and in the future. Additionally, as the nursing faculty shortage continues, teachers often come into education with inadequate training to prepare higher order thinking test questions. Implications for nursing education include preparing undergraduate nursing faculty with continuing educational programs for testing practices, recognizing and creating opportunities for faculty collaboration with testing, reviewing foundational knowledge expectations of student entering nursing programs and enriching student's transition to practice using reality, clinical based NCLEX style test questions.

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2018, Educational Leadership

This quantitative study examined 1) the gender gaps in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty retention rates at two large, Midwestern, Research One universities; 2) the gender differences in STEM faculty's perceptions of organizational and personal/professional factors, related to their retention outcomes; and 3) how faculty perceptions of organizational and personal/professional factors contributed to their actual retention at these two universities and what gender differences existed in modeling STEM faculty retention. Major findings included that 1) women STEM faculty, especially those hired initially as assistant professors, left the university at higher rates and stayed at the university for a shorter amount of time, compared to male faculty at the same rank; 2) male STEM faculty who departed held the least positive perceptions of their work life, male faculty who stayed had the most positive perceptions, while retained female held slightly less, negative views, than did departed males and females on most factors; 3) departed men and women faculty reported more positive perceptions of their self-efficacy and willingness to pursue leadership than did faculty who were retained; 4) retained female faculty held the most positive perceptions of departmental support for work-family balance among the four groups; 5) satisfaction served as a mediator between perceptions of organizational and personal/professional factors and retention outcomes for both female and male faculty; 6) a higher level of departmental support for work-family issues, less workplace incivility, and more positive attitudes about the university contributed to higher satisfaction, which in turn contributed to a greater likelihood of being retained at their universities for all faculty; 7) self-efficacy and willingness to pursue leadership had a significantly negative direct effect on retention for all faculty and for male faculty, but not for female faculty; 8) clarit (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2016, Higher Education (Education)

The Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE) standards dictate that physical therapy faculty demonstrate they have contemporary expertise in their teaching areas. Clinical experience or practice is one example of evidence for proof of contemporary expertise. Students report they value faculty members who maintain clinical practice because they bring current applicable clinical content to the classroom. There has been much discussion in the literature regarding the high teaching demand placed on faculty while there is a greater emphasis placed on scholarly productivity for promotion and tenure opportunities. With such demands for teaching and scholarship, is there time available for clinical practice? The purpose of this study was to explore physical therapy faculty clinical practice and to investigate if there is a relationship between clinical practice and physical therapy faculty work characteristics. The quantitative research design of this study utilized the CAPTE Annual Accreditation Report as the primary survey instrument to collect data including faculty characteristics, work characteristics, and clinical practice information. There were 22 Likert-type clinical practice ratings added to the instrument by the researcher to collect data specific to clinical practice patterns among faculty members. There were 694 responses in the final data set. Among the respondents, the majority participated in clinical practice during the Fall/Spring 2013/2014 Academic Year (67%). The majority of the respondents indicated they participate in clinical practice in order to maintain, enhance, and/or provide additional clinical skills (65%). Means of the clinical practice ratings were consistently lower (indicating more agreement) among the practicing faculty members than the non-practicing faculty members. MANOVA analyses confirmed that there were significant multivariate effects using Wilk's statistic for clinical practice groups (Λ= 0.77, F(2 (open full item for complete abstract)

PHD, Kent State University, 2014, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Foundations, Leadership and Administration

This dissertation study grew out of several interrelated issues in U.S. higher education: (1) the corporatization of higher education; (2) the steady growth in the numbers of part-time and full-time non-tenure track faculty, known collectively as contingent faculty, which has resulted in a two-tiered workforce in academe; (3) the disturbingly large numbers of women who often occupy these low-paying positions, especially in what have now become feminized disciplines; and (4) the rise in a hearty activist movement among contingent faculty, including union organizing and coalition building, that seeks to transform academic labor practices. The confluence of these factors has led some contingent women faculty members into activism, often at the national level, in hopes of reforming higher education teaching conditions and altering the narrative on contingent faculty. My study, a feminist oral history, seeks to understand their experiences. The epistemological and methodological stance for this study was qualitative and feminist; the study was shaped by emancipatory paradigms to raise awareness of the hierarchies that exist to marginalize contingent faculty, especially women in the humanities. Two research questions were explored: First, how do contingent women faculty members describe their process of becoming activists, especially the personal and contextual factors that impacted this process? Second, how do the situations described by contingent women faculty activists align with feminist conceptualizations of power? To address question #1, I turned to bricolage, using qualitative coding methods in conjunction with narrative analysis and feminist methodologies. Nine themes were identified in the findings which simultaneously point to the development of the interviewees as activists and to their marginalization in academia. To answer question #2, I examined how situations described by the contingent women faculty activists line up with feminist modaliti (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2013, Higher Education Administration

Employment conditions for higher education faculty have been changing due to shrinking budgets and demands from the public for accountability: their adaptation to these pressures is influenced by their organizational culture. Denison (1990) and Kuh and Whitt (1988), among others, define organizational culture as the shared beliefs, values, assumptions, and ideologies of the members of the organization. The purpose of this study was to assess the organizational culture of full-time arts and sciences faculty across five state- supported universities in Ohio, three of which were unionized, with respect to seven attributes: unionization, tenure status, years teaching, content area expertise, academic rank, gender, and race/ethnicity. The faculty organizational culture across these universities was evaluated using the Denison Organizational Culture Survey (DOCS), which measured the perceptions of the faculty on four organizational traits: Involvement, Consistency, Adaptability, and Mission (Denison, 1990). The survey was administered online during January/February 2013 to full-time arts and sciences faculty at the following universities: Kent State University, Miami University, Ohio University, University of Akron, and Wright State University. The survey data were analyzed by several statistical methods – t-test of independent samples, analysis of variance, and factorial analysis of variance – to determine the significance of the differences in the mean trait scores with respect to the seven attributes. The similarity of these results across the participating universities indicated that the DOCS was an appropriate instrument for assessing the organizational culture of higher education faculty. Analysis showed that faculty, across all five universities, in their first four years of teaching, regardless of tenure track status and academic rank, had a greater congruence with the organizational culture of their campus than the rest of the faculty. This may be du (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2008, Higher Education (Education)

Part-time faculty is important to the instructional mission of community colleges. Community colleges rely on part-time faculty for a majority of their instruction and will be forced to hire more of these faculty to serve increasing student enrollments. This study was designed to determine and compare the perceptions of chief academic officers (CAOs), the academic department heads in technical/career programs (DH-CTs), and the academic department heads in pre-baccalaureate/transfer programs (DH-PBs) about the importance and presence of part-time faculty employment, professional development, and integration practices at community colleges located in the Appalachian regions of Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia. In addition, the study concerned a description and analysis of participant descriptions of the importance of employing, and the perceived ability to employ in specific disciplines as well as participants' perceptions of the reasons why part-time faculty were employed at the institution.A questionnaire was mailed to all 23 two-year, public community colleges in the Appalachian regions of Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia. The results were analyzed using descriptive statistics including frequencies, means, and percentages; and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Major findings of the study include: (a) CAOs, DH-CTs, and DH-PBs placed all practices presented in the study in the "important" to "somewhat important" range indicating a positive approach towards the utilization of part-time faculty; (b) CAOs, DH-CTs, and DH-PBs have different mean scores for most employment, professional development, and integration practices indicating different perceptions about how these groups perceive the importance of the practices; (c) the most important employment practice is "institutional policies" and the least important is "institutional benefits package"; (d) the most important professional development practice is "departmental evaluation" and the least important is "paid member (open full item for complete abstract)

PHD, Kent State University, 2012, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Foundations, Leadership and Administration

College student personnel (CSP) professional preparation program faculty are a unique group in higher education because their work spans both student affairs and academic affairs functions. The purpose of this Q methodology study was to explore the perspectives that full-time, tenure-track CSP faculty hold about full-time, tenure-track, non-CSP faculty. Specifically, this study examined what factors emerged when CSP faculty at Carnegie Classification Research Universities/High Research Activity institutions were asked to model their viewpoints about faculty via a Q sort. This process involved CSP faculty placing 36 statements about faculty and faculty life into a forced distribution grid representing the array of statements with which they most agreed to the statements with which they most disagreed. A total of 28 CSP faculty participated, with 18 completing the sorts in person and 10 completing the sorts online. Post-sort interviews with participants and demographic data were also collected. Q factor analysis of the sorts revealed two viewpoints about faculty. One viewpoint focuses on the professional contributions of faculty. The second factor focuses on the difficulties of academic life and the mixed successes faculty have in meeting the demands of their job. This study serves as a foundation for further research into perceptions about faculty among student affairs faculty and practitioners.

Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, 2024, Educational Administration

Faculty are critical players to advance institutional mission in higher education (Clark, 1972). Hiring faculty who have an affinity for mission and who understand and support Catholicism in the spirit of an institution's founding charism can be a significant challenge for academic leaders and for the longevity of institutional mission in Catholic higher education (Heft, 2021). Faculty across disciplines may find it challenging to grasp or apply the mission of their Catholic university because mission-related criteria are not always understood or prioritized in faculty hiring processes (Breslin, 2000; Briele, 2012; Heft, 2021; Steele, 2008). Currently, there is no standard mission focused guide for faculty hiring at the University of Dayton (UD), a Catholic Marianist University. Given that hiring priorities and practical knowledge of Catholic Marianist principles of education differ among faculty across the university, hiring for mission criteria may not be well defined among search committees. This practical action research study used qualitative methods to explore how affinity for the University of Dayton's Catholic Marianist mission is assessed in faculty searches. Results showed that search committee members consider mission principles at least moderately important, but these have not been consistently identified in candidate assessment criteria. Still, participants discussed six mission-based criteria with twenty component elements that have been operative in some way in recent faculty searches. This knowledge, coupled with the principles of Marianist education, informed Hiring Faculty to Engage Catholic Marianist Mission, a practical intervention plan to strengthen hiring for mission practices through articulating the purpose of hiring for mission; developing criteria and assessment rubrics; standardizing the hiring for mission search process; and fostering faculty stakeholder participation. Anticipated results of the action plan and challenges in project lead (open full item for complete abstract)

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2024, Leadership and Change

COVID-19 changed how faculty members approached teaching in higher education in the United States. This study specifically looks at the changes in faculty-student interaction (FSI) during the COVID-19 pandemic. While extensive literature exists on the topic from the student perspective, the disruption in education necessitated a more extensive study of the faculty perspective. A multiple-case study methodology was employed to explore the experiences of a small cohort of faculty members at a single institution and how they fostered positive interactions with students from Spring 2019 through Spring 2023. The data collected included semi-structured interviews, course syllabi, teaching philosophies, and a pre-interview questionnaire with demographic data. The findings revealed that faculty initially faced hurdles engaging with students but swiftly devised strategies to adapt. Their approaches primarily emerged from internet searches and conversations with other faculty in their communities of practice. Additionally, faculty members who taught prior to the pandemic used their prior teaching experience but also credited having access to course materials designed for online learning as a strategy for positive interaction. Finally, returning to in-person teaching with social restrictions presented significant challenges in comparison to teaching online. A key implication for practice is requiring faculty to teach asynchronous courses periodically to ensure familiarity with best practices for online learning and access to updated teaching materials. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

Doctor of Professional Studies (D.P.S.) in Instructional Design Leadership, Franklin University, 2024, International Institute for Innovative Instruction

This phenomenological research study explores the lived experiences of full-time faculty experiencing both organizational and instructional changes within their institution. Higher education organizations are facing increased challenges to sustainability, forcing them to make structural changes within the organization. When organizations adopt new instructional designs and models, it is imperative to understand the faculty experience to improve the institution's overall success. This qualitative study employed a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, conducting in-depth interviews with twenty faculty members from three merging institutions who experienced organizational restructuring and instructional changes. Interviews with participants were analyzed using the hermeneutic circle, showing the importance of administrative choices during change, the role of organizational culture when merging cultures, and faculty need for support when adopting new instructional modalities. This study illuminates the lived experiences of faculty amidst institutional transformations, offering valuable insights for higher education leaders to support faculty and navigate change processes effectively.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), University of Dayton, 2023, Educational Leadership

This study was conducted to expand and contribute to the corpus of trauma-informed pedagogical knowledge and research. With the high prevalence of trauma in college student populations, it is critical for institutions to understand the experiences of faculty members who engage daily with traumatized students. Using an Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach, this qualitative inquiry explored the lived experiences of faculty members who teach traumatized students in higher education and the impacts those experiences have had. Eight faculty members from various institutions of higher education across the United States took part in hour-long, semi-structured interviews regarding their experiences of teaching traumatized students. The transcribed and coded data, viewed through the lenses of secondary trauma and crossover theoretical frameworks, revealed that teaching traumatized students, in combination with an absence of trauma-informed professional preparation, has impacted the wellbeing of faculty, negatively influenced their teaching self-efficacy beliefs, and resulted in negative perceptions toward employing institutions. The glaring need for trauma-informed pedagogical training for faculty members in higher education is successfully established in this study.

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, Educational Studies

The purpose of this critical constructivist research study was to explore the intersectional experiences of Women of Color community college faculty. Employing testimonios as the methodology (Latina Feminist Group, 2001) and intersectionality as the theoretical framework (Crenshaw, 1989; Nunez, 2014), this study examined systems of oppression and how oppression was enacted within Women of Color community college faculty's lives on campus. Moreover, I investigated how Women of Color faculty found and engaged in counterspaces within and outside of their community colleges. Therefore, I sought to understand the ways in which Women of Color community college faculty members located or cultivated these supportive environments within the academy. The research questions guiding this study were: (1) What are the intersectional experiences of Women of Color community college faculty members? (2) How do interlocking systems of oppression influence Women of Color community college faculty members' experiences on campus? (3) How do Women of Color community college faculty members locate or cultivate counterspaces within the academy? Ten testimonialistas participated in this study and represented a variety of racial or ethnic backgrounds, sexualities, academic departments, and faculty type. Most of the testimonialistas, are employed at community colleges on the West Coast, and one is employed at a community college in the Midwest. Data were collected through one one-on-one semi-structured interview, a written reflection, and a focus group. I employed a thematic analysis of the testimonios (Perez Huber, 2009) and highlighted findings that aligned with Nunez's (2014) multilevel model of intersectionality. The seven major themes I identified included: Interconnections across Social Identities, Apprehension towards Challenging Institutional Power, Depictions of Women of Color Community College Faculty, Interpersonal Aggressions with Colleagues and Students, Strong Sense of Self-Ef (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Toledo, 2022, Higher Education

Given the rapid pace of change in technology, a new generation of learners in college, and continued demands from business and industry for better-prepared graduates, the call to reform the undergraduate educational experience has continued to increase. The purpose of this study was to determine which factors, if any, influence faculty use of student-centered pedagogy in undergraduate education. Guided by the theoretical frameworks of Astin's (1985, 1993) involvement theory and Chickering and Gamson's (1987) seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education, this study aimed to explore how faculty involvement factors influence their use of student-centered pedagogy in undergraduate education. The quantitative study was completed through secondary analysis and used faculty response data from the 2016–2017 HERI Faculty Survey to answer nine research questions. The sample for the study consisted of 21,836 full-time undergraduate faculty members from 151 institutions nationwide. After concluding the blocked form of stepwise multiple linear regression following the conceptual framework of Astin's (1970) I-E-O model, 41 predictor variables emerged as statistically significant positive and negative predictors of faculty use of student-centered pedagogy. The results of the study indicate faculty involvements, such as, faculty–student interactions, course involvements, involvement with civic-minded practices, and involvement in student development influence faculty use of student-centered pedagogy. There are several implications for policy and practice including (a) informing institutions about faculty workload policies related to teaching, research, and service; (b) policies for tenure and promotion; (c) statewide implications for higher education institutions related to instruction and assessment policies; and (d) practices regarding effective teaching strategies for centers of teaching and learning.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2022, Higher Education Administration

International faculty and their stories are becoming a topic of interest for many academics (Kim et al., 2011). Due to their cultural background, international faculty experience academia differently than their U.S. counterparts. It is becoming crucial to understand international faculty and how their experiences affect their job satisfaction, and the institutional initiative to recruit and retain members of this group. Prior studies have found that many factors affect job satisfaction, such as low salaries, lack of cultural understanding, lack of training, communication with peers, and overall disorganization (Lawrence et al., 2013; Mamiseishvili & Rosser, 2008a). The purpose of this study was to examine international faculty-department chair relationships within U.S. workplace settings, more specifically, their job satisfaction relative to faculties' perception of communication and leadership quality of their chairs. Participants completed a web-based survey that measured the communication and leadership quality from the perspective of international faculty and how it affected job satisfaction. Descriptive statistics and a regression model were performed to analyze the results. The results have confirmed some of what has already been written in the literature. When international faculty perceive leadership and communication as positive, job satisfaction increases. The results showed that for every leadership unit, satisfaction would increase by .136 when controlling for communication. Additionally, for every unit of communication, satisfaction will increase for .419 when controlling for leadership. Corley & Sabharwal (2007) wrote that leadership quality and communication quality is important for job satisfaction. Furthermore, the results from the study also showed the difference between international faculties' country of origin and relationship to job satisfaction, however, no significant difference was found. The findings of this study offer suggestions for d (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), University of Dayton, 2022, Educational Leadership

This study used a survey conducted from September 2021 November 2021 to examine the perceptions of College Credit Plus (CCP) educator credentialing for college in high school programs known as dual enrollment. Over 400 responses were received representing educators from southwest Ohio. Respondents spanned roles in public schools of superintendent, principal, high school teacher, and school counselor. The findings showed that educators generally agreed on knowing the requirements for educators to become qualified to teach College Credit Plus courses at the high school location. The respondents with the most knowledge of CCP credentialing requirement were superintendents, school counselors, and educators with higher levels of education were more aware of credentialing requirements. The findings also revealed that educators generally agree with the perceived barriers to meeting the qualifications to meet the faculty credentialing requirements. The perceived barriers of financial and time costs of obtaining graduate coursework were the biggest barriers to meeting the CCP credentialing requirements for respondents who work in districts classified as an urban setting and with 16-20 years of experience. Recommendations for removing barriers to meet CCP educator credentialing requirements were made in the conclusions.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), University of Dayton, 2022, Higher Education Administration

This study investigated the lived experiences of tenure-line academic mothers using a narrative methodology and interpretivist and feminist frameworks. Employing a semi-structured protocol, the researcher interviewed twelve tenure-line academic mothers at five midwestern institutions of higher education: one private four-year, one public four-year, one community college, one private Historically Black College or University (HBCU), and one private HBCU. After interviewing the academic mothers, the researcher composed narratives based on the transcripts. She also included her own narrative for analysis. After the narratives were member checked by the participants, the researcher conducted data analysis on the transcripts using low-inference coding. The coding allowed the researcher to focus on emerging themes as part of her plot analysis (Daiute, 2014). Through the use of plot analysis, the researcher uncovered the most prevalent characters, settings, initiating actions, complicating actions, and resolutions across the participants' narratives. The significant characters that emerged were: the mothers themselves, husbands, children, supervisors, and mentors. The salient settings were universities and departments. The initiating actions for academic mothers consisted of the job search/interviews and pregnancy/giving birth. Pregnancy loss and the Covid-19 constituted the most significant complicating actions. Finally, mothers turned to boundary setting and “inscribing motherhood” (Pillay, 2009) as means of resolution.

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Toledo, 2021, Higher Education

Faculty motivation and student engagement are two topics that have been extensively researched within higher education. How individual faculty motivations influence their engagement with students has been less commonly examined. Additionally, the concept described as the disengagement compact (Kuh, 1991), an implicit bargaining agreement of minimal engagement between faculty and students, has been a growing concept that has received minimal attention. The intent of the study was two-fold: (a) To understand how faculty perceived their motivations that influence their personal engagement with students and (b) to determine if the identified faculty motivations offered evidence for or against the disengagement compact concept. This collective case study examined data which resulted from interviews of nine faculty members, participant provided documents, and site documents from three private universities. The findings outlined top motivators of faculty to engage with their students are intrinsically based. Additionally, the plausibility of the disengagement compact existing at each campus increased when factors such as size of the institution and requirements on research and service were emphasized.