81
Views
18
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Articles

The Public Affairs Scale: Measuring the Public Good Mission of Higher Education

Pages 695-716
Published online: 18 Apr 2018
 

This article describes the development and construction of the Public Affairs Scale, specifically designed to assess student development in the three areas of the public affairs mission at Missouri State University. This development process involved shared governance, literature review, and other tools used to assess components related to public affairs. The article also explains the public affairs mission at Missouri State University, including definitions of themes and goals and select markers of that mission’s manifestation during the past 15 years. It provides a brief review of assessments used in universities to measure similar constructs, such as engagement and the public good. The Public Affairs Scale is shown to have feasibility (40 items), adequate to strong internal consistency, and construct validity. It appears sufficiently sensitive to capture differences between students and within students over time. The Public Affairs Scale has been used to assess the impact of a first-year service-learning initiative. Readers are encouraged to use it for further program evaluation and research.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Chantal Levesque-Bristol

Chantal Levesque-Bristol, PhD, is professor of Educational Studies and director of the Center for Instructional Excellence (CIE) at Purdue University. She is the former director of the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning at Missouri State University. Using the theoretical framework of self-determination theory, she conducts basic research in motivation, and applied research in education, learning, student retention, and service learning, and has been active in several teaching and learning programs. As director of the CIE, she provides support for the instructional community and resources to faculty interested in learning pedagogies and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. CIE also oversees service learning at Purdue University. She has received several teaching awards and research awards. She is a grantee of the National Institute of Mental Health. She has lectured at several institutions of higher education on motivation and learning principles.

Jeffrey Cornelius-White

Jeffrey H. D. Cornelius-White, PsyD, LPC, is professor of Counseling at Missouri State University and doctoral faculty in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Missouri–Columbia. He is the former editor of The Person-Centered Journal (2002–2011), and chair of the World Association for Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapy and Counseling (2008– 2010). He has published approximately 75 works, including Learner-Centered Instruction (Sage, 2010) and Carl Rogers: The China Diary (PCCS Books, 2012). Jef is currently working to complete coediting the Interdisciplinary Handbook of the Person-Centered Approach (Springer, 2012). His research has been mostly concerned with humanistic and cross-cultural education and counseling.

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.