CCWT Publications

Lewis, D. R., Fitzgerald, I., & Benbow, R. J. (2021). A student-led study of African American academic and career experiences at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater: Educational bridges, spaces, and safety in 2020. Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions.

Summary: This report represents the findings from a student researcher-led project focused on the high school, college, and career preparation experiences of African American and Black college students at the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater (UWW), a predominantly White institution (PWI) in rural southeastern Wisconsin. With the goal of dismantling systemic barriers to equitable African American student college-to-career transitions, especially from PWIs, a team of three researchers designed and carried out a qualitative study to (1) collect African American student college and career narratives and (2) better understand African American students’ experiences at UWW. Key findings from the study include the elucidation of student perspectives on the strong connections between high school experiences, mostly in and around Milwaukee, and students’ college and career trajectories; the challenges involved in navigating campus spaces at a rural PWI; and the psychological, social, and educational effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is novel to 2020, and police racial profiling, which is not. The study also identifies key strategies for creating additional space for African American self-authorship, including through student organization advocacy and involvement, faculty and staff mentorships, and cross-campus and cross-community conversations.

Hora, M. T., Wolfgram, M., Chen, Z., Colston, J., Ahrens, V., Rodriguez S., J., & Wetherbee, l. (2020). Results from the 1-year longitudinal follow-up analysis for the College Internship Study at Madison College. Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions.

Summary: This report includes findings from the second round of data collection (Spring 2019 or T2) at Madison College for The College Internship Study, which is a national mixed-methods longitudinal study of internship programs conducted by the Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions (CCWT) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison). The data collected at T2 of the study include follow-up interviews with 8 students and a follow-up online survey of 147 students who participated in the first round of data collection (Spring 2018 or T1). These data are analyzed to provide faculty, staff, and leadership at Madison College with evidence-based insights about the impacts of internship participation on students’ lives and careers. Thus, this second round of the College Internship Study at Madison College is guided by the following research question: What are the changes concerning students’ internship experiences and outcomes comparing longitudinal data at two time points?

Hora, M. T., Chen, Z., Wolfgram, M., Chen, Z., & Rogers, S. (2020). Results from the College Internship Study at Tennessee State University. Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions.

Summary: This report includes findings from the first round of data collection (Spring 2020) at Tennessee State University (TSU) for The College Internship Study, which is a national mixed-methods longitudinal study of internship programs conducted by the Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions (CCWT) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison). The findings are based on an interdisciplinary sample of students who took an online survey (n = 252), interviews with students who have and who have not had an internship experience (n = 9), and interviews with career advisors, faculty, and employers (n = 7). We would like to thank TSU for allowing our research team to conduct this study with your students, faculty, and community members, and hope that our findings are useful as you work towards improving internships and work-based learning for your students. As our research moves into its second year, we will focus on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the students, faculty and staff at TSU and employer partners with respect to internships and students’ overall experiences with the pandemic and its impacts on their studies and career goals.

Four research questions guide our study: (1) How many students are participating in internship programs, and does participation vary by student demographics, academic status, or life/employment situation? (2) What barriers exist for students to participate in internship programs? (3) What is the structure and format of internship programs? And, (4) How, if at all, is program structure and format associated with student satisfaction with their internships and their estimation of the value of the internship for their career development? In addition, given the timing of our interviews (Spring 2020), we also were interested in understanding TSU students’ experiences related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

English-language and Workforce Transition Support for Nonnative English-Speaking (NNES) International Students. Speciale, T. (2020). Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions Student Report #3. University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Introduction: Over 5.3 million students worldwide are enrolled in universities outside of their home country (UNESCO UIS, 2020). While the majority of these students come from non-English speaking countries, Anglophone countries continue to be their top destinations.

International students are drawn to foreign universities in search of credentials and academic and career opportunities unavailable in their home countries (ITA, 2016). The majority pursue degrees in STEM fields (in particular engineering, math, and computer science), followed closely by Business and Management (IIE, 2019). A prerequisite for admission to an English-speaking institution of higher education is English language proficiency, determined by standardized tests such as the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). Continue reading.