Numerous fires during demonstrations in secondary schools, museums, and science centers have occurred while using flammable liquids. This calls to light the need to educate undergraduate students and educators in the safe handling and use of these flammable chemicals. Understanding the benefits and risks of flammable liquids should be an essential…

The University of Maryland First-Year Innovation & Research Experience (FIRE) was launched in 2014 and initially developed to provide a broad range of undergraduate students with research experience. As the program has grown and matured during six years of operation, the student outcomes targeted have evolved to include a broader range of…

In the twenty-first century, free speech and its twin, free inquiry have increasingly come under fire, and to a far greater degree than in the 1950s, censors come from within academia. Various forms of critical theory have gained substantial influence in U.S. higher education, where adherents use their power to brand free speech and free inquiry…

Instructional design in a fire academy is essential for high academic achievement while students learn the basics of firefighting and hazardous materials. It is critical to explore concerns about balancing the students' cognitive load because of a significant decline in academic achievement. Students pursuing a firefighting career at a community…

Scientists agree that we are on the precipice of a global climate crisis. How will it transform colleges and universities? In 2019, intense fires in the San Francisco Bay Area closed universities and drove afflicted people to shelter at other campuses. At the same time, extraordinary fires ravaged eastern Australia. Several universities responded…

The U.S. and West Virginia constitutions acknowledge the right to free speech, which must be protected at public colleges, but Senate Bill 657, which became law in 2021, requires that public colleges protect "any lawful verbal and nonverbal speech." Furthermore, many private colleges also promise free speech to their students. However a…

Participation in humanities coursework is vital, both for community college students pursuing credentials considered "academic" and for those in career and technical education fields who may not transfer to four-year colleges. Humanities courses help students develop foundational skills; they may also light students' fire for learning as…

Educational developers have generally articulated their mission around three major poles: faculty/professional development, instructional development, and organizational development (Diamond, 2002; Lewis, 1996). While the first two poles have received greater attention in the past, an increasing amount of emphasis is being placed on organizational…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to offer guidelines and recommendations for launching and running sustainable programs involving partnerships between industries and universities. Teaching technical writing and communication to fire and emergency services personnel is a task that requires forethought and intricate planning. The Advanced…

Today's environmental challenges present us with the opportunity to enhance our ability to hear the voices of the more-than-human world. This was an aptitude that was central to our ancestral practices. Efforts to develop pedagogies that redirect our ways of being in the world are emerging under the broad title, "wild pedagogies." This…

On May 4, 1970, four students were killed and nine were wounded when National Guardsmen opened fire on anti-war protestors at Kent State University. This case study explores the tragedy and the experiences of student affairs professionals at KSU leading up to and after the shootings. Although the field of crisis management did not exist in 1970,…

Induction support for beginning education professors is rarely provided. To address this gap, qualitative descriptive research was conducted by asking a national sample of experienced education professors about challenges faced and met as new faculty members. The resulting seven induction themes for beginning education professors are discussed in…

The University of Maryland--College Park initiated the First-Year Innovation & Research Experience (FIRE) in 2014 to provide authentic faculty-led research experiences, mentorship, and accelerated opportunity for first-year students from a wide range of academic backgrounds. To annually provide more than 600 new FIRE students with an authentic…

President Trump's education policies continue to marginalize Black STEM students at the highest levels of education. Responding to a survey on their racialized educational experiences and future career trajectories, an ethnically diverse group of Black STEM doctoral students expressed anxiety about trying to pursue a STEM career during the Trump…

In 2015, "NFPA 45, Standard on Fire Protection for Laboratories Using Chemicals," from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) was updated to include language requiring educators to perform a documented risk assessment when conducting demonstrations in K-12 classrooms. Additionally, in the past five years numerous organizations…