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Community-engaged partnerships have the ability to combine expertise and resources to enhance the local STEM learning ecosystem, by engaging the actors in communities that can enhance students' experiences in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. Texas Tech University (TTU) and Lubbock Independent School District (LISD) have partnered to coordinate an annual STEM Challenge to encourage STEM learning and interest among local middle grade students. Each summer, teams of (three to four) students from ten LISD middle schools participate in a week-long engineering design challenge, facilitated by TTU undergraduate mentors and their teachers, structured by the Engineering Design Process (EDP).

Quantitative (survey) and qualitative (open-ended responses) data from two years of student glider and hovercraft projects offer insight into how 66 students developed STEM knowledge and leveraged 21^st-century skills to accomplish a shared aim (design challenge).

Findings suggest growth in students' 21^st-century skills, most among underrepresented (racial, ethnic and gender minority) groups. Data from year one (2018) informed year two (2019) in both programming and the research, including enhanced training for mentors and a deeper exploration of students' experiences during each stage of the EDP during the STEM challenge.

Significant and salient findings are discussed along with recommendations for both programmatic and methodological improvements for year three (2020). This study provides insight into how to structure similar community-engaged partnerships in enhancing the community STEM ecosystem through collaborative STEM experiences for diverse, younger learners.

What is it about academia anyway? We profess to hate it, spend endless amounts of time complaining about it, and yet we in academia will do practically anything to stay. The pay may be low, job security elusive, and in the end, it's not the glamorous work we envisioned it would be. Yet, it still holds fascination and interest for us. This is an article about American academic fiction. By academic fiction, I mean novels whosemain characters are professors, college students, and those individuals associated with academia. These works reveal many truths about the higher education experience not readily available elsewhere. We learn about ourselves and the university community in which we work.

This research applies social identity theory (SIT) to examine how White diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) professionals perceive their role and contributions to advancing workplace DEI.

Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used to structure and guide the study, and data were collected from interviews with 16 White DEI professionals.

The SIT concept of social categorization was selected as a framework to discuss the findings, which were divided into two sections: in-group identity and out-group identity. The participants' in-group identities demonstrated how the participants leveraged the participants' Whiteness to grant the participants the influence and agency to perform DEI work. The participant's out-group identities revealed how the participants attempted to decenter the participants' Whiteness and unpack insecurities related to the participants' White identity and DEI contributions. Each of these findings has been associated with a specific role: leader, beneficiary, ally and pathfinder.

The practical implications of this study are critically examining White DEI employees' lived experience to develop an understanding of Whiteness while holding White people accountable for DEI efforts within workplaces.

Deeper and more honest conversations are needed to explore the phenomenon of how White DEI professionals enact and perceive the DEI contributions of the White DEI professionals. Therefore, this paper will provide further discussion on literature concerning White individuals engaged in organizational-level DEI work.

This paper explores four works of contemporary fiction to illuminate formal and informal regulation of sex. The paper’s co-authors frame analysis with the story of their creation of a transdisciplinary course, entitled “Regulating Sex: Historical and Cultural Encounters,” in which students mined literature for social critique, became immersed in the study of law and its limits, and developed increased sensitivity to power, its uses, and abuses. The paper demonstrates the value theoretically and pedagogically of third-wave feminisms, wild zones, and contact zones as analytic constructs and contends that including sex and sexualities in conversations transforms personal experience, education, society, and culture, including law.

Project-based learning is one of the most effective methods of transferring academic knowledge and skills to real-world situations in higher education. However, its effectiveness is not much investigated focusing on the students' narrative. This study aims at evaluating the students' experience and perspective on adopting project-based learning in master by research and doctoral programmes for proactive skills development.

This study evaluates the self-reflection of 10 postgraduate students and their supervisor who have participated in developing a software tool for solar photovoltaics (PV) integrated building envelope design, management and the related education.

Findings reveal that the students have effectively improved their knowledge on the subject via collaborating with the industry, self-learning/observation, peer learning, problem-solving and teamwork. Dividing the project into student-led tasks has improved the decision-making and leadership skills, risks identification, planning and time management skills. The overall experience has (1) built up confidence in students, (2) enhanced their creativity and critical thinking and (3) improved their proactive skills and context knowledge.

A clear research gap can be seen in exploring the effectiveness of project-based learning for master by research and doctoral programmes, which mainly focus on extensive research. These programmes do not necessarily focus on developing students' proactive skills, which is the main requirement if they intend to work in the construction industry. This paper addresses the above research gap by demonstrating the effectiveness of project-based learning for developing the proactive skills in a research-intensive learning environment.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent to which UK equity prices reflect shareholder level taxation on dividends (dividend tax capitalisation). Despite an extensive theoretical and empirical literature controversy exists.

Using a sample of UK firm year ends from 1991 to 2007 archival accounting and share price data are used to test for the presence or otherwise of dividend tax capitalisation.

The paper finds evidence of equity values reflecting shareholder level dividend taxation. In particular, a significant reduction in the valuation of retained earnings, a measure of dividend paying potential, is observed around the July 1997 abolition of the repayment of dividend tax credits to tax exempt shareholders. This suggests a link between shareholder level taxation of dividends and firms’ cost of capital.

The analysis focuses on share prices and is therefore subject to an underlying assumption of shareholders’ understanding tax and other potential relevant information.

The taxation of dividends is an important issue because of the potential for it to influence firms’ cost of capital and therefore investment decisions. Further, non-tax costs may be incurred to the extent that attempts are made to mitigate any “adverse” tax effects.

The results indicate that taxation of dividends and share prices are associated and therefore also indirectly firms’ cost of capital. This linkage has implications for investment appraisal and the allocation of capital between competing demands.

In using an asset valuation approach the limitations of alternate methods of examining shareholder level taxation of dividends are avoided, e.g. analysis of dividend drop of ratios.

We examined the role gender plays in managerial stereotypes and changes that have occurred in the US for executive women in the workforce. We also investigated factors and personality traits that affect advancement into upper management for all executives and those that affect women in particular. Despite increased organisational sensitivity, public policies, and equal rights legislation, women continue to be underrepresented in corporate America. Pay increases and promotions for females have not kept pace with those for men. Study results also indicate that managerial womenwho juggle jobs and family life benefit from these multiple roles, but women who put off marriage and family to build top‐level careers suffer in later years from greatly reduced chances of finding spouses and having children. Further adaptation of organisational culture in the new economy, weakening of the glass ceiling phenomenon, and family friendly work policies may alleviate some of the difficulties experienced by women who want it all.

Examines the extent to which social policy adopted by the colonial government in Hong Kong (prior to its hand‐over China in 1997) has set the agenda for the government of the newly formed Special Administrative Region (SAR). Chronicles the historical development of social policy in Hong Kong since the inception of the colonial government in 1842; identifies that, with the exception of a short‐lived period of expansionism (stimulated by social unrest in the mid‐1960’s) social welfare provision appears to have been low on the government’s agenda and incremental in nature ‐ the emphasis being on economic growth, rather than public spending on welfare programmes. Examines the strengths and weaknesses of this incremental approach; outlines the commitment of the SAR government to the market economy and its proposals for a modest increase in welfare provision, essentially building on the legacy left behind by the colonial government.