Latest news with #JohnDouglass
1News
19 hours ago
- Health
- 1News
Some of NZ's 4000 unmarked graves being reconnected to families
Some of 4000 unmarked graves around Aotearoa are finally being linked to family members after the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. Specifically, these were unmarked graves linked to psychiatric hospitals in Tokanui, Porirua, Christchurch, Hokitika and Waitati. Porirua cemetery alone held more than 1800. Liz Wade's great, great grandfather John Douglass was one of those buried there without a headstone. 'It doesn't feel right to me to just to have left him there,' she told 1News. 'He just seemed to have disappeared.' ADVERTISEMENT Her recent research of records suggests, 'it must have been a case of dementia and blindness and old age that caused his family to have him sent to the Porirua asylum, he was terribly unwell'. The Government has allocated up to $50,000 to each council to memorialise unmarked graves. Porirua recently released a list of names of the dead to find families. Nearly 70 relatives have contacted the council in the last month many others were yet to be heard from. 'To do a significant and meaningful memorial for the families and for the community is going to cost a lot more than that [$50,000] to put on every single name, 1800 names and so we will be pushing for the government to give us more money,' Porirua cemeteries manager Daniel Chrisp said. In Christchurch's Sydenham Cemetery, more than 760 were buried under bare grassed areas – mostly former Sunnyside mental hospital patients. Cashmere Community Board member Keir Leslie told 1News: 'A lot of the people who were buried here were older people who were suffering from mental health issues and that was really stigmatised.' Despite unmarked graves being often unknown in Aotearoa, they have received international attention. ADVERTISEMENT Canada's report on more than 4000 unmarked graves of children at residential schools was released late last year, with the report referencing the thousands of unmarked graves here in New Zealand. It cited the fact New Zealand been told twice by the Royal Commission to undertake an independent investigation, including "an independent advisory group to investigate potential unmarked graves and urupā at the sites of former psychiatric and psychopaedic hospitals, social welfare institutions or other relevant sites". But Minister Erica Stanford's office said there was no Budget 2025 money for that, although councils could use some of their $50,000 allocation to try to investigate that themselves.
Forbes
24-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
SERU Survey Show Students Are Engaged, Not Adrift at R1 universities
Student walk through Sather Gate, the iconic entrance gate to the campus of UC Berkeley in downtown ... More Berkeley, California, October 9, 2018. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images) Students at our nation's largest public research universities are not 'academically adrift' – a conclusion supported by data from a new report based on the Student Experience at the Research University (SERU) survey. The report, entitled 'The Multi-Engagement Model Understanding Diverse Pathways to Student Success at Research Universities,' was authored by John Douglass, Igor Chirikov and Gregg Thomson of the UC Berkeley Center for Studies in Higher Education. The new report adds to earlier studies refuting the idea of 'adrift' students, and shows 'high quality engagement among a broad range of students at institutions that have relatively low tuition, and relatively low student debt when they get out,' according to Douglass, one of the authors of the report. Examining how undergraduates engage in academic, research, civic, extracurricular, and career activities, SERU has uncovered significant findings that challenge stereotypes of impersonal, disengaged education at large public universities. 'Students spend their effort not just in the classroom and truly benefit from a lot of different opportunities that research universities provide - research extracurriculars, civic engagement, career development,' says co-author Igor Chirikov, who notes that 'students are active in different areas, and they don't overlap.' SERU University Degrees Worth the Investment Many students and parents worry whether college is worth the cost. The recent report from Georgetown's Center for Education in the Workforce calculated the Return on Investment (ROI) of college degrees for 4600 US universities. SERU member universities, all AAU or R1 institutions, provided an average ROI for graduates of bachelor's programs in 2021-22 of over $236,000 after 10 years, $956,000 after 20 years and over $2.4 million after 30 years. These numbers are 34% more than the average US public university, and 50% more than the average US private non-profit university. On a purely economic basis, the SERU University experience is 'worth it,' but the SERU survey provides insights on the quality and variations of the student experience. Documenting Increasing Student Engagement at R1 Universities The Multi-Engagement report uses over a decade of SERU data from 36 top US public research universities such as UC Berkeley, UCLA, Michigan, UNC-Chapel Hill, and the University of Texas. The SERU data shows that most students are not merely passive learners confined to large lecture halls. In fact, two-thirds of undergraduates become deeply engaged in at least one high-impact activity, and by senior year, this figure climbs to over 85%. Even among less engaged students, 99% report moderate to high involvement in at least one area beyond classroom requirements, debunking the myth of widespread student disengagement at large public universities. Importantly, the model reveals distinct engagement pathways with a different mix in involvement in research, career preparation, and extracurricular with deeper engagement over time. The data shows that STEM students prioritize research, while humanities students show stronger civic involvement, with many other invaluable insights into the range of student experiences on campus, 'The data here is rich and it gives you a much stronger and institutional sense of what's really going on' says Douglass. The data also documents the benefits of this high engagement, which correlates strongly with higher GPAs and gains in essential skills like critical thinking and effective communication. Undergraduate research participation notably enhances analytical capabilities, while civic engagement cultivates leadership and global awareness. Extracurricular activities boost a sense of belonging, with only modest trade-offs in GPA. 'All of these areas of engagement, including research, are positively correlated with satisfaction, sense of belonging and in other parameters that universities care about,' says Chirikov. The study also shows that 'intellectual curiosity shows up as a major factor' in student choices for majors, and that 'students are not just meandering around aimlessly, but the vast majority find a pathway, and they're choosing those pathways that fit their own talents and desires,' says Douglass. Bridging Equity Gaps in Engagement The authors' analysis also underscores equity challenges. Students from wealthier backgrounds participate disproportionately in research and career-aligned opportunities, highlighting a need for increased access for lower-income students. Chirikov acknowledges that 'equity gaps are concerning' since 'the probability that student will assist faculty with their research increases with family wealth.' Some of the gaps come from differing levels of awareness among students of opportunities on campus. 'The key challenge for the modern university is to how to connect all these experiences and opportunities with students,' says Chirikov. Leveraging the Research Mission for Undergraduate Education Exemplar R1 institutions are addressing these challenges through structured programs. UC Berkeley's Berkeley Connect pairs undergraduates with graduate mentors for personalized guidance, echoing small-college mentorship. Michigan's Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program involves over 1,300 students annually in faculty-led research, and UT Austin's Freshman Research Initiative integrates hundreds of first-year students into research streams. High-impact undergraduate research mentoring thrives at these universities. Michigan's pioneering Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) annually engages over 1,300 undergraduates in research projects alongside faculty mentors. UT Austin's innovative Freshman Research Initiative integrates nearly 1,000 freshmen each year into cutting-edge research streams, significantly enhancing retention and graduation rates in STEM fields. Creating Personalized Education within a Large University For personalized faculty mentorship, UC Berkeley's Berkeley Connect stands out. Open to all students, this innovative program pairs undergraduates with graduate student mentors who lead one-on-one and small-group sessions, significantly increasing students' sense of community and belonging. Similarly, honors programs like Rutger's New Brunswick Honors College offers a unique course known as the Forum to welcome students into individualized advising and direct faculty supervision of honors theses, effectively creating a smaller college environment within a large university. In replicating small seminar environments, UCLA and Berkeley both offer extensive freshman seminar programs capped at approximately 15 to 20 students. Berkeley's seminars focus on unique topics driven by faculty passions, explicitly contrasting larger lectures, and UCLA's Fiat Lux seminars create opportunities for meaningful faculty-student dialogue early in students' academic careers. The University of Michigan's Residential College further exemplifies this intimate approach with its own dedicated interdisciplinary faculty and small class sizes of fewer than 20 students, offering a four-year living-learning community within a major research university. Developing Student Agency and Leadership Chirikov notes that while 'entrepreneurship programs or service learning or other programs are set up by university, some of them are truly driven by students themselves.' Student agency and interdisciplinary exploration are notably advanced through programs like UT Austin's Plan II Honors, an interdisciplinary liberal arts curriculum allowing students to freely combine majors and interests, anchored by intimate, discussion-driven classes and a culminating senior thesis. Additionally, UVA's Echols Scholars Program provides a first-year living learning community and exempts students from general requirements to more freely explore interdisciplinary pathways and even design individualized majors. Robust civic engagement is also integral at these large institutions. For instance, UNC's Buckley Public Service Scholars encourages multi-year civic involvement, blending coursework with meaningful community service, and Michigan's Community Scholars Program integrates extensive community service directly into students' living-learning experiences. Preparing Students for Success in Life The SERU results show that the efforts of our nation's top research universities are paying off. 'The public universities that we're looking at show robust engagement and learning and learning opportunities,' says Douglass, who points out that students are 'engaged in a great variety of activities that make them talented and potentially very good citizens when they get out' and 'they're getting jobs and they're getting much higher income than people who are educated less.' The result? The multi-engagement study documents that student success takes many forms at the research university. Chirikov notes that 'in policy discussions and a lot of conversations, we have a very narrow definition of student success' such as graduation rates. Douglass agrees and says that 'there is a need for improved metrics to define student success.' Douglass says the SERU data shows that 'it takes a lot of components to make an undergraduate education work' and that 'you need all these components to be working together in order to create talented students and successful citizens.' Large public research universities are 'a city of infinite variety and are larger educational ecosystems,' concludes Douglass, referencing an earlier observation by Clark Kerr.
