Intellectual Freedom: Challenges and Responsibilities of Seventh-day Adventist Academic Libraries

A survey was conducted among Library Directors in Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) colleges and universities around the world to learn how Seventh-day Adventist librarians view and define intellectual freedom, whether SDA libraries are having censorship challenges to library materials, and what policies and procedures are used to resolve the challenges. It was found that the majority of libraries surveyed have had materials challenged, most often because of differences in religious/theological beliefs or strong language. A comparison made between this study and Hippenhammer's (1993) survey of Christian college libraries showed significant differences in the following areas: written selection policy, reasons for materials challenges, and group submitting challenges.     

Teaching Strategies and Adaptations of Teachers in Multiculturally Diverse Classrooms in Seventh-day Adventist K-8 Schools in North America

The purpose of this study was to describe the experiences of Adventist teachers—their training, their use of instructional strategies, and the challenges they encounter when teaching students of different cultures. Banks' multicultural paradigms was the theoretical framework from which a survey was developed and sent to all K-8 Adventist teachers in the United States and Canada. Strategies relating to the self-concept development and ethnic additive paradigms were used most frequently by Adventist teachers while those associated with the language paradigm were used the least. Almost half of the teachers subscribed to the goal that “students are individuals with distinct personalities regardless of their background” while about 10% of the teachers considered the goals relating to “protection of diverse groups” the most important. Their strategy use was not related to their most important goals (Nels) for multicultural education. Forty percent of the teachers had no training in multicultural education and the study recommends training so that Adventist teachers will have more effective strategies for relating to diverse students.     

Selected Factors Influencing School Choice Among the Seventh-day Adventist Population in Southwest Michigan

One of the most significant problems currently facing Adventist schools in North America is declining enrollment in Grades K-12. It was the purpose of this study to determine if a relationship exists between school choice and parental perception of selected factors in Southwest Michigan. The author uses multiple regression analysis to explore which of the select factors influenced parents to make choices on where to enroll their children in school between church schools and public schools. The study found that there was a significant relationship between parental school choice and parents' perception of spiritual value-based education, the cost of education, academic program, who influenced school choice, safety in school, and awareness. There was no significant relationship between parental school choice and parents' perception of social factors and school proximity.     

Job Satisfaction Among Teachers in Seventh-day Adventist Schools and Its Relationship to Commitment and Selected Work Conditions

A survey was conducted among teachers in Seventh-day Adventist schools to determine the degree of job satisfaction and its relationship to commitment and selected work conditions. The population for this study included teachers in Adventist schools in the Midwestern region of the United States. It was found that (1) Adventist teachers are generally satisfied with their work. They chose to work for the Adventist church because of their commitment to the church. (2) Commitment to the teaching profession was highly related to job satisfaction among male teachers; whereas, commitment to the church organization was highly related to job satisfaction among female teachers. (3) Faith dimension was the most important work-condition factor related to commitment to the church organization; whereas, personal significance was related to commitment to the teaching profession.     

Burnout and Turnover Intentions Among Junior Counseling Faculty: Moderating Role of Mentoring

This study examined the correlation between burnout, mentoring, and turnover intentions among 106 full‐time junior counseling faculty members at U.S. universities. Using the job demands–resources model, the authors aimed to provide a better understanding of the risk and protective environmental factors (i.e., burnout and mentoring) that affect turnover intentions among junior counseling faculty. Burnout was found to be predictive of high turnover intentions. Findings also supported the moderating role of faculty mentoring in the association between burnout and turnover intentions. Implications for counseling programs and institutions are addressed.     

Conversation analysis and religion: Practices of talking about Bible texts in Seventh-day Adventist Bible study

The purpose of this article is to show what ethnomethodology and, especially, conversation analysis as methods have to offer to the study of Bible reading. The methodology of conversation analysis is compared with the methods of the ethnography of reading. The conversation analytical perspective is demonstrated through examining some recurrent practices of talking about Bible texts in Seventh-day Adventist Bible study, namely, recontextualizing words and expressions, and inferences about the characters and events in the texts. The article shows how interactional practices are analyzed as both situated and recurrent. In the concluding section a suggestion is made for how the perspectives of ethnography and conversation analysis can be combined. The data consists of audio-recordings of actual Bible study sessions in a Seventh-day Adventist church in Finland.     

The Professionalization of Faculty at Religious Colleges and Universities

As faculty become defined more by the professional norms of their discipline, the potential for conflict with the faith-based norms of religious colleges and universities should increase. Survey responses from over 1,900 faculty at six religious colleges and universities show that most faculty members support including religious criteria in hiring, contrary to professional, disciplinary norms, but most faculty reject religious constraints on academic freedom, conforming to professional norms. These seemingly conflicting positions are reconciled by a high level of commitment to the integration of faith and learning.     

岗位特征及相关因素对辅导员工作倦怠的影响

本研究旨在探讨岗位特征及相关因素对高校辅导员工作倦怠的影响。在高校辅导员培训课堂上共收取有效数据342份。结果表明：⑴岗位特征包括职业价值感、职业无意义感、岗位消极特征和岗位积极特征四个因子;⑵希望和职业价值感能显著正向预测,角色压力能显著负向预测工作倦怠;⑶角色压力在职业无意义感、岗位消极特征、社会支持对工作倦怠的影响中起完全中介作用,而在职业价值感、希望对工作倦怠的影响中起部分中介作用。本研究初步发现了岗位特征及相关因素对辅导员工作倦怠的作用路径。     

Suppressor Effects of Positive and Negative Religious Coping on Academic Burnout Among Korean Middle School Students

Statistical suppressor effects in prediction models can provide evidence of the interdependent relationship of independent variables. In this study, the suppressor effects of positive and negative religious coping on academic burnout were examined using longitudinal data. First, 388 middle school students reported their type of religion and use of positive and negative religious coping strategies. Four months later, they also reported their level of academic burnout. From structural equation modeling, significant suppressor effects were found among religious students. That is, the coefficients became larger when both positive and negative religious coping predicted academic burnout simultaneously, compared to when each religious coping predicted academic burnout alone. However, suppressor effects were not found among non-religious students.     

Burnout and Depression Among Catholic Priests in India

This study examined burnout and depression among Catholic priests in Southern India using the Maslach Burnout Inventory and the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale (Robinson, Shaver, & Wrightsman, 1991). Additionally, a demographic survey assessing four predictor variables was administered. Participants were 50 secular priests and 51 religious priests randomly selected from two dioceses. The study found that diocesan/secular priests experienced significantly more burnout and depression than did religious order priests. This indicates that structural and administrative systems can lead to burnout and depression. The findings of this investigation would be of help for priests in both the United States and in India to identify problems, to encourage reorientation of their lives towards the spiritual, and to promote emotional maturity. Fr. Antony Raj is currently a graduate student in Pastoral Counseling at Claremont College in Claremont. He is an Associate Pastor at All Souls Catholic Church in Alhambra, CA.     

CognitiveGenesis (CG): Assessing Academic Achievement and Cognitive Ability in Adventist Schools

CognitiveGenesis collected achievement and ability test data from 2006–2009 for all students in Seventh-day Adventist schools in North America. Students were above average in achievement compared to national norms and achieved above that predicted by their ability scores. The more years students attended Adventist schools, the higher they achieved, compared to the norm group. Change in students' achievement and ability over 1–3 years was greater than the change in the norm group for both males and females and students in all ethnic groups. Change in achievement and ability for students of all ability levels was equal to or greater than the change in the norm group.     

Spiritual Well-being,Faith Maturity,and the Organizational Commitment of Faculty in Christian Colleges and Universities

The relationship between the spiritual experience and organizational commitment of faculty in Seventh-day Adventist tertiary educational institutions in north Philippines constituted the primary focus of this study. Instrumentation included the Spiritual Well-being Scale (SWBS), Thayer Long-form Faith Maturity Scale (TFS), and Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ). Each aspect of spiritual experience in the study was significantly and positively related to organizational commitment, with the highest correlation evidenced in the case of faith maturity. Further, the relationship between spiritual experience and organizational commitment was influenced by several demographic variables. The best model for predicting organizational commitment, accounting for 42% of the variance explained, was comprised of existential well-being, faith maturity, and time lapse since baptism.     

Self-Efficacy in Eliciting Social Support and Burnout Among Secondary-School Teachers

A nonrecursive model with relationships between perceived lack of social support, perceived self-efficacy in eliciting support at the workplace, and the 3 successive burnout dimensions–emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment–was tested in a sample of 277 secondary-school teachers in The Netherlands. Results showed that teachers' perceived lack of support from colleagues and principals had a significant effect on their self-efficacy beliefs in eliciting support from them, while these self-efficacy beliefs were shown to predict their level of burnout. The hypothesized feedback loop was also confirmed: Teachers' level of burnout predicted the extent to which they feel lack of support. An additional effect of the personal-accomplishment dimension of burnout on perceived self-efficacy was suggested. It was concluded that perceived self-efficacy in eliciting support at the workplace is a usable construct in the prediction of teacher burnout. Future directions in research are suggested.     

The Pentecostal movement in North America and beyond

Pentecostalism began in North America and spread across the globe. It grew out of the ferment of American religious life and manifested elements of Wesleyan Methodism and Holiness theology. The Azusa Street revival after 1906 facilitated its world‐wide dissemination. After the 1960s the charismatic movement or ‘second wave’ provided further momentum to the movement, and this was supplemented by indigenous Pentecostalism in the developing world.     

Faculty genealogies in five Canadian Universities: Historic-graphical and pedagogical concerns

For those who are both scholars and teachers of the history of psychology, a dilemma arises concerning the historiographic versus pedagogic value of institutional genealogies. As part of the undergraduate History of Psychology course, faculty genealogies were constructed at five Canadian psychology departments (Calgary, Guelph, Toronto, Western Ontario and York); an operational definition of “Ph.D. supervisor” represented mentor-student “institutional” linkages. Seventy-five per cent of the 212 faculty were traceable to nine pioneer figures such as Wilhelm Wundt or William James. In contrasting historiographic pitfalls with pedagogic merits, we suggest that integrating a reflexive and critical examination of histriographic problems may tip the scales in favour of pedagogic reasons for conducting such genealogical research.