We present an evaluation of a freshman block registration and mentoring program at a major state university. In an effort to improve retention, the University initiated a freshman block registration and mentoring program in the fall of 1994. The program was developed to strengthen social support, which we hypothesize leads to higher rates of persistence. We present the effects of the program on retention and academic performance for successive cohorts from 1994 through 1998. Academic performance and retention rates are used as outcome measures and are related to student and university characteristics. We describe the nature of the program and the impact that it has on persistence (survival times), grades, and graduation. Our analysis uses event history models (follow back life tables and Discrete-Time Logit Models). 95
This paper presents the results of a 10-year collaboration among Yarmouk University, the University of Arkansas and the Jordanian government to develop a sustainable tourism strategy against the backdrop of political and economic uncertainty. It reports our efforts to develop a touristway through the Jordan River Valley that integrates the valley's heritage, archeology, and Christian and Islamic religious sites. It also analyses our community development work in Umm Qais, the touristway's northern anchor, and how our plan contributes to Northern Jordan's economic development. We conclude with a discussion of the specific insights gained from our experiences that may serve others addressing similar issues. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Accepted June 2007Keywords: heritage tourism; Jordan; sustainable community development; tourism strategy; touristways. INTRODUCTIONI n recent years, Jordan, like many governments in the Middle East, has adopted tourism strategies as a way to diversify its economy (WTO, 2005b). This study reports our efforts to develop a sustainable tourism strategy in Northern Jordan through community-based niche tourism. It describes the rich archaeological and historical assets along the Jordan River Valley, and their potential for community economic development. It suggests the need to rethink exclusive reliance upon top-down community development strategies in favour of those that allow for some measure of community participation. It highlights the need for an evolving partnership between central and local decision makers wherein the national government provides financial and technical assistance and the local governments have greater autonomy in making decisions that directly affect them.Our tourism plan was the result of a 10-year collaboration among Yarmouk University, the University of Arkansas, and Jordan's Department of Antiquities, a project supported through two grants from the US Government. Our first project, completed in 2000, created master's level training in cultural resource management (CRM) at our two institutions. CRM involves the survey, analysis, assessment and identification of the uses of a society's antiquities and heritage. This project focused primarily on programme and curriculum development; it was not designed to build Completed in 2004, our second project was more heavily community-based and applied CRM principles to the problem of sustainable development through tourism. Its aim was to strengthen social capital by helping local communities use their people and resources to grow their economies, rather than applying a traditional top-down, expert-driven approach. Our main objectives were (i) to develop collaboration and commitment to niche tourism among educational and government leaders; and (ii) to promote sustainability through involvement by local interests.There was an important challenge to our second project. The tourism industry in Jordan is keyed to Amman, the capital, and to sites in the south such as the World Heritage site of Petra, the...
The tipping-point model of neighborhood change is tested for the years 1940–1970. The model posits that once a white area reaches a certain percentage of Negro residents the area will become completely Negro. Recent work by Steinnes (1977), who used a regression analysis of a sample of Chicago census tracts, supports the tipping-point concept. The present replication with Cleveland, Ohio, data differs from the earlier work in three ways: (1) control for sectoral growth patterns; (2) use of the entire population of Cleveland's tracts, rather than a sample of tracts, to determine whether the model is generalizable to the entire city; and (3) an expansion of the time frame of the study. The tipping-point model does not appear to be generalizable to the entire city of Cleveland. The findings suggest that social, economic, and historical factors need to be included in the model.
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Sustainable development is now widely promoted as a holistic concept that aims to integrate social, economic and cultural policies to ensure high-quality growth in the context to which it is applied. During implementation such programs encounter, however, place-specific institutional and cultural barriers that often go unrecognized. This article presents findings from a 10-year collaboration of the University of Arkansas with Yarmouk University, Jordan, that led to the adoption of a heritage tourism strategy that is both economically and environmentally feasible.
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