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Kenneth A. Feldman

Feldman

Professor
Ph.D. 1965, University of Michigan
Kenneth.Feldman.1@stonybrook.edu

Areas of Interest

Social Psychology; Socialization and Social Control; Development, Maintenance, and Transformation of Identity; Social Psychology of Higher Education; Sociology of Education; Sociology of Youth

Bio

Kenneth A. Feldman received his doctorate in social psychology from the University of Michigan in 1965. He has been at Stony Brook since 1968. He was an associate editor of Sociology of Education (1970-1973; 1977-1980) and a consulting editor for American Educational Research Journal (1976-1978). He was a consulting editor for Journal of Higher Education (from 1974 to 1994) was consulting editor for Research in Higher Education from 1982 to 2011. In 1994 he joined the editorial board of Journal of Higher Education, and was elected the Chair of this Board for 1997. In addition to being a member of the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) since its inception, Dr. Feldman is a member of the American Sociological Association (ASA) and the American Educational Research Association (AERA) as well as a fellow in the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Association for Psychological Sciences (APS). He was a council member of the Sociology of Education Section of ASA (1972-1974), member of the Advisory Board of College Student Personnel Abstracts (1972-1984), program co-chair (symposia) of the 1991 ASHE meeting, and program vice-chair (Faculty, Teaching and Curriculum) of the 1996 AERA meeting. He is the recipient of the 1994 Wilbert J. McKeachie Career Achievement Award of the Special Interest Group in Faculty Teaching, Evaluation, and Development (SIGTFED) of AERA; a 1994-95 Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching (SUNY); the 1995 AERA Distinguished Research Award for the Postsecondary Education Division (Division J); the 1996 ASHE Research Achievement Award; and the 2009 Howard R. Bowen Distinguished Career Award of ASHE.  Early in 2015, he published a memoir of his professional life as Chapter 1 in Higher Education:  Handbook of Theory and Research (Vol. 30) - accessible through the following link: /commcms/sociology/people/faculty/_pdfs/Feldman%20Memoir.pdfFeldman Memoir

Courses taught

Undergraduate

  • Social Psychology
  • Sociology of the Life Course
  • Sociology of Identity
  • Sociology of Youth
  • Sociology of Education

Graduate

  • The Three Faces of Social Psychology
  • Socialization and the Self
  • Sociology of Education
  • The Social Psychology of Higher Education
  • Dissertation Seminar

Selected Publications (Grouped into Four Topical Domains)

A. The Impact of College on Students

Feldman, K. A., and Newcomb, T. M. The Impact of College on Students. Vol. 1. An Analysis of Four Decades of Research. Vol. 2. Summary Tables. San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 1969. 474pp.; 171 pp. Re issued by Transaction Publishers in their "Foundations of Higher Education" Series, with a new introduction by K. A. Feldman, 1994.

Feldman, K. A. Studying the Impacts of Colleges on Students. Sociology of Education, 1969, 42, 3 (Summer), pp. 207-237.

Feldman, K. A. Some Methods for Assessing College Impacts. Sociology of Education, 1971, 44, 2 (Spring), pp. 133-150.

Feldman, K. A. Some Theoretical Approaches to the Study of Change and Stability of College Students. Review of Educational Research 1972, 42, 1 (Winter), pp. 1-26.

Feldman, K. A. (Ed.). College and Student: Selected Readings in the Social Psychology of Higher Education. Elmsford, N.Y. Pergamon Press, 1972. 492pp.

Kaufman, P. and Feldman, K. A. Forming Identities in College: A Sociological Approach. Research in Higher Education, 2004, 45, 5 (August), pp. 463-496.

B. The Significance of Academic Disciplines for College Faculty and Students

Feldman, K. A., and Weiler, J. Changes in Initial Differences among Major Field Groups: An Exploration of the "Accentuation Effect." In W. H. Sewell, R. M. Hauser, and D. L. Featherman (Eds.), Schooling and Achievement in American Society. New York: Academic Press, 1976, pp. 373-407.

Smart, J. C., and Feldman, K. A. "Accentuation Effects" of Dissimilar Academic Departments: An Application and Exploration of Holland's Theory. Research in Higher Education, 1998, 39, 4 (August), pp. 385-418.

Feldman, K. A., Smart, J. C., and Ethington, C. A. Major Field and Person Environment Fit: Using Holland's Theory to Study Change and Stability of College Students. Journal of Higher Education, 1999, 70, 6 (November/December), pp. 642-669.

Smart, J. C., Feldman, K. A., and Ethington, C. A. Academic Disciplines: Holland's Theory and the Study of College Students and Faculty. Nashville, Tenn.: Vanderbilt University Press, 2000. 277pp.

Feldman, K. A., Ethington, C. A., and Smart, J. C. A Further Investigation of Major Field and Person Environment Fit: Sociological Versus Psychological Interpretations of Holland's Theory. Journal of Higher Education, 2001, 72, 6 (November/December), pp. 670-698.

Feldman, K. A., Smart, J. C., and Ethington, C. A. What Do College Students Have to Lose? Exploring the Outcomes of Differences in Person-Environment Fits. Journal of Higher Education, 2004, 75, 5 (September/October), pp. 528-555.

Feldman, K. A., Smart, J.C., and Ethington C. A. Using Holland's Theory to Study Patterns of College Student Success: The Impact of Major Fields on Students. In J.C. Smart (Editor), Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research 23. New York: Springer, 2008, pp: 329-80.

C. Evaluation of College Teachers by Their Students

Feldman, K. A. Grades and College Students' Evaluations of Their Courses and Teachers. Research in Higher Education, 1976, 4, 1 (March), pp. 69-111.

Feldman, K. A. Consistency and Variability among College Students in Rating Their Teachers: A Review and Analysis. Research in Higher Education, 1977, 6, 3 (May), pp. 223-274.

Feldman, K. A. Seniority and Experience of College Teachers as Related to Evaluations They Receive from Students. Research in Higher Education, 1983, 18, 1 (March), pp. 3-124.

Feldman, K. A. Class Size and College Students' Evaluations of Teachers and Courses: A Closer Look. Research in Higher Education, 1984, 21, 1 (September), pp. 45-116.

Feldman, K. A. College Students' Views of Male and Female College Teachers. Part II Evidence from Students' Evaluations of Their Classroom Teachers. Research in Higher Education, 1993, 34, 2 (April), pp. 151-211.

Feldman, K. A. Reflections on the Study of Effective College Teaching and Student Ratings: One Continuing Quest and Two Unresolved Issues. In J. C. Smart (Ed.), Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research, Vol. 13. New York: Agathon Press, 1998, pp. 35-74.

D. Teaching and Learning in the College Classroom

Feldman, K. A. Research Productivity and Scholarly Accomplishment of College Teachers as Related to Their Instructional Effectiveness: A Review and Exploration. Research in Higher Education, 1987, 26, 3 (May), pp. 227-298.

Feldman, K. A. The Association between Student Ratings of Specific Instructional Dimensions and Student Achievement Refining and Extending the Synthesis of Data from Multisection Validity Studies. Research in Higher Education, 1989, 30, 6 (December), pp. 583-645.

Feldman, K. A., and Paulsen, M. B. (Eds.). Teaching and Learning in the College Classroom (ASHE Reader Series). Needham Heights, Mass.: Ginn Press, 1994, 704pp; second edition published by Simon and Schuster Custom Publishing, 1998, 724pp.

Paulsen, M. B., and Feldman, K. A. Taking Teaching Seriously: Meeting the Challenge of Instructional Improvement, ASHE ERIC Higher Education Report No 2. Washington, D.C.: The George Washington University, Graduate School of Education and Human Development, 1995. 187pp.

Paulsen, M. B., and Feldman, K. A. Toward a Reconceptualization of Scholarship: A Human Action Systemwith Functional Imperatives. Journal of Higher Education, 1995, 66, 6 (November/December), pp. 615-640.

Feldman, K. A. Identifying Exemplary Teachers and Teaching: Evidence from Student Ratings. In R. P. Perry and J. C. Smart (Eds.), Higher Education: An Evidence-Based Perspective. New York: Springer, 2007, pp. 93-129.

Feldman, K. A., and Paulsen, M. B. Faculty Motivation: The Role of a Supportive Teaching Culture. In M. Theall (Ed.), Motivation from Within: Approaches for Encouraging Faculty and Students to Excel, New Directions for Teaching and Learning, no 78. San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 1999, pp. 71-78.

Paulsen, M. B., and Feldman, K. A. The Scholarship of Teaching as an Action System. Journal of Higher Education, 2003, 14, 2 & 3, pp. 45-68.

Paulsen, M. B., and Feldman, K. A. The Conditional and Interactional Effects of Epistemological Beliefs on the Self-Regulated Learning of College Students: Motivational Strategies. Research in Higher Education, 2005, 46, 7 (November), pp. 731-768.

Paulsen, M. B., and Feldman, K. A. The Conditional and Interactional Effects of Epistemological Beliefs on the Self-Regulated Learning of College Students: Cognitive and Behavioral Strategies. Research in Higher Education, 2007, 48, 3(May), pp. 353-401