Christian K. Anderson is a Ph.D. candidate in Higher Education at The Pennsylvania State University.

Abstract
For over three decades, the existence of a women’s college advantage has been the subject of ongoing debate. Widely cited studies by Tidball and others argue that graduates of women’s colleges achieve higher levels of success and are more likely to enter male-dominated fields than female graduates of coeducational institutions. However, a growing body of research suggests that student characteristics, such as socioeconomic status and ability, and institutional characteristics such as selectivity are the confounding variables actually responsible for these results. While the bulk of the evidence supports the existence of differential
benefits for women’s college and coeducational female graduates, there is a need for further exploration. The questions we should be focusing on now concern causality and application. How do women’s colleges benefit students and how can we apply those lessons in higher education? By investigating student learning outcomes, researchers may begin to answer these questions.

Betty J. Harper is a Ph.D. candidate in Higher Education at The Pennsylvania State University.

Abstract
This study asks: Do higher education institutions form lobbying alliances and if so why, when, and how do they function within those alliances? The study employs the conceptual framework developed by Hojnacki and finds her framework useful in understanding state higher education interest group alliances. Institutions form alliances for specific strategic reasons; most importantly to increase the potential influence institutions have on state governments. The study found that in trying to understand state higher education interest group activity, scholars must take into consideration the context within which the interest groups and institutions operate.

David A. Tandberg is a Ph.D. candidate in Higher Education and a M.A. candidate in Political Science at The Pennsylvania State University.

Abstract
The American goal of education is to change lives, not in an abstract sense of personal enlightenment, but as an active influence on thought and behavior. Hence, educators are charged with the responsibility of providing students with the learning experiences necessary to develop, as Bowen suggests, “practical competence” in citizenship, economic productivity, and in the practical affairs of life. Public scholarship, an emergent pedagogy, builds on the innovative hands-on practices of service learning and undergraduate research, but may further enhance both cognitive and affective student development. This article reviews research on student development as it is shaped by service learning and undergraduate research experiences, and establishes linkages between these educational practices and public scholarship. The purpose of this paper is to explore how faculty may simultaneously assist undergraduate students in achieving disciplinary goals conjointly with civic skills through the scholarly research of public issues and problems.

Emily M. Janke is a Ph.D. candidate in Higher Education at The Pennsylvania State University.

This essay examines why scholars engage in the writing process and what is to be gained by this endeavor—not only by the reader but also by the author. We invited Dr. Geiger to write this essay, asking him simply: Why is the publication of academic research important and what purpose does it serve? Why should students engage in the publication process? As editors of this student journal we hope this essay, as a coda to the third volume of Higher Education in Review, will help students—even those who may not pursue an academic career—to better understand the role and importance of research and publication and to consider why we engage in the scholarly process.

– The Editors

Roger L. Geiger is Distinguished Professor and Professor-in-Charge of Higher Education and Senior Scientist in the Center for the Study of Higher Education at The Pennsylvania State University. He can be reached at rlg9@psu.edu.