Interview Paper

MHE 7100 Interview Paper Instructions and Rubric

100 points (25% of total grade)

Overview

In MHE 7100, students will interview a staff or faculty member at an institution of higher education. For the interview paper, the student will demonstrate an understanding of an institutional type, by way of interview with a representative of a particular institution and will understand how the institutional type’s mission is lived in the modern era.

Students are encouraged to challenge themselves in this assignment by interviewing a faculty or staff member at an institution with which the student has no affiliation. That is, students are encouraged to interview someone who does not work at the student’s current institution, former institution, or institution of employment. Students should turn to their peers and/or instructors for connections to faculty and staff at other institutions.

Students are encouraged to conduct interviews in person. However, phone and web conferencing are permitted. There is a short list of required interview questions; students are also required to create at least 5 questions of their own.

Notes:

1) This purpose of the interview is to gain a sense of the institution’s history & role. Accordingly, interview questions should NOT focus on the interviewee as a person or on their job functions.

2) Be sure to tell your interviewee about the purpose of the assignment and that their name will be used in your paper.

Interview Questions

Required Interview Questions:

1) Describe the institution’s history in your own words.

2) Tell me what the institution’s mission means to you.

3) How do the mission and history of the institution shape your work?

4) What current challenges is the institution facing?

5) How do you see the institution developing in the next 10 years?

In addition to the five questions listed above, students must create an additional 5 questions (minimum) of their own. Students should review the course’s weekly content to create questions.

Paper Requirements

Institutional Overview – Using the institution’s web site as a source, provide an overview of the mission, vision, and values of the institution. Using institutional documents, provide an overview of the Carnegie Classification, the institutional history, and plans for growth (see the institution’s strategic plans).

Interview Overview – Provide details about the interview: interviewee’s background, your rationale for selecting this interviewee, and the information you learned from the interviewee (in narrative/paragraph form).

Analysis – Synthesize information learned from the Institutional Overview and Interview Overview. Based on what you have learned, what is the role of this institution? Who is the institution designed to serve? Is it succeeding in its mission? Based on the history of the institution, history of higher education, and current contexts, what does the future hold for this institution?

Evaluation Criteria	Requirements for Earning Full Credit	Maximum Point Value of Criterion for each paper
Sources	Sources are introduced, contextualized, and made relevant to the purpose of the paper. It is always clear when information, opinions, or facts come from a source as opposed to coming from the student. Sources are appropriately documented according to APA style	15
Support	Develops specific ideas in depth with strong and appropriate supporting examples, data, and experiences.	25
Organization	Paper is well organized and orderly from beginning to end.	20
Components	All required components are included & fully developed.	20
Writing	Few, if any, errors of punctuation, spelling, capitalization, or grammatical errors. Sources are appropriately referenced and documented according to APA style	20