When heroes moonlight as graduate students: Accommodating those called into public service after the Hurricane Harvey disaster

Abstract

This study evaluates faculty efforts to accommodate graduate students in the Tarleton State University Masters of Public Administration and Masters of Criminal Justice programs called away from classes in the first weeks of the 2017 academic year as disaster responders called into duty by Hurricane Harvey. The evaluation employed a theoretical process map to track each case (student class experience) through action steps and corresponding variables related to implementation and intervention. The analysis found that although accommodations (e.g., flexible due dates, condensed content, and self-paced learning) worked in every case, only 77% of cases used them. The omission of use in the other 23% cases was due to implementation error, a lack of awareness regarding student needs, and a bilateral failure of initiative where faculty failed to offer solutions and students to request them. It concludes with ways in which faculty can remedy this by raising awareness and taking the initiative themselves.