Discusses implications for colleges and universities of the coming retirement of the cohort of faculty brought in to teach the baby boomers. Notes both positive and negative financial impacts, effects of the greater amounts of wealth held by senior faculty on their decisions, and an increasing diffusion in retirement ages. (DB)

A group of 36 campus administrators, publishers, librarians, and association leaders have identified nine principles to radically change the scholarly publishing system, seen as necessary due to the continuing escalation of prices and volume. Principles focus on creating alternatives to high-cost journals, de-emphasizing publication quantity in…

Presents data from the annual "Survey of Earned Doctorates" showing slightly increased numbers of doctoral degrees awarded in 1998, increased diversity in doctorate recipients, and declines in number of non-U.S. citizens earning doctorates. Tables and graphs show recipients by sex and ethnicity, characteristics of recipients by broad field,…

A survey of 33,785 faculty in 378 colleges and universities found nearly one-third were 55 or older, compared with one-quarter a decade ago. Over the same period, the proportion of faculty under 45 has fallen from 41% to 34%. While more women are in academe, ethnic diversification has not progressed. The survey also examined attitudes toward…

United States institutions awarded 42,705 doctorates in 1997, the highest one-year total ever, and a 32% increase over a decade ago. Some fields, primarily the sciences and engineering, experienced declines. Data are presented on the demographic characteristics and employment/postdoctoral education plans of doctorate recipients, institutions…

Colleges and universities are reporting more available tenure-track jobs. However, because of the lack of such jobs during the 1990s, it may not bring much relief to the profession. New Ph.D.'s are competing with the many doctoral recipients who have spent years in temporary teaching and research jobs hoping to obtain a tenure-track position. (MSE)

The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation has begun a grant program to expand career options for Ph.D.s in the humanities, both within and outside academe. Awards will help academic departments encourage students to interact with the world as part of graduate training; use training in nonacademic settings; and match top students with…

According to an American Association of University Professors survey, at 19 universities this year the average salary of full professors exceeded $100,000; 10 institutions pay full professors an average of under $33,300. Faculty at doctoral institutions received the largest raises. Changes over the previous year are tabulated by institution type,…

A disagreement between the George Mason University (Virginia) faculty senate and its governing board over how much credit to award for R.O.T.C. (Reserve Officers Training Corps) courses has escalated into a major confrontation over faculty authority over the curriculum and academic policy. The board questions whether the faculty senate is…

Increasingly, doctoral programs are cutting enrollments to allow them to offer more financial support to doctoral students, often guaranteeing five-year stipends. The combination of fewer applicants and fewer places in doctoral programs has created competition for the best graduate students. Course offerings have also been reduced, making…

A commercial enterprise, the Teaching Company, is recruiting gifted college teachers to record courses on video and audio tape, to be marketed nationally in an adult education series. While some colleagues dismiss such ventures, participating faculty feel the company is helping their disciplines. Some of the company's competitors hire actors…

The American Academy for Liberal Education, established in 1992, has gained a reputation for conservatism that is unpopular among the liberal arts professoriate, which is historically liberal, but the Academy insists its only cause is undergraduate education. The Academy recently won approval from the federal government to accredit entire…

In sciences, postdoctoral fellowships have become the terminal academic credential for a research career. Positions are supposed to be temporary, but amount to a holding pattern for many unable to find permanent jobs in research or needing to assemble the required publishing record. Some institutions are beginning to acknowledge this problem and…

A recent Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching report counters the conventional wisdom in academe that faculty research must be evaluated by standards different from those of teaching and service, maintaining that the different types of faculty work have much in common and must be judged similarly if teaching and service are to gain…

An annual national survey of college faculty salaries found faculty at public institutions faring better than those at private schools, with the latter receiving smaller raises than last year. The survey's focus is on undergraduate programs. Engineering faculty had the highest and nursing faculty the lowest average salaries. Average salaries, by…