The purpose of the seven rules discussed in this article is to enable the presenter to embrace his/her anxieties and put them to work: (1) Observe time limits scrupulously; (2) Write for the real audience (a paper written for the ears to hear is different from a paper written for the eyes to read); (3) Rehearse; (4) Refrain from fidgeting; (5)…

In this article, the author argues that taking an aggressive approach in hiring faculty is the only way to avoid a mediocre pool of candidates. Effective recruitment takes many forms and will depend on the context, but it begins with a search committee that has a clear understanding of its role in the process. The committee's first objective is to…

Government investigations into alleged conflicts of interest in student-aid programs continue and now have widened to include study-abroad programs. It seems as if almost every day the news contains reports concerning possible questionable practices by colleges and universities. In this article, the authors discuss current scandals and possible…

Colleges regularly engage in conversations about enrollment planning, curricular change, athletics, and many other topics. Yet those same institutions fail, or at least struggle, to resolve crucial issues about diversity. That does not imply that campus efforts to increase diversity are stagnant. Rather, it suggests that, although diversity…

Just because a professor has been denied tenure doesn't mean that he or she must exit academe. In this article, the author focuses on how to get a new job in higher education. He presents a set of steps designed to help academics choose appropriate positions for which to apply and brand themselves as attractive candidates. Important features to…

Academics welcome summer with a collective sigh of relief. Finally they can get to those tasks that are nearly impossible to accomplish during a busy academic year: working on that manuscript, completing the revisions on an article, learning the new laboratory technique from the colleague across the hall. However, those going on the job market in…

Explaining that tight finances are forcing colleges to rethink spending on information technology, offers 10 strategies to help minimize costs. (EV)

Offers suggestions for deciphering letters of recommendation in academia. Notes the critical role such letters play in job offers, tenure decisions, and grant decisions. A table gives examples of typical positive phrases in such letters and possible negative interpretations. A variety of examples illustrate problems of honesty, confidentiality,…

Urges professors to organize online courses in ways that prevent cheating and suggests such tactics as asking students for their sources of information, using a camera atop students' computers to send images, having exams monitored by a proctor, using the Internet to identify possible plagiarism, and getting to know individual students. (DB)

The Vatican's statement on Catholic universities outlines the objective of strengthening Catholic higher education worldwide and discusses the ecclesiastical and pastoral functions of the institutions, their role in society and in the church, Catholic university types, the environment and curriculum orientations, and planning and cooperation. (MSE)

Thomas A. Emmet, a special assistant to the president of Regis College and a leader of how-to seminars on handbooks, recommends organizing the material by dividing it into six chapters by topic. A model outline for the contents of a faculty handbook is presented. (MLW)

Cocaine, the highly addictive substance, is being used by alarming numbers of undergraduates, and many are selling it on their campuses to support their own habits. A questionnaire for students who might be in trouble with cocaine and don't know it is provided. (MLW)

Proposed regulation changes concerning academics, financial aid, recruiting, membership, eligibility, governance, personnel, seasons, and amateurism in intercollegiate athletics, to be voted on by institutional representatives, are summarized. (MSE)

Pennsylvania's sophisticated system for student loan fraud and abuse detection is described, including the factors felt to contribute to its success and suggestions for improving other state agency fraud units. (MSE)

The new goals for teacher education proposed by the Holmes Group Consortium, the education deans of 23 research universities, concern the institutional environment, faculty, students, and professional curriculum. (MSE)