In this article, I assert that the work of colleges and universities forms a social action system. I array the critical positions represented in this issue according to the four functional imperatives of social action systems: adaptation, goal attainment, integration, and pattern maintenance. I discuss the role of normative structures for these…

This study examined whether Muslim students' college experiences, GPA, and satisfaction were different from their non-Muslim peers. Muslim students were more engaged in diversity-related activities, but were less satisfied with their college experience than Jewish students. The implications suggest extending the scope of campus diversity beyond…

We examined the post-publication period of six feminist articles (Hart, 2006) using citation indexing. From our findings, we argue that both indexes are embedded within an enduring system of academic patriarchy and neither index truly measures impact of scholarly work. Implications of current impact measures for promotion, tenure, and merit are…

We estimate the effects of faculty scholarly productivity and institutional characteristics on the distribution of federally funded research grants. Although faculty with more publications and citations have a greater likelihood of securing competitive research grants than their less prolific peers, the benefit of having published papers in terms…

This study focuses on the differences in college student dropout behavior among racial/ethnic groups. We employ event history methods and data from the Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS) and National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) surveys to investigate how financial aid may differentially influence dropout risks among these student…

In this study, I examine racial disparities in successful remediation in math. I first quantify a previously unidentified racial gap in successful remediation and then seek to explain this gap through a set of mediating and moderating variables. In addition, I test the relative efficacy of remediation across racial groups. (Contains 6 tables and 5…

Institutional diversity, or the existence of many different kinds of colleges and universities within a specific higher education system, has long been recognized as a positive and unique attribute of the U.S. higher education system. This paper describes a study that examines the change in institutional diversity across all 50 states between two…

This paper describes the attitudes, perceptions, and preferences of faculty at Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) and Predominantly Black Institutions (PBI). Using the 1999 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF-99) data set, the authors compared instructors of these minority serving institutions with instructors from similar institutions…

The purpose of this study is twofold: (1) to contribute to one's understanding of the college experiences of part-time students; and (2) to determine the environmental impact of the presence of part-time students and their experiences on full-time students. The authors choose to focus on a single effective educational practice, student-faculty…

Most of the internal and public scrutiny of college sports involves high profile athletes in sports such as football and men's basketball; yet, recent research on the impact of sport participation on student learning and development has largely focused on comparing all athletes to their non-athlete peers across institutional types. There is a need…

In this paper, the authors introduce the "Targeted Assessment Rubric for Interdisciplinary Writing," an empirically-tested instrument designed to assess interdisciplinary writing at the collegiate level. Interdisciplinary writing presents unique challenges to students, calling upon them to mediate the rhetorical, theoretical, and methodological…

This paper calls for an analysis of time to be integrated into the theories on the globalization of higher education. Specifically, the author argues that academic capitalism, fuelled by globalization, has led to changes in the university visible in time/space compression, time acceleration, the reification of time and our internalization of the…

Eight African American women's mentoring experiences in graduate school are examined pertaining to lessons learned, characteristics and behaviors of African American female mentors, challenges with White mentors (male and female), and stereotypical images of African American female mentors. The findings support mentoring as a method of empowerment…

This study applies the principles of critical race theory to examine quantitatively the experiences of a national sample of 37,582 faculty. Among the key factors influencing retention and satisfaction are campus racial climate, autonomy and independence, and the review and promotion process. Results support the value of examining faculty of color…

This study investigated the use of a computer-mediated communication information system by organizational members in a higher education institution with mixed methods. It compares the differences of liberal arts academic units, professional academic units, and administrative units in the university in their technology use. Specifically, it found…