The purpose of this paper is to extend the current state of knowledge about the conditions under which faculty do make an impact on students. (Author)

Examines national academic annual meetings as a series of rituals taking place both in formal and informal settings. (Author/PG)

An examination of the structure of academic governance at six unionized four-year institutions--two public universities, two state colleges, and two private liberal arts colleges--shows that faculty unionization is one contextual factor, of many such factors, that affects change in the formal and informal decision-making structure. (Author/JMD)

Models for university planning must adapt to the political process of decision making, and to the structures and priorities of each institution. In this regard, the limitations of conventional models are discussed, and an approach to model-building that emphasizes institution-specific devices is described and applied to the University of…

It is frequently claimed that learning "how to learn" is more important than what is learned. On the other hand, many are more concerned with the mastery of content. The tendency to regard knowledge and skills as two different things is examined and it is argued that they are related phenomena, not separate entities. (Author/JMD)

A study was conducted to examine undergraduate external degree programs and to assess their value in terms of job advancement and preparation for further education for approximately 1500 selected pre-September, 1975, graduates from 21 institutions with external degree programs. The relevance of such programs for adult education is discussed.…

Issues related to the construction of instruments for course and instructor evaluation by students are reviewed, and the construction process is examined in terms of domain specification, scaling, item generation, and statistical analysis. A set of guidelines applicable to this process is derived from research and current practices. (Author/JMD)

Faculty and student ratings of improvement, taken late in a semester, were more positive for faculty participants in a teaching improvement program than for nonparticipants. A follow-up study of program users after one or more semesters substantiated these results, with apparent and durable improvements observed. (Author)

In view of recent government proposals for "cyclical life planning" based on a sabbatical concept, this essay discusses the evolution of the Hebrew Sabbath and notes how those origins inform both the specific proposals for cyclical life planning and the general twentieth-century concept of sabbatical. (Author/LBH)

Only if significant changes are made in the formal reward systems is it likely that the benefits of improving instruction will become greater than the cost for faculty in higher education. The rewards of instructional development currently are primarily intrinsic and personal, suggests this study. (Author/LBH)

The first D.A. programs appeared in 1967 at Carnegie-Mellon University, but the degree is now offered in 24 institutions and nearly 500 degrees have been granted. The degree is widely accepted as appropriate for college teachers, although some institutions prefer to offer modified Ph.D.s or Ed.D.s for this purpose. (Author/LBH)