An analysis of three decades of data from national samples of entering college freshmen reveals that (a) there are substantial socioeconomic inequities in access to the most selective U.S. colleges and universities and that (b) American higher education is more socioeconomically stratified today than at any time during the past three decades. The…

For better or for worse, faculty senates remain a critical component of campus governance. Yet an understanding of how senates with various structures and cultures operate in the context of campus governance is limited. Based on site visits to 12 campuses, the author provides four models for understanding faculty senates: functional, influential,…

The authors construct and respond to several questions about changing administrative costs for new Research I Universities, a group of institutions that might be expected to incur new costs as a result of their new status. Using IPEDS data, the study provides mixed support for the claim that universities reaching the pinnacle of research…

Using survey and qualitative data, this study identified emergent themes that remain consistent across or differentiate among reports of women earning their doctoral degree relatively quickly ("early-finishers") and those taking considerably longer ("late-finishers"). Emergent themes included commitment to timely degree completion, faculty…

This study examined the workdays of college of education deans and then compared those findings to the workdays of business executives by analyzing activities performed during a traditional five-day work week. Results show that college of education deans exhibit behavior comparable to that of business executives and, in turn, suggest a possible…

How is the new industrial model of privatization, commercialization, and corporatization altering higher education's traditional mission? To provide policymakers with understanding about the traditional charter between higher education and society, this article defines the concepts of the public good underlying the charter, analyzes the new…

How do intellectual initiatives across disciplines evolve? This qualitative case study of 11 interdisciplinary research initiatives at Emory University identifies key factors in their development: the passionate commitments of scholarly leaders, the presence of strong collegial networks, access to timely and multiple resources, flexible practices,…

The 1944 G.I. Bill is often thought to have democratized higher education in the United States. This paper reviews evidence showing that the G.I. Bill's impact on education enrollments was more limited than is generally recognized. It attributes the gap between the law's perceived and documented effects to the symbolism surrounding postwar…

This study uses multilevel modeling to examine, after taking student-level predictors of enrollment into account, the effects of state public policies on the type of institution high school graduates attend. Four types of state policies (direct appropriations, tuition, financial aid, and K-12 academic preparation) influence the type of college…

This study examines differential college-choice behavior and outcomes among Asian Pacific American (APA) student subpopulations with the goal of examining the extent to which the Asian American population is, in fact, a homogeneous "model minority" in college destinations and decision-making processes. The results suggest that their postsecondary…

This qualitative study explores how male students from different racial backgrounds experience racial diversity within racially diverse or homogeneous friendship groups. Based on an inductive analysis of purposive interviews, the author found that diverse friendships among men may result from both an attitude of intentionality with regard to…

The introduction of baccalaureate degree programming and credentialing expands the mission and may lead to the alteration of the institutional identity of the community college. This study examines baccalaureate-degree granting community colleges through the lenses of both globalization theory and institutional theory, in a multisite, two-nation…

Despite widespread support for interdisciplinary curricula, there is little evidence that such courses are particularly efficacious or that they are superior to disciplinary courses in promoting student learning. To understand how and why interdisciplinary courses might promote specific learning outcomes, the authors apply cognitive and learning…

This article links colonial/neocolonial and feminist literature with discourses on international students to examine how a discourse of imperialism constructs and represents international students in U.S. universities. Applying a critical discourse analysis to 78 articles published in the "Chronicle of Higher Education" between 1996 and 1999, the…

New data on institutional saving illuminate U.S. higher education policy questions in a number of different ways. In the data lies a description of how various types of schools are doing financially and whether their present behavior is sustainable. The data complete the picture of the sources and uses of revenue, which helps to pin down the…