Most faculty are neither sufficiently skilled nor psychologically disposed to perform competently and find rewards in the range of tasks required of them. Addressing the teaching role alone, the "knowledge transfer" subrole is disaggregated here into four technologies with associated skill sets and personality dispositions; it is argued that…

Economic, political pressures have focused state legislative interest on faculty productivity. In Maryland, a negotiated approach resulted in a mission-sensitive policy, including a reporting mechanism to measure instructional and noninstructional productivity. Legislative reporting requirements are being reduced as trust develops about reporting…

A study used the "met-expectations" framework to examine effects of postgraduate work experience on tenure acquisition. Pretenure faculty with academic postdoctoral experience had better time management skills, were clearer about work priorities, experienced less work stress than inexperienced faculty. Early work stress was associated with lower…

Evaluates the impact on college student retention of a University of Michigan program promoting student-faculty research partnerships premised on the fact that successful retention efforts integrate students into the university's core academic mission. A participant-control group design shows that partnerships are most successful in promoting…

Analyzes interview data from 24 higher education faculty from 19 universities to assess the extent to which the cumulative advantage perspective was consistent with experiences they described as significant to their publishing productivity. Two factors voiced by a majority of participants relatively late commitment to an academic career and the…

A study identified commonalities in the experiences of ethnic and racial minority faculty members at a predominantly white research university in Hawai'i. Despite the heterogeneity of minority faculty, common experiences include (1) the bicultural stance cultivated; (2) ethnocentrism perceived; (3) and discriminatory behavior experienced. The…

A study tested the accuracy of a general model in predicting college predisposition among eighth-grade students of diverse ethnicity at schools characterized by high minority enrollments and high participation levels in subsidized school lunch programs. Results suggest models using broadly aggregated student data may overlook important…

At four colleges, 135 African American women students completed measures of self-concept, gender identity, and ethnic identity, and were interviewed. Results suggest that women's self-concepts of race and gender are experienced differently depending on their school's racial and gender composition. Colleges should reexamine diversity efforts to…

Provides models helpful to policymakers at state and institutional levels involved in academic program review and discontinuation, outlines levels of policy decisions for program discontinuation, and examines models that may be effective at each level. Concludes with program discontinuation-related recommendations. (Author/MSE)

A study investigated organizational change at five community colleges, each having a relatively new president. Data were gathered from institutional documents, state agency documents, and interviews with faculty, administrators, and support staff at each institution. Results indicate that perceptions of leadership succession, the particular…

A study analyzed factors affecting peer assessments of faculty quality and program effectiveness using the 1993 National Research Council graduate program survey. Results indicate determinants for faculty quality and program effectiveness are very similar. Further, programs in private institutions and/or institutions with more highly rated…

Examines shifts in federal student aid and research and development policies over two decades, and argues that policy changes have converged on public research universities, making them exemplars of Reagan economics marked by privatization, deregulation, and commercialization. Patterns of institutional resource allocation to departments are…

Examines the prospects for change in the financing of American higher education in the next decade, looking at current patterns of financing along three dimensions (total resources, cost per unit, apportionment of costs) that may or may not change profoundly and how they may do so. Considers the likelihood that such shifts will be evolutionary or…

Examines the prospects for protecting academic freedom in American higher education, addressing three areas of potential conflict and tension: pressures to divorce the protection of academic freedom from formal tenure systems; increasing regulation of harassment and other forms of incivility in the collegiate community; and academic freedom in…

Examines quantitative studies, especially small-scale statistical probes, which have become the dominant mode of inquiry in higher education, but criticisms of this approach are mounting. Describes the presuppositions of this prevailing mode, and several strands of criticism, noting how education and social research have changed over four decades.…