A case study explored attempts to change the culture related to sexual orientation at a small, Catholic college. Focus was on the perceptions and experiences of gay, lesbian, and bisexual students, staff, faculty, and their allies. These participants experienced a culture filled with contradictions and paradoxes. The report delineates and…

A survey of 47 state higher education executive officers about proposals made between 1989 and 1994 to restructure higher education governance patterns investigated actions taken on the proposals, who initiated them, why they were advanced, and the internal, regional, and external factors in the restructuring proposals. The 29 proposals are…

Early deans of women in American higher education shaped the profession of student affairs and college administration through commitment to research, student contact, and strong belief in the worth of women to higher education and of higher education to women. Over time, deans of women lost their positions as deans of students, almost always men,…

Discussion of doctoral education looks at current trends in demand and supply; previous patterns in the nationality of doctoral degree recipients (1985-94); expansion and contraction in master's and doctoral degrees awarded, by discipline group (1976-93); and structural features of doctoral education (competition, departmental control, student…

Describes the process of retrenchment at a medium-sized state university (pseudonyms used) for the purpose of analyzing the isomorphic pressures (mimetic, coercive, normative) surfacing during the process and the role played by rationalism in decision-making. Draws on the literature of organizational theory and change, and makes comparisons with…

Reports a national survey (1994-95) of governing boards and board members of Canadian universities. Outlines the context for the study, methodology, and results concerning the characteristics of governing boards and board members, the work of board members, the role of boards and members, and major differences between university governing boards…

Discusses the growing phenomenon of private college counseling services (independent educational consultants, or IECs), using survey results (n=157 IECs) to document their characteristics and those of their users, and considers the implications of the privatization of college counseling for admissions, students' college choice behaviors, and…

Discussion of the controversy over freshman composition course requirements looks at the origins and evolution of such courses in American higher education, philosophy underlying rhetoric instruction, criticisms of freshman English courses, the writing-across-the-curriculum movement, attitudes about mechanical correctness in writing instruction,…

Examines four postmodern forms of thought that are posing fundamental challenges to modern assumptions about knowledge; all reject absolute foundations of knowledge, which are rooted in the notion that legitimate intellectual activity is the discipline-based pursuit of knowledge of entities that exist before and independent of inquiry. Offers a…

Reviews political science literature on changing state politics. A statistical analysis focuses on the relationship between changing legislative structures and higher education for all 50 states. Presents a case study of Pennsylvania that suggests a possible causal relationship between changing political structure and limitation of public…

A study operationally defined academic and social integration to fit the population of Hispanic two-year college students, and examined psychometric properties of the measures through confirmatory factor analysis. Findings confirmed the importance of culturally sensitive operational definitions of academic and social integration when including…

A study investigated the measurement of organizational decline in 82 universities where objective and perceptual measures of decline appeared to contradict each other. Results suggest institutions with objectively-measured decline without perception of decline are characterized by processes of "decline as crisis," while institutions with perceived…

Addresses the impact that postmodernism has had on the teaching of painting to artists who want to pursue a studio-oriented career in the visual arts. Provides a literature review pertinent to teaching art within higher education and discusses postmodern painting. Highlights the implications for teaching and research. Includes references. (CMK)

Shows how, among the cultures of the indigenous peoples of tropical South America, the human body offers a language and mechanism central to the process of production, elaboration, and transmission, of knowledge, skills, and emotions. Discusses recent anthropological debates and describes a new discipline known as "anthropology of the child."…

Contends that Westerners are accustomed to learning about the world through our senses of sight and hearing, and that "lower" senses--smell, taste, and touch--tend to be associated with "savagery" or sensualism. Provides a cross-cultural look at the Colombian Desana people who acquire knowledge through full-bodied experience and interpretation of…