This article provides a synthesis of literature on the conceptualization of students as customers and connects the rise of this understanding of students to the expansion of free-market logic into higher education. It details the ways in which the customer orientation appears to be incongruent with the educational lives of college students, and…

This article analyzes 255 articles published in seven peer-reviewed journals over a 10-year period and presents examples of how higher education researchers undertake the study of campus racial climates; racial differences in access, outcomes, and attainment; and the experiences of students, faculty, and administrators of color on predominantly…

In recent years, growing numbers of four-year institutions have implemented a new type of need-based financial aid policy directed toward low- and middle-income students. These initiatives--referred to here as Loan Replacement Grant (LRG) programs--greatly reduce or eliminate loans in student aid awards and replace them with grants. This paper…

The national media and academic journals have reported a sizable wage gap between men and women in academe--a gap that has persisted over time. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics for 2004-2005 show that the average salary for all male faculty ($69,337) exceeded the average salary for female faculty ($56,926) by almost 22%.…

Examines the quality of the undergraduate experience in the 1990s, using student data that spans the four decades beginning with the 1960s. Two questions are addressed: whether college students in the 1960s and 1970s gained more from their undergraduate experience than subsequent cohorts, and whether reforms are having the desired effects. Data…

The literature on mid-level administrators in higher education has identified a number of factors that may affect their attitudes and performance, either positively or negatively. To a large degree, individual perceptions concerning recognition, discrimination, external relations, and mobility explain morale. Institutions can address these issues…

Reviews four recent books on academic women. Collectively, they suggest that new scholarship on academic women is more international, reflects a postmodern attention to difference and power, rejects "women's ways" feminism as a sufficient response, and seeks to reclaim issues of power, authority, and politics through attention to policy.…

If colleges and universities were to examine closely the results of research on student persistence, they would find several ways to change their academic organization to promote greater educational community among students, faculty, and staff, including supporting connected learning experiences; reorganizing the first year of college; and…

Summarizes research findings on campus racial climate according to a four-dimensional model: (1) an institutions' historical legacy of inclusion/exclusion of various racial/ethnic groups; (2) structural diversity, or numerical representations of various racial/ethnic groups; (3) psychological climate (perceptions, attitudes among groups); and (4)…

Two recent books, "The Case for Tenure" (Matthew W. Finkin, ed.) and "Promotion and Tenure" (William G. Tierney, Estela Mara Bensimon) are important contributions to the dialog about college faculty tenure. Each contributes to but does not fill the professoriate's need for a defense of tenure that incorporates the tradition of principled support…

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…

Literature on college faculty workload and productivity is reviewed from four perspectives: issues in defining and measuring workload and productivity; status of research on workload and productivity; legislation, policies, and related external activities at the state level; and explanations for a perceived decline in academic productivity.…

(NOTE: See HE 512 216 for journal name change information.) Studies conducted in the 1960s and 1970s of enrollment demand for higher education are reviewed. Both sociological and economic variables are investigated in the studies reviewed and a wide diversity of results is noted. (SF)

Theories of organizational effectiveness are examined for their application to higher education, and the competing values model for assessing college effectiveness is recommended as a research and administrative vehicle. (MSE)

Problems with previous factor analytic studies on effective college instruction include: lack of theoretical rationale for item selection; use of incorrect units of analysis; lack of student randomization to classes; failure to control for setting effects; and low content and construct validity. (Author/MSE)