This study examines the sensemaking processes of new college presidents to understand how they develop plausible, working descriptions of the campus and come to understand their role. Semi-structured interviews were completed with 18 presidents who were organizational outsiders and first-time presidents. As newcomers, presidents were found to act…

Persistent disparities in doctoral degree completion have led many institutions to hire graduate diversity officers (GDOs) to increase the presence of underrepresented minorities in graduate programs. This qualitative study of 14 GDOs considers how the dimensions of campus racial climate (CRC) influence the ability of GDOs to carry out this work.…

This address reports the findings of a survey of higher education colleagues on the degree of happiness associated with personal definitions of "meaning of life" and "purpose in life." Using a unique sliding scale, the survey draws items from the Oxford Happiness Project among other sources and began with all ASHE members (N = 1,904) with a final…

This ASHE presidential address considers the meaning of higher education's public accountability in the U.S. context. American higher education has always been publicly accountable in some sense, but the forms and expectations associated with accountability have changed significantly from colonial times to the present. The address traces the…

The recent growth of for-profit higher education has been marked by the rising importance of institutional ownership by publicly traded corporations. This paper looks at 13 publicly traded corporations that own degree-granting for-profit institutions of higher education in the United States, examining corporate growth strategies and their…

This paper explores affirmative action as a social movement with two goals in mind: (a) to challenge dominant notions of higher education reform, while advancing a social movement perspective; and (b) to advance understanding of the role of collective action in supporting affirmative action in college admissions. The authors highlight ways in…

This article asserts that a scholarship of practice should emerge to improve day-to-day administrative practice in higher education. Six characteristics of professional practice in higher education strongly indicate such a need. The primary goals of scholarship of practice are to improve administrative practice in higher education and to develop a…

This study investigated student activists' characterizations of administrators at a southern university in the United States. Findings from interviews with 26 activists indicate that they perceive administrators as gatekeepers, antagonists, supporters, and absentee leaders. Activists had limited understandings of the roles and responsibilities of…

Post-tenure review has been studied primarily as an administrative issue in higher education; less attention has been given to empirically examining the underlying assumptions of faculty regarding this phenomenon. By surveying a representative sample of over 400 instructional faculty at two research universities, this study contributes to what is…

Although numerous theories have been proffered, to date activist boards are an empirically unexamined force in public higher education governance. Using the concept of institutional entrepreneurship, this case study examines the reciprocal role that board members and staff played in the organizational development of board activism. In the case of…

This national study of academic deans examined the social and cognitive dimensions underlying disciplinary variations in respondents' self reports of their administrative behavior. Discriminant analyses identified significant linear functions that distinguished behaviors of deans from hard/pure, hard/applied, soft/pure, and soft/applied discipline…

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…

Closer university-market relations are evidenced in increased university patenting, the formation of start-up companies, and partnerships with industry. They are part of a state and policy effort to link science and engineering to the market, thereby developing new technologies, stimulating economic growth, and creating new jobs. Yet the blurring…

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…