Critical incidents in college teaching and administration were studied, based on survey responses from 356 faculty at 31 urban institutions in various regions of the United States. "Critical incidents" either create or damage faculty or administrators' motivation for achieving excellence in their task performance. In addition to determining the occurrence of critical incidents and their effect upon the teaching or administrative performance of faculty and administrators, samplings of autobiographical descriptions of positive/negative effects of these incidents on performance were acquired. The critical incidents were categorized according to specific headings: professional worth, institutional policies and procedures, faculty and administrative work style, job assignment, personal/interpersonal problems, and work quality. Critical incidents occurred among faculty and administrators, but they were experienced more often by faculty than by administrators. Also, the occurrence of critical incidents was more frequent among females than males. The critical incidents pertaining to professional worth had more positive than negative effects in teaching and administration, while those pertaining to faculty/administrative work style and institutional policies and procedures had more negative effects. Narrative and autobiographical descriptions for six participants are included. (SW)