The conflict between immediacy and accuracy in data-gathering and analysis is discussed. The case of the Postsecondary Transcript Sample (PETS) of the National Longitudinal Study is used to illustrate the particulars of this conflict and their resolution on the side of accuracy. (Author/MLW)

An overview of the historical traditions presented by Bruce Kimball in his "Orators and Philosophers: A History of the Idea of Liberal Education" is presented. The significance of the structure of the Catholic and other Christian churches in perpetuating the ideal and reality of a liberal arts education is discussed. (Author/MLW)

The usefulness of the value-added model in assessing community college effectiveness, especially for nontraditional students and programs, is examined. A case study in which community college students beginning with low academic qualifications transferred into a university shows that they performed well compared to students starting at the…

The academic common law may soon vanish, not as a result of court action but due to the American Association of University Professors's declining role in defending the common law of academic employment. The profession is challenged to maintain its independence from external control by reconsidering its own common law. (Author/MLW)

Five recent books about Southern universities that shed light on the problem of writing official histories and on the evolution of higher education in this region are reviewed. A collective profile of the "Southern university" is sketched. (Author/MLW)

The effects of work environment factors on faculty research productivity and turnover intentions were examined while controlling for prestige of the employing institution, disciplinary area, and academic rank. Available resources had a significant positive effect on research productivity. (Author/MLW)

Job search activities of two-year college administrators were studied based on Granovetter's findings. Attention was paid to the importance of personal contacts versus formal sources of information and methods of becoming a candidate, factors that influence contact networks, and whether job-search behavior differed by type of administrative…

The relationship between the content of higher education literature and the articles' structures was examined. Eight core journals were analyzed and articles were coded according to a modified Higher Education Bibliography Taxonomy prepared by D. Kent Halstead. Article types are described. (MLW)

A meta-analysis of 31 studies found financial aid to have a small, but significant, positive effect on student persistence, enabling lower-income students to persist at a rate roughly equal to that of middle- and upper-income students. (Author/MLW)

The recent increased emphasis on quality in higher education may reflect larger issues of legitimacy and authority inherent in the modern democratic state. Several traditional and emergent perspectives on the legitimacy of higher education and the use of ad hoc committees to define, advocate, and implement reforms are examined. (Author/MLW)

Two professional education associations provide leadership by clarifying directions for scholarly inquiry at their annual meeting. The research agenda covers teaching, assessment, collaborative learning/student learning, critical thinking, liberal education/general education, and voluntary service. (Author/MLW)

A grounded theory of chairperson management strategy derived from interviews with outstanding chairpersons at three urban universities is presented. Five interacting factors lead to department leadership effectiveness: leader values, department stages, management strategies, congruence level, and resource control. (Author/MLW)

An examination of the origins, objectives, and response to the Soviet Union's widespread reform of higher education suggests that, if fully enacted, the reform could provide a quite different and powerful system. (MSE)

A method of classifying college student groups according to motivation theory for the purposes of research into measuring student satisfaction suggests that typologies of student subgroups can assist in research on college outcomes. (MSE)

A study of the predictive validity of Tinto's theory of college student attrition is described. Compensatory interaction between levels of goal and institutional commitment indicated that institutional commitment had its greatest positive influence on retention for students with low levels of commitment to completing a college degree, and vice…