Evaluation must occur at the university level to understand the full impact of undergraduate research (UR). UR assessment is often only completed at the individual program level because of limited technology, time, and/or resources. At our large research institution, we have been documenting a wide variety of research experiences annually since…

When the W.K. Kellogg Foundation first approached a group of tribal college presidents in 1994 with a $23 million grant for a handful of their institutions, the tribal college leaders did not exactly trip over themselves to get the money. They wanted it to be split among all of them, and the foundation honored the tribal college leaders' wish.…

Institutional autopsies can teach much about why learning centers fail the test of time. St. Augustine Junior College in north Florida, the brainchild of Dr. George Apel, was begun in 1942 and ended seven years later in 1949. The purposes of the short-lived college are identified for discussion in this paper. Also identified are the reasons for…

This chapter describes the system office for community college institutional research (SOCCIR) for the State of Florida. The Division of Florida Colleges has a long history of providing reports that contain information on issues of interest to both the individual members of the system and the public. Fact books have been produced by the office for…

Community colleges are pulling back the covers of student performance in favor of a new "culture of evidence." One hundred two community colleges in 22 states have joined Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count. Backed by a partnership of foundations and research organizations, the effort provides funding, coaching, and data-driven…

The Southeast Florida Library and Information Network (SEFLIN) has presented the Sun Seeker Leadership Institute biennially since 1997. SEFLIN, a multitype library consortium headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, was one of the first groups to sponsor a library leadership institute held as a monthly series of events over the period of a year. One…

This chapter describes several examples of institutional use of state- and college-level tracking data to benchmark performance, improve student success, and enhance program effectiveness.

Describes Santa Fe Community College's (Florida) computer-based system for assessing students' basic skills, placing them into appropriate courses, and tracking their subsequent academic progress. Considers ways in which the college's tracking system has been modified in response to state mandates. (DMM)

Summaries of the design, planning, and implementation of performance funding programs in Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Washington reveal the challenges and opportunities of this reform approach. Performance measures and objectives and the history of the program in each…

The rationale for state-level program reviews in hiqher education is illustrated by case studies in Florida and New York. Different approaches to evaluation, reviews of existing programs, and agency structure and responsibilities are also discussed. (MLW)

In a time of urgent need for cooperation among educational institutions, the community college may have a unique opportunity to serve as a bridge or means of communication, hence an agent in coordination. The articles presented here focus on coordination and cooperation: mechanisms for cooperation among higher education associations; ways of…

This article describes the events surrounding the University of South Florida's (USF) involvement with Sami Al-Arian, who was a professor at USF prior to accusations of involvement in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). The seeds of the Al-Arian controversy were planted in the early 1990s when USF--an ambitious but underfunded…