The lingering economic downturn has affected virtually every American institution--perhaps none more significantly than the nation's higher education system. These days, facing significant revenue shortfalls that are widely recognized as the "new normal," state-supported colleges and universities are looking, sometimes desperately, for…

University based teacher education programs are slowly beginning to catch up to other professional programs that use modern digital tools to prepare students to enter professional fields. This discussion looks at how one teacher education program reached the conclusion that students and faculty would use notebook computers. Frequently referred to…

Pedagogy and assessment are critical aspects of classroom teaching at all educational levels. Although training in these areas is often a primary focus of university programs preparing pre-service teachers, it is not necessarily part of the training for university faculty. Using survey methodology, this descriptive study investigated the…

Following introductory material, this report examines the collective bargaining election in Pennsylvania's stateowned colleges. The second section establishes the contextual framework for the election. This section discusses certain features of the Pennsylvania State Colleges, reviews the election campaign waged by the respective contending…

Reports a questionnaire survey of faculty following the election of a collective bargaining agent at the 14 Pennsylvania state colleges. Identifies relationships between faculty choice and influence of internal vs. external governance matters on voting, demographic faculty characteristics, and attitudes toward contending associations, scope of…

An evaluation of the faculty workload in Pennsylvania's state-owned higher education institutions is presented. Tabular and text data show: faculty workload in terms of full-time equivalent (FTE) student/faculty instruction ratio, student credit hours, student-contact hours, and credit-hour cost; relationship of average full credit-hour cost per…

The relationship between faculty bargaining and the loss of institutional autonomy is explored by examining the collective bargaining experience of the Pennsylvania State College and University system. The study is chronological, tracing the theme through three stages: (1) the governance of the state system before collective bargaining (1960-71);…

Data are presented on salaries, tenure, and fringe benefits of full-time instructional faculty at Pennsylvania colleges and universities for the 1981-1982 school year, and brief narrative descriptions of trends are included. Findings for the different sectors include the following: the mean salaries of full-time instructional faculty for selected…

Results of a study by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) indicate that both the proportion of women on the faculties (at the ranks of professor and assistant professor) in New Jersey universities and four-year colleges, as well as the salaries of women faculty members compared to those of men, were generally greater than the…

This study analyzed trends from 1971 to 1989 in academic ranks and salaries of women faculty as compared to men faculty in Pennsylvania's higher education institutions. The data for the study were culled from public documents published yearly from 1971-72 to 1989-90 by the Division of Educational Statistics, the Pennsylvania Department of…

Comments and recommendations to promote excellence in the Pennsylvania state system of higher education are offered for the consideration of policy shapers and decisionmakers. The following topics are addressed: setting priorities and determining system goals; building public confidence; clarifying roles and responsibilities of the state system;…

This report presents 1998-99 data on Pennsylvania's 34 public and 108 private colleges and universities, as well as for 92 private schools licensed to grant specialized associate degrees. An introduction offers highlights noting that the increase in undergraduate basic student charges was greater than the increase in the consumer price index for…

This report provides statistical data on public and private higher education in Pennsylvania in 1997-98. Thirty-three tables and eight figures provide data on basic student charges (including data on tuition, room and board, in-state versus out-of-state charges, and average annual increases 1988-89 through 1997-98); fall enrollments (including…

The collective bargaining agreement between the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties (APSCUF; 4,200 members) covering the period July 1, 1981 to June 30, 1984 is presented. Also included for this American Association of University Professors affiliated union is the reopener and…

Data on professional and support personnel are presented, arranged according to the variables of institution type, occupational activity, employment status, and sex. Variables for data on faculty are institution type, academic area, sex, and employment status (full-time, part-time, and full-time equivalent). Salary and fringe benefits data are…