On July 14, 2021, the Pennsylvania State Universities Board of Governors collectively approved a proposal to merge six Pennsylvania state universities. The three institutions in the West were California, Clarion, and Edinboro. Bloomsburg, Lock Haven, and Mansfield were consolidated in the Northeast. The board then hosted a publicly available…

Universities in the United States are evolving to meet the needs of an increasingly technological society. Although workforce preparation has always been one of the primary purposes of higher education, these efforts have reached new levels due to the extensive integration of technology in daily work and life. The future of work is expected to be…

This study highlights the impact of including stakeholders with expertise in learning theory in a learning space design process. We present the decision-making process during the design of the Krause Innovation Studio on the campus of the Pennsylvania State University to draw a distinction between the architect and faculty member's decision-making…

This paper presents findings of a Mellon Foundation-funded study conducted at Penn State University in University Park during Fall 2012 that explored scholars' information practices across disciplines encompassing the sciences, humanities, and social sciences. Drawing on results of the Web-based survey and ethnographic interviews, we present…

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…

This paper examines innovations in strategic faculty hiring emphasizing interdisciplinarity at two major public research universities in the USA. The research investigated how and why the Pennsylvania State University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison chose to pursue interdisciplinary faculty recruitment, how it was structured, and how it…

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…

This paper reports on a survey of faculty perceptions of the role of the library in online distance education. The study is second in a series of related studies exploring The Pennsylvania State University's library services to patrons at a distance. In 2004, faculty of the World Campus (Penn State's online distance education program) were…

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);…

The retrenchment experience of Pennsylvania's state college system is described. The specter of retrenchment scared the campuses into finding new nonpersonnel cuts to make; a policy of intrasystem faculty transfer was finally adopted; and although campus presidents opposed retrenchment, by 1979-80 they were convinced of its necessity. (MLW)

This paper is part of a series of studies designed to ascertain what policies and practices, if any, are currently in effect regarding rights and privileges connected with retirement in higher education. This study sought information about the perquisites furnished to retired higher education faculty in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania through a…

The Visual Image User Study (VIUS), an extensive needs assessment project at Penn State University, describes academic users of pictures and their perceptions. These findings outline the potential market for digital images and list the likely determinates of whether or not a system will be used. They also explain some key user requirements for…

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…

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…