The Iowa Private Academic Library Open Educational Resources (IPAL OER) Project supported 62 open educational resources (OER) projects at 18 private colleges and universities in Iowa. The project impacted 1,800 students during the 2021-2022 academic year. Students saved more than $208,000 on the costs of textbooks. OER adoption led to positive…

Grinnell College participated in ACRL's [Association of College and Research Libraries] first cohort of Assessment in Action (AiA), undertaking a mixed-methods action research project to assess the effectiveness of librarian-led research literacy sessions in improving students' research skills. The quantitative data showed that the quality of…

In this article, the author illustrates how three campuses have, in their own way, attempted to bring coherence to the student experience and enrich that experience by more closely matching what was promised to what each student actually experiences while enrolled. Fulfilling students' expectations that were purposefully articulated in the mission…

America's private colleges and universities include most of the oldest institutions of higher education in the country, and their evolving physical campuses say much about American education. In recent years, the study of campus history, preservation, and adaptive reuse has received increasing attention by many sectors of the educational…

This essay examines the college lives of two generations of Iowa's black college women in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It focuses on the experiences of black women at Iowa's private colleges and the University of Iowa (UI) from 1878 to 1928. The experiences of black women in Iowa's colleges and universities are important for…

Competition between public and private colleges has existed since the 19th century and was recently heightened by competition in a period of declining enrollments. Several states are working to prevent conflict, build relationships, and foster cooperative action by supporting or creating state associations of all public and private institutions.…

This article examines a "calculus graphing schema" and the triad stages of schema development from Action-Process-Object-Schema (APOS) theory. Previously, the authors studied the underlying structures necessary for students to process concepts and enrich their knowledge, thus demonstrating various levels of understanding via the calculus…

To determine how a college's curriculum and selectivity may influence enrollment fluctuations, this study analyzed data on 64 private colleges in Iowa and Illinois. Colleges emphasizing arts and sciences had greater enrollment growth during improving market conditions for college graduates; those stressing occupational growth had greater…

A study tested the hypothesis: The greater the amount of philanthropic income per dollar of tuition, the smaller the fraction of bachelor's degrees in occupational fields. Findings support the contention that a college's tuition dependence is associated with its tendency to adjust its curriculum to match student consumer preferences. (MLW)

Comments made by 11 governors concerning higher education in their "State of the State" addresses to state legislatures are presented. Statements include those of Terry Branstad, Carroll Campbell, Robert Casey, Steve Cowper, Mario Cuomo, Edward DiPrete, George Mickelson, Rose Mofford, Stan Stephens, James Thompson, and John Waihee. (MSE)