Of five approaches to studying older workers (chronological/legal, functional, psychosocial, organizational, and life span), the life-span approach accommodates individual differences in career patterns. Middle-age and older adult workers need to be considered as individuals in terms of career choices and employment policies. (SK)

Attributes Austin Community College's (Texas) success in minority recruitment, hiring and retention to a 10-step plan involving trustee support; an affirmative action plan; faculty support; recruitment, screening, interviewing, and selection strategies designed to enhance minority participation; orientation and support; staff development; and…

"Authorized" genetic testing may be obtained from employees with coercion or threat. Unless protections are put in place, employers and health insurers will use genetic screening to hire and fire. (JOW)

Four contributors to this column, including two administrators, a support staff member, and an educator responsible for training technical assistants, discuss training and recognition programs for support staff, with particular emphasis on empowerment strategies that have proven effective. (AEF)

Considers how Phil Smith has given much thought in his own department, and in the national deliberations, to the staffing crisis in English departments, and he has done so with attention to the highest values and to the needs of all, from undergraduate students in the general education courses to part-timers to tenure-track and tenured faculty…

Discusses the "latest forecast" for the future of English departments. Addresses departmental and institutional staffing practices, employment opportunities for PhDs, the acceleration of change in the institution, and the general state of the study and teaching of English. (RS)

The debate about work-family relationships must focus on the nature of family life, the place of women in the new economy, the needs of children, and the future of an aging population. Because the workplace has limited capacity to meet work-family needs, partnerships with government services are needed. (JOW)

Testing practices have come under considerable scrutiny and criticism in recent years. Testing practices in the Federal government have certainly not been immune from this movement as the use of standardized written tests for selection purposes has been increasingly under attack. The most recent attacks have focused on implications or findings of…

Contrasts two views of affirmative action: (1) centralizing control over affirmative action with quotas and (2) making employment decisions that are consistent with sound business principles but which counteract prejudice, expand opportunities for underrepresented groups, and recognize labor market distortions that are unjustified by business…

Tenure, with its blanket protection, is the price paid for the benefits of encouraging faculty to stray from the comfortable path of orthodoxy and to challenge the rationalizations used to maintain it. The psychological trauma of abolishing tenure would be enormous and disruptive. (MSE)

Four contributors (1) discuss a rationale that would enable English departments to maintain a balance between publishing and perishing, (2) argue for the small colleges relinquishing their publish-or-perish policies, (3) examine the benefits of writing for alternative audiences, and (4) explore limitations on scholarly publishing. (AEA)

Explores the debate over the role of law in ensuring equal employment opportunity. The author argues that the overlapping and conflicting regulations, inconsistent results, and general confusion produced by the past encounters between the law and discriminatory employment practices should not be the model for future development of policy.…

Explores the extent of sexism among top library administrators. Career prejudice against women in libraries is revealed in terms of money, position, female and male stereotypes, influence of the women's movement, and the special problems of Black women. (SW)

Three camp directors discuss their policies regarding body art and body piercing. Only one director reported a strict policy prohibiting tattoos or body art based on standards that the camp portrays to families. However, all directors enforced policies prohibiting clothing or body art that mentions alcohol, tobacco, drug use, or inappropriate…

Demographic trends imply that organizations must learn to manage a diverse work force. Ways to change organizational systems, structures, and practices to eliminate subtle barriers are awareness training, attitude change, and valuing diversity. (SK)