This article describes one institution's efforts to improve the sense of campus community. Two years ago, the institution determined that this was a key to achieving the campus's goal of improving retention. The article details the planning process, examples of projects, and assessments. The report discusses how goals were achieved or not…

American college students are often viewed in terms of inputs and outcomes, due in part to the assessment movement and interest in college impact. A more complete view sees the relationship between student and college as reciprocal and dynamic. The ecological perspective views students as actively shaping their educational environments, with the…

"Politically correct" outlooks are to be neither wholly accepted nor wholly rejected; they are to be learned from. The self-scrutiny bred by concern about political correctness is an important part of the university tradition; and without it, colleges could not experience their current growing diversity. (MSE)

To implement Total Quality Management concepts successfully, colleges and universities must change their cultures significantly. In higher education, with its organizational characteristics and traditions, authority relationships between faculty and administrators must be recognized, and some changes in the role and attention of leaders must…

Three main themes in the conflict experienced by college department heads are examined: conflict inherent in the structure of higher education (institutional), conflict created when people work together (interpersonal), and that woven into the chair position (positional). These conflicts are not necessarily negative or positive; these…

In this study we compared perceptions of the campus climate for GLBT students from surveys returned by 80 GLBT students, 253 general students, 126 faculty members, 41 student affairs staff members, and 105 residence hall assistants. A snowball sampling strategy was used to collect GLBT student responses, all residence hall assistants were…

Learning communities have been in operation at Temple University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) since 1993. The goals of the program focus primarily on the creation of stronger social bonds among students as well as enhanced interaction within the classroom. The learning community approach attempts to foster an intellectual environment within which…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of an instructor's nonverbal immediacy behaviors and course-workload demands on student perceptions of instructor credibility and student higher-order affective learning. H1 and H2 predicted that an instructor's nonverbal immediacy behaviors would neutralize the instructor's violations of…

Describes the work, findings, and recommendations of a self-study team that examined Greek life at a liberal arts college and the compatibility of its Greek organizations with the mission of the college. A review of changes after five years suggests the efficacy of this type of self-study. (RJM)

Discussion of the Total Quality Management approach looks at elements that can and can not be applied in the university context. The approach is seen to offer a technique and justification for constantly seeking improvement, fostering willingness to change, distributing decision making, promoting positive attitudinal change, and shifting focus…

The ethos of a college or university is a belief system widely shared by faculty, students, administrators, and others. Colleges with an ethos of learning share three themes: (1) a holistic institutional philosophy of learning; (2) an involving campus culture; and (3) a climate encouraging free expression. A learning ethos must be cultivated…

Research indicates that colleges and universities that encourage hiring of diverse faculty and staff, promote diversity as an educational excellence issue, and reward faculty and staff for their efforts to foster diversity are institutions that have integrated diversity and quality issues. A comprehensive institutional approach to diversity is…

This article theorizes that white college faculty are relatively uninvolved in institutional responses to racial diversity because of ambivalence, and that behavioral responses will thus be unstable and dependent on institutional context that either arouse or regulate positive and negative affect. Implications for institutional interventions are…

Effective leadership in the community college demonstrates good principles of teaching, fosters leadership in others, manages change effectively and efficiently, and creates community; good community college leaders possess the characteristics of master teachers, mentors, agents for change, and community builders. (MSE)

It is argued that higher education institutions can play a major role in health care reform by providing campus cultures that foster healthy lifestyle choices and in turn reduce medical costs. Specific issues discussed include elimination of unnecessary tests, focus on special high-risk populations, and use of advance directives. (MSE)