The authors compared the longevity of all baseball players alive at the time of their induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame with age-matched controls who were likewise alive at the time of the Hall of Famer's induction, and also matched them for career length, player position, and body-mass index, to assess if fame in sports is associated with…

By happenstance rather than design, what began as a single study intended to refute the validity of student ratings of instruction turned into a 30-year quest into the nature of college teaching. Although I found that student ratings can be affected by seemingly extraneous variables such as instructor reputation, I quickly realized that the…

The annual US News and World Report (USNWR) Guide to America's Best Colleges is much anticipated by both high-ability high school seniors and college and university administrators. In this paper, we use a decade of Colgate University "Admitted Student Questionnaire" surveys to estimate the influence of changes in a school's USNWR rank on…

The arrival of university ranking has changed the landscape of higher education all over the world and is likely to continue to influence further development nationally and internationally. This article provides an overview of rankings systems in which Australian universities feature and it goes on further to discuss the impact ranking systems…

Should an academic have respect toward cultural differences, including variety in language? A. Suresh Canagarajah has written extensively about global English and its power over vernacular languages, stressing that language learning is not a politically neutral activity. English teachers carry with them the possibility of ideological domination…

Branding efforts have typically focused on external promotional strategies to develop brand image. Recently, the brand messages conveyed to employees of an organization have been recognized as being equally as important as the brand messages sent to external stakeholders. This study investigates the internal communication of the university brand…

The State of Washington prides itself on having a relatively vibrant economy that centers on high technology businesses that depends on a relatively highly educated labor force. The state has been lavish in its support of higher education, and probably most citizens would agree that the state has a pretty good system of schools to serve the…

The ideology of community college leadership dominant in the professional literature is examined using discourse analysis techniques. It is concluded that strong, often militaristic description perpetuates an image of leadership that is exclusionary, narrow, and inappropriate for community colleges, which serve diverse constituencies. Development…

Over a decade has gone by since the report of the Widening Participation Committee--"Learning works"--was presented to the Further Education Funding Council. Ten years on, this report asks how far have we come in the decade since "Learning works"? What progress have we made? And what barriers have we yet to overcome? Bringing…

Obsession with institutional image, encouraged by the yearly rankings published by a major national news magazine, has led many colleges and universities to use questionable statistics to bolster public relations efforts. Manipulative reporting goes beyond standardized test scores to include athlete graduation rates and any other image-enhancing…

Asserts that state colleges, squeezed between research universities and community colleges, are falling even further behind due to pressure from legislators and growing competition from distance education and for-profit institutions. Discusses various issues in their decline and attempted makeovers, including faculty, "mission creep," declining…

The authors construct and respond to several questions about changing administrative costs for new Research I Universities, a group of institutions that might be expected to incur new costs as a result of their new status. Using IPEDS data, the study provides mixed support for the claim that universities reaching the pinnacle of research…

Holland's [Holland, J. L. (1959). A theory of occupational choice. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 6, 35-45; Holland, J. L. (1997). Making vocational choices: A theory of vocational personalities and work environments (3rd ed.). Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.] RIASEC types were initially developed using a restricted range…

In the present study, the authors investigated age differences in children's understanding (a) that a person's behavior may contribute to the formation of a shared opinion within the peer group and (b) that origins of a reputation can be direct or indirect. The authors read stories in which a target character engaged in either prosocial or…

Rankings of colleges and universities in the popular press have two problems: (1) they are gimmicks to sell publications; and (2) institutions have become pawns, juggling numbers in quest of higher rankings, the ethical equivalent of cheating. Higher education must return to truth, fairness, and honesty to regain its purpose and integrity. (MSE)