Formal environmental scanning procedures can provide key administrators of higher education institutions with valuable external information regarding both the probability and impact of external trends and forces. Such information may then be used in various strategic planning stages including scenario development, institutional mission and goals…

An examination was made of the relationship between grades and satisfaction from three distinct research viewpoints: (1) how satisfaction influences grades (as opposed to other research studying the reciprocal of grades influencing satisfaction); (2) the satisfaction of graduating seniors (rather than focusing on freshmen and sophomores); and (3)…

A description is provided of the development of a university assessment and planning system for all levels of the university. The system is applied in a case study of a regional university. The designed system takes into account the constraints of the state budgeting system, the planning procedures of the state-wide university system, and the…

The development of an unusual database at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) is described. The Student Census-date Report File (STUCENFL) was designed to meet both internal and external data recipients' needs for student-related information. Attention is directed to needs for the database, underlying design…

Sex differences in tenure and promotion rates and time to tenure and promotion at the University of Maryland, College Park, were studied longitudinally. The study population consisted of tenure-tract assistant and associate professors appointed or promoted in 1973, 1975, and 1977, excluding part-time and visiting faculty. Campus-wide, 42 percent…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether family income is associated with student choice of higher cost versus lower cost colleges. Family income, level of Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) award, and selected personal characteristics of a sample of 4,500 TAP recipients were examined to determine attendance patterns at 11 public and…

This study examined the adjustment process of 727 students who transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in fall 1994 or fall 1995. The Transfer Students' Questionnaire (TSQ) was organized into three main sections: social demographics, perceptions of the community college experience, and perception of the UCLA experience. The…

NEXA is a team-taught interdisciplinary, inter-school curriculum devoted to reuniting the sciences and the humanities. The development of the program and the curriculum itself are discussed, including the findings of a formal site-team evaluation. (Author/MLW)

This paper describes a faculty development and orientation program for new faculty at Montclair State University in New Jersey. The New Faculty Program (NFP) is designed to orient and introduce a diverse new faculty (more than half of whom are women and minorities) to the culture of the university, and to help them attain reappointment and tenure…

This study sought to understand the roles and characteristics of individuals identified as effective academic deans at public research universities. The study used an inductive grounded theory approach guided by a broad conceptual framework and was guided by the broad constructs of quality/culture, teamwork/governance, and analysis/knowledge. In…

This study conducted an econometric analysis of the impact of the University of Delaware (UD), a public, doctoral level institution, on the Delaware economy, particularly the impact of nonresident students. To construct a model the study used historical institutional data from the Office of Institutional Research and Planning at UD and…

A case study was done of the possible role of strategic planning processes for smoothing the transition period experienced by colleges and universities when changes in top leadership occur. The study was conducted in a medium-sized midwestern state university that had begun, 3 years earlier, a strategic planning process which had been…

A course was created at Pennsylvania State University to support graduate students in the field of education as they struggle with integrating the many fragmented perspectives developed over the course of graduate study into an integrative perspective that thoughtfully informs their qualitative dissertation research inquiry. The course presents…

Eastern Washington University (EWU) designed a plan to resist faculty salary compression. Salary compression occurs when cost of living increases fail to keep pace with salaries in the external market thus, when new faculty are hired at or near market rates, they will often have salaries higher than senior faculty with equivalent academic…

An examination of instructional costs and productivity was conducted in a national study of publicly supported colleges and universities. Of an initial pool of institutions selected from two national associations of colleges and universities, 101 participated including 58 comprehensive institutions, 22 doctoral institutions, 16 research…