Given the number of times schools recruit deans who have short lives as administrators, it seems reasonable to ask if there is something wrong with the usual selection and recruitment process. The authors feel that there is something wrong with this process and after meeting with some deans, they were given some clues about the nature of the…

Examined faculty renewal at Canadian universities. Found certain broad trends: (1) the scope of faculty renewal activities is impressive; (2) certain themes dominate, such as multidisciplinarity and use of information technology; (3) faculty renewal has been effective; (4) institutional capability to undertake faculty renewal is dependent on…

Issues that divide the academy and predict continuing polarization. (Editor/IR)

Outlines serious problems at University of California at Santa Cruz, San Diego and Irvine. (IR)

Traces resistance to affirmative action in universities, noting that the federal agencies have backed off from their tough stance, and concluding that, "With the exception of an increase in lower-level employment and the very few successfully negotiated class action suits, the status of women in the university has changed little." (JT)

The success of the entire academic enterprise depends directly on the contributions of the junior faculty members. The quality of the junior faculty, the diversity of talent, the promotion/appointment process, and the incentives to value teaching and university citizenship as well as scholarship are discussed. (MLW)

Current college faculty have little internal motivation to learn how to teach, their interests and rewards lying in the other domains for which their personalities, education, and training have prepared them. Students who have the potential to be good teachers do not see teaching as a feasible career, while good researchers do. (MLW)

Hiring and maintaining a qualified interdisciplinary faculty is proving to be a great difficulty at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. (HS)

Although it does not offer tenure or tenure-track appointments, the newly established Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) has not had difficulty attracting qualified faculty. The creation of the institution, recruitment of faculty, characteristics of new faculty hires, characteristics of the interview pool for new positions, faculty reasons for…

Interviews with over 50 faculty members at the University of Michigan identified changing attitudes about their professional lives and the institution. Attitudes of successful academics, promotion-delayed faculty, and administrators are summarized. Common themes included an increased emphasis on research productivity and a more competitive college…