When officials at tuition-driven Fisk University raised the veil of secrecy a few years ago surrounding the university's financial condition, the details they laid out were less than encouraging. The Nashville-based university, home of the historic Jubilee Singers, was losing several million dollars a year and had not received any major private…

Dana College (Dana.edu) was dying. A corporation was willing to buy it. However, Dana did not teach in the main, 21st century technical skills which is true of most little liberal arts colleges. Dana's demise first came in cuts for faculty in terms of benefits (Manghan, K. 1/16/2009). The entrance of the federal government was an attempt to stop a…

Colleges survive sometimes because they are able to merge with another institution (a for-profit company, another private college, a state university). The change at the College of Charleston was shaped in the 1970s, when the college did not "merge" with a state institution--it "became" a state institution, which grew.. and…

Increased national and international competition within higher education has triggered an interest in branding within the sector. Higher education institutions are, as a consequence, currently re-examining their profile and image. This article addresses the problems higher education institutions face in this process, and points to the benefits and…

In 1992, the University of Bridgeport (Connecticut) accepted $50.5-million from a peace academy founded by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon in exchange for control of the board of trustees, budget oversight, and the right to offer curricular advice. Top university officials are now being replaced by peace academy members and officials. (MSE)

An interview with Marie McDemmond, president of Norfolk State University (Virginia) and the first woman to head a Virginia public university, examines her response to the university's hidden fiscal crisis, her conception of shared leadership, her experience as a woman administrator, controversies over her spending choices, and administrative…

Students, their families, and the public want better service from higher education institutions. Some institutions may have to revamp various operations to improve substantially. Key to re-engineering is the president's ability to communicate the need to improve the institution's competitive position and performance. Enrollment retention levels…

An Ohio legislative plan that will keep Central State University open for two years but places substantial restrictions and conditions on the funding is criticized as threatening to cause the institution to fail completely. News of the restrictions is seen as adversely affecting recruitment and retention efforts and a presidential search, all…

A study of five private liberal arts colleges (Arkansas, Catawba, Pomona, Waldorf, Washington) examined organizational changes in the 1980s, contributing factors, and overall institutional impact. Results suggest the colleges were better places to work and learn than a decade earlier, with improvements in campus life, curricula, faculty…

This book presents the story of small colleges in American higher education and how they can best respond to meet contemporary challenges. Chapter 1, an introduction, discusses the importance of the topic, small schools' strategic strengths, and market and institutional realities. Chapter 2 looks at the history of the small liberal arts college,…

It is argued that, although Canadian universities face serious problems of money, morale, and purpose, their main problem may be that they are ill-equipped for constructive, institutionwide problem solving because of a preoccupation with finances, lack of useful decision-making or decision-implementing structures, and neglect of their own…

This paper suggests that contemporary educational historians have failed to appreciate the extent to which the institutional response to industrialism was actively induced by the financial hegemony of the new corporate elite and simultaneously advanced by the emerging authority of the central state. Further, it argues that progressive era higher…

Planning and management strategies used in the private sector have practical applications for higher education in a period of systemic and organizational stress. Promising strategies include organizational delayering; employee empowerment; boundless thinking, problem-solving teams; accelerated processes; quality management and improvement; and…