When faculty members consider copyright in the digital age, it is often in relation to things they can't (or shouldn't) do. For example, they can't have too much material placed in online reserve, they can't scan journal articles to create digital versions of what used to be called "course packs," and they can't post an excerpt from a work of…

The current generation gap in academia is different--fundamentally shaped by the structural problems of academic employment. The job market has especially exacerbated tensions between senior and junior faculty by ratcheting up expectations and requirements at every stage of the academic career. The disparities have been mentioned often enough to…

Over the last decade or so, faculty in a wide range of disciplines have become more interested in and open to the scholarship of teaching and learning. That scholarship has taken many forms, including personal accounts of experimentation and change, descriptions of recommended practices, and quantitative research on students' gains. In this…

Presents recommendations of a faculty/administrator committee at Louisiana State University concerning faculty ranks and reviews, especially of nontenured full-time faculty who specialize in either teaching or research. It proposes rolling multiple-year contracts for instructors, new titles for non-teaching research scientists, university…

Over the past decade, the "scholarship of teaching and learning" has attracted increasing attention in higher education. Some see it as a new way of thinking about teaching in the context of evidence about student learning; others approach it through more formal and structured inquiry into student learning that involves peer review and critique…

A discussion of the responsibility of the college teacher as researcher looks at the researcher's role in setting agendas that may be of national or international significance, effects of research on the lives of individuals and groups studied, possible consequences of the findings, and perceptions of "successful" research. More difficult debates…

Most college and university administrators claim to care deeply about the quality of teaching at their institutions. But, too often, their actions belie their words. Consider, for example, the following questions. Which candidate for a faculty position is usually viewed as more attractive, the promising researcher or the promising teacher? Who…

The Civil Rights Act of 1991 requires that employment criteria be job related. This provision could be extended to the doctoral degree, which is a superfluous and inappropriate qualification for college faculty because it provides specialized and narrow coursework aimed at the needs of the researcher, not the subject-area teacher. (MSE)

Copyright branch of American law is summarized and two copyright issues of interest to academics are discussed. Ownership of copyright in works produced in the university and what "fair uses" of copyrighted works may be made by teacher-scholars are discussed. The Salinger v. Random House, Inc. case is described. (MLW)