A study was conducted to identify the expectations that faculty have of chairpersons. Previously, a study using a modified Delphi technique had revealed that the 50 participants believed that the chair should be responsible for a multitude of duties. However, the participants had a marked preference for shared or participatory leadership.…

This paper examines the effect of faculty rank, satisfaction with salary, working conditions, institutional reputation, perceived influence on institutional policies, participation in meetings, and perceived governance on organizational commitment (at both the departmental and institutional level) using a representative sample of 4,925 faculty.…

Mentoring programs have consistently demonstrated their value in assisting new and early faculty members to make successful adjustments and productive contributions to the academy. Yet, mentoring programs have failed to be consistently implemented despite their efficacy and increasing levels of job dissatisfaction reported by new and early faculty…

Residential instructional faculty in various disciplines report similar types of stressors in national and international studies. To determine whether this pattern holds for librarians, department chairs, cooperative extension faculty and others, a survey was conducted of the sources of stress across all faculty classifications in one university.…

English department members at Augustana College decided to make writing a college-wide concern. They began by attempting to change the perceptions of the faculty, including that of the English department, which consisted of members trained entirely in literature rather than in composition. The approach to the rest of the faculty began with an…

A series of interviews with 532 faculty, department heads, and upper-level administrators on 38 campuses revealed attitudes about general and specific elements of faculty vitality and aspects of institutional administration that promote it. (MSE)

The institutional benefits or payoffs of teacher centers were investigated for accreditation agencies, parents/community, teacher organizations, school systems, state educational agencies, and colleges. Responses of 56 professional educators viewed benefits for all institutions in terms of immediate teacher needs rather than long-range benefits.…

A study showed that the longer students have been at the University of California at Santa Barbara, the more negative their feelings about the available academic advising. Students felt intimidated by faculty, but also that advising services were inadequate. A new system making better use of peer advising is recommended. (MSE)

Faculty and students rated profiles of 100 hypothetical instructors. Findings suggest that valid systems of instructional evaluation should focus on amount of information, arousal of student interest, presentation style, and general knowledge of the field. The relative importance of content to style dimensions was slightly greater for faculty…

In semi-structured interviews, 11 British university lecturers were prompted to discuss their motivations for starting, continuing, and achieving closure in collaborative staff development. Motivations included learning how to teach and involve students in learning, and drawing support from faculty development experts. Findings suggest that…

A study of three biotechnology programs at research universities compared program types (institute, center, or program/department) as effective environments for technology transfer. Results suggest that the institute and center program types influence faculty less than traditional structures such as academic departments and that structure is in…

Reflects the experience of teachers who attended a course on managing change. They used their new knowledge to introduce change in their own teaching or their own departments. Successful change implementation requires agreement on the change target(s), starting with a small, manageable target, and monitoring of the resulting change. (one…

A study making use of a national survey of 565 university department chairs and in-depth interviews with chairs at 1 university investigated the changes occurring in the workload of college faculty when they become department heads, focusing on the alterations in the amount of time allotted for personal and professional activities. (MSE)

A study investigated gender and physical attractiveness differences in the assessment of leadership qualities of supervisors by their subordinates. Subjects were 58 male and 37 female college department heads and program directors and 154 male and 131 female subordinate faculty and staff. Findings suggested attractiveness is an advantage for males…

A survey of 300 college faculty across disciplines suggested that many faculty encounter conditions that hinder collegiality concerning undergraduate teaching issues. These difficulties include faculty isolation and fragmented communication, constrained resources, and inappropriate evaluation and reward systems. Results also suggest ways in which…