This study is a preliminary investigation of faculty attitudes toward the processes of promotion and tenure in higher education. It began when several colleagues joined to submit proposals to a national conference establishing a panel to discuss promotion and tenure, which were subsequently accepted. The panel proposal consisted of: (1) a…

Observes that mentoring programs for new faculty have grown in recent years. Argues that such programs, although having laudable goals, may have unintended, undesirable consequences. Discusses several possible problems associated with formal mentoring programs and suggests that emphasis would be better placed on improving the graduate training of…

A study was done to explore the perceptions of senior and junior faculty women regarding the barriers to success experienced early in their academic careers. The study population was drawn from a colleague pairing program at a major urban research university in the western United States and consisted of 22 junior faculty in tenure track positions…

Problems of new faculty acculturation at liberal arts colleges were studied by the Great Lakes Colleges Association (GLCA) with the help of a 40-month grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE). Discussions with faculty members had revealed that many new faculty members were not comfortable at their institutions,…

This qualitative study attempted to answer the question of what constitutes a collegial environment. New faculty members (N=258) at five institutions were surveyed and 92 new faculty were interviewed. The study utilized a methodology of quantifying data from interviews, the Rasch analytic technique, in which the definition of collegiality was…