Two Oakland University (Michigan) peer support programs have helped improve faculty performance in scholarship, teaching, and service by helping faculty cope with professional demands. One group orients the faculty member to the campus community and department and aids him/her in progress toward tenure and promotion. The second promotes…

A survey of heads of education divisions in 245 colleges and universities in the United States investigated their perceptions of the relationship between various faculty activities (teaching, service, publication) and rewards (tenure, promotion, merit pay, contract renewal) in motivating teachers and in making administrative decisions. (Author/MSE)

Describes the case of a Harvard University (Massachusetts) faculty member denied tenure, focusing on the process by which tenure and promotion are decided behind closed doors, the nature and criteria for faculty evaluation for tenure, non-disclosure of tenure-committee membership, and principles of due process in this case. (MSE)

The emergence of lesbian and gay studies as legitimate academic fields has opened a political debate. Scholars face charges that their research lacks rigor; blurring of the civil rights issue by alignment with racial/ethnic minorities is another obstacle. It is argued that without administrator, faculty, and student support, these studies are at…

In this essay, the author explains not only how she came to write her classic text "Literature as Exploration," but she also describes the path of her own professional journey. A conviction about the difference between "literary" and other reading led to her writing "Literature as Exploration" in the first place. In this book, she argued that…

Since educational statistics, which are relatively easy to obtain, can only attempt to measure "quality," this paper asks how quality in higher education is assessed and how educational rankings, which are defined as benchmarks or attempts to measure, contribute to this process. The paper notes that while attempts to rank institutions of…

This report provides policymakers in both the public and private sectors with a broad base of quantitative information about U.S. science and engineering (S&E) research and education and U.S. technology in a global context. Chapter 1, "Elementary and Secondary Science and Mathematics Education," discusses the student's achievement,…

The ownership/access debate is considered in the context of communication with library users. As part of a dialogue regarding library resources, a citation analysis was undertaken to assist in describing the collection at the New Mexico State University (NMSU) library to faculty researchers and other library users. References cited in faculty…

This report presents the results of two years of work by a 12-member task force which surveyed faculty and administrators at 51 universities regarding their opinions about the importance and stature of teaching as the central role of the university. Over 800 questionnaires were returned, with one from the provost at each institution and the rest…

This study examined how social interaction norms and promotion and tenure norms effected job satisfaction, focusing on how these variables effected on underrepresented faculty at a predominantly white, four-year, public, urban university. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with a total of nine faculty (white male, white female, and…

Ten popular myths about higher education's effect on students are questioned. Issues include: test scores in assessment of college impact; college effect on student development; institutional resources/prestige and quality; two-year college attendance; educational quality at historically black colleges; teaching methods; faculty research; teaching…

Analyzes 60 sociology doctoral programs from 1975 through 1980. Measures per capita and gross productivity of each department. Shows that conventional assessment measures contain deficiencies. Documents a tendency for conflict between productivity and graduate education. Includes recommendations for future assessments that would measure not only…

This article has two objectives: to explore the changing power relationships within the quality management practices of United Kingdom higher education with specific reference to online learning and the role of learning technologists; and to explore some of the issues surrounding the potential to represent academic discourse through media other…

This paper compares the characteristics of faculty in comprehensive institutions of higher education with those of faculty in other college and university categories. The paper summarizes demographic features, working conditions, satisfaction and participation in academic work organizations, mobility and careers, and attitudes and orientations…

The Advertising Division of the proceedings contains the following 20 papers: "Business and Communication Programs' Contribution in Advertising Education and Research: A Comparison" (Tien-tsung Lee); "Attributions of Advertising Influence Via Third-Person Perceptions: A Review and Synthesis" (Don Umphrey); "Advertising…