Fourche Valley School District in central Arkansas has a single K-12 school serving 157 students. Surrounded by the Ouachita National Forest, Fourche Valley is unusually isolated and lacking in economic opportunity, leading to "low aspirations" among students who desire to remain in the area. Nevertheless, the school is thriving in the…

This presentation shares how Columbus State Community College (Ohio) has embarked upon a process of transformation into a learning organization positioned to meet the demands of change. The presentation begins with background summaries for the three presenters. It then discusses the rationale for change, stating that as we look at the changes…

In several countries, university purposes and functions are being renegotiated as governments insist on a certain kind of "product" and careful measures of university "productivity." Identifies immediate consequences for university culture, particularly displacement of academic leadership by a culture of "management." Argues that the university is…

Identifies challenges facing graduate library education and recommends ways to keep library programs from closing, including better defining the profession of librarianship and avoiding isolation by engaging in high-profile, universitywide relationships with other academic departments. Unique characteristics of librarians and librarianship are…

An examination of trends in undergraduate liberal arts degrees and curricula reports two findings: (1) renewed interest in the liberal arts degree has occurred primarily outside liberal arts colleges, within universities; and (2) the struggle for institutional survival has caused some colleges to scale back or abandon their original missions. (MSE)

Shaw University (North Carolina), a black institution near closing in 1986, has reorganized its finances and remade its image under a new president. It has since renovated buildings, lowered its debt, operated on a balanced budget for five years, built a substantial endowment, doubled its enrollment, and provided regular faculty raises. (MSE)

This article proposes a conceptual decision-making framework for college and university offices of institutional research during times when budgetary retrenchment and reallocation of resources is necessary. Key issues the office should consider include understanding the institution's purpose, strategy selection, evaluation activities, student…

Investigates the failure of "Jurassic" management: visioning, consensus value systems, proactively created teams, and development planning. Applied chaos theory can help self-managing schools and colleges avoid disaster and improve their management-development programs. Survival in turbulent times is based on educational managers'…

Summarizes a study using a service marketing-mix model (promoting product, place, price, promotion, people, processes, and proof) to document educational marketing practices in 11 public and private British schools. The schools visited evinced a general lack of coherent marketing practice. Administrators had little management training in…

Future organizations must integrate their human-resource development requirements with organizational development requirements to survive and prosper. A totally integrated systems model will feature 10 crucial elements. Leaders must understand that their organizations pass through developmental stages (from infancy to maturity); at each stage,…

It is proposed that fiscal, technological, and societal pressures on higher education around the world require new administrative approaches and faculty-administrative collaboration to ensure institutional stability, even survival. Recommended techniques are outlined. Notes on government policies for higher education in Australia, Sweden, and the…

The feasibility of Christian colleges will depend of their ability to achieve new levels of excellence in piety, learning, and educational service. The key to such excellence will be a strong faculty sense of vocation in educational and scholarly ministry and redefinition of educational objectives and curriculum design. (MSE)

In recent years, Trenton State College (New Jersey) has focused its efforts on providing quality undergraduate programs to reverse an outmigration of college students from the state. When it faced severe financial difficulties, the students actively supported a fee increase designed to help the institution maintain quality education. (Author/MSE)

In Alberta, reductions in educational funding and a "back to basics" mentality have resulted in reduced support for outdoor and environmental education. Elementary/secondary programs have responded by taking the programs directly to the schools to avoid transportation costs, and by cutting the more adventurous programs. Postsecondary…

Reviews higher education racial desegregation equity since the U.S. Supreme Court's 1992 "Fordice" decision. Discusses historically black colleges and universities' future status and African-American students' progress, using finance data analyzed and interpreted via critical race theory. HBCU's receive inferior state appropriation…