Views of members and key pension plan administrators concerning the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association-College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF) were assessed. Attention was focused on perceptions of the organization's strengths and weaknesses, and the importance of these characteristics in creating its reputation. Telephone interviews…

A questionnaire containing items on personal history, reasons for section selection, and sources of information about the instructor was administered to undergraduate students. The time at which class was scheduled and teacher reputation were the primary reasons for section choice. Other variables, considered less important by students, also…

The characteristics of medical schools that predict their ratings are associated with basic science and clinical research performance: faculty productivity, eminence of the leading members of the faculty, and resources available for research. (Author/AM)

Quality rankings of undergraduate institutions and programs do exist although they are hard to find and often ignored. The accuracy of these ratings and how they can be improved are discussed. (MLW)

Because editors influence the professional lives and research efforts of faculty, the assumption of their distinguished credentials need to be verified. The correlates that distinguish between editors and noneditors in higher education are examined. Correlates include: research productivity, allocation of time for research and teaching,…

The relative and independent influence of students' undergraduate achievement, social class, sex, and race on rank of graduate school they attend is examined. Anlaysis of covariance techniques indicates that undergraduate achievement is the strongest predictor of rank of graduate institution attended. (Author/MLW)

This study examined differences in ratings between students in a metropolitan university system and traditional university freshmen on a set of factors that influence college choice. Data in regard to factors influencing college choice was collected from a sample of 1,795 University of South Florida (USF) freshmen and 1,108 USF students at various…

Assessed the impact of managerial behavior and manager reputation on perceptions of power in two studies. Behavior significantly influenced perceptions of reward, coercive, legitimate, expert, and referent power; reputation significantly influenced perceptions of legitimate, referent, and especially expert power. Suggested the existence of an…

The five-volume Assessment of Research-Doctorate Programs in the United States, the most authoritative academic quality ranking ever done, is discussed. The Assessment covers 2,699 programs in 32 disciplines and assesses a faculty's reputation for scholarly quality. Improvements in programs' reputations are also discussed. (MLW)

Five approaches to measuring higher education quality are outlined and criticized as incomplete: the nihilist, reputational, resources, outcome, and value-added approaches. Feedback from students and faculty is the key to discovering and improving institutional contributions to student development. (MSE)

Reports on a study ranking the prestige of 26 journals in the field of mass communication. Reveals a wide range in the perceived prestige of these periodicals. (RL)

To assure program quality, an institution should choose its priorities--minimum achievements required, learning gains sought, content of learning emphasized, degree of rigor expected--and adopt a strategy for effective coordination of the efforts of the many persons who can contribute to each individual's learning. (Author/MLW)

Examines the adequacy of descriptions of counseling psychology and its professionals in introductory psychology textbooks compared to the descriptions of other applied areas of psychology. Results indicate that counseling psychology is less represented than industrial or organizational and clinical psychology and more represented than school…

A discussion of the economic impact on employers of wrongful discharge litigation by former employees addresses the types of damages a plaintiff may receive, remedies, deductions from front pay, reinstatement, punitive and exemplary damages, injury to professional reputation, constructive discharge, and attorney's fees. (MSE)

A study of the contribution of institutional characteristics to the National Academy of Sciences' reputational ratings of faculty found that program characteristics do influence ratings, but an "institutional halo" effect also exists, indicating that faculty reputations and program quality are more complex phenomena than implied by…