Leaders of urban public universities and many state legislators are challenging the high status of states'"flagship" institutions, saying local institutions can serve local needs best, and are unwilling to defer to premier research universities in requests for general support and new programs. (MSE)

The estimation of a comprehensive model describing student perceptions of college quality permits the determination of the relative importance of the influences that affect these perceptions. This knowledge is instrumental for directing efforts toward improving perceptions and for evaluating the effectiveness of changes in recruitment practices.…

Journal publication frequencies of faculty members (N=892) of 81 doctorate-granting special education programs were analyzed with program reputational rankings. Mean program and per-capita frequencies over 5 years were 17.06 and 1.60 (respectively) and correlated positively but weakly with reputational rankings, suggesting that reputation is only…

Issues in tort and contract law and recent experiences in litigation that influence the academic adviser's responsibility are outlined, including negligence, nondisclosure and misrepresentation, defamation, written and oral contracts, and the adviser as an agent of the institution. Specific areas of adviser vulnerability are noted. (MSE)

Reducing the tenure system inevitably involves costs to both employer and employee and especially affects the attraction of employment in the institution, including faculty mobility, institutional academic standing, and faculty goodwill. Long-term implications of such reform should be carefully weighed before changes are undertaken. (MSE)

Results of a national survey describe the extent to which employers employed more PhDs from prestigious doctoral programs in the 1970s than previously. Evidence of a possible shift in program quality as a result is examined. (MSE)

Institutions need coordinated events programs that support institutional goals and are closely related to them, whether the objective is fund raising, student recruitment, or improvement of the college image. Carefully selected and planned events create news, affect perceptions, influence attitudes, spark emotions, and affect people's decisions…

Instructor expressiveness and lecture content were combined with instructor reputation in a 2 X 2 X 2 factorial design to assess interaction effects. Results indicated that reputation interacted with expressiveness but not content, in which students rated positive, high-expressive instructors more favorably than negative, high-expressive…

A national poll of 337 community college presidents on 39 factors affecting institutional image indicates college student-related factors ranked higher in relative importance than factors usually associated with the public relations office. They include student word-of-mouth, student faculty relationships, and student success after college. (MSE)

Alumni relations, it is suggested, must "fine tune" their alumni volunteer programs or risk misusing a unique institutional resource. The tradition of lay governance, the development of alumni relations, volunteers in alumni relations, recruiting, and the institutional image and pride of identification are discussed. (Author/MLW)

A pilot research program to measure the academic qualities of undergraduate colleges has been announced by the Higher Education Research Institute of Los Angeles and the Council on Learning. The study will include a literature review, measures of institutional popularity among students, and reputational ratings of undergraduate departments. (JMD)

The National Academy of Education is described as a loose federation of prominent educational and social science researchers, which has never pretended to be a think tank or a lobbying organization. Its influence is indirectly felt through the prestige and quality research of its members. (MLW)

Wright College, part of a seven-college Chicago (Illinois) district, has a strong transfer program central to its institutional identity, and because of its role in the multicampus system, its faculty and administrative commitment to the transfer function, and its student needs and preferences. The college's historical role and reputation as a…

In each of the past three years, a dozen or so public and private colleges have elevated themselves to universities, less because of substantial institutional changes than to highlight institutional vision and communicate prestige, in turn improving fund raising. Many have gradually added master's degree programs. Private colleges can change…

Explores the issue of privacy focusing on informational privacy and how it could be jeopardized by new technologies. Provides contexts of privacy and discusses privacy and celebrity in U.S. culture, privacy abuses, and privacy as a common value. Includes teaching activities by Michelle Parrini and Jennifer Kittlaus. (CMK)