This article explores the benefits and challenges of blended learning in higher education from the perspective of students, faculty, and administration that have had direct experience with this form of course delivery. Students indicate that a blended learning model provides them with greater time flexibility and improved learning outcomes but…

Through long interviews with five outstanding male educational leaders, the authors share their stories and primary lessons on leadership development. The stories portray leadership as being perceived primarily as an evolutionary process characterized by family and teacher nurturance, community and spiritual centeredness, and responsive caring.…

In the present study, the authors investigated age differences in children's understanding (a) that a person's behavior may contribute to the formation of a shared opinion within the peer group and (b) that origins of a reputation can be direct or indirect. The authors read stories in which a target character engaged in either prosocial or…

In this article, the author explores the question: How can individuals understand the impacts of clergy sexual abuse upon K-12 teachers' effectiveness with all children? Given the parallels between the work of teachers and religious authority figures, the damage to one authority figure's credibility, says the author, is likely to impact another's…

This article introduces cluster analysis and reference set analysis as tools for understanding structure, identity, and aspiration in complex organizational fields. Cluster analysis is used to identify the structure of the organizational field in American four-year colleges and universities. The article shows that presidential choices of reference…

This article describes Bob Montgomery's Famous Kindergarten First Graders! project. The aim of the project is to assist his students in learning about each other, to introduce them to digital photography using iPhoto (they participate in a group lesson in editing as well), and to introduce them to moviemaking using iMovie software. The project…

Information to promote assessment of organizational effectiveness in colleges and universities is presented, along with an exercise to rank the effectiveness of 10 institutions. The exercise uses three types of criteria to indicate effectiveness: subjective ratings, data about students and activities, and institutional capacity and financial…

The University of Miami has established 19 new rules aimed at orienting student-athletes to the campus, preparing them for the pressures of college athletics, and ending incidents of embarrassing athlete behavior. (MSE)

The productivity of 40 major research universities in combining faculty and governmental grants to obtain reputational rankings in the 1980s is examined empirically. These productivities are measured relative to the most efficient members of the group and for their proximities to minimal costs. (Author/MLW)

Seven public relations consultants weigh the pros and cons of seeking national media coverage. Some advantages include reaching a broad audience and coverage that boosts morale and commands respect. What is done with national coverage is more important than the amount. (MLW)

Different types of donors may respond better to different types of approaches. Models built for four major donor groups (alumni, nonalumni individuals, business organizations) are described. (MLW)

Opinions about quality are seen as the only relevant measures of quality that can be collected. A different view of quality in higher education, and a different set of university rankings are proposed. A system that draws pairwise comparisons of university performance across nine disciplines is described. (MLW)

Five ideas to turn a college president's inauguration into a positive fund-raising and public relations event are presented: appoint the vice-president of development as committee chairman; choose an appropriate theme; thank those financially responsible for the institution's existence; recognize the need for more time and money; and make the…

Reviews trends in higher education that led to today's stringent requirements for faculty advancement. Identifies national reputation as one alternative to publication and offers several strategies for achieving such a reputation. (PD)

Demonstrated that subjects receiving positive feedback from a highly expert source exhibited greater levels of intrinsic motivation than did receivers in any other condition. Discusses implications for organizational communication research and training. (PD)