A comprehensive guide to the use of environmental assessments for understanding and improving student and faculty life is presented. Environmental assessments are examined as tools for academic decision-makers in understanding the extent and quality of the communication among its members, their sense of community, their emphasis on academic rigor, and the power of campus bureaucracy. The book explains how to select or develop effective survey instruments for campus assessments, how to interpret the results, and how to apply these results to the task of improving the institutional climate through specific constructive actions. It also addresses the practical problems of environmental assessments: defining their purposes, choosing the best approaches, eliciting cooperation from the parties involved, and incorporating the results into the decision making process. Chapters examine: the importance of surveying student and faculty views; developing information systems; diversity among campus groups; evaluating the faculty's sociopsychological environment; collecting and applying social and economic information; utilizing inter-institutional data to evaluate policy; recognizing problems and implementing results; use of campus surveys; and a directory of leading instruments for assessing campus environments. References and an index are provided. (LC)