A quantitative research design was employed to investigate how faculty members become engaged and remain committed to organizational reform. Data collection included interviews with 17 faculty members at California State University in Monterey Bay during the academic year 1995-96, as well as several site visits. This new university was part of a federal military base conversion program; its unique vision statement included an interdisciplinary lower and upper division curriculum, an outcomes-based learning environment, innovative technology integrated into the curriculum, a service-learning environment, and a pluralistic, multicultural, multilingual academic community. The major finding was a grounded conceptualization of faculty commitment to institutional change defined as willingness to engage in the process of achieving institutional change. Two components determined the extent of faculty engagement: goal congruence and perceived viability of achieving change. When faculty and institutional goals were congruent and faculty had high expectations that the proposed innovations were feasible, faculty were willing to engage in the process of creating change. When either of these components was weak (usually as a result of institutional dynamics), faculty willingness to engage in change declined, or they disengaged entirely. (Contains 21 references.) (CH)