A three-day program at the College of the Holy Cross (Massachusetts) was developed to address low retention rates for African-American students meeting the usual predictive criteria for academic success. It familiarized students with the college, allowed them to meet significant college community members, and assisted in adapting to academic…

A carefully orchestrated capital budget, an essential element of corporate management, is particularly important for a small college with limited resources. A simple management system can be adopted to achieve institutional goals. (MSE)

The University of Wisconsin River Falls is a small, primarily undergraduate teaching institution with a limited history of grant support. In 1990 it created an office of grants and research, whose director found writing proposals with faculty to be an effective way to increase external funding. The methods, pitfalls, and results of this approach…

A consortium of 12 small, private liberal arts colleges in the Great Lakes region has shown that by working together, the institutions can provide major opportunities for faculty professional development through conferences and workshops. (MSE)

A telephone registration system for first year students implemented at Alma College (Michigan), involves having freshmen confer with advisors during orientation week, then having the registrar's office contact the advisors. Despite limitations, the low-tech solution works well at extremely low cost. (MSE)

The process that Kenyon College (Ohio) used in researching development of a campus-wide information system (CWIS) is outlined, and the most important issues to be considered in launching a successful CWIS are identified, including resources, needs, ownership, access, personnel, content, policy, design, staffing, marketing, and ongoing development.…

The challenge of bringing information literacy to university students is greater than at small colleges. A survey of librarians at large universities revealed unique problems and instructional solutions. The Brigham Young University (Utah) program, in which information literacy is integrated into every academic division, offers one example. (MSE)

The functions of public relations offices are described for four small colleges and one small private school: Spelman College (Georgia); North Harris County College (Texas); Scripps College (California); Lafayette College (Pennsylvania); and Maumee Valley Country Day School (Ohio). Focus is on creative and effective use of a small staff and…

Planning for a computer use "help desk" at Kenyon College (Ohio) was constrained by very limited resources. However, careful and thorough planning resulted in a low-budget, homegrown, but highly effective facility. Staffing, training, staff communication, and marketing the service were essential elements in its success. (MSE)

Describes the Keene State College (New Hampshire) mode for delivery of information technology, which features collaboration of major college divisions, sustainability within realistic revenue/cost projections, and customer-based service delivery. Pre-implementation conditions, origins of the collaborative arrangement, how organization of campus…