The unit of faculty-student grouping at Oakton Community College (Illinois) is the learning cluster. Four learning clusters, led by appointed deans, serve 4700 students. The basis for assignment of faculty and students to a cluster is not homogeneity, but variety and balance. (Author/NHM)

As part of a reorganization study underway at Oakton Community College, this report presents the pros and cons of retaining the college's interdisciplinary learning clusters or moving to discipline-based divisions. Following introductory material, the report explains the methodology by which two representatives from each campus cluster, one…

Cluster colleges organize campuses to capture all the advantages of the small college (local administration, identifiable students and faculty, a sense of community) while maintaining many of the advantages of the large institution (economy, financial security, efficiency, staff expertise). This article identifies advantages and problems, and…

Report on the advantages and disadvantages of the interdisciplinary cluster system at Oakton Community College (Illinois) after five years. Reviews effects on students, faculty, administrators, and curriculum. (RT)

This report describes the organizational plan of Los Angeles Mission College (LAMC). LAMC has chosen a structure stemming from the cluster concept, involving semi-autonomous clusters, each small in size. These characteristics enhance student-faculty-administrator relations and permit each instructional unit to participate directly in its own…

This paper reviews the student-centered cluster college concept of organization employed at Oakton Community College (Illinois) and compares this approach to traditional organization by academic department or division. The advantages offered by the division structure include intradisciplinary interchange among teachers, coordinated budget…

This bibliographic essay cites books and ERIC documents which discuss organizational change in the community colleges. Specifically referenced are cluster colleges, management by objectives, and multiunit community colleges. (NHM)

Describes attempts at the University of California at Santa Cruz to integrate traditional and innovative educational practices through cluster colleges.'' Details the university's organizational structure and selected academic innovations, and forecasts future growth and development. (JH)

The philosophy of the cluster system operating at Oakton Community College (OCC) is described in this paper along with changes that have occurred in the system over the past few years. Part I describes the social, political, and educational environment in which the philosophy of the cluster system was forged. Additionally, this section identifies…

Cuyahoga Community College--Eastern Campus is attempting to devise an organizational structure which facilitates an open, creative environment, and to select faculty who have attitudes consonant with openness and experimentalism. The purpose of this study was to determine if there were relationships between (1) dogmatism of faculty and their…

Oakton Community College is organized into four learning clusters, each comprising a group small enough to maintain "recognizability" and a sense of belonging. Each cluster has approximately 600 FTE students, 30 full-time faculty members, one learning resource faculty member, three counselors, and its own dean. The first of these…

The modular administrative structure implemented at Grand Valley State Colleges in 1973 is described as a system in which administrative affairs are divided into functional self-contained units called modules, each of which has a head or acting head who is responsible for the management of the functions contained within the module. A long-range…

This paper analyzes authority-use patterns as they relate to the internal organization of a community college. Section 1 presents a hypothetical case study of a community college which practices several unique authority-use variations that are in actual use in two-year colleges around the country. The cluster college scheme, a new strategy for…

This brief presents an overview of community college governance and abstracts of recent books, monographs, and other documents pertinent to that subject. Following a listing of "comprehensive sources," the entries are grouped into the following categories: (1) administrative organization, (2) cluster colleges, (3) multicampus districts, (4) the…

Because administrative organization has an indirect but important relationship to student learning and to the achievement of the mission of the two-year college, community college educators must be sensitive to the nuances of authority relations in their institutions. The articles in this sourcebook present selected approaches to the use of…