This digest describes the emerging study of Knowledge Management (KM), a field that has much to offer administrators in higher education. KM principles recognize that it is important for organizations to "know what they know." It is the organized complexity of collaborative work to share and use information across all aspects of an…

Public debate over higher education has changed from questions about education, learning, scholarship, and professional service to performance criteria measured in quantitative, business-like indicators, such as revenues and costs of operation. The rules have changed, and new consumers have new concerns and challenges for higher education. Faculty…

Since many senior academic administrators of colleges and universities first trained for academic careers in research and teaching, they have had minimal management training. Both academic and nonacademic officers with administrative experience find they must quickly develop the different knowledge and skills needed to manage an institution when…

The digest is based on a full length report (with the same title) on leadership in higher education. The full report provides a definitive review of the literature and institutional practice on the topic. Recent scholars have new ideas challenging traditional notions that organizations are driven by leadership or that the quality of leadership…

This monograph provides a compilation of scholarly literature written about academic deans. The premise on which it rests suggests that changes external to the academy have affected the nature of the academic deanship and will continue to affect it for the foreseeable future. The book considers four questions about the academic deanship. The first…

This digest considers four questions about the academic deanship. The first is what are deans and what do they do? The position of dean did not gain universal acceptance in U.S. higher education until 1913. Deans continue to be predominantly white and male, and are generally in their mid-fifties. Strong scholarly credentials distinguish most…

A discussion of college governance by lay boards of trustees focuses on the sources and nature of trustees' authority and, by extension, of faculty and administrators' influence on boards. It chronicles briefly the history of the lay board and the reasons for its continued use in modern institutions. Criticisms and defenses of lay trusteeship are…

This collection of essays describes changes in the environment of leadership for community colleges and considers methods for identifying and developing future leaders. The first section contains articles describing the current context for leadership, including "Maximizing Institutional Responsiveness to Changing Environmental Conditions," by…

This digest offers community college professionals insight into the culture and language driving the news media, with an emphasis on newspapers. In an era of increased accountability for resource expenditures, educators may stretch budgets by engaging the mass media as willing and helpful partners in promoting the institutions' identity, programs,…

The literature on administrative style is reviewed. Attention is directed to four basic concepts of administrative style: (1) the structured, classical, traditional model; (2) the participatory or employee-involved operation; (3) a more behavioral scientific style; and (4) the situational or environmental style. These ideas are more fully…

The current use of part-time faculty and issues regarding this practice are addressed. Ways that part-time faculty affect the quality of academic programs are discussed, including the frequent characterization of them as "second-class citizens." Policies and practices are shaped by the diverse characteristics of part-timers,…

This collection of essays provides an overview of personnel policies and practices in two-year colleges. The volume includes: (1) "The Personnel Function in Two-Year Colleges," by Priscilla Haag-Mutter and C. Wayne Jones, which considers historical antecedents, human resource development, future trends, and the role of planning; (2) "Organization…

The literature in the field of higher education fund-raising places development officers into four roles: (1) salesman, which emphasizes soliciting gifts; (2) catalyst, working behind the scenes to support fund-raising activities of presidents and volunteers; (3) manager, which requires organizing fund-raising programs and staff; and (4) leader,…

The literature on professional development covers five major trends: (1) faculty development; (2) professional development for change in a profession or field; (3) mentoring; (4) professional standards for administrators; and (5) staff development, with almost all of the literature focusing on best practices rather than research. Much of the…

Institutional stature, its development and determination, and strategies for its enhancement in colleges and universities are discussed. Focus is on the fundamental dimensions of stature, how it is affected by the external environment, and what colleges can do to improve it. Chapters are as follow: "Definition and Dimensions of Stature" (higher…