In 2015, the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) announced the AACC Pathways Project, a national initiative designed to support a cohort of community colleges to implement and scale whole-college guided pathways reforms. Thirty community colleges from 17 states were selected for the project and embraced the challenge of redesigning…

The emerging national information infrastructure is viewed as a solution to problems facing higher education, rather than as another drain on resources. Creative planning, reassessment of traditional models of campus organization, teaching, and learning, and creation of broad-based partnerships in public and private sectors will be required.…

A plan that offers college employees an incentive to contain health care insurance costs is outlined. It consists of three parts: the institution's offering of coverage for claims above a certain level; an employee deductible; and an accounting system that rewards employees for keeping health care costs down as well as involving them in management…

At Eastern Washington University, strong executive leadership in a planning process incorporating a microcomputer-based model has begun to enable integration of campus planning and budgeting. The computer model offers departmental planners a sophisticated tool for analyzing alternative strategies over a number of years. (MSE)

Winners of a national contest for cost-cutting in campus maintenance, institutional planning, and program administration and the nature of their innovations are reported. (MSE)

Strategic planning models seek order in a disorderly world. However, chaos science offers a language of concepts to discern deeper patterns in organizational life that appears out of control. Many of these concepts apply to higher education institutions. Interpretation of chaos theory principles suggests five tools for making high-leverage change…

A discussion of the management of research as a function of central university administration focuses on three topics: development of institutional plans for research management; issues of intellectual property as they concern institution and staff; and the establishment and management of research centers. These issues are addressed in the context…

Literature about the roles of college deans and department heads is reviewed, issues confronting these administrators are discussed, and their information needs are examined. A guide to the categories, types, and sources of useful information is provided. (MSE)

Electronic methods of transacting and managing business represent the future of college and university services. With proper planning, an all-campus card program offers many benefits and full cost recovery. The extensive Duke University (North Carolina) smart-card program illustrates the flexibility, utility, and cost-effectiveness of the concept.…

Discusses provisions of interest to college administrators and faculty in the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, focusing on two sections: limitations on infringement liability for "service providers," and prohibitions on circumvention of technological-protection measures. Definitions and legal implications are examined, and actions…

Research findings suggest that centralization varies with certain institutional characteristics and that the nature of the graduate faculty, availability of funding, and staffing patterns are correlated with the degree of centralization. The historical development of graduate education is described. (Author/MLW)

In a small college, application of management by objectives concepts for planning and management have been used in three areas: personnel, programs, and budget. Interrelationships of these areas are discussed. Procedures are explained and results are illustrated so that these concepts can be used in other circumstances. (MSE)

To increase the value of its endowment, a college or university must manage three separate but interdependent factors: endowment spending rate; investment policy; and fund-raising. Using lessons learned by other institutions, Oberlin College (Ohio) developed strategies for spending and investment that balance the institution's need for income, the…

A discussion of focus groups in college marketing planning looks at the applicability of the approach, describes important considerations in focus group research, and provides step-by-step guidelines for conducting such groups. The technique's advantages are illustrated in an actual case in which the approach saved valuable institutional…

Presents and answers a series of questions about how the college or university development office can prepare for economic uncertainty or downturn, including insulating the major gift operations from economic decline, communicating with the administration, budget cutting, communicating with donors, helping donors cope with financial losses, and…