Internationalization is a core activity of universities today, and one in which academic staff play a crucial role. A decade of research into academic staff engagement in internationalization of the curriculum (IoC) has highlighted the importance of in-depth qualitative case studies in which researchers collect detailed information over a…

This chapter describes consortial efforts within the Great Lakes Colleges Association to share expertise and programming to build research skills throughout the undergraduate curriculum. Strategies to scaffold research skill development are provided from Allegheny College, Kalamazoo College, and The College of Wooster.

When institutions engage in discussions regarding improving retention and graduation rates, invariably the conversation focuses on entering student characteristics, especially ACT and SAT scores and high school grades. Clearly, attracting and enrolling well-prepared and motivated high-ability students will certainly improve institutional measures…

In this article, the author illustrates how three campuses have, in their own way, attempted to bring coherence to the student experience and enrich that experience by more closely matching what was promised to what each student actually experiences while enrolled. Fulfilling students' expectations that were purposefully articulated in the mission…

Few words have dominated the vocabulary of college retention as has the word "persistence." Many institutions still struggle to engage faculty and administrators in building campuswide retention efforts, to find the organizational levers that translate the abstractions and complexities of retention theory into scalable and durable initiatives, and…

As a topic of study, disability is not new at institutions of higher education. Psychological and intellectual disabilities have been of interest in psychiatry and psychology at least since the late 1800s and early 1900s. The post-World War II era, in particular, witnessed the rapid expansion of academic programs in special education, vocational…

Building undergraduate and graduate programs simultaneously highlighted the tensions between disciplinary-based undergraduate programs and interdisciplinary graduate programs.

Self-paced instruction as a teaching method can offer flexibility to students and academic institutions, but it must be accompanied by planning and development efforts to identify viable courses and instructors, ensure adequate support for the faculty, and ensure that support systems are responsive to student needs. (MSE)

All institutional activities should be based on mutually-agreed-upon educational and cultural values as declared in a formal mission statement. A carefully formulated statement supported by conscious, informal commitment to its fulfillment allows an institution to maintain integrity and provide direction. (MSE)

What is perceived as poor fit between liberal arts and the individual disciplines results not from narrow subject matter or analytical focus but from the disciplines keeping too many of the interesting questions to themselves. College students are not exposed enough to the reasons their teachers find their fields compelling. (MSE)

The American undergraduate curriculum has historically been designed to meet the twin goals of intellectual advancement and utility, constantly replacing outdated curricula with new ones. The current challenge is to stretch the traditions of inquiry and scholarship to meet new marketplace demands. (MSE)

How do evolving academic priorities influence the review and reform of a pioneering general education program?

During two periods of expansion in higher education, the curriculum of undergraduate education has undergone major changes. Toward the end of each period of expansion, a movement for assessment has developed, with the goal of restoring coherence and substance to the undergraduate program. (MLW)

The failure of higher education to provide moral instruction has been responsible in part for the moral problems of this country. Higher education should assume this responsibility with renewed diligence through formal instruction and by colleges and universities being exemplars of ethical conduct. (Author/MSE)

A student leader and an administrator discuss the worth of values education to students of 1980, who are part of an increasingly relativistic, unsettled society in which economic matters have assumed primacy. (Author/MSE)