Among the problems faced by unorthodox colleges are prevention of stagnation and attracting faculty members who share the institution's vision of undergraduate education. Representatives of 16 colleges at a "Meeting of Innovative Colleges" suggest that innovative programs have often taken on institutional lives of their own, making…

When Duke University (North Carolina) adopted a five-year plan in 1988 to double the proportion of black faculty, it lost almost as many as it gained. The new 10-year plan will focus on support and retention as well as hiring. The new plan has critics but more support than the last. (MSE)

Harvard University (Massachusetts) scholar Richard P. Chait has become a leading and controversial voice on tenure reform. Chait claims he is not opposed to faculty tenure, but challenges deeply-rooted beliefs when he suggests tenure is not the only way to protect academic freedom and may not be essential in any circumstances. (MSE)

An American Association of University Professors report on faculty workload uses federal data to refute perceptions that faculty spend too little of their professional time on teaching. Faculty are faulted for biased public opinion. Recent Ohio legislation mandating larger undergraduate teaching loads is also criticized by professors for its…

A forthcoming report of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching outlines four principles for evaluating college faculty work: (1) focus should be on the scholar's professional characteristics; (2) academe must have agreed-upon standards; (3) evidence of research, teaching, and service should be broad, rich, and varied; and (4)…

Discusses implications for colleges and universities of the coming retirement of the cohort of faculty brought in to teach the baby boomers. Notes both positive and negative financial impacts, effects of the greater amounts of wealth held by senior faculty on their decisions, and an increasing diffusion in retirement ages. (DB)

Increasingly, colleges and universities are instituting periodic evaluations of tenured faculty with the objective of encouraging faculty development. Some faculty question the need for posttenure review. Supporters feel the trend may strengthen tenure by providing evidence in its defense. (MSE)

Data from an annual national survey indicate that college faculty salaries increased just 0.4 percent when adjusted for inflation, with variation by faculty rank and institution type. Recession and negative public opinion are blamed. Public college faculty salaries increased less than private college salaries, broadening an existing gap.…

In sciences, postdoctoral fellowships have become the terminal academic credential for a research career. Positions are supposed to be temporary, but amount to a holding pattern for many unable to find permanent jobs in research or needing to assemble the required publishing record. Some institutions are beginning to acknowledge this problem and…

Last year's budget-trimming policies of Princeton University's new president confused and angered faculty, and handling of a faculty sexual misconduct case compounded campus discord. This fall has begun more quietly, marked by the president's efforts to emphasize positive movement. (MSE)

Duke University's affirmative action plan for faculty, unveiled in the late 1980s, has had limited success. Critics blame this on a small pool of minority doctorates and in-house resistance. Success has been greatest in the history department. The school has been more successful in attracting African-American graduate students. (MSE)

Colleges and universities are reporting more available tenure-track jobs. However, because of the lack of such jobs during the 1990s, it may not bring much relief to the profession. New Ph.D.'s are competing with the many doctoral recipients who have spent years in temporary teaching and research jobs hoping to obtain a tenure-track position. (MSE)

A commercial enterprise, the Teaching Company, is recruiting gifted college teachers to record courses on video and audio tape, to be marketed nationally in an adult education series. While some colleagues dismiss such ventures, participating faculty feel the company is helping their disciplines. Some of the company's competitors hire actors…

The role of white scholars in black studies has been a matter of controversy for two decades. The issue of white faculty teaching ethnic studies courses has become increasingly controversial on college campuses. Both racial tensions and academic politics appear to be causing heightened sensitivity. (MSE)

A disagreement between the George Mason University (Virginia) faculty senate and its governing board over how much credit to award for R.O.T.C. (Reserve Officers Training Corps) courses has escalated into a major confrontation over faculty authority over the curriculum and academic policy. The board questions whether the faculty senate is…