While interdisciplinarity has been promoted in universities for decades, research suggests that untenured faculty struggle to receive recognition for their interdisciplinary research. Informed by the microfoundations of institutional theory and discursive legitimation, we examine how members of academic departments participate in the legitimation…

Higher education faces a conflict between the traditional logic of professionalism and an increasingly prominent corporate logic. Using interviews with 30 faculty at a single institution, we seek to understand the consequences of these competing logics. Across our interviews, faculty express a misalignment between their professional values and the…

A national survey of the perceptions of chief academic officers and faculty representatives at U.S. graduate institutions regarding post-tenure review policy and practice suggests that such practices have been more symbol management than substance and more response to the rhetoric of accountability than intent to affect faculty status. (Author/EV)

Four conceptual issues (theoretical definition of performance, level of analysis, constituencies, and time) and four measurement issues (selecting properties, standards, and indicators, and comparing performance to standards) were used to study faculty performance in higher education. Implications are addressed. (Author/MLW)

A principal belief embedded in promotion and tenure and in annual review decisions is that faculty members should and can be simultaneously productive in teaching and research. This study used national survey data to estimate by discipline and type of institution the percentage of faculty who meet this standard. (Author)

Analysis of data from the 1993 National Survey of Postsecondary Faculty showed that faculty value teaching over research. At the same time, the explicit reward structure of academe favors research and publication, rewarding "productivity" in these arenas with money and status. Implications of this disconnect between values and rewards…

A sample of letters of recommendation regarding job applicants or staff members in view of promotions were rated independently by senior professors showing a tendency on the part of most judges to disagree with regard to the value of the letters. Relationships between letters and type and quality of university were also examined. (JT)

Awarding merit pay is a two-step process involving a performance review and a monetary calculation. A model that will distribute a finite amount of money while taking into account performance levels and base salaries of evaluees is described. (Author/MLW)

This article draws upon the literature on academic culture and the academic profession to provide a context for beliefs about post-tenure review. Schein's (1992) theory of organizational culture and Kuh & Whitt's (1988) application of cultural theory to higher education settings divides culture into a conceptual hierarchy comprised of three…

A survey of students at Western Illinois University and Appalachian State University shows that they consider themselves fair and accurate but do not understand the use and effects of the ratings and believe that neither faculty nor administrators pay much attention to the results. (Author/MLW)

Report of deliberations of fifteen scholars to explore new options and alternatives for improved institutional functioning (IR)

The challenges to academic decision makers resulting from the growing practice of faculty collaboration on publications are discussed. A 25-year publication history of authorship placement (first-named, second-named of 2, or latter-named of several) by 150 university chemists is analyzed to derive a typology for evaluation of faculty performance,…

A study of decision processes in 10 small- to medium-sized colleges examined academic program review, faculty performance evaluation and budgeting, and the use of information and analytical data. A resultant description of college decision-making and information systems and hypotheses for future research are included. (JT)

A conceptual framework containing three domains for an administrative perspective on faculty evaluation is presented. The first domain deals with faculty need satisfaction; the second centers on the instructors' work environment; and the third relates to the appropriateness of evaluation instruments. (Editor)