As Extension faculty and staff work to meet the requirements for increased scholarship activities through multiple outlets, a collaborative writing activity can be an important instrument in one's academic toolbox. Writing collaboratively allows colleagues to support one another's individual strengths and work through concerns together. This…

Based on a review of primary and secondary sources, this article discusses the contexts, circumstances, people, and legislation that affected the origins and evolution of land-grant universities. Poses questions for the future, including whether land-grant universities are losing their historic commitment to their mission and becoming elitist.…

Introduces three types of agricultural policy dealing with the sustainability of society, the agricultural sector, and rural people and places. Outlines sustainability issues and special interest groups related to each policy type, common ground, and the impact on rural policy of the environment, economic change, physical infrastructure, social…

Explores concerns about the functions of research and uses of research findings, examines the institutional context of research and some of the problems faced by social sciences, and identifies some possible approaches and changes in institutional structure which would strengthen the role and effectiveness of social scientists and rural…

Rural sociology confronts a continuing crisis of identity because of its failure to develop a sociology of agriculture. Despite an initial focus on agriculture, rural sociology became deflected to the analysis of rurality. Several neo-Populist and neo-Marxist developments in the sociology of agriculture hold promise for a revised rural sociology.…

This publication is a source of basic information about the history and current workings of the land-grant university system. The first section briefly describes the nature of land grant universities as institutions that have been designated by state legislatures or Congress to receive the benefits of the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890. Their…

Data from teacher education programs in 77 public universities are analyzed in terms of the relationshp between their resources (e.g., faculty, secretaries, administrators, graduate assistants, operating and capital outlay funds) and their productivity. The data is broken down by academic year, summer sesssion, and 12-month appointments. Data also…

Data from teacher education programs in 75 public universities are analyzed in relation to their relative resources and productivity. Data include budget allocations by line (faculty, secretaries, administrators, graduate assistants, operating funds, capital outlay), broken down by academic year, summer session, and 12-month appointments. Data…

Agriculture and the rural economic bases in mining, fisheries, forestry, and natural resource extraction are experiencing major social and economic changes. The farm and rural crises of the 1980s are not short-term aberrations, but symptoms of long-term trends that were partially hidden by the relatively good times for agriculture and rural areas…

From institutional histories, this article documents misconceptions that the early land-grant colleges were unique in the land-grant heritage, derived from student demand, "revolutionized" post-Civil War agriculture and industry, and enjoyed state favor. Our neglect to understand their dominant national role and incremental educational…

Three questions about the relationships between campus autonomy and measures of faculty quality, student quality, and external funding are examined. The results suggest that changes in these measures of university quality are more influenced by state financial support than by state regulation. (Author/MLW)

Data concerning the funding and productivity of teacher education divisions in major state universities and land-grant colleges in the United States are presented. Section I discusses concepts of funding adequacy and equity in public elementary, secondary, and post-secondary education. Data are included on differential weighing of academic…

Since the advent of the 1980s, the economic viability of many farm operations has been severely jeopardized. Although attention has been directed primarily to the Midwest, in many respects farm stress has been greater in the South than in any other region. What is clear, however, is that the crisis is not strictly an agricultural one. Rather, a…

Because of the decline of farm population and family farms, the increase in energy-intensivity, and concentration process in agriculture, a rising tide of criticism has focused on the land grant system and its role in encouraging scientific applications supporting these trends. A study was conducted to develop a strategy that would change…

A discussion of the outreach role of American universities looks back to the origins of state and land-grant universities and their early role in promoting access to education and the advances of technology. Argues that understanding the current outreach mission of universities requires both clear vision and thorough research. (MSE)