As a new GI Bill moved through Congress in 2008, a handful of influential politicians grew concerned. Would such a generous education program trigger an exodus of service members during two wars? At the Pentagon's urging, the lawmakers proposed a fix: Give troops the option to transfer their benefits to a child or spouse. That policy quickly…

Like most university presidents, Irvin D. Reid is used to having his wife at his side during important events at Wayne State University. She has been here to help greet donors during celebrations of the capital campaign and has attended every football homecoming game during his decade-long presidency. But since last month, Mr. Reid has been…

Worries about a partner's finding a job are a major reason why colleges lose faculty and professional-staff recruits. Some institutions have hired people to focus largely on nonfaculty job searches. (Finding faculty jobs for spouses or partners is a more complex negotiation with the university.) But as the economy continues to dip into uncharted…

Mrs. Deborah J. Cofer is one of many presidential spouses who balk at the thought of being paid for their work--whether because they relish the freedom to take a night off or because they think of it as a natural part of their relationships with their partners. Mrs. Cofer believes that their mission is to enhance students' lives and they do not…

In spousal hires, university administrators too often fail to make the important distinction between partners who most likely would not have been hired under normal circumstances and, thus, could be a burden on an institution, and those who would be an attractive hire under any circumstances. One is a "trailing" spouse in need of "an…

In this article, the author offers his ad hoc reflections on the question of just how many academic couples a department could comfortably accommodate from the point of view of good governance, in the hope of getting an honest dialogue started and seeing some reasonable guidelines eventually created by one organization or another as a result. He…

The politics of dual-career academic couples, and the policies directed toward them, have been dissected and debated at length. Rarely mentioned, however, is how an academic career can be affected by a husband, wife, or significant other who is not on the professorial track. Most pairings of professor and nonprofessor work just fine. The partners…

Discusses how colleges are doing more to help academic couples, providing jobs for spouses of new hires as a way to make employment offers more attractive. A growing number of professors, however, say that the practice has gone too far and is unfair. (EV)

Recruiting programs aimed at the spouses of potential faculty members are becoming more common at universities and colleges. Among the reasons most frequently cited for this phenomenon are: there are more dual-career couples; more women are attending graduate school, raising the likelihood of academic marriages; and competition for faculty. (MLW)

Susan Young, wife of the chancellor of the University of California at Los Angeles, is seen as the quintessential college president's spouse, choosing to devote herself to her husband's job. She believes the female spouses of college presidents deserve more recognition and was instrumental in pressing for spouses' benefits. (MLW)

Academics welcome summer with a collective sigh of relief. Finally they can get to those tasks that are nearly impossible to accomplish during a busy academic year: working on that manuscript, completing the revisions on an article, learning the new laboratory technique from the colleague across the hall. However, those going on the job market in…

Under a new policy at the University of California, Los Angeles, spouses of the system president and chancellors can apply for the title "associate of the chancellor" and receive benefits such as business cards, library cards, travel expenses for university business, insurance coverage, etc. (MLW)

The University of California at Los Angeles has established an association for professors emeriti, their spouses, and surviving spouses that provides a setting and structure for continued participation in university life, including benefits such as office space, parking, and other campus privileges and a forum for communicating with the…

Although many older women in the United States control significant wealth, they often have little experience in financial and philanthropic decision making, having deferred to spouses in those areas. Increasingly, colleges are having special events to attract women donors but find they must provide substantial decision-making support, including…

Two state courts have reached opposite conclusions on whether universities must provide health benefits to domestic partners of gay employees. A New Jersey appeals court unanimously ruled that partners of Rutgers University employees do not qualify for family benefits. Also in a unanimous decision in Alaska, the state Supreme Court ruled that the…