Parkland College, in Illinois, has taken a proactive approach to responding to the multicultural and international challenges facing all community colleges. The action has been spurred by national indicators that suggest that the nation's workforce is becoming older, is being comprised of more female members, is including more members from…

This anthology contains 52 papers on racial and ethnic diversity in higher education and is designed to reflect the collective ideas of those who teach in this area. Generally the manuscripts present ways of observing and experiencing racial and ethnic difference in American higher education institutions. Articles in part I titled…

Labor force participation rates, pay inequities, occupational segregation, positions in the hierarchy, interactions between diverse groups, and organizational culture all demonstrate that diversity in the workplace has not been fully achieved. Existing approaches to supporting workplace diversity have not worked, and, in many cases, have resulted…

As part of a series of periodic assessments of campus climate, the San Diego Community College District (SDCCD), in California, conducted a survey of classified staff in November 1995. Questionnaires were mailed to 280 staff members at San Diego City College, San Diego Mesa College, and San Diego Miramar College, soliciting their perceptions of…

Recent calls for collaborative efforts appear to be aimed at universities doing a better job at supporting school-improvement efforts. This paper describes outcomes of a project in which university faculty supported and trained local administrators and teachers at one school in the use of collaborative action research to improve teaching and…

These 25 papers from a conference of higher education facilities offices are grouped into 5 categories: business management; energy and environment; human resources; operations and maintenance; and planning, design and construction. Papers are: (1) "Provider of Choice" (Jerry C. Black); (2) "Re-Engineering--'Inside-Inside' or Outside-Inside': A…

Is it possible for state legislation designed to initiate systemic school reform to influence curriculum, instruction, and assessment at the classroom and building level? This paper presents findings of a longitudinal study of Oregon educators' reactions to school-reform legislation since it was passed in 1991. The Oregon Educational Act for the…

Educator reticence in some states has exerted a moderating effect on attempts to redesign public schooling. This paper presents findings of a longitudinal study that investigated the phenomenon of educator reaction to systemic state school-reform legislation. Oregon's landmark school-reform legislation, passed in 1991 and revised in 1995, serves…

This book provides current coverage of the present state of libraries and publishing in the United States and abroad. It has almost 1,000 entries and is divided into two sections. The first section is an alphabetical listing of countries from around the world. Each entry provides data about the political and economic condition of the country,…

The appreciative inquiry process was used to identify conditions enhancing self-directed learning. Participants in the project did the following: (1) used the five-step process to identify factors/conditions/forces that seemed to cause self-directed learning to occur; (2) created a matrix by combining the factors/conditions/forces with six…

The Women's Bureau enlisted more than 1,600 partners to distribute a questionnaire asking women about their lives as workers. The partners included the following: more than 300 businesses, 900 grassroots organizations, 75 unions, daily newspapers, national magazines, and federal agencies in all 50 states, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and Puerto Rico.…

This paper presents a sensitizing conceptual scheme for examining interpersonal adaptation in urban classrooms. The construct "interpersonal adaptation" is conceptualized as the interaction of individual/personality factors, interpersonal factors, and social/cultural factors. The model is applied to the urban school. The conceptual…

Educational equity demands are progressively being framed in terms of multiculturalism and diversity within the educational process. This change of focus means that strategies aiming to secure rights should make room for others that emphasize the building of relationships, mutual knowledge, and community. For schools in poor, inner-city…

This document provides an overview of a survey of child care planning advisory groups in 14 cities that was conducted in December, 1991 and January, 1992. The survey sought to identify major issues related to community-based planning for child care services in Ontario, Canada. After discussing the background and history of child care planning,…

This volume looks at the future of American higher education in 13 essays most of which were originally speeches to gatherings around the United States and the globe. The first series of essays in Part I looks at possible "contours" of the future and what choices should be made by higher education to advance the quality of future…