Notes that the hopeful threads binding Herman Melville's book "The Confidence-Man" also weave a valuable lesson for literature PhDs considering their career options. Suggests that the values crucial to a teacher or scholar are also crucial to those who work outside the university: willingness to entertain other points of view and an…

Describes a support model for academic computing developed and implemented at Carleton College (Minnesota) over the past six years. In the discipline-focused model, technical support staff work to identify, facilitate, and tailor technical tools and methods to the pedagogical needs of faculty. Curricular use of computers and computer skill levels…

Claims organizational or management communication finds itself in a difficult rhetorical dilemma. Suggests that even evolving and outward-looking networks have a tendency toward closure, self-affirmation and self-legitimation. Claims repeated and conscious decisions--affirmative action as understood in its older sense--are needed to push beyond…

Provides a profile of the use of action learning at the University of Brighton (United Kingdom), identifies reasons for the spread of action learning in a variety of subject disciplines, and discusses implications for the adoption of other innovations in learning and teaching in higher education. (LRW)

Surveyed 296 department chairs of political science to assess the current and future state of distance learning in that discipline. Key findings include low use of distance learning, low importance given to distance learning, and modest expectations of future growth in distance learning in political science. Proposes a model of the size and scope…

Explores the problems inherent in studying the intellectual and cultural life of Asian Americans in the United States, a country that has understood them first and foremost as exotic "orientals." Discusses the ways "orientals" have been understood in U.S. social thought as a racial "problem" and a racial "solution." (SLD)

Critiques three essays published in the July 1996 issue of this journal. Argues that the identity of the field of business communication should be determined by the conceptual problematic underlying its intellectual inquiry rather than by its vocabulary or instructional practices. Argues that business communication, management communication, and…

Responds to a critique in this issue of earlier articles in this journal. Explains that the project was not designed to conceptualize the study of business communication; that as researchers they cannot refrain from drawing conclusions and limiting those conclusions to the data observed; and they do not consider all research not based on…

Responds to an article that questioned the authors' previous attempts to define "subject difficulty" and compare subjects based on their level of difficulty. Argues that "subject difficulty" is a reasonable term and is important to the interpretation of examination data. Questions arguments that only qualitative judgments of…

Advocates for studies designed to promote understanding of how service learning fits with the historical traditions and norms, key concerns and perspectives, and basic assumptions of the various academic disciplines. This agenda can only be successfully addressed by enlisting the active cooperation of national and regional disciplinary and…

Categorization and analysis of articles on tourism research provided evidence that tourism is not a discipline but a field. A case study of a travel and tourism management program at a British university shows how business studies are emphasized in preparing for the field. (Contains 50 references.) (SK)

Using an article on the dichotomy between teaching and research as a starting point, this article explores whether a love for the subject in necessary to produce good teachers or good students in higher education. (EV)

Surveyed Russian educators to assess their perceptions of the speech-communication discipline and the value of speech-communication instruction for Russian students. Results show that most Russian educators are not familiar with speech communication as an academic discipline; and 40% disagreed that speech communication should be included in…

Reviews communication pedagogical practices in Canada, showing that graduate-level instruction focuses on mass communication, and that undergraduate courses in speech communication are typically cross-listed with other disciplines. Describes the strong undergraduate program at University College of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, with its unique base…

Examines international ethics issues and perspectives from the vantage points of five disciplines in business education: economics, management, finance, accounting, and marketing. Finds an underlying theme of management awareness, accountability, and control of ethical decision-making. Suggests some ethics-related curriculum projects. (DB)