Grading patterns for over 1,000 teachers, giving more than 40,000 grades in approximately 2,000 courses, are reported and a method is introduced both to normalize and stabilize grade data by courses. The findings indicate that the academic field of the course is strongly related to the types of grades assigned, but that academic credentials and…

Requests for published materials made over a two-year period by 79 research fellows in the humanities are analyzed by format, date of publication, subject, and language. The results of this study are compared with results of citation and library use studies, and discrepancies are noted. (Author/CLB)

The growth of women's studies is an American higher education success story, but now scholars are confronting the questions and dilemmas that come with the field's maturity, including debate over the concept of gender and over the acceptance of white, middle class women as the universal standard of womanhood. (MSE)

Teaching students the methodologies used by practicing professionals can increase creative productivity, levels of understanding, and motivation levels of bright students. How-to books can be used to explain these methodologies, by serving a mentor-in-print role, introducing students to new topics and processes, or providing a supplement to the…

An annual survey of college faculty pay shows faculty in "hard-to-hire" disciplines such as engineering, accounting, physics, and computer science continue to command higher-than-average salaries, while disciplines recently at the bottom of the pay scale remain there. At all ranks except full professor, private college faculty earned more. (MSE)

The effects of work environment factors on faculty research productivity and turnover intentions were examined while controlling for prestige of the employing institution, disciplinary area, and academic rank. Available resources had a significant positive effect on research productivity. (Author/MLW)

While fiscal restraint has some negative impact, it provides an opportunity to bring greater order to schooling. The intellectual function of the school is "the perpetuation, transformation, and generation of knowledge grounded in the disciplines." Implicit in this vision of school is rejection of the function of school as socialization. (BRR)

Identifying trends in the kinds of research that comprise the college student literature is an important step in understanding the development of the field. The methods, the substantive topics, and types of papers that characterized the 1969-1983 college student literature is examined. (Author/MLW)

The average salaries for full professors and new assistant professors in 21 disciplines for 1976-77 and 1984-85 are ranked and the percentage increases in the intervening period are listed and analyzed. (MSE)

The difficulty for an institution of finding a balance between traditional faculty compensation practices and free labor market practices that raise the salaries of faculty in high-demand disciplines in government, industry, and education is discussed. (MSE)

The outstanding basic research conducted by leading U.S. universities contrasts with the institutional paralysis that limits their responses to the changing social environment. A matrix model of university organization and mission is presented and a starting point for organizational learning and change is offered. (Author/MLW)

Study showed that undergraduate psychology teachers are actively involved in fashioning the discipline by selecting that which is taught. Teacher and institutional characteristics play an important part in determining the selection factors which affect what constitutes conceptual tradition in the field. (RM)

Describes the attempt to define and to understand composition studies. Discusses problems involving its becoming a discipline and describes current writing programs based on a survey of 52 universities. (EL)

Faculty definitions of merit are analyzed through 417 recommendations for merit salary awards. The effects of the recommendation writer's academic characteristics on the case made were examined, and it was found that definitions of merit varied by academic discipline and rank, and teaching was generally less valued than research or service. (MSE)

Results of questionnaire survey of research library directors concerning M.L.S. joint degree programs indicate that respondents favored joint programs with 15 percent reduced coursework; areas of interest for nonlibrary science degree are hard sciences, other professions, foreign languages; graduates have edge in placement, slightly higher…