Colleges are appointing senior-level people to handle public relations. Concerns about the public's skepticism include: setbacks in Congress, attacks on moneymaking operations, academic quality, dissatisfaction of employers, cynicism about college sports, anxieties about cost, competition for resources, scandals, etc. (MLW)

A LISREL analysis demonstrates the value of regressing reputational ratings on three latent variables: size, faculty research productivity, and the quality of program graduates. The model was tested using National Research Council data for each of six disciplines: English, French, philosophy, geography, political science, and sociology.…

Harvard University's founding and development, reputation, famous graduates, presidents, and history of curricular innovation and change are outlined as it celebrates 350 years of existence. (MSE)

With staff and faculty support, an urban community college's administration has reorganized the school's structure, turned around its negative public image, scrutinized and deemphasized its less productive courses, and revised its curriculum to more accurately serve student, community, and labor market needs. Developmental studies played a large…

A 1979 reputational survey, duplicating a 1977 study, sought to identify the most influential educational decision makers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas. Both studies found that a top policy maker is likely to be a white male noneducator from certain policy-making or policy-impacting institutions. (Author/SJL)

Student admission criteria and a college's advising and recruitment efforts are viewed from the perspective of a growing higher education establishment trying to attract students. A student selection model is proposed, derived from an "innovation-decision process" (Rogers and Shoemaker), which focuses on applicant behavior and decision-making…

A survey of 2,500 applicants accepted at Boston College in 1977 is used to develop two statistical models of student decision making for college choice. One model focuses on the decision-making process and the other on institutional image, and the two are compared. The results of the two models guide institutional policy in different directions.…

Alarmed by growing criticism, the author presents a defense of American public education, citing evidence that today we educate more students, that students are achieving more, and that the schools are the least expensive and most effective of our social institutions. He urges other educators to join his defense. (SJL)

A study involving interviews with 50 academic leaders revealed that college fund raising is a team effort; the institution's president is typically the central player; presidents should focus fund-raising attention on major gifts and administrative leadership; academic quality and institutional prestige are critical factors; and fund raising is…

Examines the degree of school counselors' impact on a school's prestige by exploring counselor influence on student placement and referral. Analyzes counselors' supply and receipt of information and offers implications for counselor practice, within ethical boundaries. Suggests that school counselors adopt a balanced perspective which accommodates…

This speech examines the image of the university as a powerful center of knowledge in the contexts of both the traditional university and the modern research university. The institution's role in thinking and research, personal growth, and social change are discussed, especially as these areas interrelate and can create an exciting intellectual…

Discusses strategies for increasing long-term administrative support of experiential college programs, including identifying client groups, establishing program credibility through outside sources, developing alliances within the institution, adapting to the institutional context, working with members of the institution to help achieve their…

Although higher education institutions dislike rankings published in the mass media, they like the attention the rankings create and prefer to be included rather than excluded. Common criticisms of the methodology include emphasis on inappropriate criteria, unfair comparison of private and public institutions, faulty assumptions, inaccurate data,…

Improving college stature is an ongoing and essential process needed to regain public support and trust. Administrators can elevate stature through specific techniques in innovative planning, resource allocation, outcomes assessment, and image management, and they can communicate better with the public. (MSE)

This article proposes that university department prestige can be measured by ability to place its doctoral recipients, as illustrated by analysis of accounting student placements. Resulting rankings of departments were evaluated for stability over time and against other program characteristics to illustrate the validity and uniqueness of the…