Development of Western Governors University, described by creators as a multistate, cyberspace, educational delivery system (virtual university) with a curriculum focusing on work-related skills and competencies, is chronicled; and issues addressed in planning are examined. The idea came from the Western Governors' Association during exploration…

The public is concerned about rising tuition, yet high-profile news stories tell only part of this complex story. Although governing boards and presidents must pursue strategies to keep their institutions affordable, they must also inform their constituents of those strategies and explain better the actual, rather than perceived, cost of attending…

The University of California Board of Regents' decision to end racial preferences in hiring, contracting, and admissions represents the most dramatic scaling-back of affirmative action policy in American higher education. The highly controversial decision is accompanied by a policy of increased outreach to low-income and otherwise disadvantaged…

College governing boards can promote good campus information management by understanding available services, monitoring changes and their relationship to priorities, supporting policies enhancing access to information, encouraging resource allocation for networking, promoting regional economic development through information use, and supporting…

Qualitative-interpretive research methods were used to examine the board-president relationship in three British Columbia (Canada) community colleges. Five major reasons for which the relationship is important emerged: board and administrator influence in both the campus and external communities; value compatibility; self-images; and reflection of…

Examines a 1994 college desegregation case involving possible merger of Mississippi University for Women, a historically white institution, and Mississippi Valley State University, a historically black institution. Following the wishes of trustees, and supported by alumni, the president of the former institution engaged in an unorthodox litigation…

College faculty, administrators, and trustees must abandon the posture of blame and advance to shared responsibility. But they must confront two uncomfortable truths: some academics may not be able to sever self-interest in order to develop a new strategic vision, and trustees and public officials may be unwilling to examine expensive programs…

This paper provides an analysis of the controversy surrounding the standard setting process conducted by ACT Inc. for the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB). This process is the most thoroughly planned, carefully executed, exhaustively evaluated, completely documented, and most visible of any standard setting process of which the author is…

Higher education has two primary purposes: (1) student learning for the improvement of self, family, employers, and society at large; and (2) knowledge generation, conservation, and dissemination for the advancement of everyone, now and in the future. To succeed in meeting these goals over the long term, colleges and universities: (1) have to be…

Public-sector higher education plays a critical role within the larger environment of higher education opportunity. Public universities are not the sole players in meeting necessary state outcomes, but they are by far the largest producers of higher education outcomes in South Dakota. This Fact Book, for Fiscal Year 2007, is the single best source…

Intended to stimulate improvements in shared governance in the California Community Colleges, this report outlines the evolution and current structures of shared governance at the local and system levels and provides recommendations for change to better serve the public interest. Following a preface, chapter 1 describes the evolution of shared…

This book describes transitions at Catholic colleges and universities by which governance was transferred from the founding religious communities to boards of mostly lay trustees. The book uses seven case studies from: (1) the College of New Rochelle (New York), (2) Saint Louis University (Missouri), (3) the University of Notre Dame (Indiana), (4)…

This book defines the role and obligations of the library trustee in a wide range of situations and also discusses keys to successful communication between the trustee and library director, staff, and patron. Chapters are: (1) "The Trustee in Today's World" (F. William Summers); (2) "Duties and Responsibilities of Trustees"…

The term general education has been employed to characterize an array of community college non-vocational programs, from Great Books courses to guidance services. General education at present differs from previous decades in terms of its emphasis on tighter curricular structure, global, gender, and ethnic studies, and the integration of knowledge.…

In 1992, the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges held a special study session on how the system should respond if resources were not sufficient to fund the colleges' role within the Master Plan for Higher Education. This report summarizes testimony provided during the session, which focused on the following themes: college…