Institutional research that examines the influence of organizational and administrative factors on student learning may be critical in improving educational performance. The role that institutional researchers might play in reducing semantic confusion and enhancing understanding of how colleges and universities improve student learning is…

The "critical" and "established" positions on university morality leave important questions unanswered. A revised position distinguishing between the corporate and intellectual bodies of the university is offered. Three social conditions for maintaining a value-rational debate are proposed. (Author/MLW)

The Office of Information Services at Kent State University, responsible for academic and administrative computing, is described. Its goals are to support and facilitate instruction research, which requires the planning, acquisition, preparation, management, and maintenance of equipment and equipment sities. (MLW)

Provides suggestions for changes that would move campuses toward the ideal of fostering growth of critical thinking skills. Recommendations are divided into the areas of campus atmosphere, classroom behavior, student attitudes, curriculum materials, and criterion-referenced evaluation instruments. (JDH)

The more successful planning approaches lie in mobilizing the organization's support and readiness for planning, creating a climate in which successful planning can occur, involving constituents in the planning process, careful attention to communication, and the attention given to proper dissemination of process results. (MLW)

Advising of student-athletes is discussed as an institutional rather than an individual or educational endeavor. A general systems framework for thinking about the issue is provided to initiate a dialogue about the understanding of and developmental change in advising student-athletes. (MLW)

Four issues involving the student-athlete are identified as important to academic advising: the relationship between athletic participation and academic performance, individual differences among student-athletes, the possible conflict in the role of student and athletes, and the debate over the need for special programs for student-athletes. (MLW)

California State University at Chico is known for its nationally-ranked computer science department and for its innovative and entrepreneurial environment. Integrating information systems and services, organization and planning, the instructional media center, library, computer center, and faculty and student computing are described. (MLW)

Explored differences in freshman students' perceptions of college living environments across the six residence hall arrangements typically used for first-year students to learn if freshmen evaluated various aspects of their hall social climates in different ways according to whether they lived in single-sex, coed, all-freshmen, or…

An interview with Philip Kotler, the Harold T. Martin Professor of Marketing at Northwestern University, is presented. Three approaches to marketing are identified: product-oriented, hard-sell, and building satisfaction in a long-term clientele. (MLW)

A decentralized administrative environment can help ensure the effective allocation of resources through particpative decision making. The decentralized structure at Washburn University is described along with how it helps integrate the planning and budgeting process and the effectiveness of the resulting resource allocations. (MLW)

Discusses student reactions to college recruitment/admissions practices. Students indicated campus atmosphere, academic program and campus visits influenced the choice of a college. They want good information on which to make a decision and want to be treated as individuals. (JAC)

A recently released National Institute of Education publication about the state of U.S. undergraduate education that gives 27 suggestions for their improvement is summarized and discussed. A number of criticisms are offered, including lack of documentation. (MSE)

A study examined whether information about student approaches to making their course choices could have been used to identify those who subsequently changed or withdrew from their courses. Multivariate analysis indicated that combinations of the information could discriminate between students who persisted and those who withdrew. (Author/MLW)

Collegiate life during the eighteenth century at Harvard was characterized by a developing consciousness of student freedom as well as an increasing elaboration of student governance procedures. Using college records of laws, customs, and cases of student discipline, the analysis focuses on elements that affected the decision-making process.…