AEHE: Call for Proposals
Below we describe in detail the various topics on which we would like to see proposals. We have grouped these topics into the
following areas: administration, curriculum, faculty, policy, and students. We are also interested in proposals on such additional topics as:
Administration
Balancing Competing Priorities
Universities need a conceptual framework and process for clarifying institutional purpose and setting academic priorities. The academic community needs to choose among competing demands for academic, financial and physical resources. This type of leadership will become increasingly important as institutions continue to be stretched beyond their means. The research to support better decision-making within an environment of competing demands needs to be synthesized.
Collective Bargaining
This report would be an update to an early 1980 report on collective bargaining. The research on collective bargaining has not been synthesized in over twenty years. It is important to understand what the consequences and impact have been. Also, there is no research to guide effective relations between unions, administrations and boards. This research is key to institutional decision-making.
Ethical Decision-Making
In addition to the rise of legal issues, more and more administrators are faced with difficult ethical dilemmas. What models can be brought to bear for making ethical decisions. How does ethical decisions-making relate to leadership, developing community, and other importants and characteristics.
Technology and Administration
Technology is transforming college administration. Technology is important to advancing the purposes of almost every aspect of administration from campus "tours" offered online with 360-degree views, live video, animation, talking tour guides, interactive maps with photographic links, and detailed information about buildings, departments, and programs to "one-stop shopping" models of student services to enhanced library services and availability to classroom resources and text on-line. Better use of technology is being shown to have many positive outcomes including increased student enrollment/retention and institutional reputation. Students benefit through better academic advising and counseling. This monograph would summarize the new approaches, research on technology and administration, and literature on the benefit.
Innovative Strategic Planning
Several ASHE Higher Education Report monographs have focused on the issue of strategic planning; almost all are a decade old. In addition, much of the higher education literature tends to come from the business sector. This monograph would cumulate research on non-profit and educational institutions related to planning, attempting to develop a model that can assist these unique institutions.
Outreach Efforts: Local, State, National, and International
Clearly higher education institutions are focused on ways to develop relationships with businesses, non-profit organizations, schools, communities and political organizations. These various partnerships have been coined by many authors as the rise of the "responsive university" or "engaged campus." Outreach and external relations used to focus mostly on the local community or state, but many institutions are beginning to think about outreach on a continuum. This monograph would reveiw research on local, state, national, and international outreach, model programs and the difficulties of building an infrastructure for cooperation and collaboration on outreach.
Marketing Higher Education
With the growth of non-profit higher education and increased competition because of globalization, higher education can no longer afford to wait for students to come knocking at their door. Marketing is becoming increasingly sophisticated. Institutional research offices are beginning to become involved in assisting marketing efforts. This monograph would document changes in the area of marketing higher education, synthesize research on techniques, and suggest future models that address the new environment of competition.
Assessment in Student Affairs
With the new emphasis on the Student Learning Imperative, what new tools, approaches and evaluation has been developed to examine the ways that student affairs supports the learning mission of the institution. This monograph will explore the impact of the student learning imperative, the ways that student affairs divisions are trying to illustrate the learning outcomes they contribute, and the importance of viewing the student wholistically.
Collaboration in Higher Education: Maximizing Resources and Revenue
State systems, consortiums, coordinating bodies, and other less formal arrangements are becoming increasingly important in a time of diminished resources. Models for collaboration need to be better understood, both the benefits and pitfalls. Major issues for examination include technology and purchasing, where resources constraints encourage ths type of complex collaboration. Another example is fund-raising activities among groups of colleges. This monograph would examine models of collaboration, focusing on the ways that collaboration increases efficiency, institutional focus, and productivity.
Developing Consensus — Creating Action
There is substantial evidence that long-term change occurs after a consensus has been built within an organization. However, the consensus process is often seen as time consuming, ineffective, lacking direction, and control. This Report would examine the literature that discusses the consensus-making process and identify the conditions and practices that makes this a timely and effective process. Particular attention would be paid to creating consenses in an increasingly diverse environment.
Doing More With Less: What is Higher Education Doing to Become More Effective?
Institutions, on the whole, are not seeing any significant increases in funding. Yet most institutions are feeling increasing pressures to add new programs, conduct different research, perform more public services, teach an increasingly diverse student population, maintain and repair a deteriorating infrastructure, and add the newest technologies, all with the same resources. In order to do this, institutions are developing new ways to measure and increase their operational efficiencies. This report would examine what processes and standards institutions are developing to judge their current operations and what they have found useful to increase their efficiencies.
In Pursuit of Excellence: Linking Institutional Aspirations to Cost
In a recent book by Charles T. Cloterfelter, (Buying the Best: Cost Escalation in Elite Higher Education. Princeton University Press, 1996) he indicated that a major cause of rising costs was an institution's desire to excel without having a fixed idea of exactly what that meant, what would be the overall expenses, and what would be the impact on the rest of the institution. This Report would examine the decision-making models that encourage innovation, ways institutions plan or allow for innovation, and the costs of innovation determined. Throughout the Report specific models of effective practices would be highlighted.
Intellectual Property in the Information Age
Colleges and universities struggle with clearly defining copyright and intellectual property issues. As electronic media, e.g., journals, proliferate and traditional pathways are transformed, institutions need to remain aware of policies and guidelines that they need to follow and establish. This report would review recent court decisions and the law surrounding copyright and intellectual property examining the impact for colleges and universities.
Outsourcing and the Privatization of Higher Education Services and Programs
More and more campuses are privatizing services in order to reduce costs and capture efficiencies. The term outsourcing has become increasingly used in higher education circles. This monograph would review the trend toward outsourcing, look at various models, and describe both the pros and cons of utilizing this approach.
Organizational Change in Higher Education: A Synthesis of Theory and Practice
Although there has been a tremendous amount of literature written in various professional fields about organizational change, this phenomena seems no more apparent to those who have engaged in a change process on a college or university campus. One of the difficulties with the literature is that change is studied from macro perspective, without an understanding of how culture and context impacts the process. This monograph will examine change in relations to culture and context, providing more direct guidance to individuals within institutions.
Spirituality in Higher Education
There is a growing body of literature within a variety of professions about the need for drawing on spirituality and spiritual principles for understanding problems and situation in organizations. Issues such as motivation, meaning and purpose, expectations and accountability, inclusiveness, and worth might all be better understood with the assistance of spiritual principles. Common issues related to faculty work lives, staff management, and student learning would be examined within this monograph. Student and Academic Affairs Collaborations
Collaborations an partnerships are an important way of thinking about delivery of service to students. Collaborations and working in a team oriented way has become the new paradigm within organizations and within many colleges and universities. In fact, one of the seven points made in NASPA's " Principles of Good Practice in Student Affairs" states that "good practice in student affairs forges educational partnerships." AAHE, NASPA and ACPA recently developed a document called a shared responsibility for learning which outlines core principles for effective partnerships between academic and student affairs. This monograph would examine the potential of partnerships between student and academic affairs.
Title IX
Colleges campuses struggle with the impact of Title IX. Recent course cases, including one currently with the Supreme Court, should make institutions aware that they need to reexamine their athletic programs and be sure they are compliant. Institutions, both small and large, are differentially impacted, this monograph will examine this issue from the perspective of different types of campuses.
Unionization: Graduate Assistants and Part-time Faculty
Many might have thought that unionization would never be an issue for sectors outside the community college. With the growing numbers of adjuncts and part-time faculty on all types of campuses and the potential strikes by graduate students all over the country...collective bargaining seems to be looming as a major force during the beginning of this next century. This monograph would focus on the recent trend toward collective bargaining.
Curriculum
Restructuring Doctoral Education
National organizations and disciplinary societies have been meeting and developing programs and ideas for redesigning the doctoral degree. Some of the problems noted include: overemphasis on research, the desire for many faculty to work at a handful of institutions, and the lack of diverse students and faculty in graduate education. These problems are being attributed partly to the organization of doctoral programs. The research and restructuring ideas should be synthesized to guide decision-making.
Growth of Continuing Education, Certificate Programs, & Degree Upgrade Programs
Increasingly, graduate schools and schools of continuing and professional studies are offering postbaccalaureate certificates, credentialing programs that reflect new demands in the workplace and global markets. The certificate programs lead to or supplement a graduate degree, recognize mastery in a professional or technical field, or focus on specific skills within a job classification or industry role. Once regardd as a by-product for colleges and universities, continuing education programs now provide needed revenues. Adult students now account for half of all college enrollments. Furthermore, continuing education is seen by many administrators as a financial lifesaver. This monograph would examine the growth in this area of higher education and future trends.
Assessing Multicultural Education: New Paradigms and Methods
One of the new learning outcomes for students is developing an understanding of other cultures, understanding multiple perspectives, empathy toward individuals from different cultural or ethnic groups, understanding power and marginalization, etc. These new learning outcomes are less well understood, we have fewer methods for assessing students development and mastering of these concepts. This book would review theories of student development related to multicultural education, examine the need for, challenges of, and models for methods of assessing a multicultural education.
Assessing the Quality of the Undergraduate Experience
Many critics of higher education perceive that their expectations are not being met. For institutions to accurately assess themselves against these concerns and to separate myth from reality, it is necessary to categorize the concerns and collect specific data. This manuscript would review the major publications and public speeches critical of higher education, analyze the various accusations made against the academy, and identify the type of information that is needed for institutions to assess the accuracy of this criticism.
Core Curriculum
External stakeholders are increasingly asking institutions to defend what they are teaching and to identify their core curriculum. This Report would review the current trend in development of core curriculum, review the underlying philosophies, and identify and describe recently established core curriculum programs.
Giving Leadership To The Curriculum
There is a developing tension over who should initiate curriculum change, who should influence curricular decisions, and how change should be justified. Pressure is also coming from outside the institution because of a perception that higher education curriculum is out-of-touch with society's needs. Part of the pressure is coming from within the institution from those who feel that academic leaders have failed in their responsibility to exert strong, systematic vision of what an institution's curriculum should be. This Report would look at the issues of academic leadership, examine various models, and identify examples that seem distinctively effective.
Globalization of Higher Education: Defining, Expanding, and Renewing Political Awareness and Citizenship
We constantly hear about the fact that we are now a global community and this will have a significant impact on higher education. Many people discuss the internationalization of their campus. What does this mean? This monograph will examine definitions of internationalization or globalization and review the literature on the ways campuses are preparing to be part of the "new world order." It will examine recruiting international students, orientating of international students, internationalizing the curriculum, and providing study abroad opportunities. Model campuses and practices will be highlighted. The focus of this monograph will be on comprehensive campus change and how institutions have fundamentally changed to meet this new mandate. Reasons for resistance or problems in achieving the change are reviewed.
High School Performance Assessment and the College Curriculum
There is an increasing emphasis by the states to develop performance assessment for their high schools. This change has a significant impact on the curriculum being offered by high schools and the quality of students being produced. This Report would analyze this trend and review the implications this has for higher education curriculum.
Higher Education and Workforce Development
Over the past forty years, higher education has played an increasingly important and larger role in the development of the workforce. Higher education supplied individuals with the scientific, technological and service skills as the economy shifted away from manufacturing. The economy continues to change towards new types of technological jobs. Will higher education be able to prepare students for this new environment? This books will examine the current role of higher education and suggest ways that the enterprise might improve its role in the area of developing the workforce for the 21st century.
Interdisciplinary Teaching and Research
Disciplinary boundaries and structures have been challenged by new research on learning and cognition. Many institutions are experimenting with new organization and course structures. For example, at Evergreen State the curriculum incorporates many interdisciplinary courses in their learning communities. As learning communities becoming increasingly popular, more and more faculty are engaging in interdisciplinary teaching. Little has been written about the best practices, challenges, or models for interdisciplinary teaching and research. After a decade of experimentation, it is time for a major publication that discusses the arguments for and advantages of interdisciplinary research and teaching and the research on these new organizational structures. This monograph would examine the extant literature in this area and develop some principles or guidelines for individuals charged with transforming their curriculum.
Keeping the Curriculum Current
The aging faculty, rapid development of new knowledge, and the high cost of new technologies are some of the challenges facing higher education institutions as they strive to keep their curriculum in tune with current educational demands. This report would review what institutions are doing to ensure the vitality of their curriculum. This report could review such areas as faculty development, inter-institutional cooperation, and institutional-industry partnerships.
Learning Communities
A new ASHE Higher Education Report monograph on learning communities has recently been released. Based on the high demand for this monograph, we are hoping to receive other manuscripts related to learning communities. For example, how is assessment different within a learning communities model or examining virtual learning communities or new organizational structures that develop faculty or staff learning communities. These concepts are all outlined in this recent monograph, but new scholarship examining one of these other areas in detail is needed.
New Students, New Knowledge, New Demands and New Opportunities: The Art of Redirecting the College Curriculum
More than 60% of college faculty are tenured. Most of these faculty have an on-going research agenda and teaching specialties. However, institutions are increasingly being pressured to modify old curricular emphasis because of a lack of student demand or because of changing conditions, e.g. the creation of new knowledge areas, new demands from a diversified student body or new opportunities from business and government. The problem facing institutions is how to develop a climate that will encourage established, tenured faculty to develop new intellectual directions, research agenda and courses to meet these demands. This Report would examine how institutions are addressing these new demands and what they are doing to create institutional change and renewal in the faculty.
Preparing Students for Life-Long Learning: Linking a Sense of the Future with Today's Education
The half-life of the knowledge base for many academic areas is becoming increasingly shorter. Because of the changes that are occurring, the specific knowledge currently being taught will be soon outdated. This is causing many curricular areas to rethink how the are presenting their knowledge. This report would review the changes occurring in the curriculum that will help prepare students for this ever changing knowledge requirements. It will also review new curricular models that focus on life-long learning. The report will specifically address how faculty can keep abreast of the changing knowledge base and how students can be educated to anticipate a life of continuous learning.
Remedial Education: Reassessment after a Decade
Remedial education has been debated since the late 1800's within the higher education enterprise. There were early proponents and antagonists as well as different approaches and philosophies. This monograph will examine the history of remedial education, current trends, state cuts on remedial education, and the pros and cons of offering remedial education. This monograph will examine program characteristics and some of the characteristics of model programs. Lastly, it will look at the future of funding and support for remedial education.
Undergraduate Reform or Improvement Movements
As a result of the reports critiquing higher education in the mid 1980's, many changes have occurred in college teaching, learning, and curriculum including a move toward active, collaborative learning, balancing general and specialized education, new wave math, multiculturalism, writing and language across the curriculum, etc. Now that we are entering the second half of the 1990's, it is important to assess the impact of the various reforms. Special attention to the emerging research on these reforms should be a major focus of the report.
Update to Learning Styles
One of the most popular ASHE Higher Education Report monographs, by Claxton and Murrell, was written about learning styles. An update to this monograph would examine the most recent literature, since 1987 about ways to increase student learning through new structures, programs, and activities developed to accommodate unique learning styles.
Faculty
Contract Faculty
In addition to the growth of part-time faculty, other non-traditional faculty roles, such as the contract faculty position, are emerging. These faculty have full-time appointments for a certain length of time. This report would review the origins of the expansion of contract faculty, describe current trends, and present the effectiveness and general consequences for departments.
Shared Governance
Institutions of higher education fae a crisis in shared governance. Recently, several writers noted the attrition of senior faculty, diminishing the power of the professoriate. The new "managerial class" is described as generating authority structures that make faculty governance irrelevant. This issue needs examination so that we understand the conditions of shared governance. Perspectives on shared governance, e.g., whether is is in crisis, exisiting problems, trustee activism, research on institutional governance processes, and proposals for new approaches and models would be the focus of this monograph.
Civility and Collegiality: Creating a Sense of Community for Faculty and Students
Stories in the Chronicle of higher education give evidence of an increasing lack of civility among faculty. This increasing lack of collegiality has many consequences including a decrease in faculty's ability to collaborate with each other and inhibits developing a sense of community with students. Many suggest that changes in the academe (in terms of a new generations or faculty with different beliefs and expectation) has impacted the culture of the academe, making collegiality more of a challenge. This lack of civility and collegiality can impact the institutions ability to meets its mission. The monograph would examine cultural issue, conditions, and systems the contribute to the lack of civility. It would also examine the effects of this change and the ways that institutions are developing systems or processes for developing a renewed sense of community.
Developing Teaching Skills in Graduate Schools
With increased pressure on institutions to improve the quality of their teaching, graduate schools are increasing their emphasis on teaching skills as part of the curriculum. This report would examine the extent of the effort being made by graduate schools to make this part of their formal curriculum. Topics to be reviewed would include research on learning and learning styles, teaching skills, and the assessment of student learning. This report would identify and describe exemplary activities aimed at increasing the pedagogical knowledge in graduate students.
The New American Scholar: Scholarship Reconsidered 10 Years Later
External pressures for emphasis on teaching, efficiency within colleges, applied rather than pure research resulted in Boyer's "Scholarship Reconsidered." Ten years after the publication of this important book, it is time to examine the ways that the academe has changed (or not changed). What changes in policy and practice have occurred? What barriers and facilitators have there been to change? This monograph would examine the forces that impacted the calls for new faculty roles and rewards and new forms of scholarship. Second, it will review the state of the academy and future directions.
Planning for Faculty Retirement
A large number of faculty are now approaching their late fifties and early sixties and are beginning to plan for retirement. Institutions are developing a variety of strategies to address the problems that early retirement or lack of retirement may cause. This report would review institutional efforts to help faculty plan their retirement, the development of early retirement incentives, and programs developed to utilize older faculty on a part-time basis.
The Skill and Techniques of Self-Governance
Much of faculty time is spent on institutional service; these small case activities involve committee meetings, tasks forces, faculty senates and the like. Faculty receive very little training on how to be successful in these activities. This Report would look at what is known about group behavior theories, conflict resolution, problem solving, meeting management, and other skills that are needed to be effective working with groups or teams.
Tenure: The Myths and Realities
Tenure is under considerable attack. But what are the real issues and what are the unrealistic stereotypes? This report would review the history of tenure, courts' decisions, tenures relationship to academic freedom, and the role tenure plays in the academic culture of an institution. A major portion of this Report would review the management or mismanagement of tenure and identify effective models for managing tenure.
Policy
For-Profit Higher Education
A fast growing sector in higher education is for-profit higher education. For-profit competitors are responsive to students, especially adult students. We know very little about the growing for-profit area. A report that summarizes the origins, growth, approaches, and examples of for-profit higher education is needed. Most of the literature stresses the threat of this sector, rather than examining it empirically for lessons that can be learned to inform all of postsecondary education.
Multi-disciplinary Research
Over the past few decades, there has been a move toward multi-disciplinary, problem-based research. Many scholars have critiqued traditional research methods, based in a single discipline, for being inadequate to understand complex problems. Increasingly, research projects are being conducted in teams, e.g., sociology, biology, anthropology, religious studies, and physics, addressing community and societal issues. This volume will examine institutional alterations that need to be made to foster this type of research from rewards to the creation of new units policy centers.
Admissions for a Diverse Student Body
Many college campuses are considering other approaches to assure a diverse student body, since affirmative action is under attack. This monograph would examine extensive outreach, capitalizing on alumni assistance, targeting the economically disadvantaged, K-16 initiatives, teacher education, early outreach, need-based student-aid and state scholarship programs, communications, coordination with business, and public relations, making a commitment to the community, and taking a proactive approach. The current context would be reviewed as well as state and institutional initiatives to promote diversity and access.
The Entrepreneurial University
Increasingly there are calls for higher education institutions to become more entrepreneurial, responding to changes in the marketplace and environment and developing adaptable structures. This monograph would review research form organizational theory related to the creation of entrepreneurial institutions and suggest ways for institutions to respond to the new environment. Strategic alliance, cooperative arrangements, and the like are featured.
Accountability in Higher Education
Over the years the higher education literature has talked about institutions and faculty being held to a higher level of accountability, but what is exactly meant by this? In what ways and in what areas have accountability demands changed? Are the accountability standards externally or internally generated? How have higher education leaders responded to these demands? If these demands are contrary to the best interests of the institution, what can institutions do to establish more effective standards of accountability? This Report would review the concept of accountability from both an historical and theoretical perspectives and then review various strategies institutions can use to establish accountability standards that help them better achieve their mission.
Demographic Trends: What Implications for Higher Education?
In many respects higher education is in an enviable position. It has up to a 17 year window to impact its future. Demographic data concerning birth rates, economic trends, even family migration data is available many years before they impact higher education institutions. Unfortunately, the implications of these data are not always obvious. This Report would identify the significant long-range trend data (e.g. census, commerce, and labor data) and analyze the implications for higher education institutions.
Legal Issues and the Internet
The World Wide Web has resulted in phenomenal changes to campuses. The nature of teaching, learning, research and administration is being transformed. The role of faculty, administrators, and students are being modified. Institutional structures are being recreated. A new ASHE Higher Education Report report series book "The Future of the World Wide Web and Higher Education" explores these transformations. Yet, there is no definitive text exploring the legal implications of these changes. Campuses are developing policies and practices reactively. A new key resource on the legal implications of the Internet for campuses could help administrators in planning and preparing for the many legal challenges that are emerging. The monograph should cover issues such as copyright, electronic libraries, e-mail policies, Internet policies and the like.
Losing Institutional Diversity: Homogenization of Higher Education
Over the past forty years, there has been increasing homogenization of the higher education enterprise. The private higher education sector both two year and four year has shrunk, HBCU's and women's colleges struggle for survival, comprehensive institutions are striving to be research universities, and community colleges are becoming increasingly similar rather than representing several models as they had in earlier times. Tribal colleges and HSI's struggle for resources and survival. In what ways are these unique institutions valuable? This monograph will examine the benefits of a diverse system of higher education, the danger of the trend toward homogenization, the reasons for the trend, and the advantages of this trend such as efficiency and ease of transfer.
The Past, Present and Future of Affirmative Action
The courts, politicians, and the general public have voted against traditional affirmative action. This Report looks at affirmative action from three dimensions: 1) what have been the overall results of affirmative action, 2) what affirmative action strategies appear to be the most successful, and 3) what new strategies might be developed that would both meet the standards set by the courts and general social objectives of diversity and fairness?
Performance: The Defining Dimension of Higher Education in the New Millennium
Accrediting organizations, state legislatures and the federal government are beginning to define accountability in terms of performance. To measure performance, performance indicators are being used, but the concept of performance extends beyond the use of these indicators. This book would examine federal and state views of performance and the impact that this new philosophy will have on higher education over the next ten years. It will also examine new trends in accreditation.
The Rating of Higher Education Institutions and Academic Programs
In 1980 we published a report, A Question of Quality: The Higher Education Rating Game. Since that time the rating of higher education institutions has become even more important to institutional success. At the same time the federal government and accrediting associations have increased pressure on higher education institutions to develop specific measurement to indicate their effectiveness. This report would review how the rating game has changes, what is the meaning and impact of the "new" rating games of specific outcomes indicators, and what should individual institutions be doing to help shape the new rating game rules.
Students
The Impact of Technology on Students
Several publications have recently examined the impact of technology on teaching and learning, management, and access, but few books or articles have examined the impact on students. How is technology impacting student development? Are students addicted to the Internet? How is time spent on computers impacting student organizations and campus life? What new student services are evolving? These and other questions would be addressed in this monograph.
Student Retention
Student retention continues to be a significant concern to institutions of higher education, especially as they continue to receive an increasingly diverse student body. There have been hundreds of studies on student retention, but limited synthesis of this material. This monograph would review studies on different student populations across various institutional types and environments, making recommendations for increasing students retention.
Ethnic Student Identity Development: Assuring the Education of all Students
There is a growing body of literature about ethnic student identity development that has implications for college and university programming and services. This monograph would review this growing body of literature and the ways that campuses might want to reassess the ways they structure and shape the culture of the institution.
Treating the Student as a Customer
The concept of the student as a customer or consumer has been developing for more than two decades. With pressure to compete against other institutions for a limited number of students, to retain existing students, and to attract transfer students, the concept of students as consumers is gaining even more attention. This report would examine what institutional practices that improve student-institution relationships and identify specific examples of institutions have be notably successful.
- Distance Education
- Economic Development
- Fundraising
- Interdisciplinary
- Minority/Women's Programs
- Outcomes Assessment
- Privatization of Services
- School to Work
- Service Learning
Administration
Balancing Competing Priorities
Universities need a conceptual framework and process for clarifying institutional purpose and setting academic priorities. The academic community needs to choose among competing demands for academic, financial and physical resources. This type of leadership will become increasingly important as institutions continue to be stretched beyond their means. The research to support better decision-making within an environment of competing demands needs to be synthesized.
Collective Bargaining
This report would be an update to an early 1980 report on collective bargaining. The research on collective bargaining has not been synthesized in over twenty years. It is important to understand what the consequences and impact have been. Also, there is no research to guide effective relations between unions, administrations and boards. This research is key to institutional decision-making.
Ethical Decision-Making
In addition to the rise of legal issues, more and more administrators are faced with difficult ethical dilemmas. What models can be brought to bear for making ethical decisions. How does ethical decisions-making relate to leadership, developing community, and other importants and characteristics.
Technology and Administration
Technology is transforming college administration. Technology is important to advancing the purposes of almost every aspect of administration from campus "tours" offered online with 360-degree views, live video, animation, talking tour guides, interactive maps with photographic links, and detailed information about buildings, departments, and programs to "one-stop shopping" models of student services to enhanced library services and availability to classroom resources and text on-line. Better use of technology is being shown to have many positive outcomes including increased student enrollment/retention and institutional reputation. Students benefit through better academic advising and counseling. This monograph would summarize the new approaches, research on technology and administration, and literature on the benefit.
Innovative Strategic Planning
Several ASHE Higher Education Report monographs have focused on the issue of strategic planning; almost all are a decade old. In addition, much of the higher education literature tends to come from the business sector. This monograph would cumulate research on non-profit and educational institutions related to planning, attempting to develop a model that can assist these unique institutions.
Outreach Efforts: Local, State, National, and International
Clearly higher education institutions are focused on ways to develop relationships with businesses, non-profit organizations, schools, communities and political organizations. These various partnerships have been coined by many authors as the rise of the "responsive university" or "engaged campus." Outreach and external relations used to focus mostly on the local community or state, but many institutions are beginning to think about outreach on a continuum. This monograph would reveiw research on local, state, national, and international outreach, model programs and the difficulties of building an infrastructure for cooperation and collaboration on outreach.
Marketing Higher Education
With the growth of non-profit higher education and increased competition because of globalization, higher education can no longer afford to wait for students to come knocking at their door. Marketing is becoming increasingly sophisticated. Institutional research offices are beginning to become involved in assisting marketing efforts. This monograph would document changes in the area of marketing higher education, synthesize research on techniques, and suggest future models that address the new environment of competition.
Assessment in Student Affairs
With the new emphasis on the Student Learning Imperative, what new tools, approaches and evaluation has been developed to examine the ways that student affairs supports the learning mission of the institution. This monograph will explore the impact of the student learning imperative, the ways that student affairs divisions are trying to illustrate the learning outcomes they contribute, and the importance of viewing the student wholistically.
Collaboration in Higher Education: Maximizing Resources and Revenue
State systems, consortiums, coordinating bodies, and other less formal arrangements are becoming increasingly important in a time of diminished resources. Models for collaboration need to be better understood, both the benefits and pitfalls. Major issues for examination include technology and purchasing, where resources constraints encourage ths type of complex collaboration. Another example is fund-raising activities among groups of colleges. This monograph would examine models of collaboration, focusing on the ways that collaboration increases efficiency, institutional focus, and productivity.
Developing Consensus — Creating Action
There is substantial evidence that long-term change occurs after a consensus has been built within an organization. However, the consensus process is often seen as time consuming, ineffective, lacking direction, and control. This Report would examine the literature that discusses the consensus-making process and identify the conditions and practices that makes this a timely and effective process. Particular attention would be paid to creating consenses in an increasingly diverse environment.
Doing More With Less: What is Higher Education Doing to Become More Effective?
Institutions, on the whole, are not seeing any significant increases in funding. Yet most institutions are feeling increasing pressures to add new programs, conduct different research, perform more public services, teach an increasingly diverse student population, maintain and repair a deteriorating infrastructure, and add the newest technologies, all with the same resources. In order to do this, institutions are developing new ways to measure and increase their operational efficiencies. This report would examine what processes and standards institutions are developing to judge their current operations and what they have found useful to increase their efficiencies.
In Pursuit of Excellence: Linking Institutional Aspirations to Cost
In a recent book by Charles T. Cloterfelter, (Buying the Best: Cost Escalation in Elite Higher Education. Princeton University Press, 1996) he indicated that a major cause of rising costs was an institution's desire to excel without having a fixed idea of exactly what that meant, what would be the overall expenses, and what would be the impact on the rest of the institution. This Report would examine the decision-making models that encourage innovation, ways institutions plan or allow for innovation, and the costs of innovation determined. Throughout the Report specific models of effective practices would be highlighted.
Intellectual Property in the Information Age
Colleges and universities struggle with clearly defining copyright and intellectual property issues. As electronic media, e.g., journals, proliferate and traditional pathways are transformed, institutions need to remain aware of policies and guidelines that they need to follow and establish. This report would review recent court decisions and the law surrounding copyright and intellectual property examining the impact for colleges and universities.
Outsourcing and the Privatization of Higher Education Services and Programs
More and more campuses are privatizing services in order to reduce costs and capture efficiencies. The term outsourcing has become increasingly used in higher education circles. This monograph would review the trend toward outsourcing, look at various models, and describe both the pros and cons of utilizing this approach.
Organizational Change in Higher Education: A Synthesis of Theory and Practice
Although there has been a tremendous amount of literature written in various professional fields about organizational change, this phenomena seems no more apparent to those who have engaged in a change process on a college or university campus. One of the difficulties with the literature is that change is studied from macro perspective, without an understanding of how culture and context impacts the process. This monograph will examine change in relations to culture and context, providing more direct guidance to individuals within institutions.
Spirituality in Higher Education
There is a growing body of literature within a variety of professions about the need for drawing on spirituality and spiritual principles for understanding problems and situation in organizations. Issues such as motivation, meaning and purpose, expectations and accountability, inclusiveness, and worth might all be better understood with the assistance of spiritual principles. Common issues related to faculty work lives, staff management, and student learning would be examined within this monograph. Student and Academic Affairs Collaborations
Collaborations an partnerships are an important way of thinking about delivery of service to students. Collaborations and working in a team oriented way has become the new paradigm within organizations and within many colleges and universities. In fact, one of the seven points made in NASPA's " Principles of Good Practice in Student Affairs" states that "good practice in student affairs forges educational partnerships." AAHE, NASPA and ACPA recently developed a document called a shared responsibility for learning which outlines core principles for effective partnerships between academic and student affairs. This monograph would examine the potential of partnerships between student and academic affairs.
Title IX
Colleges campuses struggle with the impact of Title IX. Recent course cases, including one currently with the Supreme Court, should make institutions aware that they need to reexamine their athletic programs and be sure they are compliant. Institutions, both small and large, are differentially impacted, this monograph will examine this issue from the perspective of different types of campuses.
Unionization: Graduate Assistants and Part-time Faculty
Many might have thought that unionization would never be an issue for sectors outside the community college. With the growing numbers of adjuncts and part-time faculty on all types of campuses and the potential strikes by graduate students all over the country...collective bargaining seems to be looming as a major force during the beginning of this next century. This monograph would focus on the recent trend toward collective bargaining.
Curriculum
Restructuring Doctoral Education
National organizations and disciplinary societies have been meeting and developing programs and ideas for redesigning the doctoral degree. Some of the problems noted include: overemphasis on research, the desire for many faculty to work at a handful of institutions, and the lack of diverse students and faculty in graduate education. These problems are being attributed partly to the organization of doctoral programs. The research and restructuring ideas should be synthesized to guide decision-making.
Growth of Continuing Education, Certificate Programs, & Degree Upgrade Programs
Increasingly, graduate schools and schools of continuing and professional studies are offering postbaccalaureate certificates, credentialing programs that reflect new demands in the workplace and global markets. The certificate programs lead to or supplement a graduate degree, recognize mastery in a professional or technical field, or focus on specific skills within a job classification or industry role. Once regardd as a by-product for colleges and universities, continuing education programs now provide needed revenues. Adult students now account for half of all college enrollments. Furthermore, continuing education is seen by many administrators as a financial lifesaver. This monograph would examine the growth in this area of higher education and future trends.
Assessing Multicultural Education: New Paradigms and Methods
One of the new learning outcomes for students is developing an understanding of other cultures, understanding multiple perspectives, empathy toward individuals from different cultural or ethnic groups, understanding power and marginalization, etc. These new learning outcomes are less well understood, we have fewer methods for assessing students development and mastering of these concepts. This book would review theories of student development related to multicultural education, examine the need for, challenges of, and models for methods of assessing a multicultural education.
Assessing the Quality of the Undergraduate Experience
Many critics of higher education perceive that their expectations are not being met. For institutions to accurately assess themselves against these concerns and to separate myth from reality, it is necessary to categorize the concerns and collect specific data. This manuscript would review the major publications and public speeches critical of higher education, analyze the various accusations made against the academy, and identify the type of information that is needed for institutions to assess the accuracy of this criticism.
Core Curriculum
External stakeholders are increasingly asking institutions to defend what they are teaching and to identify their core curriculum. This Report would review the current trend in development of core curriculum, review the underlying philosophies, and identify and describe recently established core curriculum programs.
Giving Leadership To The Curriculum
There is a developing tension over who should initiate curriculum change, who should influence curricular decisions, and how change should be justified. Pressure is also coming from outside the institution because of a perception that higher education curriculum is out-of-touch with society's needs. Part of the pressure is coming from within the institution from those who feel that academic leaders have failed in their responsibility to exert strong, systematic vision of what an institution's curriculum should be. This Report would look at the issues of academic leadership, examine various models, and identify examples that seem distinctively effective.
Globalization of Higher Education: Defining, Expanding, and Renewing Political Awareness and Citizenship
We constantly hear about the fact that we are now a global community and this will have a significant impact on higher education. Many people discuss the internationalization of their campus. What does this mean? This monograph will examine definitions of internationalization or globalization and review the literature on the ways campuses are preparing to be part of the "new world order." It will examine recruiting international students, orientating of international students, internationalizing the curriculum, and providing study abroad opportunities. Model campuses and practices will be highlighted. The focus of this monograph will be on comprehensive campus change and how institutions have fundamentally changed to meet this new mandate. Reasons for resistance or problems in achieving the change are reviewed.
High School Performance Assessment and the College Curriculum
There is an increasing emphasis by the states to develop performance assessment for their high schools. This change has a significant impact on the curriculum being offered by high schools and the quality of students being produced. This Report would analyze this trend and review the implications this has for higher education curriculum.
Higher Education and Workforce Development
Over the past forty years, higher education has played an increasingly important and larger role in the development of the workforce. Higher education supplied individuals with the scientific, technological and service skills as the economy shifted away from manufacturing. The economy continues to change towards new types of technological jobs. Will higher education be able to prepare students for this new environment? This books will examine the current role of higher education and suggest ways that the enterprise might improve its role in the area of developing the workforce for the 21st century.
Interdisciplinary Teaching and Research
Disciplinary boundaries and structures have been challenged by new research on learning and cognition. Many institutions are experimenting with new organization and course structures. For example, at Evergreen State the curriculum incorporates many interdisciplinary courses in their learning communities. As learning communities becoming increasingly popular, more and more faculty are engaging in interdisciplinary teaching. Little has been written about the best practices, challenges, or models for interdisciplinary teaching and research. After a decade of experimentation, it is time for a major publication that discusses the arguments for and advantages of interdisciplinary research and teaching and the research on these new organizational structures. This monograph would examine the extant literature in this area and develop some principles or guidelines for individuals charged with transforming their curriculum.
Keeping the Curriculum Current
The aging faculty, rapid development of new knowledge, and the high cost of new technologies are some of the challenges facing higher education institutions as they strive to keep their curriculum in tune with current educational demands. This report would review what institutions are doing to ensure the vitality of their curriculum. This report could review such areas as faculty development, inter-institutional cooperation, and institutional-industry partnerships.
Learning Communities
A new ASHE Higher Education Report monograph on learning communities has recently been released. Based on the high demand for this monograph, we are hoping to receive other manuscripts related to learning communities. For example, how is assessment different within a learning communities model or examining virtual learning communities or new organizational structures that develop faculty or staff learning communities. These concepts are all outlined in this recent monograph, but new scholarship examining one of these other areas in detail is needed.
New Students, New Knowledge, New Demands and New Opportunities: The Art of Redirecting the College Curriculum
More than 60% of college faculty are tenured. Most of these faculty have an on-going research agenda and teaching specialties. However, institutions are increasingly being pressured to modify old curricular emphasis because of a lack of student demand or because of changing conditions, e.g. the creation of new knowledge areas, new demands from a diversified student body or new opportunities from business and government. The problem facing institutions is how to develop a climate that will encourage established, tenured faculty to develop new intellectual directions, research agenda and courses to meet these demands. This Report would examine how institutions are addressing these new demands and what they are doing to create institutional change and renewal in the faculty.
Preparing Students for Life-Long Learning: Linking a Sense of the Future with Today's Education
The half-life of the knowledge base for many academic areas is becoming increasingly shorter. Because of the changes that are occurring, the specific knowledge currently being taught will be soon outdated. This is causing many curricular areas to rethink how the are presenting their knowledge. This report would review the changes occurring in the curriculum that will help prepare students for this ever changing knowledge requirements. It will also review new curricular models that focus on life-long learning. The report will specifically address how faculty can keep abreast of the changing knowledge base and how students can be educated to anticipate a life of continuous learning.
Remedial Education: Reassessment after a Decade
Remedial education has been debated since the late 1800's within the higher education enterprise. There were early proponents and antagonists as well as different approaches and philosophies. This monograph will examine the history of remedial education, current trends, state cuts on remedial education, and the pros and cons of offering remedial education. This monograph will examine program characteristics and some of the characteristics of model programs. Lastly, it will look at the future of funding and support for remedial education.
Undergraduate Reform or Improvement Movements
As a result of the reports critiquing higher education in the mid 1980's, many changes have occurred in college teaching, learning, and curriculum including a move toward active, collaborative learning, balancing general and specialized education, new wave math, multiculturalism, writing and language across the curriculum, etc. Now that we are entering the second half of the 1990's, it is important to assess the impact of the various reforms. Special attention to the emerging research on these reforms should be a major focus of the report.
Update to Learning Styles
One of the most popular ASHE Higher Education Report monographs, by Claxton and Murrell, was written about learning styles. An update to this monograph would examine the most recent literature, since 1987 about ways to increase student learning through new structures, programs, and activities developed to accommodate unique learning styles.
Faculty
Contract Faculty
In addition to the growth of part-time faculty, other non-traditional faculty roles, such as the contract faculty position, are emerging. These faculty have full-time appointments for a certain length of time. This report would review the origins of the expansion of contract faculty, describe current trends, and present the effectiveness and general consequences for departments.
Shared Governance
Institutions of higher education fae a crisis in shared governance. Recently, several writers noted the attrition of senior faculty, diminishing the power of the professoriate. The new "managerial class" is described as generating authority structures that make faculty governance irrelevant. This issue needs examination so that we understand the conditions of shared governance. Perspectives on shared governance, e.g., whether is is in crisis, exisiting problems, trustee activism, research on institutional governance processes, and proposals for new approaches and models would be the focus of this monograph.
Civility and Collegiality: Creating a Sense of Community for Faculty and Students
Stories in the Chronicle of higher education give evidence of an increasing lack of civility among faculty. This increasing lack of collegiality has many consequences including a decrease in faculty's ability to collaborate with each other and inhibits developing a sense of community with students. Many suggest that changes in the academe (in terms of a new generations or faculty with different beliefs and expectation) has impacted the culture of the academe, making collegiality more of a challenge. This lack of civility and collegiality can impact the institutions ability to meets its mission. The monograph would examine cultural issue, conditions, and systems the contribute to the lack of civility. It would also examine the effects of this change and the ways that institutions are developing systems or processes for developing a renewed sense of community.
Developing Teaching Skills in Graduate Schools
With increased pressure on institutions to improve the quality of their teaching, graduate schools are increasing their emphasis on teaching skills as part of the curriculum. This report would examine the extent of the effort being made by graduate schools to make this part of their formal curriculum. Topics to be reviewed would include research on learning and learning styles, teaching skills, and the assessment of student learning. This report would identify and describe exemplary activities aimed at increasing the pedagogical knowledge in graduate students.
The New American Scholar: Scholarship Reconsidered 10 Years Later
External pressures for emphasis on teaching, efficiency within colleges, applied rather than pure research resulted in Boyer's "Scholarship Reconsidered." Ten years after the publication of this important book, it is time to examine the ways that the academe has changed (or not changed). What changes in policy and practice have occurred? What barriers and facilitators have there been to change? This monograph would examine the forces that impacted the calls for new faculty roles and rewards and new forms of scholarship. Second, it will review the state of the academy and future directions.
Planning for Faculty Retirement
A large number of faculty are now approaching their late fifties and early sixties and are beginning to plan for retirement. Institutions are developing a variety of strategies to address the problems that early retirement or lack of retirement may cause. This report would review institutional efforts to help faculty plan their retirement, the development of early retirement incentives, and programs developed to utilize older faculty on a part-time basis.
The Skill and Techniques of Self-Governance
Much of faculty time is spent on institutional service; these small case activities involve committee meetings, tasks forces, faculty senates and the like. Faculty receive very little training on how to be successful in these activities. This Report would look at what is known about group behavior theories, conflict resolution, problem solving, meeting management, and other skills that are needed to be effective working with groups or teams.
Tenure: The Myths and Realities
Tenure is under considerable attack. But what are the real issues and what are the unrealistic stereotypes? This report would review the history of tenure, courts' decisions, tenures relationship to academic freedom, and the role tenure plays in the academic culture of an institution. A major portion of this Report would review the management or mismanagement of tenure and identify effective models for managing tenure.
Policy
For-Profit Higher Education
A fast growing sector in higher education is for-profit higher education. For-profit competitors are responsive to students, especially adult students. We know very little about the growing for-profit area. A report that summarizes the origins, growth, approaches, and examples of for-profit higher education is needed. Most of the literature stresses the threat of this sector, rather than examining it empirically for lessons that can be learned to inform all of postsecondary education.
Multi-disciplinary Research
Over the past few decades, there has been a move toward multi-disciplinary, problem-based research. Many scholars have critiqued traditional research methods, based in a single discipline, for being inadequate to understand complex problems. Increasingly, research projects are being conducted in teams, e.g., sociology, biology, anthropology, religious studies, and physics, addressing community and societal issues. This volume will examine institutional alterations that need to be made to foster this type of research from rewards to the creation of new units policy centers.
Admissions for a Diverse Student Body
Many college campuses are considering other approaches to assure a diverse student body, since affirmative action is under attack. This monograph would examine extensive outreach, capitalizing on alumni assistance, targeting the economically disadvantaged, K-16 initiatives, teacher education, early outreach, need-based student-aid and state scholarship programs, communications, coordination with business, and public relations, making a commitment to the community, and taking a proactive approach. The current context would be reviewed as well as state and institutional initiatives to promote diversity and access.
The Entrepreneurial University
Increasingly there are calls for higher education institutions to become more entrepreneurial, responding to changes in the marketplace and environment and developing adaptable structures. This monograph would review research form organizational theory related to the creation of entrepreneurial institutions and suggest ways for institutions to respond to the new environment. Strategic alliance, cooperative arrangements, and the like are featured.
Accountability in Higher Education
Over the years the higher education literature has talked about institutions and faculty being held to a higher level of accountability, but what is exactly meant by this? In what ways and in what areas have accountability demands changed? Are the accountability standards externally or internally generated? How have higher education leaders responded to these demands? If these demands are contrary to the best interests of the institution, what can institutions do to establish more effective standards of accountability? This Report would review the concept of accountability from both an historical and theoretical perspectives and then review various strategies institutions can use to establish accountability standards that help them better achieve their mission.
Demographic Trends: What Implications for Higher Education?
In many respects higher education is in an enviable position. It has up to a 17 year window to impact its future. Demographic data concerning birth rates, economic trends, even family migration data is available many years before they impact higher education institutions. Unfortunately, the implications of these data are not always obvious. This Report would identify the significant long-range trend data (e.g. census, commerce, and labor data) and analyze the implications for higher education institutions.
Legal Issues and the Internet
The World Wide Web has resulted in phenomenal changes to campuses. The nature of teaching, learning, research and administration is being transformed. The role of faculty, administrators, and students are being modified. Institutional structures are being recreated. A new ASHE Higher Education Report report series book "The Future of the World Wide Web and Higher Education" explores these transformations. Yet, there is no definitive text exploring the legal implications of these changes. Campuses are developing policies and practices reactively. A new key resource on the legal implications of the Internet for campuses could help administrators in planning and preparing for the many legal challenges that are emerging. The monograph should cover issues such as copyright, electronic libraries, e-mail policies, Internet policies and the like.
Losing Institutional Diversity: Homogenization of Higher Education
Over the past forty years, there has been increasing homogenization of the higher education enterprise. The private higher education sector both two year and four year has shrunk, HBCU's and women's colleges struggle for survival, comprehensive institutions are striving to be research universities, and community colleges are becoming increasingly similar rather than representing several models as they had in earlier times. Tribal colleges and HSI's struggle for resources and survival. In what ways are these unique institutions valuable? This monograph will examine the benefits of a diverse system of higher education, the danger of the trend toward homogenization, the reasons for the trend, and the advantages of this trend such as efficiency and ease of transfer.
The Past, Present and Future of Affirmative Action
The courts, politicians, and the general public have voted against traditional affirmative action. This Report looks at affirmative action from three dimensions: 1) what have been the overall results of affirmative action, 2) what affirmative action strategies appear to be the most successful, and 3) what new strategies might be developed that would both meet the standards set by the courts and general social objectives of diversity and fairness?
Performance: The Defining Dimension of Higher Education in the New Millennium
Accrediting organizations, state legislatures and the federal government are beginning to define accountability in terms of performance. To measure performance, performance indicators are being used, but the concept of performance extends beyond the use of these indicators. This book would examine federal and state views of performance and the impact that this new philosophy will have on higher education over the next ten years. It will also examine new trends in accreditation.
The Rating of Higher Education Institutions and Academic Programs
In 1980 we published a report, A Question of Quality: The Higher Education Rating Game. Since that time the rating of higher education institutions has become even more important to institutional success. At the same time the federal government and accrediting associations have increased pressure on higher education institutions to develop specific measurement to indicate their effectiveness. This report would review how the rating game has changes, what is the meaning and impact of the "new" rating games of specific outcomes indicators, and what should individual institutions be doing to help shape the new rating game rules.
Students
The Impact of Technology on Students
Several publications have recently examined the impact of technology on teaching and learning, management, and access, but few books or articles have examined the impact on students. How is technology impacting student development? Are students addicted to the Internet? How is time spent on computers impacting student organizations and campus life? What new student services are evolving? These and other questions would be addressed in this monograph.
Student Retention
Student retention continues to be a significant concern to institutions of higher education, especially as they continue to receive an increasingly diverse student body. There have been hundreds of studies on student retention, but limited synthesis of this material. This monograph would review studies on different student populations across various institutional types and environments, making recommendations for increasing students retention.
Ethnic Student Identity Development: Assuring the Education of all Students
There is a growing body of literature about ethnic student identity development that has implications for college and university programming and services. This monograph would review this growing body of literature and the ways that campuses might want to reassess the ways they structure and shape the culture of the institution.
Treating the Student as a Customer
The concept of the student as a customer or consumer has been developing for more than two decades. With pressure to compete against other institutions for a limited number of students, to retain existing students, and to attract transfer students, the concept of students as consumers is gaining even more attention. This report would examine what institutional practices that improve student-institution relationships and identify specific examples of institutions have be notably successful.