Learning Resources

Abstract: A program cost study was conducted at a large midwestern university to determine department level expenses and revenues associated with the mission-critical activites of instruction, research, and service. The analysis is patterned after a controversial study conducted at the University of Rhode Island (Swonger and Mead, 1996: Cordes, 1996, Roush, 1996) but includes significant improvements based in the availability of well-developed models for allocating costs (Responsibility-Centered Management, or RCM) and attributing faculty effort to these mission-critical activites (Instructional Effort Report/Capacity Model). Rcm has been used for nearly a decade to allocate all campus revenue and expenses to academic units. The IER/Capacity Model has developed over the course of the ten years from a system for illustrating faculty teaching loeads to one concerned with total faculty workloads. The results of the cost study ere promulgated through a series of reports and meetings with university administrators. The reports provide to them a wealth of cost information to supplement exisiting evaluation mechaisms assesing program process and quality and were incorporataed into the annual planning and budget proceses across all campus units.

Abstract: Book review of The Advancement President and the Academy, eidted by Mary Kay Murphy. ACE/Oryx Press, 1997. 153 pages. ISBN 1-57356-028-6. Pull quotes: "The advancement president must live out a commitment to intellectual life."

Abstract: Book Review: The Tax Law of Colleges and Universities, by Bertrand Hardind Jr. John Wiley & Sons, 1997. 384 pages. ISBN 0-471-15939-5.

Abstract: For too long, the authors contend, endowment management strategies have not been linked with overall financial management at most colleges and universities. Advocates a comprehensive, objective approach to financial planning and management which does not separate investment management from the other financial management operations of the institution. Discusses potential goals for design and implementation of integrated strategic financial planning and investing, including a five-step process for investment management.

Abstract: Book review: Beyond Fund Raising: New Strategies for Nonprofit Innovation and Investment, by Kay Sprinkel Grace, John Wiley & Sons, 1997. 288 pages. ISBN 0-47-16232-9.

Abstract: Subtitles: Response to the cuts; Thinking anew; The knell and the new. Pull quotes: "Prospects for a return to robust state appropriations seem dim." "What formula should states use to fund their public institutions?" "Each institution would thus have different cost bases." "The time for across-the-board tuitions caps may have passed." "Tuitions in the state should be more variegated, not uniform as they are today."

Abstract: The process of devising a financial strategy to enhance its academic distinction began at Rutgers, a large, public, research university, in 1980 with a not uncommon statement of the Rutgers Board of Governors that sounded like many other mission statements. It used the expected phrases: continue development as a national and international resource by improving quality of instruction, research, and service; increase emphasis on scholarship; expand graduate and research areas of excellence; enhance programs to serve society's needs for broadly educated, humane, competent professionals to serve New Jersey's needs in education, business and industry, public policy studies, government, and other areas. But the Rutgers board did not see the statement as a platitudinous expression to be said and forgotten, and called upon the University administration to implement the statement with all due speed. What follows is the story of its implementation and the results of that action.