Learning Resources

Abstract: Four distinct waves can be discerned in the history of American higher education. The 85 years before the Civil War were characterized by the founding of hundreds of liberal arts colleges. The post–Civil War era saw the majority of these small colleges disappear, replaced by public land-grant schools. Around the turn of the last century, the giants of American industry led the founding of the great private research universities. The term "megaversity" entered the American lexicon after World War II, when thousands of returning GIs swelled the ranks of higher education; the second half of the 20th century also witnessed the proliferation of community colleges. The fifth great wave is now breaking, with for-profit competition and revolutionary teaching technologies among its main characteristics.

Abstract: Sustainable Accommodation for the New Economy (SANE), a two-year research program funded by the European Commission, considers the impact of the new economy on people, process, place, and technology to identify new ways of accommodating work. Its focus is on the creation of sustainable, collaborative workplaces for knowledge workers across Europe, encompassing both virtual and physical spaces. This article outlines major trends in the use of physical facilities in higher education, presents the initial space environment concepts developed as part of the SANE project, and discusses their implications for the corporate workplace. The increasing implementation of distributed workplace models in the corporate sector will provide major opportunities for academic institutions.

Abstract: Critics of strategic planning question whether it is a useful tool or a counterproductive management fad. This article reviews the experience of a university that has one of higher education’s longest continuous experiences with a strategic planning process and places it in the context of the literature on higher education planning. The article concludes that a long-term commitment to strategic planning—clearly defined in its broad parameters but flexible and adaptive in its details—can be productive.

Abstract: Any college or university involved in inter-institutional partnerships, especially one involving both two- and four-year institutions, can benefit by exposing faculty members to new ideas, teaching methods, teaching environments, and learning opportunities. Consortia and institutional partnerships can add a valuable dimension to planning for professional development in higher education, especially for rural institutions that are isolated. This article discusses the importance of collaboration in professional development and provides a case study on the development of one such partnership among 13 institutions of higher education in rural North Carolina.

Abstract: This article discusses significant changes in a management model within a university with an extensive, distributed campus system and multiple community college partnerships. These changes created stronger linkages between branch campus faculty and their disciplinary counterparts on the main university campus. They were based on a model analogous to a faculty member holding a joint appointment between colleges of a university and include collaborative decision making, hiring decisions, and evaluation by faculty and administrators of the branch and main campuses. Also included in the article is a description of the working relationship between the university and one of its significant community college partners.