Learning Resources

Abstract: The path to a healthy, just, and sustainable future for all current and future generations of humans and other biological species will require a transformative change in thinking values and action by all individuals and institutions in the next two decades. The institutions within higher education bear a moral responsibility to increase the awareness, knowledge, skills, and values needed to change the collective mind-set. Because it prepares most of society’s professionals and leaders, higher education plays a critical but often-overlooked role in making this vision a reality. This article explores how higher education would model sustainability as a fully integrated community intricately connecting learning, research, operations, purchasing investments, and work with local and regional communities. The envisioned framework for higher education will result in the interdisciplinary, systemic learning and practice needed to provide the educational experience for graduates to lead society on a sustainable path. It provides several examples of colleges and universities that have made some of these changes with an emphasis on curriculum connected to other college and university functions. It also suggests a new role for college and university planners in this transformation and provides other sources of information on the changes that are happening in higher education.

Abstract: Drawing on recent survey data from the National Wildlife Federation and other publications, this article explains what an environmental management system is and identifies its components; examines how environmental management systems have been applied and adapted to higher education settings; reports on trends in implementation; and illustrates how the environmental management system can help in planning green campuses. It addresses such issues as environmental policy, training, compliance, performance evaluation, staffing, and assessment within the higher education context.

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: Recruiting and retaining women and minority faculty members is a particularly challenging workforce development issue facing many universities. This article summarizes current literature and the results of a survey of selected institutions to gauge responses to this challenge. All the survey respondents indicated that recruitment of women and minority candidates has been problematic, that retention problems vary, and that job placement is difficult and can negatively influence the recruitment and retention of women and minority faculty members. Job placement for partners has been most difficult for those universities located in small- to mid-sized cities. A variety of programs have been attempted to alleviate problems of recruitment and retention.

Abstract: Leveling or even declining enrollment and the current economic recession in higher education have forced many colleges to suspend or cut back plans for new construction and to consider the re-use and recycling of existing buildings. One candidate for rehabilitation: the campus chapel. The possibilities were examined at a two-day conference at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio February 26-27, which provided the basis for this article.

Abstract: Building cost escalation has forced up the price of new campus housing to the point that, under conventional planning and construction methods, dormitory space can cost as much as $10,000 or more per bed. Given such costs, many institutions find it difficult if not impossible to finance new housing without raising student rental charges to prohibitive levels. In response, a number of institutions have sought ways to provide housing at substantially lower cost. One solution is the so-called "turnkey" approach, in which a developer plans, designs, and builds new housing to meet the institution's specifications at a predetermined, fixed cost. This article describes the successful application of the turnkey technique at three institutions--the Universities of Rhode Island, Vermont, and Delaware.