Learning Resources

Abstract: Many colleges and universities own considerable areas of land that play a significant role in their research and teaching programs. University forests and other natural resource management units can be a large part of this land base. This land and timber base is a financial asset that, especially in times of financial difficulty, can easily morph from a research and teaching asset to a source of vital revenue, producing an emotional response from faculty, students, and the community. Planning, especially constituency-based participation, can lessen public disputes over the management of these lands. Without proper planning, such disputes are almost ensured.

Abstract: There is a crisis in higher education. With skyrocketing tuition, shrinking budgets, and increasingly complex social problems, it is time to ask: What are public research universities doing—and what should they do—to fulfill their compact with the citizens of their states? Locating some of the major cultural and structural obstacles impeding academic engagement, this article argues that “intellectual entrepreneurship” provides academic institutions with both a philosophy and set of mechanisms to meet the ethical obligation of discovering and putting to work knowledge that makes a difference—to educate “citizen-scholars” who engage in service with rather than to society.

Abstract: This article focuses on the impact of the Southern Association of Colleges and School’s redesign of regional accreditation processes. The authors describe (1) common patterns among regional accreditation associations,(2) a systems modeling framework to illustrate important components in the planning process as it relates to student learning outcomes, and (3) the fundamental role of peer review in the redesign process.

Abstract: In February 2008, the U.S. Army and Fayetteville State University established a partnership that has changed the process of healthcare education for active duty social workers. Before this time, the army relied on public universities to be solely responsible for recruiting, evaluating, and educating active duty social workers to serve the needs of service members and their families. However, to meet an immediate need for more social workers to deal with the wounds caused by the War on Terror and to help it get the best possible return on its educational investment, the army decided to partner with a university to establish a distance education Master of Social Work program at the Army Medical Department Center and School at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Fayetteville State University in Fayetteville, North Carolina was the university partner selected. This article outlines the background of the partnership and the issues other public universities should consider if they want to partner with the military or another federal agency. The article also highlights the benefits of such a partnership.

Abstract: Until recently, there has been no credible, reliable source for instructional cost data on a national basis for two-year colleges in the United States. To fill this need, the Kansas Study of Community College Instructional Costs and Productivity was designed and implemented as a national data collection and reporting consortium. Based on the four-year college and university Delaware Study of Instructional Costs and Productivity, the Kansas Study collects and reports community college instructional costs and faculty workload at the academic discipline level of analysis. This article analyzes aggregate national data from the Kansas Study to determine the major instructional cost drivers for community colleges nationwide.

Abstract: This article reviews current planning efforts regarding the use of2009 federal stimulus dollars in higher education and focuses on identifying best practices.It takes the approach that“best practice” should be defined by criteria outside current planning efforts and suggests that desired outcome, process, and maintenance of key relationships are the appropriate criteria. The article also describes general current practice based on a survey of planning likelihoods and analyzes the planning practices reported against the identified external criteria.

Abstract: Healthcare reform efforts in both the Clinton and Obama administrations have attempted to address college and university health. Yet, although the world of healthcare delivery has almost universally evolved to managed care, school health programs have not. In general, school-sponsored health plans do little to improve access and have adopted strategies that may in fact breach the school’s fiduciary duty to the student. For these health programs to survive, planners must embrace change and integrate their operations with standard health insurance systems. In this way, they can do good both for students and families and for the future of college and university health.