Learning Resources

Abstract: A four-step process that has awakened The Pennsylvania State University to its ecological impact and is moving it toward sustainable resource-use policies is presented as a general model for ecological reform in universities. The first step was to frame the problem by conducting a high-profile ecological assessment of the institution using sustainability indicators. This created both the justification and the momentum necessary to persuade the university to adopt an ecological mission (step 2). Next, a detailed ecological and economic analysis of a university facility was made (step 3) to establish concrete socio-techno solutions that could then be extrapolated (step 4) to form specific sustainable policies for the entire university.

Abstract: Colleges and universities are expanding at unprecedented rates, creating new hazards for our increasingly fragile natural environments. Higher education administrators and planners are finding that campus development, like suburban sprawl, can disrupt functioning natural systems and destroy the natural, historical, and cultural fabric of the place. To address environmental issues and new regulations, proactive institutions of higher education are taking the lead as stewards of the land by including an environmental component in their campus master plans. An environmental approach to planning incorporates ecological information into campus master plans to ensure a sustainable campus landscape that is beautiful, durable, and distinctive. These Environmental Master Plans are best developed using a democratic process, considering each site’s unique essential environmental resources, the constraints of the regulatory environment, and a continuing education and outreach program. A case study of an Environmental Master Plan at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill illustrates how such a plan was created at one of the nation’s oldest and largest college campuses.

Abstract: This list of print and electronic resources is designed to act as a springboard to assist practitioners in finding information to start implementing sustainability efforts on their campuses.

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: This article investigates the status of tenure across various institutional types and estimates the future standing of tenure as a widespread phenomenon in American higher education. The findings of this study concur with the literature in asserting that non-tenure-track and part-time faculty are likely to comprise an increasingly significant portion of the academic faculty in the future. Thus, it is imperative that institutions develop policies and practices that effectively integrate these faculty groups into the organizational culture and maximize their talents while providing a stimulating and meaningful work experience for the part-time or contract employee.

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.