Setting organizational or program objectives is seen as requiring three steps (brainstorming goals for the year, prioritizing them, and visualizing them as smaller, discrete tasks) and six principles (making goals group-specific, setting deadlines, being realistic and explicit, writing down goals, defining measurable steps, and creating…

Every college alumni program needs a mission statement specifying why it exists. In creating a statement, administrators should consider who designs it, drafts it, must endorse it, must adopt it. When institutional purpose and resources change, it can be redrafted. It should be an active guide, regularly reviewed and used. (MSE)

Offers recommendations about how to evaluate student activity programs. (JM)

An informal survey of 19 media relations firms whose clients include schools, colleges, and universities revealed that institutions can contribute most to the success of the consultant-client relationship by planning, establishing goals and expectations, building a team, and identifying worthwhile stories. (MSE)

Donor recognition societies, or gift clubs, are used by colleges and universities to thank and encourage donors. For such giving mechanisms to fulfill their potential, they must be carefully planned and administered. Issues to consider include setting gift levels based on institutional goals, establishing rules for counting eligible gifts, and…

Research administrators can avoid falling into bureaucratic traps by (1) understanding what is important and what is subordinate to it; (2) becoming a better manager; and (3) improving public relations by being more accessible, soliciting complaints, consulting, supporting clients, making the rules work for clients, and educating clients.

College trustees evaluating transfer policies and practices should consider allocation of staff and resources for support services and articulation; institutional expectations and planning goals; transfer population trends in the institution; transfer management within the institution; transfer student characteristics; and self-evaluation of…

Three categories of issues about which universities and industry often differ in research agreements are discussed: (1) major philosophical differences between universities and for-profit organizations; (2) complex intellectual property law and regulations of such forms as computer software and biological materials; and (3) differences in drafting…

Objective-oriented management for a cooperative program in a postsecondary institutional setting is relatively easy to articulate but requires much patience and energy to implement. Basically the design for objective-oriented management consists of five distinct activities, including goal setting, policy formation, and evaluation. (LRA)

The National Association for Campus Activities (NACA) Strategic Plan outlines the fundamental purposes, values, and environmental factors of the association. It presents five strategies: to serve and educate association membership through publications, research, and programs; to advocate and support technology use; to expand fiscal resources; to…

Fourteen principles for successful operation of a small collegiate alumni program are presented. They address such issues as planning, setting priorities, making decisions, routinizing procedures, using technology, creating a climate for cooperation and productivity, getting volunteers, keeping staff longer, and maintaining a balance between…

This guide to improving middle school guidance programs is based on two premises: (1) that the primary goal of the guidance program is to help students find meaning in their lives, and by this means, find relevancy in what schools have to offer them; and (2) that this sense of relevancy is accompanied by higher motivation to learn, and as a…

Universities are entering the information age with outdated organizational structures. The college president's role is to establish a process promoting integration of new technologies, with each other and with the institution's mission, especially in the library. This means giving faculty tools to deliver the new instruction being asked of them.…

Designed to be used in conjunction with the Defined Minimum Program for South Carolina School Districts, these guidelines were developed as part of an effort to evaluate the statewide media program and make recommendations for improvement. Guidelines are presented for the following aspects of the school media program: (1) goals for the media…

Issues college fundraisers must address before beginning a campaign include organizational readiness, administrator and trustee readiness, administrator willingness to lead, availability of volunteers, development staff readiness, information systems capacities, firmness of policy and procedures, use of consultants, funding sources, and…