The University of Maryland at College Park is poised to embark on an unprecedented effort to improve the conditions of its faculty members who are off the tenure track. The campus's University Senate, which represents faculty members, administrators, students, and staff members, is scheduled to vote on an internal task-force report that…

When the global financial crisis hit in 2008, it looked at first as if many European universities were going to escape the worst. Higher education has long been considered a public right and a taxpayer-financed obligation, and there was optimism that universities, which government leaders hail as drivers of economic growth, would emerge relatively…

Academic fame is an even stranger goddess than her nonacademic counterpart. In this article, the author contends that academic fame is not easily lost, compared with other kinds of fame. In the world of films or novels, one's fame is fleeting--one is often only as good as his last production. Films that splashed across marquees in the summer are…

A recent report from the Modern Language Association, "Standing Still: The Associate Professor Survey," unfortunately passed over an important aspect of women's rise through the professorial ranks: how they move through the process of monograph publication, especially in comparison with male colleagues. As an acquiring editor in the scholarly and…

Boeing Company, the Chicago-based aerospace giant, has spent the past year matching internal data from employee evaluations with information about the colleges its engineers attended. It has used that analysis to create a ranking system, which it plans to unveil in the coming month, that will show which colleges have produced the workers it…

A small group of professors who are much-sought-after lecturers inside and outside academe follow a rigorous and varied circuit of national, regional, and campus-based meetings, conferences, lecture series, and symposia. Many speak free, but some substantially augment their incomes by charging fees. (MSE)

Analyzes institutional tax forms for 1997-98 earnings of presidents of 475 private colleges, finding that 13 percent earned more than $300,000, eight individuals earned more than $500,000; mean pay rose by 4 percent to $175,389. Reports that institutions claim high salaries are needed to compete with the private sector. Lists the 20 highest…

Presents data from institutional tax forms for the pay and benefits of key personnel at 475 private colleges and universities for 1996-97 and 1997-98. Institutions are grouped by Carnegie Classification and listings typically include data for six positions, such as the president, highest paid faculty member, a senior vice president, and chief…

The need for a new professional role for teachers that requires the participation of teachers and their unions in the center of school governance is discussed. The concepts of "shared authority" and " collegiality" are measures of professionalism that teachers want to assimilate into their school operations. (MLW)

After years in which scholars avoided New York City, college faculty are now coming in large numbers, enticed by attractive work assignments and reduced-cost housing. Hirings often come in clusters to strengthen weak departments. While not for everyone, a get-tough administration has made New York more attractive, particularly for two-career…

Unless schoolteachers are respected as professionals, the drive to improve education will stall, according to educators speaking at the first national meeting of the Holmes Group, an organization of research universities dedicated to reforming teacher education. Regional priorities, goals, liberal-arts graduates as instructors, and Black teachers…

After years of offering no rewards or incentives to faculty for developing software or integrating technology into their teaching, a few colleges and universities have begun helping professors by offering lighter course loads, financial support, credit toward tenure or promotion, and assistance in selling their products. (MSE)

Changes are occurring in college-level English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction. An accrediting body has been created for ESL programs to begin using uniform standards to evaluate varied programs. ESL teachers, many teaching part-time in more than one institution, are eager for better recognition of their profession, which has suffered in…