(1985). Attitudes, Values and Background of High School Journalists Compared with the Media Elite. To compare attitudes, values, and background of high school journalists with those of the media elite (journalists already working in the media), a survey was administered to 132 public and private high school students attending the Trinity University Journalism Institute during June 5-9, 1983. These students were the editors of their newspapers, yearbooks, and literary magazines. Students' personal backgrounds, such as fathers' educational and occupational status, metropolitan environment, and solid middle or upple middle class homes, were similar to those of adult journalists surveyed. Students either matched or exceeded the privileged levels reported by the media elite. On half of the social and political issues included–which featured questions about abortion, income limits, affirmative action, homosexual rights, and environmental protection–students scored about the same as the adult media elite. However, students are much more religious than the media elite. It appears that…
(1984). A University Handbook on Disabilities. Accommodations that can aid in the learning process for disabled students at Clarion University of Pennsylvania are outlined in this handbook funded by the college's Affirmative Action Committee. Objectives of the guide are: to define and describe the major disabilities (hearing impairment, learning disability, mobility impairment, speech impairment, and visual impairment); to identify the major problems that disabled students encounter during the academic semester; to outline disabled student responsibilities for making teachers aware of problems that their disability will cause for them in the class; and to suggest changes that may be made by faculty to accommodate the special needs of disabled students. For each disability, accommodations for the classroom and for testing are suggested. Guidelines for faculty and for disabled students are also included for each type of disability. In addition, a bibliography of sources that contain information about disabilities and dealing with…
(1984). Age Discrimination on Campus. AAHE Bulletin, v37 n3 Nov. Issues of mandatory retirement for faculty are discussed. In 1978, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act was amended to raise the age of forced retirement to 70, but tenured college professors were exempted from the protections of the amendment. Arguments raised by advocates of forced retirement for tenured college professors include: the decline in the number of 18- to 21-year-olds will adversely affect college enrollments; older faculty are less productive than younger faculty; and administrators will be unable to implement affirmative action programs for minorities and women unless older faculty are forced to retire. The Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association-College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF) recently surveyed retired annuitants. It was found that 85 percent of participating colleges and universities ignored the exemption, and only 21 percent of annuitants had been forced to retire because they had reached the mandatory retirement age. TIAA-CREF found that male…
(1983). Survey of Entry-Level Skills Training by Selected Missouri Manufacturers. Final Report. Missouri manufacturers of electrical and electronic equipment and related products were surveyed to identify entry-level skills training decision factors and the extent of entry-level skills training by the manufacturers. Two instruments were constructed for use in the study. The Training Decision Inventory was used to assess the influence of specified issues on manufacturers' decisions to offer training; the Survey of Entry-Level Skills Training was used to ascertain the nature and extent of entry-level skills training. Results indicated that issues related to employee motivation/affirmative action, technology/productivity, and education preparation affected manufacturers' decisions to offer entry-level skills training. Cost benefit, expenditures for training, and labor market issues had equivalent influence on the decision-making process with respect to whether or not firms offer training. Data on the nature and extent of existing skills training were inadequate in number to allow…
(1986). Western Michigan University's Black College Program, Swelling the Black Faculty Cohort. The shortage of black faculty at predominantly white institutions is discussed, along with the efforts of Western Michigan University to increase the number of black faculty. Reasons cited for the shortage of black faculty (about 4% of U.S. faculty in 1980 were black) include institutional racism, failure of affirmative action policies, low numbers of black Ph.Ds, declining emphasis on recruiting and retaining minority graduate students, and a discouraging job outlook for new doctorate holders. A decreasing black faculty presence means fewer role models for black graudate students, who may find white colleges inhospitable. Western Michigan University has created The Black College Program to promote the professional development of faculty from historically black institutions. Junior faculty from black schools can enroll in graduate programs to attain advanced degrees or specialized training. Fellowships and assistantships are available, and reciprocal financial support from the home…
(1986). Five-Year Master Rolling Plan 1986-1991. The Connecticut State Department of Children and Youth Services is a multi-service agency which assists children and youth through directly operated and funded services. The agency's services include child protection; foster care; adoptions; juvenile corrections and rehabilitation; and prevention and treatment of delinquency, child maltreatment, mental illness, and emotional disturbance. The department operates or arranges for services to children and youth through a continuum of care. This report includes a brief description of the functions of the Affirmative Action Office and of the department divisions, and a discussion of the continuum of care model for children's services. The major part of the report describes the five main goals of the department in the areas of: (1) comprehensive service system; (2) quality service system; (3) permanency; (4) preparation for adulthood; and (5) agency management. For each goal, objectives are listed which include past progress and a summary…
(1986). University of California, Berkeley's Undergraduate Honors Program for Minority Mathematics and Science Students–The Math/Science Workshop Program. Final Report. The aim of the Math/Science Workshop Program was to improve the performance of the University of California (UC) Berkeley minority students in freshman- and sophomore-level mathematics and science courses, and thereby increase the number of such students who continue on to complete bachelor's degrees in "mathematics-based" fields. It is also intended to serve as a model affirmative action program for other institutions seeking to improve the performance and persistence of minority undergraduates in scientific and technical fields of study. This report contains an executive summary and: (1) project overview; (2) project purpose; (3) background and origins; (4) project description; (5) outcomes and impacts; and (6) summary and conclusions. Findings show that the project (which provided supplementary instruction, academic counseling, and other services) appeals to well-motivated, high achieving students. It sets high goals for them, teaches them to work both independently and… [PDF]
(1979). Personnel Challenges. Issues in Postsecondary Education. Societal and educational pressures that are likely to affect postsecondary education personnel during the 1980's are discussed. These pressures include the declining number of 18- to 22-year-old students, changes in mandatory retirement policy, affirmative action, a continuing high rate of inflation, and uncertainty regarding taxpayer and donor support for postsecondary education. The strengths and weakness of several approaches to data collection are assessed using the following criteria: institutional burden, taxpayer cost, timeliness of data, and data quality. It is recommended that surveys like the Higher Education General Information Survey of postsecondary education personnel be continued and strengthened, with timely data reporting. A second approach to future data collection, longitudinal analysis of cohorts of faculty and nonfaculty personnel, is also proposed. These cohorts would be followed up on a 4-year cycle with the thrust of each survey varying somewhat from year to… [PDF]
(1979). Women's Issues in Management: Analysis of Curriculum Needs. Faculty Research Working Paper Series 79-23. The purpose of this study was to ascertain needs for and opinions about college business courses with reference to women's issues. Specific objectives were to assess college business students' perceptions of curriculum needs in the women's issue area, to identify methods for incorporating issue needs into the curriculum, and to examine how perceived needs were related to the sex and educational level of the respondents. The survey indicated certain issues that need to be covered in courses created for both sexes: management skills, personal development, occupational and affirmative action information, career planning, and stereotyping issues. The issues that were identified for integration into existing courses for both sexes were individual management skills and career management. Women identified a uniquely female curriculum need for issues surrounding achievement in a career path that is relatively new for them. Undergraduates revealed a need for inclusion of issues concerning…
(1979). 1979 State of the District Address. The running of the Los Angeles Community College District incorporates two distinct kinds of functions: those of an educational nature and those that are corporate in scope. While the educational functions have been performed well, the future will demand even greater responsiveness to student needs. Issues to be faced in the future to insure that these educational functions are accomplished satisfactorily include the following: (1) each college must develop its own distinct identity; (2) growing numbers of foreign students will require that new programs and services be provided to meet their needs; (3) more emphasis must be placed on developing cooperation, rather than competition, between elements of public higher education; (4) commitment to affirmative action must remain a top priority; and (5) the 1979-80 academic year will require thoughtful preparation for re-negotiation of contracts. With regard to corporate functions, major accomplishments have been made in data processing…
(1979). Summary: Report to President's Commission on Mental Health from the Special Populations Subtask Panel; Mental Health of Hispanic Americans; Recommendations to the Commission. The issue of the delivery of mental health services to Hispanic Americans is discussed in this report to the President's Commission on Mental Health. Hispanics, who will be the largest minority group in the United States within the next 25 years, do not make use of sufficient existing health services. They have a need for alternative services which are adapted to their cultural heritage. Urban Hispanics are a high risk population with respect to mental illness, alcoholism, and drug abuse. Rural Hispanics and migrant workers have problems stemming from their isolation, their mobility, and the reluctance of traditional agencies to provide them with services. In addition to being served inadequately as patients, Hispanics are also underrepresented as professional workers in the mental health field. This condition persists despite the affirmative action efforts of recent years. In order to develop the human resources necessary for the delivery of culturally relevant mental health…
(1977). Management Listens to Its Own Speech. Interest in the phenomenon of oral communication is rapidly growing in organizations which range in size from giant corporations to small companies. This discussion focuses on practices in and attitudes toward speech training in the advertising industry. Information was gleaned from interviews with the executives of the 25 largest advertising agencies in American–most of those questioned were directors of personnel. A majority of this group felt that the quality of speech and communication skills had deteriorated over the past ten years and cited reasons such as the failure of schools to provide adequate training, increased television viewing, and so on. Among the factors contributing to executives' heightened concern for communication competence were recession in business, the rise of consumerism, the establishment of Affirmative Action hiring programs, and the electronic future. A number of training programs were used: periodic classes over a period of time, in-depth… [PDF]
(1976). [Tenure–a Management Problem.]. Tenure saturation coupled with declining enrollments, abolishment of general university requirements, program diversity, and affirmative action programs make tenure an issue. These factors are representative of many facing university management today. Serious examination of the concept of tenure reveals that 85 percent of all colleges have tenure, one third of all colleges and universities have changed tenure rules in the last two years, two fifths of all colleges and universities are reviewing tenure, 82 percent of all administrators polled in 1972 opposed tenure in its present form, 14 percent favor abolition of tenure, and 86 percent favor changing it. Some suggestions for improving the situation are that universities (1) be more discriminating in accepting applications for tenure, (2) establish tenure quotas, (3) more carefully screen tenure applicants, (4) be more conservative in hiring procedures, and (5) have post-tenure reviews. In addition to these measures, a retraining…
(1973). [Opening Address at the Conference on Women and the Management of Postsecondary Institutions.]. This document was presented as the opening address for the conference on Women and the Management of Postsecondary Institutions, and concerns the problem of discrimination against women educators. The author cites two main categories of discrimination, the attitudes that have become ingrained in our culture, and the commitment to amateurism in the selection and recruitment process for administrative positions. The existence of the \old boy\ system of recruitment makes it extremely difficult to break out of the pattern of amateurism and prejudice. The author recommends more programs like the University of Michigan has developed to prepare people for academic leadership positions, and declares that the idea of such training must become more widely accepted. He further suggests that large universities should internalize administrative training programs and recruit more women for internships. As solutions to the problem of affirmative action, the author offers the following: increase… [PDF]
(1999). Ten Public Policy Issues for Higher Education in 1999 and 2000. AGB Public Policy Paper Series, No. 99-1. Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges This paper is the fifth in a series of yearly efforts to identify the top 10 public policy issues facing higher education. Each of the issues is presented, first as a brief summary and then discussed in some depth; each also includes a list of information sources. The issues identified are: (1) teacher preparation and the K-12 relationship (the increasing role of higher education in improving K-12 instruction); (2) affordability vs. access (the increasing problem of access for less affluent students); (3) cost and price of higher education (increasing public concern about college costs); (4) implementation of recent federal legislation (implementation concerns of major 1998 legislation); (5) federal support for university research (both the level of funding and governing policies); (6) diversity in admissions (problems concerning affirmative action in admissions); (7) information technology and new competition (technology and for-profit higher education providers); (8) economic and…