Robert J. Menges

Barriers to the progress of women and minority faculty.

Recent decades brought dramatic change to postsecondary education. Institutions experienced unprecedented growth, particularly following World War II, and student bodies moved toward greater gender, cultural, and racial inclusiveness. Changes seen among students are not, however, mirrored in faculties. During those growth years, the proportion of women and minority faculty relative to all academics did not increase significantly. Further, absolute numbers remained small, particularly at senior ranks and when predominantly minority institutions are excluded. In this article we summarize statistical data and discuss three explanations for these numbers. One explanation is the small pool of potential and actual candidates. A second is the ineffectiveness of affirmative

Teaching on Solid Ground: Using Scholarship to Improve Practice

1. Using Scholarship to Improve Practice(Maryellen Weimer). Part One: Students and Learning. 2. Teaching and Todays College Students(M. Lee Upcraft). 3. Making the Transition to College(Patrick T. Terenzini, Laura I. Randoan, Susan B. Millar, M. Lee Upcraft, Patricia Gregg, Romero Jalomo, Kevin W. Allison). 4. Student Motivation from a Teaching Perspective(Raymond P. Perry, Verena H. Menec, C. Ward Struthers). 5. Collaborative Learning: Creating Knowledge with Students(Roberta S. Matthews). 6. Assessing Student Involvement in Learning(Robert Froh, Mark Hawkes). Part Two: Teachers and Teaching. 7. Teaching Todays Students Requires a New Role for Faculty(Susan B. Millar). 8. Research on Learning: A Means to Enhance Instruction(Marilla D. Svinivki, Anastasia S. Hagen, Debra K. Meyer). 9. Planning and Developing Effective Courses(George L. Geis). 10. Assignments That Promote and Integrate Learning(Joe Lowman). 11. Feedback That Enhances Teaching and Learning(Robert J. Menges, William C. Rando). Part Three: Issues and Contexts: Higher Education Today. 12. What College Teachers Need to Know(Sarah M. Dinham). 13. Instructor Vitality: Some Provocative Implications of Theory and Research on Human Motivation(Charles James Walker, Jennifer Woods Quinn). 14. Diversity in Academe: Cultural Strategies for Change(William G. Tierney, Estala M. Bensimon). 15. Improving Programs Through Assessing Student Outcomes(Trudy Banta).

Making It at the Top: Women and Minority Faculty in the Academic Labor Market

In this article, we argue that the small number of women and minority faculty in tenured and tenure-track positions in elite research universities is not simply the result of overt racism and sexism. Nor is it simply the result of a relatively small pool of qualified candidates. Rather, significant barriers to women and minority faculty are found in the character of the academic market itself. We focus on the academic market as an internal labor market; the ways in which most faculty jobs are filled in that market; the reliance on custom and precedence in the market; the nature of the competition for faculty in the market; important ignorance problems in the market; the absence of explicit job descriptions and formal evaluation mechanisms; and the ways in which considerations of cost advantages to management and the structure of allocation in the academic internal market may work against women and minority faculty.

Faculty in Transition: A Longitudinal Analysis of Perceived Control and Type of Institution in the Research Productivity of Newly Hired Faculty.

The systemic changes facing postsecondary institutions today pose a threat to the quality of academic programs unless new faculty can be successfully attracted and retained. To be more competitive in the recruitment and retention of faculty, a better understanding is needed of the adjustment experiences of newly hired faculty. Our study examined the adjustment of new hires at the point of entry into their institutions using research productivity as one indicator of adaptation. It was expected that perceived personal control, age, gender, and type of institution would relate to research productivity. At the beginning of their first and second year, newly hired faculty in three different types of postsecondary institutions responded to a comprehensive questionnaire concerning their initial adjustment experiences. A path analysis indicated both direct and indirect linkages between the independent variables of interest and research productivity. Substantial direct paths were found between the institution type and research productivity, specifically for the research I and liberal arts/comprehensive institutions, and to a lesser degree, between age and research productivity. Age, the research I university, and the liberal arts/comprehensive universities had direct effects on two measures of perceived control and were linked indirectly to research productivity via perceived control. Perceived control resulting from the personal qualities of the faculty members was instrumental to research productivity, whereas perceived control resulting from activities initiated by faculty members were not related to productivity. Surprisingly, gender was not related to research productivity through either direct or indirect paths. If the adjustment of newly hired faculty is viewed in terms of research productivity, then these results suggest that perceived control, the milieu of research-oriented institutions, and age (to a limited extent), are important predictors of faculty performance.

Career-Span Faculty Development.

Early publications devoted to faculty development (e.g., Bergquist and Phillips 1975, Gaf 1975) dis cerned three emphases within the field: instructional development, personal development, and organiza tional development. Over the years, greatest attention has been directed toward instructional development. Gustaf son and Bratton (1984), for example, surveyed a sample of seventy-two faculty development centers listed in Gaffs book. They found considerable stability over time in the activities of surviving centers (28 per cent of the sample had closed). The activity most frequently reported was conducting workshops and seminars. Since survey questions do not address workshop content, we cannot determine the mix of instructional, personal, and organizational topics. The three next most frequent activities are heavily instructional: experimentation with innovative instruc tional procedures, assistance in planning on-campus courses, and planning/producing instructional materials. Very few of the activities listed on the ques tionnaire or written in by respondents pertain clearly to personal or organizational development. Other agencies may be dealing with organizational and/or personal development issues, but it is my impression that most professional development staff concentrate their time and energy on planning/evaluat ing courses and curricula and on administering services which support such activities. That is, most effort goes toward instructional development and considerably less

Assessing Self-Directed Learning

A means of assessing group achievement while simultaneously recognizing variance in learning outcomes and the means to achieve them.

Behavioral Self-Modification in Instructional Settings: A Review

This critical survey of the topic points out the impact on learning, the extent of behavioral change, and areas where research is needed.

Satisfaction and dissatisfaction in the college classroom

Fifty-eight undergraduates were interviewed to elicit classroom incidents which left them feeling satisfied and incidents which left them feeling dissatisfied.The critical requirements of these incidents were classified into five categories: teacher affect, teacher task, student process, student outcome, and student evaluation. In most incidents, the dominant figure was the teacher and the dominant issues were related to affect.Satisfactory incidents occurred in classes where features, such as teacher role and classroom climate, were consistently related. Such consistency was not found in classes where unsatisfactory incidents occurred.It is recommended that course evaluation questionnaires give more explicit attention to issues of affect and of consistency.

Content and Boundaries of Educational Psychology

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean–neither more nor less.”

Validity issues in Meta‐Analysis: Suggestions for Research and Policy

The technique of meta‐analysis has been credited with resolving research issues in the areas of class size and the efficacy of psychotherapy, yet meta‐analyses have failed to form a consensus regar...