Age 70 retirement for faculty: An institutional approach

Postponed faculty retirements, combined with declining student enrollments and persistent inflation, are causing increasing concern in higher education. The 1978 Amendments to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act establish the mandatory retirement age at 70, but exempt tenured faculty from this provision until 1982. The legislation focuses attention on the retirement aspect of the problem, and researchers are busy analyzing the issue to help the industry plan for the impact of the new law.Most analysts approach the task from the aggregate perspective, and apply industry norms to individual institutions. The variations among institutions undermines the validity of this approach. This article demonstrates the problems of the aggregate analysis, and offers an alternative for individual institutions.     

Measuring the impact of a new faculty program using institutional data

This paper presents a quasi-experimental evaluation of a required, teaching-focused, new faculty program at a large research university. The study makes use of institutional data, including student evaluations of teaching and faculty participation in educational development activities, which are available on many campuses yet rarely used in program evaluation. Results show positive impacts. Faculty found the program valuable and reported increases in their preparation for a range of teaching tasks. In comparison to earlier cohorts, program participants received stronger student evaluations on two global items, and demonstrated significantly more connections with the teaching center in their early careers.     

A behavioral change model with implications for faculty development

A model of voluntary behavior change is developed and applied to faculty in higher education and the process of instructional innovation. The model identifies individual and organizational variables that determine whether or not a faculty member will change his instructional practices by adopting methods, techniques, or ideas that are new to him and the likelihood that he will succeed if he decides to try to innovate. Some implications of the model for faculty development programs are discussed.     

Steady state effects of a later mandatory retirement law for tenured faculty

Recently a new law was enacted that would raise the mandatory retirement age from 65 to 70 for all occupational groups except tenured faculty in higher educational institutions. The exception for faculty, which extends to 1 July 1982, was granted because tenure holding professors enjoy a measure of job security that is unknown outside the academic sphere; this uniqueness led many to feel that an extension of faculty lifetime careers could possibly have very serious effects on the fiscal and academic health of colleges and universities, and that a delay was necessary in order that the situation could be carefully researched. This paper analytically investigates these conjectures and rigorously shows that they have been greatly exaggerated. By using a four stage model of the tenure system, it is easy to show the effect of progressively later retirements on the tenure ratio, flow of new faculty, and faculty salary budget. As many researchers would intuitively feel, neither early nor late retirement has an unusually disruptive effect on any of these critical variables.     

The development of Individualised Educational Programmes using a decision-making model

As adjustments are made in response to the revised Code of Practice, many practitioners will be looking for improved ways of developing individual targets for learning with pupils with special educational needs. In this article, Kenneth Thomson, of George Watson's College Edinburgh, Dan Bachor, of the Department of Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies at the University of Victoria, Canada and George Thomson, of the Department of Psychology at the University of Edinburgh, bring together ideas and practices orginating in Canada and Scotland. The authors suggest that individual planning can be enhanced by the use of a decision-making model characterised by partnerships between professionals and learners. Thomson, Bachor and Thomson also argue that the devolution of control to pupils can make the development and implementation of IEPs more effective and more efficient.     

A model for using a concept inventory as a tool for students' assessment and faculty professional development

This essay describes how the use of a concept inventory has enhanced professional development and curriculum reform efforts of a faculty teaching community. The Host Pathogen Interactions (HPI) teaching team is composed of research and teaching faculty with expertise in HPI who share the goal of improving the learning experience of students in nine linked undergraduate microbiology courses. To support evidence-based curriculum reform, we administered our HPI Concept Inventory as a pre- and postsurvey to approximately 400 students each year since 2006. The resulting data include student scores as well as their open-ended explanations for distractor choices. The data have enabled us to address curriculum reform goals of 1) reconciling student learning with our expectations, 2) correlating student learning with background variables, 3) understanding student learning across institutions, 4) measuring the effect of teaching techniques on student learning, and 5) demonstrating how our courses collectively form a learning progression. The analysis of the concept inventory data has anchored and deepened the team's discussions of student learning. Reading and discussing students' responses revealed the gap between our understanding and the students' understanding. We provide evidence to support the concept inventory as a tool for assessing student understanding of HPI concepts and faculty development.     

Predicting teacher retention behavior: Ex ante prediction and ex post realization of a voluntary retirement incentive offer

Teacher retention and retirement decisions are increasingly affected by retirement benefits as the date of retirement eligibility approaches. As part of an effort to rein in operating costs, Chicago Public Schools sought to induce earlier retirement of senior, hence costlier, teachers by offering a voluntary retirement incentive that would be implemented only if enough teachers indicated their willingness to accept it. We used a structural model to predict teacher willingness to take the incentive, and later, when the number of teachers signing up was realized, we compared predictions to the outcomes. We found that the predicted number of willing takers would be less than required to implement the incentive, and this proved true. Further, the predictions were similar to the patterns of takers by age and year of service, though some differences were apparent. We discuss implications for using structural modeling to inform policy design.     

The development and use of a faculty salary model for a higher education system

Most of the earlier attempts to develop faculty salary models have been based on data from a single institution or from an undifferentiated group of institutions, without a data base adequate to support the design. The overall objective of this paper is to report on the development, characteristics, statistical findings, and utility of a faculty salary model employed over the period 1978–79 to 1980–81 for a higher education system containing 16 institutions ranging from a comprehensive university to a small rural community college in complexity and mission. The need for the model grew out of requirements for the governing board to: (1) deal with litigation and the issues of equity for minorities and females; (2) make interinstitutional salary comparisons as these relate to size, complexity, and mission; and (3) better understand the factors which determine faculty salaries.     

终身教职与非对称信息:一项激励研究型大学教师发展的制度安排

From the perspective of asymmetric information, a principal-agent model is used to put forward a new theoretical explanation for the validity and effectiveness of tenure. Furthermore, through an analysis of the conditions of implementing an effective tenure system, it is argued that such a system is more efficient in research universities. Based on the above conclusions, the paper also discusses the condition or time for the implementation of tenure in Chinese universities. __________ Translated from Fudan Jiaoyu Luntan 复旦教育论坛(Fudan Education Forum), 2007, 15(3): 57–62     

Differences in cost,tenure ratio,and faculty flow as a result of changed mandatory retirement ages

The present study uses the USC Faculty Planning Model to determine the impact of changes in the mandatory retirement age. Analysis was performed for three faculty groups, differing in age and rank distributions, and with three different policy scenarios (representing low turnover, high turnover, and retrenchment). Results indicate that the impact of changes in retirement age will vary considerably depending upon the initial faculty age and rank distributions and, to a lesser extent, upon the policy assumptions made.     

The teaching:research nexus : a model for institutional management

Teaching and research lie at the heart of higher education. The interaction between teaching and research has therefore attracted the attention of both researchers and policymakers. Much has been written about this relationship, looking in particular at the perceived mutual benefits between teaching and research. This paper presents some findings from a research project which, using a comparative approach, aimed to examine the nature of the teaching:research nexus and, in particular, to consider the response of institutional management. Based on the observations collected through the project, a new model is proposed for institutional management of the teaching:research nexus. This model is based on a range of contextual factors, classified as ideological or environmental, and two contrasting approaches to institutional management of the relationship between teaching and research, active and passive. This model offers a new approach to understanding the operation of the teaching:research nexus within institutions of higher education.     

Designing informal learning experiences for early career academics using a knowledge ecosystem model

This article presents a ‘knowledge ecosystem’ model of how early career academics experience using information to learn while building their social networks for developmental purposes. Developed using grounded theory methodology, the model offers a way of conceptualising how to empower early career academics through (1) agency (individual and relational) and (2) facilitation of personalised informal learning (design of physical and virtual systems and environments) in spaces where developmental relationships are formed, including programmes, courses, events, community, home and social media. It is suggested that the knowledge ecosystem model is suitable for use in designing informal learning experiences for early career academics.     

高校教师“道德风险”问题成因分析——基于委托—代理理论的一个数学模型及解释

建立了委托一代理模型对高校教师"道德风险"问题成因进行分析.确定了不时称信息下的契约特征,得出高校教师存在"道德风险"的原因是学校与教师间的信息不对称.结论指出防范与规避"道德风险"的关键是建立激励机制.     

多孔介质发动机详细反应动力学模型

应用Chemkin化学动力学软件包中的Senkin模块模拟了正庚烷在多孔介质发动机中的燃烧过程．通过修改Senkin程序,结合了Woschni传热模型和多孔介质换热模型,并在正庚烷详细氧化机理中加入氮氧化物的生成机理,将此程序纳入发动机燃烧的零维单区模型．对多种工况参数进行计算,讨论了运行参数对发动机性能的影响．当进气温度、压缩比增大,或过量空气系数降低时,多孔介质发动机着火时刻会明显提前．结果表明：多孔介质对混合气具有预热作用可强化发动机的点火燃烧,多孔介质的初始温度是决定压燃点火的决定性因素．     

The use of a parity-equity model to evaluate faculty salary policies

A parity-equity model was developed for estimating the influences of a comprehensive list of factors classified as rational or nonrational equity and parity (marketplace). In a multiple regression analysis of faculty salaries for two years, the parity-equity model accounted for 86% of salary variance: over 60% by professional rank; approximately 16% by other rational equity factors; 3% by college and departmental parity; 3% by college and department affiliation; and 1% by nonrational equity factors. This model is recommended for studying, year-to-year changes in salary policies and for checking the importance of each factor in salary increase deliberations.     

A decision-making model of gear process for green manufacturing

~~the problem is how to be optimized the harmony of T, Q, C, R and E. The decision-making model of gear process for GM is mathematically presented by. () Min(),(),(),(),()s.t1(1)0 0 (1,2,...,) iiiguTxQxCxRxExxxxuk轾臌-=-=?X () 0 (1,2,...,,...)hvvpn==X (1) where 12[,,...]nxxx=X, xi (i=1,2,,n) refers to the involved the i-th project and is numerically 0 or…     

剑桥大学法学院研究生培养模式及其借鉴

本文较为详细地介绍了剑桥大学法学院研究生的培养模式，对比中国的法学研究生的培养状况，提出了关于中国法学研究生培养模式的改革建议。     

Implications of Biglan model research for the process of faculty advancement

The Biglan model is a three dimensional classification scheme wherein 35 academic subject areas are categorized into one of eight categories: soft-nonlife-pure; soft-life-pure; soft-nonlife-applied; soft-life-applied; hard-life-applied; hard-life-pure; hard-nonlife-pure; or hard-nonlife-applied. A basic assumption of the Biglan model research is that the types of faculty productivity differ in accord with academic subject areas. Though research studies report the importance of recognizing performance differences among faculty in different disciplines and subject areas during the faculty evaluation process, they do not present means by which this knowledge can be applied. This study discusses the practical implications of Biglan model research and the importance of university-level administrators recognizing differences in faculty productivity whenever faculty credentials are reviewed for advancement. This study also examines Biglan's original research and his model, as well as the major studies conducted to test the model. Also, the model is presented and explained as a conceptual framework for assisting administrators in the faculty evaluation process. Lastly, the reasons for employing subject area standards, as opposed to university-wide or single discipline standards, are argued.     

Cloud e-learning service strategies for improving e-learning innovation performance in a fuzzy environment by using a new hybrid fuzzy multiple attribute decision-making model

The purpose of this study was to address this problem by applying a new hybrid fuzzy multiple criteria decision-making model including (a) using the fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) technique to construct the fuzzy scope influential network relationship map (FSINRM) and determine the fuzzy influential weights of the fuzzy DEMATEL-based analytic network process (DANP) as well as (b) the modified VIKOR method combining fuzzy influential weights of fuzzy DANP to integrate each criterion of fuzzy performance gaps into dimensions and, overall, to examine the interdependent and feedback problems among various dimensions/criteria of cloud e-learning services for creating the excellent improvement plan based on the FSINRM to implement the strategic orientations. An empirical case of the network communication service industry was used as an example to show the proposed methods and ultimately present the most effective improvement plan for decision-makers to achieve the aspiration level.