Comparing Union and Nonunion Staff Perceptions of the Higher Education Work Environment

Evidence of substantial growth in unionization among university noninstructional staff over the past 20 years (Hurd and Woodhead, 1987) and the emergence of a quality movement in higher education linking employee attitudes toward the work environment with increased productivity point to the need for additional research into union and nonunion staff perceptions of the work environment. This paper describes a conceptually oriented, exploratory study of the university work environment as perceived and defined by union and nonunion noninstructional staff.     

The Adoption of Prepaid Tuition and Savings Plans in the American States: An Event History Analysis

The past two decades have been a period of far-reaching policy experimentation in state financing of higher education. Between 1986 and 1999, 21 states adopted prepaid college tuition plans. Thirty-one states adopted some form of college savings plan. Both kinds of policies were designed to enhance the affordability of higher education during a time of growing concern about college costs. Using event history analysis, we explore various factors leading to the programs’ adoption, paying particular to the role of policy privatization, electoral competition and timing, and certain system characteristics of higher education. We find that more liberal governments were more likely to adopt prepaid tuition plans, that states with more competitive elections were less likely to adopt any type of prepaid or savings plan, and that states with decentralized governance were more likely to adopt one of these kinds of policies.     

Print Media

Dick Lupoff and Don Thompson All in Color For a Dime (Arlington House, 81 Centre Ave., New Rochelle, New York 10801, $11.95, or $7.95 from Nostalgia Book Club)

Warren Chappell's A Short History of the Printed Word (Knopf, $12.50)

Turner Catledge's My Life and The Times (Harper & Row, $10.00)

Hodding Corter's Their Words Were Bullets: The Southern Press in War, Reconstruction, and Peace (University of Georgia Press, 04:00)

Winzola McLendon and Scottie Smith's Don't Quote Me: Washington Newswomen and the Power society (Dutton, $5.95)     

Reinventing a health sciences digital library--organizational impact

What is the organizational impact of becoming a digital library, as well as a physical entity with facilities and collections? Is the digital library an add-on or an integrated component of the overall library package? Librarians see sweeping environmental and technological changes. The staff members feel exhilarated and challenged by the pressures to adapt quickly and effectively. Librarians recognize that a Web presence, like other technology components, must be continuously enhanced and regularly re-engineered. The Health Sciences Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is reinventing its digital presence to better meet the needs of the community. This paper provides a case study focusing on major changes in planning processes, organizational structure, staffing, budgeting, training, communications, and operations at the Health Sciences Library.     

Developing an interdisciplinary collaboration center in an academic Health Sciences Library

This article describes the evolution of the Health Sciences Library's plans for an interdisciplinary, technology-enhanced collaboration center, from a technology-driven space to one with a vision of support for peer-to-peer learning and research. The center offers an exciting opportunity to be an essential partner in collaborative and interdisciplinary programs such as the new Carolina Center for Exploratory Genetic Analysis. The Library is a centrally located and neutral place, which helps minimize geographical and territorial obstacles to effective collaboration. The collaboration center raises the Library's visibility and allows staff to demonstrate the value of knowledge resources, services, technology expertise, infrastructure, and facilities for group study and collaboration.     

Accounting for Student Success: An Empirical Analysis of the Origins and Spread of State Student Unit-record Systems

This event history analysis explores factors driving the emergence over recent decades of comprehensive state-level student unit-record [SUR] systems, a potentially powerful tool for increasing student success. Findings suggest that the adoption of these systems is rooted in demand and ideological factors. Larger states, states with high proportions of students of traditional college-going age, and states subject to federal civil-rights monitoring, were more likely to adopt SUR systems, suggesting influences of demands posed by size and legal constraints. In addition, states with more liberal citizen ideology were more likely to adopt the systems. Interestingly, the strength of private colleges and universities in a state worked against the adoption of SUR systems, suggesting that privacy and autonomy concerns were important deterrents to adoption. The results of this analysis illuminate the factors that inhibit and enhance SUR systems’ organizational and philosophical acceptance, and thus ideally can contribute to future policymaking in this arena.