21st Century American Universities

Modified: 2023-09-15 5:05 AM CDST

The 21st century American system of higher education is the product of a long history dating back to Plato and Aristotle. That tradition will be covered elsewhere in this course. The goal of this page is to familiarize you with the institution you are now attending.

19th Century Antecedents

• Seminary Model
  • Generalist faculty taught wide variety of subjects
  • Goal was to produce clergy
  • Most American universities followed this model until late 19th Century
• German University Model
  • Johns Hopkins University
    • Baltimore
    • Founded 1876
    • Private
  • University of Chicago
    • Chicago
    • Founded 1890
    • Private
  • Both revolutionized american universities by adopting the German model:
    • Specialist faculty organized into colleges and departments
    • Apply science broadly
  • Only a small handful of American colleges and universities fail to follow the German model

SAU and Other Arkansas Universities

• History
  • Southern Arkansas/Mulerider Name
  • Brief history
  • Act 100 Schools
    • the First District Agricultural School went to Jonesboro, and is now Arkansas State
    • the Second District School to Russellville (Arkansas Tech),
    • the Third District School to Magnolia (Southern Arkansas),
    • the Fourth District School to Monticello (UAM).
• SAU Colleges
  • Rankin College of Business
    • Dr. Rankin was surprised when he found out the College was being renamed in his honor
  • College of Education and Human Performance
  • Dempsey College of Liberal and Performing Arts
  • College of Science and Engineering
  • Honors College
  • Graduate Studies
    • SAU now has an EdD program in Rural and Diverse Educational Leadership
    • SAU has many masters level programs
  • FYI, every institution will have its unique division of departments and colleges
• Classifying 21st Century Colleges and Universities
  • Carnegie Classification Descriptions
  • Wikipedia on Carnegie Classifications
    • Doctoral Universities
      • Very high research activities (R1)
      • High research activies (R2)
        • Faculty may teach 1 or 2 courses and supervise a number of graduate students
        • Faculty must partially support their activities through grants
        • Faculty must publish (or perish)
    • Masters Colleges and Universities
      • Larger (M1)
      • Medium (M2)
      • Smaller (M3)
    • Baccalaureate Colleges
      • Arts and Sciences
      • Diverse Fields
    • Associates Colleges
      • Several classifications
    • Special Focus Institutions
      • Includes: health, arts & design, medical, engineering, music, law, and others
    • Tribal Colleges
  • Arkansas Colleges and Universities
    • Act 100 1909 Schools
      • SAU
      • ASU
      • AR Tech
      • UAM
    • Other Arkansas Schools
      • UCA
      • UA-F
      • UALR
• 21st Century University Faculty
  • Terminal Degrees
    • PhD, PsyD, EED, MFA, MSW
  • Minimal Qualification
    • Master's degree with 18 graduate hours in subject
  • Typical Ranks
    • Professor
    • Associate Professor
    • Assistant Professor
      • The above are usually tenure track (see tenure below)
    • Instructor
      • May be tenure track
    • Lecturer
      • Usually a visiting faculty from another institution
  • Atypical Ranks
    • Distinguished Professor
      • Seven in SAU history
      • Rank conferred by president
    • University Professor
      • Typically a highly published scholar
      • May have minimal or no teaching duties
  • Adjunct Faculty
    • Usually not tenure track (see below)
    • Usually teach less than a full load
    • Minimal pay ($1800/course at SAU)
  • Online Faculty
    • Relatively new category
    • May be resident or remote
      • I have served as online faculty the last two years at two instituions
  • Tenure
    • What is it?
      • Condition of employment
      • 6 year probationary period
      • Terminal contract or obtained tenure
      • Difficult to revoke, but see:
        • Henderson State University
          • Declared "financial exigency"
          • In other words, they ran out of money and had to cut faculty
        • Emporia State University
          • The Board of Regents let "universities bypass regular policies on faculty and employee terminations to balance budgets. The policy was originally set to expire at the end of 2021 but was extended to Dec. 31, 2022."
          • Has since cut many majors and minors due to economic difficulties
    • How obtained (at SAU)
      • Make application
      • Reviewed at level of: chair, department, college, university, VPAA, president, Board of Trustees
    • Schools without tenure
      • Exist
      • Substitute renewable longer term contracts (e.g., 3 years, 5 years)
  • What do faculty do?
    • Teaching
      • teaching loads: SAU 12 hours for tenure track; 15 hours for instructors
      • In research intensive universities faculty may only teach one or two classes. The rest of their time should be devoted to research
      • release time: for administration or research
        • I have 6 hours release time to administer the Honors College
        • Assistant director has 3 hours release time
        • Faculty at SAU conducting research may apply for 3 hours of release time
    • Scholarship
      • publish or perish (at research intensive universities)
      • broadly defined (think about the wide variety of departments and how each defines scholarship)
    • Service
      • to college or university
        • committee work
      • to community
        • speaking (for no or nominal fee)
        • serving in community organizations
        • voluteering
      • to profession
        • reviewing scholarship (no remuneration)
        • membership in professional organizations
        • holding office in professional organizations
    • The role of faculty varies depending on the institution
      • SAU faculty must first be teachers
      • R1 faculty must first be scholars creating new knowledge
• 21st Century Funding
  • We will look into SAU's funding in detail near the end of the course
  • Private Institutions
    • Tution is high
    • Endowments are high
  • Public Institutions
    • Mostly state institutions
    • Funding percentage from states is much lower at present
    • Tuition less than private, typically
    • Out-of-state tuitions tend to be higher

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