Administration

The administration of a college or university provides the governing structure

of the institution. Although each institution organizes its administration
differently, nearly all colleges and universities have a board of trustees, a
president, at least one vice president, deans of various divisions, and a number of
academic departments. In addition, state college and university systems are
governed by state boards of higher education.

State Boards of Higher Education

State boards of higher education administer most public college and
university systems in the United States. Each state governs its system of higher
education differently, but most follow one of two basic patterns. In one pattern, all
the institutions of higher education are part of one system governed by a single
board, which is either appointed by the state governor or elected by the voters. In
the other common pattern, the state board of higher education acts as a planning
and coordinating agency, but gives a great deal of autonomy to the board of
trustees of each institution.
State boards of higher education generally review financial requests and
budget proposals and then allocate funds for each college or university in the
system. They also approve new programs of instruction and cancel or make
changes in existing programs. In addition, they plan for the further coordinated
growth and development of the various institutions of higher education in the
state.
Boards of Trustees
Both public and private colleges and universities are governed by their own
boards of trustees, although the boards of trustees at state institutions may be
subordinate to the state’s board of higher education. Boards of trustees establish
and approve the institution’s general governing policies. The chief functions of a
board of trustees are to (1) approve or revise budgets for operating the institution,
(2) appoint the president of the college or university, and (3) take part in
ceremonies related to school events, such as graduations. At private institutions in
particular, trustees also help raise funds for the college or university by soliciting
philanthropists, foundations, alumni, and other sources. Members of boards of
trustees are usually people who have achieved some distinction in business,
science, the arts, or education.
Presidents
The board of trustees appoints the college’s or university’s president, who
acts as the institution’s chief executive officer. Presidents usually have extensive
academic experience as either college or university administrators. In some cases,
they may be people of notable achievement outside of academic life. For example,
General Dwight D. Eisenhower served as president of Columbia University in
New York City from 1948 to 1950, after commanding the Allied forces in Europe

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during World War II (1939-1945). He was later elected the 34th president of the
United States, in 1952.

Presidents of colleges and universities enforce the policies, regulations, and

other procedures that govern their institution. They also meet with the board of
trustees and make recommendations to the board regarding the governance and
policies of the school. They appoint and, if necessary, remove other officers of the
institution, such as vice presidents or deans; they approve or disapprove new
policies and procedures recommended by the institution’s administrative and
faculty committees; and they represent the college or university to the general
public and to the institution’s alumni.

Vice Presidents
Depending on the size of the institution, a college or university will appoint a
number of vice presidents to assist the president in running the school. The
academic vice president is responsible for faculty appointments and dismissals and
for approving or revising academic programs. Often the academic vice president is
a former dean of a college or other academic division within the institution. The
institution’s financial and budgetary matters are the responsibility of the vice
president for finance. The vice president for student services is responsible for
nonacademic matters relating to students, such as operating counseling services,
residence halls, and student activities and organizations. The vice president for
human resources is responsible for nonfaculty appointments such as the hiring of
secretaries and personnel to maintain the grounds and other facilities.

Deans
The academic deans are the chief executives and administrators of the various
colleges or other academic divisions of an institution. For example, at a large
university, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the College of Education, and
the School of Law each have a dean who is appointed by the president or the
academic vice president. Frequently, deans have had experience as chairpersons of
academic departments in the institution. The responsibilities of deans typically
include implementing policies established by the board of trustees and the
president; preparing the budgets and overseeing the spending of funds within the
academic division; supervising the faculty; recommending faculty in their college
or school to the academic vice president for appointment, promotion, tenure, or
termination; and maintaining or increasing student enrollments in their college or
school.

Academic Departments
Most colleges and universities are organized into academic departments. For
example, the faculty members who teach history are organized into the history

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department. These departments have a chairperson who is appointed by the
academic vice president upon the recommendation of the dean of the college or
school, usually in consultation with the department’s faculty members.
Chairpersons are generally senior professors in the department. Among the
chairperson’s responsibilities are organizing the schedules of courses offered by
the department and assigning faculty to teach them; appointing new faculty
members to the department, usually based upon recommendations of faculty
search committees; evaluating faculty within the department on their teaching,
research, and service for promotion, tenure, or termination; implementing
university- or college-wide policies within the department; and presiding over
meetings of the faculty members of the department.

Faculty
In college and universities, the general roles of faculty are teaching, research,
and service to the institution, the profession, and the community. The extent to
which faculty are expected to fulfill any one of these roles depends upon how the
particular institution defines its mission. For example, some colleges define their
primary mission to be instructing undergraduate students. In these institutions, the
primary responsibilities for faculty are to teach courses to students and to advise
them in their academic programs. Faculty members may also serve as advisers to
student organizations and as members of various college committees.

Universities tend to be more multipurpose than colleges in their mission and

functions. Since universities offer advanced study toward graduate and
professional degrees, faculty are expected to do original research in their fields of
academic specialization. They are also expected to publish their findings in
scholarly books and journals so that scholars in other universities are aware of
their work and contributions. Faculty members usually include the findings of
their research in the courses they teach to students.

Most faculty at large universities teach both undergraduate and graduate

students. They advise students in their academic programs and direct graduate
students in preparing their master’s theses and doctoral dissertations. (A thesis or a
dissertation is an extensive research paper usually required for the satisfactory
completion of an advanced degree).

In addition to their teaching and research responsibilities, faculty members

serve on university, school, and departmental committees. They also are expected
to be active members of professional societies and organizations in their academic
field. For example, history professors are often members of the American
Historical Association, while psychology professors are members of the American
Psychological Association.

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 After they are hired by a college or university, faculty members receive a
faculty rank as part of their appointment. Those who are beginning their teaching
career and have little previous experience enter the profession as either instructors
or assistant professors. The rank of assistant professor is slightly higher than that
of instructor. After an assistant professor has acquired some teaching experience,
conducted research, published articles or books, and served on institutional and
departmental committees, he or she is usually promoted to associate professor.
Faculty members generally remain at the assistant professor level for
approximately five years before being promoted to associate professor. At many
institutions, the rank of associate professor carries tenure, meaning that the person
cannot be dismissed from his or her teaching position unless there is a very serious
reason. Colleges and universities established tenure to assure professors that they
have the academic freedom to teach their ideas without interference or fear of
losing their jobs. The highest rank of the faculty is full professor, sometimes simply
called professor. Retired professors generally receive the rank of professor
emeritus.

To save money and to be able to quickly respond to changing trends in

education, colleges and universities increasingly employ large numbers of part-
time teachers who do not have faculty rank or tenure. Analysts estimate that nearly
30 percent of the faculty at four-year colleges and universities teach part-time. At
community colleges, part-time teachers make up as much as 65 percent of the
faculty. Part-time faculty often add special expertise to their teaching if they are
practitioners in highly specialized fields such as medicine or law. However, many
part-time faculty cannot find full-time teaching jobs, despite being qualified for
those positions. Part-time faculty usually receive lower salaries than faculty with
full-time positions, forcing many to teach at several colleges or universities in order
to earn an adequate income. In addition, some universities employ large numbers
of teaching assistants, who teach undergraduate courses while completing their
doctoral degree programs. Critics believe that reliance on part-time faculty and
teaching assistants decreases the quality of instruction. They argue that part-time
faculty and teaching assistants generally lack the teaching experience and
commitment to the institution that full-time faculty bring.
Instruction
Colleges and universities strive to inform students of established principles of
knowledge as well as of the most recent developments in academic research.
Instruction takes place in classrooms, lecture halls, laboratories, and other settings.
When students enroll in a course, professors provide them with a syllabus, or
outline, of the course. The syllabus describes how the course will be taught. It
includes a list of the required books and articles students are to read; the schedules
and descriptions of course examinations, papers, and other assignments; and an

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explanation of methods used to evaluate or grade student performance. Methods
of instruction may be a lecture, lecture-discussion, discussion, laboratory, seminar,
internship, clinical experience, community service, distance education, or a
combination of these and other formats.

Lecture
The lecture method is the oldest approach to teaching in higher education. It
originated in the earliest European universities during the 12th and 13th centuries.
Before the introduction of the printing press in 1450, students had to create their
own books by listening to lectures and writing down the words of their instructors.
Today, faculty who use the lecture method typically speak to large numbers of
students in a formal and very organized manner. The faculty member presents his
or her description of the key ideas of a subject, and gives interpretations that often
include current research on the issue. Following the presentation, lecturers
sometimes invite students to ask questions on the material.

Lecture-Discussion
Many faculty members employ a combination of lectures and small group
discussions. In the lecture-discussion method, professors lecture to a large group of
students and then divide the class into smaller discussion sections. Graduate
teaching assistants, instructors, or assistant professors lead these small group
discussions. They lead the discussion on the lecture topic, answer questions, and
test the students with quizzes or exams.

Discussion
Professors often use a discussion format of instruction in institutions that
emphasize a high level of teacher-student interaction. In this teaching method, the
professor meets with a small number of students and teaches the course by leading
discussions with students. For example, the professor may present ideas and raise
questions to stimulate debate or dialogue among the students.

Laboratory Sections
Science courses typically include laboratory sections in which students
conduct experiments that replicate or illustrate a scientific principle introduced in
the course. Laboratory sections usually augment lectures or discussions. Foreign
language courses also sometimes include laboratory sections in which students
listen to audiotapes or use other interactive forms of instruction.

Seminars
Seminars consist of small groups of students who meet with a professor to
research or discuss a specific topic in history, literature, or some other academic

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field. For example, seminars in American literature might explore the novels of
Nathaniel Hawthorne or the poetry of Maya Angelou. Seminars are more common
in graduate programs. Participants in a seminar usually prepare scholarly research
papers and critique one another’s work.

Clinical Experiences and Internships

Academic programs in professional fields such as social work or teacher
education often require clinical experiences and internships. In these programs,
students spend time at a clinic, agency, or school to observe the work of a
professional in the field. In some cases the student may participate in the work as
an aide. For example, teacher education programs require students to gain
teaching experience in an elementary or secondary school. Social work programs
may require students to participate at a local health clinic or other social service
institution.

Community Service
An increasing number of college and university programs require students to
engage in a community service project as part of their degree program. To fulfill
this requirement, students may assist in clinics, participate in reading programs at
local schools, or volunteer at homeless shelters. Colleges and universities that
require these programs consider community service an essential part of a well-
rounded education.

Distance Education
In addition to conventional methods of instruction conducted on campus,
many colleges and universities offer distance education programs that use
technology to carry instruction to students in off-campus locations. Distance
education programs enable faculty and students to communicate with one another
by using such technologies as computers, artificial satellites, radio, and television.
These programs appeal to many institutions that wish to reduce costs, because the
technology enables relatively few faculty members to teach a large number of
students. Distance education also appeals to students who, for any number of
reasons, cannot attend classes on campus.