• A New Academic Compact to be Available in December
• ANAC Data Exchange Reports Preliminary Findings
  
• Media Project Visits Press in Boston
  
• ANAC IT Task Forces Organize

A New Academic Compact to be published in December

The report and recommendations of ANAC's four-year faculty work project, supported through two grants from The Pew Charitable Trusts, will be published by Anker Press in December as a 254 page book. Full title: A New Academic Compact: Revisioning the Relationship of Faculty and Their Institutions—the work calls on faculty and institutions to use the principle of reciprocity in meeting student, faculty, and institutional needs. Based on an extensive assessment of faculty perceptions, the project discovered significant disconnects between faculty and their institutions in areas ranging from faculty development and career needs to rewards, governance, and service. The report is the result of a fifteen-month think tank of faculty and academic administrators from nineteen ANAC members and resource consultants who specialize in various aspects of higher education and faculty professional life.

ANAC members may purchase the book (Cloth 39.95 plus $6.95 shipping and handling) for the special prepaid price of $30.00, including shipping, if paid by check and received at Anker Publishing by December 31, 2001. Checks should be made payable to: Anker Publishing Co. In your letter please specify that you are ordering A New Academic Compact and your shipping address. Send check and ordering information to Anker Publishing Company, PO Box 249, Bolton, MA 01740-0249. Phone: 978-779-6190; fax: 978-779-6366. Discounts are also available on volume orders, such as for faculty, trustee, or administrative planning groups.

ANAC Data Exchange Reports Preliminary Findings

ANAC members may now use the ANAC Data Exchange reporting program to make institutional data comparisons using 1998, 1999, and 2000 data for benchmarking, strategic planning, budgeting, and other purposes. The Exchange enables users to select any subset of ANAC members and a clustering of data items in making comparisons that reveal mean, median, and user institution comparative position on each data item. A sample of preliminary findings from the 2000 data:

• Average class size for freshman courses = 21
  
• Average freshman to sophomore year retention = 81%
  
• Average minority freshman to sophomore retention = 77%
  
• Average undergraduate financial aid discount rate = 33%
  
• Average undergraduate credit hours taught by full-time
  faculty = 75%
  
• Average graduate credit hours taught by full-time
  faculty = 72%
  
• Average combined undergraduate student/faculty ratio = 14/1
  

Media Project Visits Press in Boston

On September 6, President Alan Harre of Valparaiso University and President John Lahey of Quinnipiac University joined ANAC media advisor Maggy Ralbovsky and Jerry Berberet in visits with education reporters Patrick Healy at the Boston Globe and Mark Clayton at the Christian Science Monitor. Reporter interests ranged from reactions to the recently released media rankings of colleges to differentiating features of ANAC members. President Lahey indicated that media rankings are helpful in identifying the strongest and weakest institutions and asserted that enrollment patterns suggest students recognize the strength of ANAC member programs. President Harre argued that the ANAC institutional model deserves greater media coverage and described a new interdisciplinary MBA program and a CD-Rom for elementary school children developed by the engineering faculty at Valparaiso University to illustrate the responsive and exciting innovations at these colleges and universities.

ANAC IT Task Forces Organized

As an outgrowth of the ANAC 2005 planning process, two task forces have been established to determine the feasibility of ANAC collaboration on information technology. One group, chaired by Provost Ron Troyer of Drake University, is examining distance education and other academic applications of technology. The other task force, chaired by Associate Provost Ed Kavanagh of Quinnipiac University, is exploring other types of applications, primarily administrative, to assess possibilities for cost-saving collaborations. The first task force meetings occurred at the Educause conference in Indianapolis during the last week of October.