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To cultivate humanity is to invest in, enrich, or elevate all that it is to be human. But cultivating humanity has become a pressing challenge in higher education because learning about what it means to be human depends on significant and ongoing personal engagement of students with faculty and staff who serve as mentors, advisors, and guides. Such engagement is as expensive as it is essential; time and people are money. It should not be true that there is enough time and enough faculty and staff to cultivate humanity only in colleges and universities that have a lot of money. What students most need, and what cultivating humanity most requires, is the hardest thing for institutions of higher education to provide, and for observers and stakeholders of colleges and universities to understand and support. But what students learn about themselves, others, and the world around them is as important to their future success as getting the degree. Character, empathy, and moral principles make the graduate a whole person, not just an individual with a credential. Colleges and universities must settle for nothing less.

It is time for action by leaders across higher education to strengthen quality improvement (QI) in college health, in pursuit of better care, better health, and increased value -- goals closely linked to students' learning and success. The size and importance of the college student population; the connections between wellbeing, and therefore QI, and student success; the need for improved standards and greater accountability; and the positive contributions of QI to employee satisfaction and professionalism all warrant a widespread commitment to building greater capacity and capability for QI in college health. This report aims to inspire, motivate, and challenge college health professionals and their colleagues, campus leaders, and national entities to take both immediate and sustainable steps to bring QI to the forefront of college health practice -- and, by doing so, to elevate care, health, and value of college health as a key pathway to advancing student success.

The organization of institutions of higher education has been seen as operating with ambiguous purposes in vertically oriented structures that are only loosely connected. The rationale for this ambiguity is twofold: (1) to allow for creative thinking, and (2) to respect--and even encourage--the autonomy of different disciplines. But ambiguity of purpose and vertical organization are at odds with thinking and expectations in an era of accountability and assessment, in which cross-institutional, or horizontal, reporting and measurement of institutional performance are highly regarded and increasingly demanded. Student affairs divisions are particularly challenged, given their ambiguous purpose (to support holistic student learning and development); the perception that they are support services, rather than core academic functions; and their primarily historically and traditionally framed organizational structures (Fenske 1990). Student affairs divisions are appropriately scrutinized to display how their ambiguous purpose is manifested in practice via organizational effectiveness and responsiveness to institutional needs, and through documented contributions to the development and achievement of desired student outcomes. A curricular approach to learning, student development, assessment, and retention depends on creating horizontal structures, forces, and dynamics that intersect with vertical systems and structures. In this article, the authors point out that institutional effectiveness requires the tighter coupling of horizontal and vertical activities in ways that promote student learning and sustain an engaged student experience. (Contains 2 figures.)

At the heart of commitments to student success is a progressive concept of the relationship between students and institutions of higher education that embraces shared responsibility for the quality and outcomes of learning--and, therefore, for students' ability, capacity, and readiness to learn. Since learning is a complex activity of the whole person, and well-being--broadly defined--is a major determinant of students' readiness to learn, advancing student success requires attention to students as whole people, and to their individual and collective well-being. Attention to students as whole people, a shared responsibility for learning, and responsiveness to students' well being, taken together, reflect the existence and influence of an underlying ethic of care.

While cost and completion are important issues, they are not the fundamental problems that have put higher learning in crisis. What calls for urgent attention is low "value"--a critical deficit in the quality and quantity of learning in college. To state it as plainly as possible: Most students graduate without learning enough. There is no longer enough higher learning in higher education. State and federal governments primarily focus on cost, retention, and accountability because they want to ensure access, efficiency, and good student outcomes, such as completing a degree and getting a job. But getting in, staying in, and graduating from college matter only if students learn. Otherwise, the whole value proposition of higher education is in serious doubt. Imposing top-down, government-mandated "solutions," such as simplistic assessment requirements based on superficial metrics that do not measure student learning, will only make things worse. The authors contend that it is in responding effectively to the real problems in higher learning--and in helping the college or university avoid well-intentioned but hopeless and potentially counterproductive solutions--that a board has a particular opportunity to advance the interests of both its institution and current and future students. Addressing the crisis in learning will demand substantial and sustainable institutional change. Boards, in dialogue with presidents and faculty members, can establish a vision and set a direction for strengthening student learning that will guide that process of change. To make that possible, boards must appreciate the range of deficits in undergraduate learning today, hone their ability to articulate aspirations that will improve learning, and act as catalytic agents in raising crucial policy issues and questions for their institutions. (Contains 3 resources.)

Although datasets such as the Integrated Postsecondary Data System are available as inputs to higher education funding formulas, these datasets can be unreliable, incomplete, or unresponsive to criteria identified by state education officials. State formulas do not always match the state's economic and human capital goals. This article analyzes the Kentucky benchmark approach in light of priorities and goals that state funding for higher education should optimally achieve. The findings indicate that the formula does not directly produce the set of incentives it was designed to achieve, nor, at least in one example, does it assign institutions appropriate peer groups. (Contains 8 tables.)

This chapter discusses the fundamentals of financing health and counseling centers in higher education and also identifies contemporary issues related to financing these two services. (GCP)

Describes how leadership in working out the potential benefits of the Program on Health and Higher Education at the State University of New York Stony Brook led to the creation of a learning community around public health issues relevant to students. Program outreach to local high schools engaged students in learning about these issues and what they could contribute to solving them. (EV)

Social norms strategies in examining college health behavior have become popular and well-accepted. There is substantial variation in the understanding, application, and nature of social norms approaches. This paper introduces four articles on social norms research in college health that address: binge drinking prevalence; substance abuse prevention; drinking among athletes; and binge drinking among resident freshmen. (SM)

Discussion of student health and the college campus clinic distinguishes between health and health care, considers campus health centers, and addresses issues of student health, noting that students health problems often blur the boundary between mental and physical. Sidebars offer excerpts from the 1995 National College Health Risk Behavior Survey. (DB)

Describes human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), newly characterized human retrovirus which causes chronic, progressive, immune deficiency disease, the most severe phase of which is Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Reviews most important current epidemiologic, clinical, and virologic information about HIV and HIV disease and provides factual framework for understanding issues created by the epidemic. (Author/NB)

Considers educational and counseling issues related to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Advises educators and counselors to examine both characteristics and determinants of human behavior, direct efforts at individuals and communities, work respectfully in all communities to produce human change, and foster individual and group pride. Sees education and counseling as becoming critically cross-linked in effective programs. (Author/NB)

In response to needs created by the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic, colleges and universities have struggled to develop or redesign policies and services to promote behavioral change. Effective institutional response requires comprehensive policy, services and referral, and education and prevention focusing on identity and self-esteem. (MSE)

College administrative and governance issues related to acquired immune deficiency syndrome on campus are discussed, including fear and prejudice, statistical incidence, development of appropriate school policy, and the governing board's responsibility. (MSE)

Discusses the importance of education as the primary response of higher education to the epidemic associated with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Focuses on the personal, social and institutional issues that bear on AIDS education on college campuses and the important features of AIDS education programs. (TW)

The incidence of AIDS on the college campus is discussed, as well as the responsibilities of college health services. Guidelines are offered for forming school policy regarding AIDS. (JD)

Provides illustrated directions for the construction and use of a low-cost thermistor device. Attached to a servo-type millivolt chart recorder, the device will record minute temperature changes and will simulate data obtained from an oxygen polarograph. Includes results of experiments with baker's yeast. (Author/CS)

Attempts to relate subjective emotional quality with specific vocal production techniques of Hupa Brush Dance songs. (ERB)

In a statement issued in July, "Rebuilding Campus Community: the Wrong Imperative," the National Association of Scholars calls for exactly the right thing--a renewal of liberal education, that broad and deep education beyond students' majors on campuses--but misses the point about what is needed to achieve it. Claiming that liberal education has been hijacked by residence-life programs, these authors state that the association distracts itself rather than focusing on the real opportunity that liberal education offers the nation. In this article, the authors offer their views on the association's statement.