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Think of the United States Military Academy and the typical images are of duty, character, leadership, and possibly even regimented conformity. Intellectual liberation, integrative innovation, and holistic development--hallmarks of a liberal education--are not always associated with the public's perception of the West Point experience. Yet, consider this: today's military operates in contexts where uncertainty and ambiguity are commonplace. Human security challenges exacerbated within regional trouble spots are frequently characterized by extreme poverty, a lack of infrastructure, an inability of people within these regions to plug into a globally connected world, and intrastate violence. Such challenges, when coupled with U.S. interests, demand an officer corps capable of responding promptly and effectively to a diverse set of issues in environments that require innovation, flexibility, and adaptability. The army needs officers who have benefitted from a liberal education. This article describes the curricular renewal at West Point. Today, West Point is, first and foremost, a liberal arts college with a focus on transformational learning.

While state legislatures are increasingly enacting articulation policies, research to date provides little evidence that these policies enhance students' likelihood of transfer. Based on a careful historical review of state statutes, the authors propose that articulation policies do not improve transfer rates because that is not their intended purpose; the main goal of articulation policies is to prevent the loss of credits when students transfer within state higher education systems. Subsequently, the authors use the National Education Longitudinal Study to evaluate articulation policies based on an alternative set of outcomes: attainment of a bachelor's degree, time to degree, and credits required to complete a bachelor's degree. They discuss the limitations of existing data and propose that future studies be designed to specifically evaluate the transfer or loss of credits applicable toward general education requirements. (Contains 4 figures, 1 table, and 19 notes.)

This article presents the authors' response to David Schweingruber's comments on their paper about sociology's disciplinary core being reflected in introductory sociology textbooks. In his comment, Schweingruber argues that introductory textbooks do not adequately reflect the disciplinary core because the authors of such texts employ terms that extend beyond disciplinary boundaries. Moreover, he offers evidence purporting to show that the terms included in introductory texts do not appear frequently in the recently published articles of the discipline's most prominent journals. But near the end of his commentary, he appears to cast aside both of these positions in favor of a belief that the core is to be found not in the concepts used in the discipline but in a particular way of thinking, one essentially defined by the indefinable. The authors explain that their contention has been consistent: the discipline fails to possess a core body of knowledge commonly recognized by all who study it that serves as the foundation upon which cumulative work will be based. The authors stress that in defense of their position, they draw on Schweingruber's own statements to illustrate four plausible errors. They added that while Schweingruber appears to use their article as a springboard to present his own analysis, they contend that he brings them no closer to identifying the discipline's intellectual core.

Sociology is often portrayed as an errant discipline, driving forward without any apparent direction or purpose. We contend that these perceptions about the central tenets of our discipline derive from a lack of standardization of core material, which reduces the social value of sociology as a scientific field and erodes its credibility as a discipline. Insofar as common conceptual knowledge exists in the field of sociology, one ought to find evidence of it in the introductory textbook. To this end, our study examines 35 introductory sociology textbooks published in the 1940s (n=16) and the 1990s (n=19) in search of common concepts that represent cumulative core disciplinary knowledge. While our findings reveal uniformity in the structure of the textbooks' major chapter headings within their respective decades, our analysis of concepts--the language used to introduce disciplinary content--reveals that the vast majority are referenced by only one text, with fewer than three percent of all concepts shared in common. Moreover, neither the number of concepts introduced only once nor the variability in the total number of concepts referenced declined across the two decades. In sum, while introductory sociology textbooks are structured in similar ways, we find little commonality in the concepts used by texts' authors to frame the discipline, either within the two cross-sections or between them. (Contains 5 tables.)

A study of 2,910 sociologists who received doctorates in 1972-76 found that gender differences in scholarship productivity occurred within the first 6 years of the doctorate and continued throughout the career due to different employment patterns and publication trajectories. The results support Merton's contention that context structures the display of individual merit. (Contains 53 references.) (Author/SV)

Presents a comprehensive model for assessing the institutional effectiveness of academic programs and illustrates, through a case study, strategies for managing the difficulties inherent within this process. Models the system designed for West Point's Academic Program and describes how the model was implemented into an academic environment. Contains 19 references. (VWC)

Presents evidence, from three national studies, that departmental ratings for research doctorate programs in the United States reflect a contextual property representative of the university and not various performance-based departmental attributes. Academic departments within universities are found to be quite similar with respect to external raters' perceptions of quality. (Author/SLD)

Examines the association between departmental prestige and faculty scholarship for the discipline of sociology using evaluative ratings from three national studies and objective data on publications. Scholarship was far less important in determining current prestige ratings than either the past reputations of departments or those of their affiliated universities. Contains 57 references. (Author/SV)

Examines the research-teaching relationship in faculty work in Germany, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Israel, Japan, and South Korea, drawing on an international survey of college and university faculty. Results indicate research and teaching are not mutually exclusive activities, but the two activities have differing effects on each other. Considers faculty publishing patterns. (Author/MSE)

Conducted meta-analysis of 37 studies dealing with long-term consequences of parental divorce for adult well-being. Results indicated adults who experienced parental divorce exhibited lower levels of well-being than did adults whose parent were continuously married. Strongest estimated effects occurred in areas of one-parent family status, psychological adjustment, behavior/conduct, and educational attainment. (Author/ABL)

Among 13,017 national survey respondents, white males, white females, black females, and, to a lesser extent, Hispanic females, who experienced separation from a biological parent during childhood had lower levels of occupational attainment than those who lived continuously with both parents, but the effects were largely mediated by education and marital status. Contains 46 references. (SV)

Interviewed a national panel of 1,668 married women and men in 1980 and 1983 to assess effects of shift work on 6 measures of marital quality (marital happiness, interaction, disagreements, general problems, sexual problems, and child-related problems) and probability of divorce. Results suggested that shift work has a modest but general adverse effect on marital quality. (Author/TE)

The U.S. Military Academy (USMA) at West Point is responsible for developing in its graduates literacy in the sciences that renders them capable of solving complex real-world problems. Throughout their careers as officers in the military, graduates will be called upon to view the physical world in a disciplined and objective manner, with an ability to infer causal relationships through careful observation and to recognize scientific challenges and opportunities when confronting complex problems. The study of mathematics and science cultivates modes of thought that can provide a foundation for intellectual development across all disciplines. Scientifically literate Army officers need to possess an understanding of the fundamental principles of the basic sciences, to view the physical world in a disciplined and objective manner through careful observation of causal relationships interpreted within a framework of physical laws, and to have the intellectual foundation to recognize scientific challenges and opportunities when confronting complex problems. The Math and Science Goal Team, composed of faculty from several disciplines, has developed standards for each of the desired math and science outcomes and identified embedded indicators in the eleven math and science courses of the core curriculum that map to the outcomes. The goal team first examined cadets' ability to discern the scientific features or aspects of complex problems. The team developed an assessment rubric aligned with the goal standard and then determined that a laboratory report in a required second-level physics course was an ideal embedded indicator with which to measure cadet performance. The data reported by the goal team indicate that by the midpoint of their academic careers, the majority of cadets have met the standards of the math and science goal. Company commanders, battalion commanders, and recent graduates all provide positive assessments of math and science goal achievement. These four sources of data together indicate that the USMA continues to provide the Army with officers who have the necessary math and science skills.

The United States Military Academy (USMA) provides cadets with the intellectual foundation that they will need to succeed as military officers. The abilities to shape the physical world and to lead others in doing so are important competences of an Army officer. Therefore, the study of engineering and technology is fundamental to the education of cadets at West Point and embodies an important goal of the Military Academy's academic program. The overarching goal of the USMA's academic program is for graduates to anticipate and respond effectively to the uncertainties of a changing technological, social, political, and economic world. The Engineering and Technology Goal Team, a multidisciplinary group of faculty, maintains principal ownership of the design and assessment of this goal. The team's work is supported and reviewed by faculty through the Assessment Steering Committee, the Curriculum Committee, and the dean. To measure cadets' achievement of the engineering and technology goal effectively, this team has articulated the standards of performance that the academy expects cadets to achieve. The assessment data suggests that USMA cadets and graduates generally achieve the standard set by the Engineering and Technology Goal Team.

The United States Military Academy (USMA) provides cadets with a liberal education designed to develop versatile and critical thinkers who can adapt to the professional and ethical challenges they will confront. Cadets' moral development is integrated throughout their West Point experience, to the point of being included as one of the USMA's academic program goals. This article examines cadets' achievement of the moral awareness goal through a rubric developed by the Moral Awareness Goal Team, a multidisciplinary group of faculty, to represent the standard of performance the cadets are expected to achieve. The assessment of the moral awareness goal involves a triangulation of data, including an analysis of survey responses, student course products, and employer feedback. The authors' review of longitudinal survey data reveals that cadets' confidence in their achievement of the moral awareness goal increases significantly during their four-year experience at West Point, particularly when they are asked to describe their ability to "recognize moral issues in a military situation" and "select morally justifiable actions." The assessment data gathered to date suggests that USMA cadets and graduates generally achieve the standard being set for the moral awareness goal. The authors find that the attention they are giving to a comprehensive assessment process, directed by multidisciplinary goals and teams of faculty, is resulting in positive qualitative change in the academic program and curriculum.

Beginning at the introductory level, the authors believe students ought to experience a common framework for approaching a general understanding of social life. At a minimum, this requires going back to the discipline's history--back to the journals and books that provide the foundational context for the discipline's framework and, therefore, its core. In this article, the authors discuss the outcome of their independent studies that the discipline has not adequately presented a common framework that resembles a core, particularly at the introductory level. They offer three suggestions for future discussions about sociology's core as taught to introductory students. First, they suggest embedding this discussion of the core into discussions about assessment in the major. Second, more empirical studies should occur that examine the core of their subfields. Third, it would be useful to engage their students in this discussion. They conclude that it is now necessary for sociologists to grapple effectively with the core material that structures the discipline's existence, thereby integrating this framework throughout a general understanding of social life.

Presents a strategy for the curricular design and assessment of one multidisciplinary program goal: understanding human behavior. Discusses how to assess a desired outcome based on four specific areas: (1) organizational context; (2) articulation of a learning model; (3) program design and implementation; and (4) outcomes assessment. (Author/KDR)