Articles

At Wheaton College in Massachusetts, a semester-length orientation makes new faculty members feel welcome indeed.
Touba Ghadessi Fleming and Matthew J. Evans are new assistant professors at Wheaton College (Mass.). Thanks to a semester-long orientation, says Mr. Evans, "you can think about pedagogy and the goals of the university without having to worry about what the deduction from your paycheck is." (Photograph by Richard Howard)

Although the number of scholars from minority groups has increased markedly in the past decade, some experts expected the numbers would be even higher by now.

• DATABASE: The race and ethnicity of faculty members at 2,700 colleges, with the total percentage of minority professors at each campus.

Fewer than 30 black women hold full-time jobs in philosophy departments, but the number has inched up in recent years.

A blueprint for rescuing your academic career from the ashes of tenure denial.

Notes

PEER REVIEW: Two scholars are returning to Harvard University's department of African and African-American studies. ... Dinesh D'Souza resigned his fellowship at the Hoover Institution, while Donald Rumsfeld prepares to arrive. ... The University of California at Santa Cruz appoints a chancellor. ... A professor at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln agrees to resign following an incident involving firecrackers in his classroom.

CREDIBILITY AND AUTHORITY: A conflict over faculty governance has pitted professors against the provost at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

CIVILIZED SEPARATION: A scholarly center for the study of Western civilization was to be built at Hamilton College but will rise off the campus instead.

CAREER SURVEY: Private institutions get higher marks than public ones in young professors' ratings of job satisfaction.