Administrative Promotion

Abstract

Dramatic increases in the number of administrative and professional staff members employed in higher education during the past twenty years have resulted in increased attention to the composition of this burgeoning group. 1 At large public research universities, the number of administrative staff members has increased substantially [14, 19], and in at least one major land-grant university, the numbers nearly doubled in a seven-year period [53]. In a survey of 1 15 institutions in 1968, Blau reported a ratio of one administrator to four faculty members [ 12]. In a survey of college and university personnel in 1980-82, 42 percent of the public institutions and 88 percent of the private institutions reported a ratio of three administrators to two faculty members [15]. During this period of growth, equal opportunity and affirmative action legislation prompted efforts to examine and improve the numbers