| Within American higher education, the practice of establishing partnerships between institutions is becoming more common. Arrangements such as consortiums, mergers, joint ventures, and consolidations have aligned several institutions in the past, and will continue to do so in the future. In Indiana, a legislated partnership between the state's two-year institutions has recently been formed for the purpose of better serving the citizens of the state.; Although states are increasingly utilizing mandated partnerships to meet specific strategic higher education ends, research to inform and guide these kinds of initiatives is limited. Furthermore, studies of certain categories of mandated partnerships, such as the joint venture in Indiana, are largely non-existent. Most studies of mandated partnerships have been aligned with the organizational, political, or historical characteristics of the event. Only a few studies have attempted to examine the impact of the partnership upon members of the partnering institutions. This study seeks to fill this research gap by investigating faculty's knowledge and perceptions about the mandated partnership in Indiana, to determine if differences exit between particular segments of the faculty as well as across the institutions, and to identify how such knowledge and perceptions are related to faculty expectations of the partnership to achieve the intent of the law.; Using data collected from faculty of both institutions by means of a survey, information was presented about faculty's knowledge and perceptions of the partnership. Results demonstrated significant differences among faculty groups when considering the impact of the partnership on role and working conditions. Results also demonstrated a relationship between faculty's perceptions of the partnership's impact on role and working conditions, facilitators of the partnership; and how they perceived the partnership's potential to achieve the intent of the law. The findings of this study supported similar research results about mandated partnerships between institutions of higher education. |
