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Abstract

This essay analyzes the distinctive concerns facing faculty and administrators at small liberal arts colleges and considers the curricular developments likely to shape the communication discipline through the remainder of the decade. It argues that although faculty share universal issues such as salaries, tenure, and job security, the small college environment introduces unique pressures. These include heavy teaching loads, broad course preparation, intensive committee work, and heightened student expectations generated by close faculty student interaction. Faculty also express anxiety over the expanding influence of vocational demands and the potential displacement of liberal education, even as they work to help students integrate liberal studies with professional aspirations. Administrators, for their part, are chiefly concerned with institutional survival, enrollment volatility, budget dependence on tuition, and the challenge of maintaining program integrity amid competition for scarce resources. The essay identifies several curricular trends, including increased attention to technology, renewed interest in public speaking, emerging research in listening and cross sex communication, and the tension between liberal learning and career preparation. It concludes that despite financial and structural pressures, the communication discipline at small colleges is experiencing growing student interest and is well positioned to respond to evolving educational and societal needs.

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