The Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), established in 1972 on the model of a philanthropic foundation, supports demonstrations on innovative reform ideas in postsecondary education. During its eighteen years, FIPSE has supported hundreds of campus-based reform projects, and a high proportion of these have survived the fade-out of Federal funding at their original sites, where their benefits are observed directly.

But the question remains of how to help disseminate a locally proven approach to a new campus site, where faculty and administrators are generally not acquainted with the benefits of the approach first-hand. The present monograph may be part of the answer-self-portraits of some educational pilot tests supported by FIPSE, together with what was learned by the project staff from managing them. The portraits analyze what worked and didn't work as the grantees struggled to overcome obstacles and gain permanent acceptance of their educational reforms.

But these are not quite self-portraits, even metaphorically. Dr. Dora Marcus interpreted and recast project directors' responses to survey questionnaires and talked at length with all respondents. She has reviewed project files, evaluation data, grant products, and final reports to FIPSE and asked sharp follow-up questions. Hence, while Dr. Marcus was limited ultimately by the data supplied to us by the project directors, these self-portraits have been focused and polished in cooperation with FIPSE.

The result is a rather uniform series of sketches, albeit on a diversity of topics, which we hope reform-minded college and university presidents, deans, and faculty members find useful. The project directors welcome inquiries and requests for further information about any of their projects having special relevancy to your campuses.

Charles H. Karelis, Director
Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education