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Debates about the role of liberal arts education in finding employment highlight both its benefits and the challenges of finding work after graduation – debates that are now well-documented and outlined in this paper. Adding to these debates, the purpose of this paper is to bring in the voices of recent graduates from social sciences and humanities programs who have firsthand and recent experience as they enter the professional job market. Their experiences guide our understanding of the nature of liberal arts programs and shed light on areas of improvement in line with improved career paths and employment outcomes.

The methodology involved a quantitative data study using an online survey completed by 1,901 graduates.

A survey completed by 1,901 graduates of IDS programs in Canada provided rich data about the challenges and opportunities of their education in relation to professional employment. Additional follow-up qualitative data provided by survey participants was also analyzed.

From these findings, several implications for curriculum design are highlighted to strengthen (not replace or alter) existing program offerings. Implications for curriculum design: The quantitative data and narrative responses from the survey of IDS graduates on their career paths highlight several important considerations for IDS and other liberal arts programs that are grappling with questions about whether and how to redesign curricula to better address concerns about the employability of students.

The central lesson from this research is that the perspectives of university graduates can provide valuable insights for debates about the roles of universities and the design of university curricula. While the voices of university administrators, professors, politicians, industry leaders and media pundits are all prominent in these debates, the perspectives of graduates are often left out, despite their firsthand experience in making the transition from campus to career.

This research project offers one model that other fields of study could follow to learn more from their graduates about the competencies and skills which they most value in navigating complex career paths and overcoming barriers to professional employment.

What will be the largest shopping and leisure complex in Europe, the Metro Centre, opened on a site three miles outside Newcastle in October. Consisting of two million square feet of shopping enclosed in a glass‐covered mall half a mile long, the Metro Centre can boast a glittering roll‐call of prestigious retail names as tenants — Carrefour, Marks & Spencer (their first out of town venture), BHS, Boots, House of Fraser — you name it, they're there. The Metro Centre owes much to the vision of John Hall, of Cameron Hall Developments, who seems quite unfazed by the 23 per cent unemployment in the region and the fact that Gateshead is one of the nation's economic black spots. In this feature David Sands talks to John Hall about his concept of shopping centres, and also discusses the likely impact of the project on Newcastle city centre and particularly Eldon Square.

This study investigates the relationship between employment status (full time (FT)/part time (PT)), organizational culture and institutional effectiveness in higher education. The purpose of this paper is to answer the question, “Does the growing population of PT faculty preclude effective cultures from developing and, accordingly, adversely affect institutional effectiveness?”

The study surveyed 159 PT faculty and 65 FT faculty from seven schools of an online, proprietary university. The instrument, consisting of the Organizational Culture Survey Instrument and demographic questions, was distributed and data collected utilizing an online survey application. Statistical analysis methods including descriptive statistics, analysis of variance and correlation analysis were used to analyze the data.

The study found no significant differences between perceptions of organizational culture or institutional effectiveness FT and PT faculty. Inter-school differences in perceptions were identified. Further research in this area is warranted to investigate discipline as a cause for the inter-school differences.

The study included respondents from only one online university. Therefore, additional studies involving traditional, ground based and hybrid institutions are required to establish generalizability. Additionally, self-assessments of institutional effectiveness were used. Future studies should consider quantitative research models for the measurement of institutional effectiveness.

The study indicates that PT faculty are not less committed to the institution than their FT counterparts. This strengthens the case for using PT faculty, particularly in an online environment.

This study investigates the relationship between organizational culture and institutional effectiveness in higher education from the faculty perspective. This has not been done before.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the possibility of a procedural deliberative alternative to an atomistic conception of individuals and an economic logic of markets or a priori universal lists, as ethical foundation for evaluating socio‐economic change.

To develop this argument, the paper combines a modified Kantian categorical imperative with deliberative ethics drawing on the writings of Habermas and Dewey. The journey through the European Enlightenment thought of Kant to the contemporary thought of Habermas and Bourdieu aims at mapping continuity and change in key themes in development ethics. These ideas are then given practical application in a case‐study of the people‐forestry interface in Nepal.

The paper shows how Kantian non‐deception links to Habermas' notion of communicative action and Dewey's notion of cooperative inquiry, and how Kantian non‐coercion links to the inclusion of subaltern voices. While the paper proposes that more open deliberative processes can potentially produce ethical gains, it also identifies an idealistic risk in this position. Bourdieu's thinking is utilised to reveal limitations on improving deliberative processes where there are powerful mechanisms reproducing inequalities.

The paper makes the case for greater attention being given to exploring deliberative processes as a prerequisite for ethical developmental actions.

The paper brings together authors who rarely feature in the development studies discourse and applies their ideas to a practical case study.

Healthcare providers need the information contained in patient records to provide high‐quality services. To be effective, patient record assembly must be completed in a timely manner. This study aims to analyse the medical records assembly process for a hospital in Southeastern United States having difficulty meeting standard completion times established by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organization.

Several quality improvement tools were used to evaluate and improve the assembly process.

As a result of the study, a new procedure was implemented. Consequently, the hospital reduced the time required to assemble medical records, thereby improving efficiency and effectiveness. There are hopes to further improve the process.

The study provides guidance on how statistical process control techniques can be applied to improve hospital services. The techniques employed can be used to analyze and improve any process. However, results are limited to improving medical record assembly processes at one particular hospital.

Past studies considered the application of various statistical process control techniques for improving healthcare quality. The study extends research by employing process improvement efforts to understand and develop medical record assembly in a regional hospital via process flow diagramming and control charts.

The purpose of this paper is to present exploration of themes that interconnect six studies in environmentally and socially sustainable human development.

The article presents an overview of the papers included in this special issue.

As humanity threatens to undermine its habitat, a social economics returns to core concepts and themes that became expunged from neoclassical economics: serious examination of persons, seen as more than given points of desire; a broadened perspective on types of good, including a non‐neoclassical conception of public goods as publicly deliberated priority goods that are not well managed through free markets and “common goods” as shared bases vital for everyone; study of what commodities and goods do to and for people; a central role for public reasoning about which are public priority goods, rather than using only a technical definition of a public good; an acceptance of notions of ethical responsibility and responsibilities concerning the provision and maintenance of public priority goods determined through public reasoning; and attention to institutional formats for such deliberation. Amongst the greatest of public priority “goods” are the concepts of common good and responsibility.

The findings reinforce the agenda of socio‐economics for central attention to the mutual conditioning of economy, society, polity, and environment, including analysis of the sociocultural formation of economic actors and of ideas of “common good”.

Cross‐fertilization of theorization with cases from Costa Rica, Kenya, Nepal, Thailand, Rwanda, sub‐Saharan Africa and global arenas.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of portrayed smoking status of actors on their popularity with both smoking and non‐smoking young people, as well as their perceptions of the prevalence of smoking

Two experimental studies were conducted with Australian undergraduate university students, in which students were exposed to different versions of mock magazines featuring images of actors smoking and not smoking, as well as control actors.

The attitudes of young people towards well‐known actors were little influenced by the presence or absence of cigarettes, but non‐smoking actors were perceived more favourably when depicted in a group with smoking actors. Smoking actors tended to be preferred by young people who smoked. The results of both studies confirm that young people's estimates of smoking prevalence are considerably inflated.

The results of the current study suggest two key implications for health education: the need to address young people's elevated perceptions of smoking prevalence among their peers, parents, and celebrities by communicating the social norm of non‐smoking; and the potential use of celebrities – such as actors – as spokespersons or role models in anti‐smoking campaigns.

The intent here is to present a representative, though not exhaustive, review of some recent empirical and theoretical literature on stress and the management of stress in occupational settings. The paper begins with a synopsis of the financial cost to the employer of unchecked excessive levels of employee stress. The next section reviews some examples of empirically‐based research supporting the clinical and cost effectiveness of current Occupational Stress Management (OSM) programmes. This is followed by a discussion of recent evidence showing that the “traditional” (corporate) approach to OSM is incomplete and insufficient. Towards the end of the article, an idealised, comprehensive, biopsychosocioecological transactional model of OSM is outlined. Finally, methodological limitations of traditional OSM programmes are discussed, and it is suggested that future studies might consider utilising a multilevel‐multimethod “triangulation” measurement approach.

Index by subjects, compiled by K.G.B. Bakewell covering the following journals: Facilities Volumes 8‐17; Journal of Property Investment & Finance Volumes 8‐17; Property Management Volumes 8‐17; Structural Survey Volumes 8‐17.

Compiled by K.G.B. Bakewell covering the following journals published by MCB University Press: Facilities Volumes 8‐18; Journal of Property Investment & Finance Volumes 8‐18; Property Management Volumes 8‐18; Structural Survey Volumes 8‐18.