The problem of this study was to investigate factors associated with the retention of present and of former faculty members at selected church-related colleges.

Most research universities in the United States began as religiously affiliated institutions. Beginning in the late 19th century and continuing over the course of the 20th century, the vast majority of these institutions engaged in a process of secularization through which faith moved from the center of academic life to the periphery. This paper elucidates a conceptual framework for understanding how and why Brigham Young University did not follow the path of secularization that so many research universities, originally religious in nature, pursued. It examines the steps that the university and its sponsoring institution (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) took during the mid-1930s and 1940s to ensure that the university maintained its religious affiliation. These actions laid a firm foundation upon which the university rests today.

The two-year private college has been recognized as a valuable sector of American higher education; yet, its documented decline has failed to incite substantial research focusing on the how and why. This study explored the plight and potential of one particular set of private institutions, the two-year United Methodist colleges, which exhibit characteristics that both distinguish and closely align them with the broader institutional classification as two-year private colleges. By means of a multi-case approach, this study attempted to identify significant opportunities and threats perceived by chief executive officers that affect the viability of these representative institutions. Ultimately, the study sought to document the strategies employed by these schools to ensure their continued existence. The researcher intended to strengthen the empirical foundation for an informed discussion of the issues affecting this unique sector of higher education and, specifically, to identify relevant variables that may be used in subsequent research efforts. The results of the study indicate that the two-year United Methodist colleges share opportunities and challenges with the small, four-year liberal arts college and the general category of religious colleges. At the same time, the data reflect intra-group differences that contribute to the distinctiveness of the individual institutions. Clearly, the future appears to be questionable for this institutional sector that is small in terms of the number of colleges operating and the volume of students served. However, as the first authentic American contribution to the higher education landscape, the two-year private and church-related college continues to serve a unique purpose with its own particular approach to student development, academic endeavors, communal activities, and organizational operation. These institutions contribute to the diversity of the higher education system in the United States as a body of colleges specifically committed to the needs of freshmen and sophomores in an environment characterized by a strong sense of values and community. The impact of their extinction is inestimable but would undoubtedly diminish the pluralism that is so greatly valued in the American higher education system.