The main activity of the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) is conducting the Comprehensive Program, an annual grants competition. The 15 selections in this volume were based on questionnaire responses from the college and university project directors responsible for these grants. Their funding covered a period of three years, 1984 to 1987. In each case, we inquired about what activities worked and didn't work in creating change, what happened unexpectedly, and what evaluation told us about the confidence we could place in the changes.

Also we learned about the current status of these projects three years after funding ended and what they had produced that could be made available to others. Under each selection here, we refer you to the project directors themselves so that you may follow up with them directly about those ideas and products.

Special thanks to two of our favorite colleagues, Jane Spalding and Robert Shoenberg, for their careful editing and wise suggestions. And very special thanks to the project directors themselves who so ably translated their ideas into educational practices that may benefit us all.