In this Fall 2006 issue of Academic Exchange Quarterly, we have included eight manuscripts that deal with issues both in and out of the healthcare classroom.

In this Fall 2006 issue of Academic Exchange Quarterly, we have included eight manuscripts that deal with issues both in and out of the healthcare classroom. To begin, Prince, Triplett, and Lindsey discuss the destructive aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in light of the relationships among three factors in Mississippi and Louisiana: childhood poverty, children's well-being, and academic achievement. An additional classroom study is included with the research of Pritchard and Wilson who studied faculty and student stress and health during midterm examination week. Readers will discover similar findings among both faculty and students, with faculty reporting fewer physical health symptoms and less tension, depression, and confusion. Their conclusions and interpretation of findings will make for appealing reading. Balogun and Germain add to the research on university faculty with their in-depth literature review on tenure policies and practices in allied health and nursing education. Within their summary of published studies, the authors include topics such as educational requirements for tenure, roles of scholarship, teaching and service in tenure decisions, and tenure innovations.

In the area of service learning, we wish the reader to note the flow of topics: service tied to university mission statements, a proposed program of service learning, and the practice of service from reflective action research to serving the elderly. In their paper, Miller and Giugliano explore how several collaborative disease prevention and health promotion projects can overlap to meet the missions of a school of nursing, academic nurse-managed health center, and a university, while Kearney discusses the challenges encountered developing a service learning course in a healthcare curriculum. Kearney describes a required service learning course, and assesses its success relative to outcomes supporting an exemplary model for service learning in healthcare education. Henderson poses several questions and shares personal reflections as she explores the practical challenges and successes emerging from a community-based master's thesis. Finally, there are two papers in this issue, from two perspectives, in which the authors discuss service learning with communities of elderly. Getahun presents findings from a qualitative study on the possible benefits of service learning as an antidote to ageism within a retirement-home environment. Her theme analysis indicates students' increased awareness of ageism and a shift towards a more positive attitude towards the elderly. Somewhat related, Singleton studied the effects of service learning assignments in a social work curriculum and discusses both the development and implementation of those assignments in agency settings and the outcomes presented in terms of services and benefits provided, including the degree of satisfaction by the agencies and students with this pedagogical method.

We thank the readers for your interest in these essays related to health education and healthcare issues.

JoAnn Danelo Barbour, Ph.D. Editor, Academic Exchange Quarterly