Faced with declining budgets, university administrators have reduced expenditures on faculty-development programs and other “basic tools” of faculty development, such as professional conferences, academic journals, and textbooks. In this exploratory study, a mail survey of 100 faculty from the colleges of business at three universities measured the extent to which these basic tools are used as well as the faculty\u27s perceived usefulness of the tools. The findings show that all three tools are used extensively, and all three are perceived to provide significant benefits, though the benefits vary in terms of each tool\u27s usefulness for teaching, research, or consulting. The findings, though exploratory, have implications for future budgetary decisions
