Colleges survive sometimes because they are able to merge with another institution (a for-profit company, another private college, a state university). The change at the College of Charleston was shaped in the 1970s, when the college did not "merge" with a state institution--it "became" a state institution, which grew.. and grew. When Captain…

In this age of accountability, transparency, and accreditation, colleges and universities increasingly conduct comparative analyses and engage in benchmarking activities. Meant to inform institutional planning and decision making, comparative analyses and benchmarking are employed to let stakeholders know how an institution stacks up against its…

California's vast Central Valley has been called "the Appalachia of California" and "the Other California." Long neglected as either irrelevant or hopeless, the Central Valley has become the focus of government and private philanthropists who understand the growing importance of this region to the state and the nation. The problems of the Central…

The key challenge to academic leadership is to restructure the allocation of academic assets, particularly the organization of the faculty, in ways that better serve emerging societal and scholarly needs.

Even a cursory reading of the higher education literature reveals a growing concern with the changing mix of tenure-track and non-tenure-track faculty. The focus a few years ago was on the apparent withdrawal of tenure-track faculty from commitment to instruction, especially at the first- and second-year levels. The focus now is on the rapidly…

Describes the development of a mission statement for the biology department at Morehouse College, and discusses how mission statements at the departmental level can frame strategic planning and assessment efforts, build community, and focus teaching and research activities. (EV)

Explores how a close integration of university-level planning and budgeting is required to drive change. Discusses major professional challenges of achieving this integration, the infrastructure of an office of budget and planning, and professional pathways for planning and budgeting officers. Also describes the author's personal career path in…

An effective college or university budget process is dependent on the culture of the institution. Different processes and budget types are appropriate to different institutions. Understanding the interrelationships of budgeting, planning, and financial modeling can help make the budget more predictable and relevant to the college's values and…

Pressure for cost containment is growing at even very financially healthy colleges and universities. Institutions need to think concurrently about cost containment in terms of temporary, mid-term, and permanent changes to institutional operations and priorities. It may be productive to reframe the issue as "funding priorities" rather than as "cost…

Rapid advances in information technology have rendered conventional approaches to planning and budgeting useless, and no single method is universally appropriate. The most successful planning efforts are consistent with the institution's overall plan, and may combine conventional, opportunistic, and entrepreneurial approaches. Chief financial…

In higher education institutions, decisions about spending patterns are established in the budget and executed by a diverse, decentralized group of institutional managers. To make the budget a vibrant management tool, each institutional constituency must view it as a document that helps advance institutional mission as well as a way to measure…

Introduces the concept of college and university campus master planning, describes factors and actors in the process, discusses the relationship to capital budgeting, and offers a typical master planning and capital-budgeting process as illustration. Developing a comprehensive institutional master plan can profoundly affect the institution's…

The role of the college or university chief financial officer in institutional risk management is (1) to identify risk (physical, casualty, fiscal, business, reputational, workplace safety, legal liability, employment practices, general liability), (2) to develop a campus plan to reduce and control risk, (3) to transfer risk, and (4) to track and…

One of the most critical components of the college or university chief financial officer's job is budget planning, especially using formulas. A discussion of funding formulas looks at advantages, disadvantages, and types of formulas used by states in budgeting for higher education, and examines how chief financial officers can position the campus…

Discusses the use of peer institutions as a component in college and university financial and budgetary decision making. The use of peer institutions to establish points of reference is an inevitable outcome of pressures for increased input and accountability. The key factors to be used in determining the extent of a peer-institution match are…