This chapter describes undergraduate research expansion in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) in the context of both fiscal and student enrollment challenges.

In this final chapter, we summarize the lessons learned from working with six systems/consortia to enhance and expand undergraduate research. The theory of change model for systems/consortia differs in significant ways from the change processes exhibited by individual institutions, offering important insights for academic leaders as they seek to…

University mergers have become a common strategy for increasing global competitiveness. In this chapter, the authors analyze the implementation of mergers in Finnish universities from the perspective of social justice as conceived within Finland and other Nordic countries.

The chapter examines the effectiveness and long-term viability of reform efforts designed to advance education for personal and social responsibility.

Any institutional approach to improving graduation rates must include faculty. Faculty, more than anyone else, deliver an institution's "promise," one course at a time. They also evaluate whether or not students have demonstrated sufficient mastery of the subject at hand to make "progress" toward their degrees. This article considers how…

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…

As America moves toward the ideals of its founding documents, some scholars have termed it "postethnic America," where culture rather than color or ethnicity will have more influence over the country's affairs. In postethnic America, the country will realize that all "are created equal," and no groups will be treated differently with regard to…

Many small institutions face difficulties, and the person who bears the brunt of dealing with those challenges is the college president. While each situation is unique, presidents can learn from the experiences of others, and at the very least, commiserate with each other regarding the challenges they face, especially when their institutions are…

Scholars, practitioners, and proponents of community-university engagement insist that reciprocity, mutual benefit, and peer relationships are essential to creating truly democratic partnerships between campus and community leaders. These same principles are seen as important to creating environments where university students learn democratic…

Since their inception, intercollegiate athletics have engendered controversy and stimulated debate. Supporters assert that "college sports are significant in defining the essence of the American college and university", suggesting that benefits associated with athletics include more increased fundraising, positive public perceptions of graduates,…

Universities have long struggled with balancing their core instruction, research, and service missions with the win-at-all-costs mentality of spectator sports. Indeed, much has been written about the athletics-academic debate. Unfortunately, the athletics-academic debate often masks the complexity of characterizing athletics programs as either…

In nature, waves are transmitters of energy. Once the energy moves through the medium, that medium often returns to its previous state. The first wave of community-engaged institutions has transmitted great energy across the U.S. higher education system. And in contrast to what occurs in nature, these classified institutions often do not go back…

Although the transition from high school to college is a predictable rite of passage for students in their late teens and early twenties, much about the nature of these students and their environments is changing. In this chapter, the author focuses on four of the many new issues that have an effect on the transition experience of today's…

This article presents working definitions of efficiency, accountability, and quality, offering a framework in which an individual institution can make idiosyncratic use of these definitions, suggests tools for managing educational processes with respect to these three attributes, and presents examples of how institutions have improved efficiency,…

Much of what was written about for-profit colleges prior to the late 1990s was either simple advocacy or abstract criticism. Today's literature includes more general description and more use of organizational, economic, and political concepts. This article addresses the status of for-profit colleges that offer at least an associate degree or…