Higher Education as a Field of Study is multi-disciplinary in its origin. Given the relative youth of the field, as it was only founded less than 130 years ago, it does not yet have standalone theories or philosophies as the scholarship in the field frequently borrows from its epistemological, methodological, and philosophical ideas from more established social science disciplines and fields. The objective of this paper is to use an historical exploration of higher education in North America to articulate both higher education's foundation, purpose and philosophy. This analysis will aid in categorizing the types of questions the public and government ask of higher education and how higher education as a field of scholarship can impact the future of the governance, pedagogy, the nature of research, and university's societal role. The cumulative effect of this work is ultimately moving this field of study to the center stage of the discussions around higher education.