How can public university systems leverage their scale to increase intercampus collaboration and better educational outcomes? American public higher education systems include the largest and most impactful colleges and universities in the nation, including 75 percent of the nation's public sector students. While their impact is enormous, they are largely neglected as an area of study and underutilized as an instrument for the improvement of postsecondary outcomes. Meanwhile, most states continue to struggle to reach their goals for higher education attainment, social and economic mobility, workforce development, equitable access and affordability, technological innovation, and human and environmental health. Through a series of essays written by academic experts and senior practitioners, Public University Systems argues that higher education can act as a powerful tool for making progress on societal goals by leveraging their unique scale. These systems can increase intercampus collaboration in areas such as academic programs, collective bargaining, accreditation, student finance, governance, process improvement, change management, voluntary coalitions, and leadership. By shedding light on their unique ability to leverage scale, contributors argue that these systems merit more attention from scholars and increased use by policymakers, board members, and system leaders seeking to achieve real progress toward state and national higher education goals. Covering the structure and function of university systems, new models, and methods for leading these systems, these essays provide a blueprint for how higher education leaders can leverage the scale of these enormous systems to achieve their missions and improve outcomes for their schools and students. Contributors: George Blumenthal, Wallace Boston, Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld, Tristan Denley, Robert C. Dickeson, Peter T. Ewell, Pamela Felder-Small, Darren Greeno, Mark Hagerott, Ronald Heifetz, Dennis Jones, Daniel J. Julius, Jasmine Kaduthodil, Jason Lane, Paul Lingenfelter, Rebecca Martin, Aims McGuinness, Demaree K. Michelau, Steven Jude Patin, Kevin P. Reilly, Jessica Schueller, Khaleel Seecharan, Allison M. Vaillancourt, Nancy L. Zimpher
James R. Johnsen is an affiliate faculty member at the Center for Studies in Higher Education at the University of California, Berkeley, and Vice President of Executive Search at Greenwood Asher and Associates. He serves on advisory boards at the University of WisconsinMadison and the University of Pennsylvania. He was formerly a senior fellow at the National Association of System Heads and the president of the University of Alaska System.
Foreword Ronald Heifetz Acknowledgments Introduction Part I. Structure and Functions 1. Structure and Functions Aims C. McGuinness Jr. and Dennis P. Jones 2. Accreditation and Quality Peter T. Ewell 3. Is Responsive and Adaptive Collective Bargaining Possible, or Is This Deja Vu All Over Again? Daniel J. Julius 4. Public Systems and the Financing of Postsecondary Education Paul E. Lingenfelter 5. Reallocating Resources Robert C. Dickeson Part II. New Models 6. Student-Centric Systems Tristan Denley 7. The Lean University System: Focusing on Value Steven J. Patin 8. Online Systems Wallace E. Boston 9. Partnering with Purpose: Collaborations for the Future Demaree K. Michelau 10. Lessons from Multi-Stakeholder Consortia for Public Higher Education Systems 11. The International Engagements of Higher Education Systems in the United States Jason E. Lane and Jessica Schueller 12. Leveraging Systems to Increase Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Institutions of Higher Education Khaleel Seecharan and Darren Greeno 13. The Emergence of Intelligence Machines and Cyberspace Mark Hagerott Part III. Leading the Future 14. Shared Governance in University Systems George Blumenthal 15. Governing Large Kevin P. Reilly 16. Making Change Happen Allison M. Vaillancourt 17. Systems Heads Nancy Zimpher and Rebecca Martin Conclusion James R. Johnsen Contributors Index
How can public university systems leverage their scale to increase intercampus collaboration and better educational outcomes?
