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John Lombardi Website |
Managing Universities |
Office Hours by appointment |
Throughout the United States, universities struggle to understand and adjust to competition, variable public support, resistance to tuition, dissatisfaction with various aspects of university life, calls for endless accountability, and other challenges. At the same time universities find themselves ever more essential to the American understanding of the good life. Study after study demonstrates that a college education is a minimal prerequisite for access to reasonable middle class standing in America. Parents seek educational advantages for their children from birth, competition for places at prestigious institutions remains at all time highs, and regions, states, and the nation demand the continued production of university research to drive economic competitiveness. In this context, the management of universities, always more of an art than a science, challenges creativity and commitment. Faculty guilds seek higher pay, greater security, and more autonomy; student clients and customers demand higher quality, lower cost, and greater attention to their needs; supporters in legislatures and the public seek better education for lower cost and with a higher yield; and alumni and donors expect high achievement and nationally distinguished programs in all areas. This course focuses on research universities that exist to generate high internal quality. We explore the topics of this course less to provide a single strategy for institutional success and more to develop the tools for analysis and action. Universities have different histories and find themselves located in widely different economic, political, and organizational space. Every university, however, must deal with the same issues and problems, and the tools developed here will serve the interests of every kind of institution. © 2007 |
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