George Keller. 2007. The Emerging Third Stage in Higher Education Planning. Planning for Higher Education. 35(4): 60–64.

This article from Planning for Higher Education is the last we published by the late George Keller. It's worth a re-read in this time of recession, which is making clearer to some kinds of institutions that innovation and transformation need to continue taking place.

Not only was George Keller the “founding father” of academic planning—integrated, comprehensive planning for higher education—as we know it, but he remained a “pillar” of the planning community and an active and provocative thinker throughout his life.

In “The Emerging Third Stage ... ” George gave us two sets of fresh perspectives that continue to have great value as we think about the future of higher education planning.

First, in plain, no nonsense language he classified America’s higher education institutions in terms of their propensity for effective institutional planning, identifying state colleges and universities, colleges of technology, regional private colleges, less endowed private colleges, and two-year colleges as the most fruitful ground for new forms of planning.

Second, he looked into his crystal ball and predicted that the most productive planning would likely derive from two sources: first, innovative forms of postsecondary education occurring outside the traditional colleges and universities (i.e., research universities and selective, well-endowed private colleges), and second, “the advocacy by planners for structural and not just incremental or even strategic changes at the traditional institutions.” We would fail to ponder these seminal insights of the “old master” at great risk to the future of planning in higher education and to the academic enterprise itself.