Learning Resources

Abstract: Higher education is entering a period of unparalleled turbulence. By 2030, a global knowledge, work, and learning ecosystem will revolutionize work and learning. It will empower individuals to fuse learning, living, and work over 60-year time spans. Tens of millions of additional learners—or even more—will be added to the global learning force. To compete in this rapidly expanding arena, traditional institutions will need to transform, starting now.

Transforming for Turbulent Times: An Action Agenda for Higher Education Leaders will help you support your institution in its efforts to rise to these challenges.

This book outlines a proven, eight-step process for planning, leading, navigating, and orchestrating the transformations necessary to thrive in this new ecosystem. Whatever your role in your college, university, or learning enterprise, you’ll learn the principles, techniques, and actions that will make you indispensable to its transformation in these turbulent times.

Abstract: Dr. Michael J. Sorrell is the longest-serving president in the 148-year history of Paul Quinn College. During his near 14 years of leadership, Paul Quinn has become a nationally regarded institution for its efforts to remake higher education in order to serve the needs of under-resourced students and their communities.

Abstract: Entrepreneuring the Future of Higher Education: Radical Transformation in Times of Profound Change
by Mary Landon Darden
Rowman & Littlefield: Lanham, MD: 2021
202 pages
ISBN: 978-1-4758-5494-7

Abstract: Institutions are adapting their strategic plans, layering the impacts of technology, and thinking towards the future during the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to provide students with a quality education, institutions must learn, test, and implement changes quickly. This session will explore the core issues, challenges, and opportunities that are shaping higher education and uncover the breadth of adaptation that institutions must undertake in this time of disruption. Come learn how to better prepare to meet your institution’s current needs and future challenges by sharing implementable ideas and insights with your peers.

Abstract: This article presents a case study of the virtual strategic planning process at Northcentral University’s School of Business. Anchoring in practices proven successful in a face-to-face environment, we describe the unique challenges of effective strategic planning for an individual school—when complicated by a solely virtual, distributed environment. We share the tools and techniques we leveraged for each phase of our work, which facilitated overcoming the distance among members of our school community.

Abstract: Today we find our institutions barraged by the forces of change, and dutifully we respond. Over time, however, we end up molding our institutions to these forces to our own peril, and now U.S. higher education is on the ropes, so to speak. We believe education leaders should take hold of our destinies and shape our industry not by the forces of lackluster government policy, self-serving press and media, and for-profit mega corporations, but to serve true learning and personal growth. There are many tools we can use to lead change. This article introduces the concept of Positive Turbulence, an intentional, disruptive approach for positive change, to the education industry.

Abstract: State institutions of higher education in Connecticut are experiencing a dramatic and unprecedented period of change: the consolidation of four universities and 13 community colleges into Connecticut State Colleges & Universities (CSCU) and the creation of a new administrative structure. This article charts the early stages of this process, presenting events as they unfolded during Governor Dannel Malloy’s first term beginning in January 2011, through his November 2014 reelection, until his state budget was passed in June 2015.

Advocates of systemness in higher education are challenged to balance the promise of centralized leadership and localized prerogative in designing and implementing policy. Systemness offers the promise of synergy and innovation within and across the system guided by common purpose and vision.

This article discusses five specific implementation processes and challenges: a systemwide credit transfer articulation program; Southern Connecticut State University’s early Transform CSCU 2020 initiatives; an ongoing effort throughout CSCU to develop a systemwide identity; the potential impact of budget constraints on systemness; and difficulties selecting and developing administrators and leaders.

Abstract: New subscribers to the Harvard Business Review receive as a bonus with their first issue a compilation of fifteen classics, which appeared in previous HBR issues. One article, “Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail”, by John P. Kotter, first appeared in the March-April 1995 issue and is often referenced as a guide to strategic change in organizations. It is the purpose of the article to evaluate a change process undertaken at a large comprehensive baccalaureate institution in the context of Kotter’s suggested eight steps in transforming an organization.