Learning Resources

Abstract: Higher education institutions must be resilient amid vastly increased expectations for sustainable environments, global focus, and technological support. In this article, we challenge all those engaged with planning in higher education to foster shared leadership throughout all levels of the organization as a means to meet these challenges and opportunities. We cite scholarship on shared leadership and provide examples of shared leadership in support of Green, Global, and Google (i.e., above-campus technology) initiatives. We provide a model for shared leadership and conclude with a succinct set of directions for reinventing higher education.

Abstract: The study described in this article examined the development and implementation of a geographic information system (GIS)as a simple sketch-plan tool for analyzing land use, transit routes, student ridership, and bus stop locations in order to improve the effectiveness of transit systems in college towns.The methodology was applied to Auburn University’s Tiger Transit system, which assists students commuting to and from the campus, and the route changes implemented as a result of this analysis significantly improved the system’s effectiveness. Transit ridership increased by 23 percent from 13,000 to 16,000 riders per day. The transit routes were changed to serve almost 90 percent of the student population using fewer buses, compared to 70 percent served before the improvement.In addition, the transit system started to serve commercial locations such as malls, recreational locations, cinemas, and big-box stores.

Abstract: With a renewed interest in finding innovative solutions to various social issues and problems both at home and around the world, university students are seeking the opportunity to build entrepreneurial skill sets and learn how to apply them for the common good. Despite the student excitement surrounding this topic, considerable confusion persists around what exactly social entrepreneurship is and where its most suitable academic home should be. This article explores the variety of definitions of social entrepreneurship and the arguments regarding its academic home; it suggests a conceptualization of social entrepreneurship that would situate it broadly in the curriculum rather than limiting it to one disciplinary home.

Abstract: Many colleges and universities own considerable areas of land that play a significant role in their research and teaching programs. University forests and other natural resource management units can be a large part of this land base. This land and timber base is a financial asset that, especially in times of financial difficulty, can easily morph from a research and teaching asset to a source of vital revenue, producing an emotional response from faculty, students, and the community. Planning, especially constituency-based participation, can lessen public disputes over the management of these lands. Without proper planning, such disputes are almost ensured.

Abstract: There is a crisis in higher education. With skyrocketing tuition, shrinking budgets, and increasingly complex social problems, it is time to ask: What are public research universities doing—and what should they do—to fulfill their compact with the citizens of their states? Locating some of the major cultural and structural obstacles impeding academic engagement, this article argues that “intellectual entrepreneurship” provides academic institutions with both a philosophy and set of mechanisms to meet the ethical obligation of discovering and putting to work knowledge that makes a difference—to educate “citizen-scholars” who engage in service with rather than to society.

Abstract: This article focuses on the impact of the Southern Association of Colleges and School’s redesign of regional accreditation processes. The authors describe (1) common patterns among regional accreditation associations,(2) a systems modeling framework to illustrate important components in the planning process as it relates to student learning outcomes, and (3) the fundamental role of peer review in the redesign process.