Over the last several decades, significant pressures resulting from financial challenges, declining undergraduate enrollments, changing demographics and now the COVID-19 pandemic, have caused college and university leaders to consider interinstitutional merger for both economic and strategic purposes. However, both knowledge and methodological gaps in the literature leave higher education leaders without frameworks or evidence with which to make decisions or take action in a challenging landscape. Specifically, there is little agreement about the definition of success beyond avoidance of closure. Employing a single case study design, I explored how senior and mid-level staff and faculty members made sense of the 2017 merger between Philadelphia University (PhilaU) and Thomas Jefferson University (TJU) and how they conceptualized and measured its success. Further, I examined the extent to which Feldman and Hernandez's (2021) corporate synergy realization framework might be applied to guide future decision-making, action and evaluation relative to value creation in higher education mergers. Methods included 26 interviews, archival documents, direct observations, and member checks. My findings have implications for administrators and board members for practice, theory development and future research. Institutional leaders generated significant buy-in for the Jefferson merger as an opportunity to create innovative, transdisciplinary education marrying medicine and design. However, while dissimilarities in mission and expertise helped generate important synergies, they also led to vast cultural differences presenting ongoing challenges. Despite buy-in resulting from an inclusive pre-planning endeavor, the integration process was painful, particularly for those originally from PhilaU, a much smaller and less well-resourced legacy institution. Technology, human resources and faculty affairs integration have been especially difficult and painful. The synergy realization framework is a promising tool for evaluating higher education merger success in a standardized manner. All five synergy types--internal, market power, relational, network and non-market--were identified in the Jefferson combination, along with co- and dis-synergies, which enhance or reduce the value of others. The synergy lifecycle introduced by Feldman and Hernandez (2021) adds nuance to the idea of value creation. Further research will add additional depth and breadth to these findings, helping to guide higher education practice and enhance merger theory. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]