In this paper, we employ Punctuated Equilibrium Theory to consider institutions' shifting goals, priorities, and constraints, and to explore the nature of change at colleges and universities in the United States. By exploiting annual changes in institutional budget decisions over a 29-year period, we seek to understand the extent to which…

This paper uses critical archival analysis, paired with textual analysis of grant descriptions, to understand how nine foundations -- all with endowments derived from the student loan industry -- have motivated their college completion work and the relationship between these commitments and grantmaking over time (2000-2019). Mobilizing concepts of…

Community colleges and broad-access 4-year institutions can serve the vital function of increasing educational equity in the United States, but only if they engage in organizational change to address low completion rates. Drawing on qualitative case studies of 6 colleges, this study explored the influence of different types of leadership…

This multiple-case study examined the factors promoting or impeding ideal-centered change efforts focused on reclaiming the founding civic commitments of three Regional Comprehensive Universities. Findings showed that successful change agents engaged detractors in defining the ideal and shaping the change while assessing change efforts and…

This interview-based study explores the nature of reflective practice among postsecondary faculty by examining the types of teaching-related data faculty use during their reflection, their reflective practice process, and the contextual factors that influence that process. Our findings indicate faculty drew on both numeric and non-numeric data…

Departmental and programmatic eliminations represent a new paradigm in the history of American higher education. Hastened by a national economic recession and competing state funding priorities, public postsecondary institutions have turned to academic attrition as a solution to continuous budgetary shortfalls. As a means of addressing the lived…

This study undertook an empirical examination of those institutions identified as "invisible" in "The Invisible Colleges: A Profile of Small, Private Colleges With Limited Resources." As of 2012 to 2013, 354 of the original invisible colleges continued to operate as accredited private, 4-year institutions. However, 80 of the…

This study examined how women faculty in one research university enacted agency via perspectives that facilitated their career advancement amidst gendered organizational practices. Archer's (2003) critical realist theory of agency and inner conversations and Acker's (2006) work on gendered organizations guided analysis. Four perspectives adopted…

On many college campuses, faculty are being called on to act as change agents for racial equity. Through narrative inquiry analysis using the theoretical constructs of boundary crossing and boundary objects, this case study examined learning among faculty (n = 12) who attempted to broker structural changes at their universities through…

We employ Scott's three pillars of institutions (regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive) to investigate how higher education organizations change to support interdisciplinary graduate education. Using document analysis and case study approaches, we illustrate how strategies which address both policies and cultural norms are most…

This study considers a distinct case of a college outreach program that integrates student affairs staff, academic administrators, and faculty across campus. The authors find that social networks and critical agency help to understand the integration of these various professionals and offer a critical agency network model of enacting change.…

Over a period of several decades, non-tenure-track faculty members (NTTF) have become a majority of instructional faculty among nonprofit higher education institutions. A growing volume of research points to a relationship between the poor working conditions or lack of support these faculty members often experience and adverse effects on student…

This study is a qualitative inquiry into the institutionalization of equitable policies for non-tenure-track faculty. Through the theoretical framework of institutionalization, we examine factors and strategies forwarding various policies and practices and the challenges that arise. The results highlight themes throughout the stages of…

The study advances higher education leadership and change scholarship by examining a mostly unexplored area--the convergence between grassroots leadership with top-down leadership. The study is framed by two theories: tempered radicals framework and distributed leadership. Three common example of convergence are described as well as strategies for…

General education requirements comprise, on average, approximately 30% of the undergraduate curriculum and therefore represent an important feature of the student academic experience in American colleges and universities. Previous studies have not fully examined the origins of the most important models of general education, the distribution of…