Consulting in Higher Education: Principles for Institutions and Consultants

American higher education is characterized by keen competition but also by a high degree of cooperativeness. This apparent paradox is illustrated by the extensive use of consultants. The typical higher education consultant is based on one campus and helps a competing institution become more effective. The net result is the reverse of Gresham\u27s Law: good practice drives out bad, and the total enterprise of higher education benefits. This handbook is intended to help colleges and universities make wise choices about consultants and derive the maximum benefit from them. It draws extensively from experiences of the Consultation and Advisory Service that the Association of American Colleges established in 1980 with generous funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Administrative Leadership

This paper reviews current thinking on organizational leadership generally and academic leadership in particular. In the past quarter-century, views about the essence of leadership have shifted from a hierarchical view that leadership flows from a leadership position to a much more lateral view that leadership roles are available to everyone. Recent research on leadership in higher education largely mirrors the more general leadership literature: significantly more attention is now being paid to collective, context-dependent, and relational approaches. The higher education leader drawn to these new models is, however, also pulled in the opposite direction, toward an increasingly managerial culture requiring greater managerial expertise. Academic leaders are thus faced with unique challenges. Resolving them will require the academic leader to: balance lateral with administrative leadership, encourage cultures of reflection in their academic units, and recognize and take advantage of the power of networks

The Milwaukee Idea: A study of transformative change

Through an initiative called the “Milwaukee Idea,” the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UW-Milwaukee) is striving to become a scholarly partner with its host city and to have that partnership energize the university’s teaching, research, and service activities. Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher conceived the Milwaukee Idea in 1998 as a way to capture the spirit and potential of the university’s urban location and character. This study assesses the extent to which the university has transformed itself through this recommitment to community engagement and whether UW-Milwaukee’s new urban mission is likely to be institutionalized in the coming years. Zimpher knew from the start that, to be successful, the Milwaukee Idea would require strong commitments from advocates on campus and in the community. She also knew that these advocates would have to represent all disciplines and stakeholder groups. Creating this support for the Milwaukee Idea required months of discussion, planning, negotiation, and action. The process officially began in fall 1998 when 100 campus and community participants gathered in a daylong plenary session and identified seven focus areas that would form the core of the university’s new focus on community engagement. Over the next 2 years, many other interdisciplinary groups would meet to plan and implement community outreach initiatives in each focus area. Initiatives have included a new core curriculum that emphasizes multiculturalism and service learning, a community-based consortium that provides technical assistance and research for economic development, and a collaboration with health and social agencies that addresses urban health issues. This study suggests that the Milwaukee Idea possesses the ingredients needed to bring about transformative change at UWMilwaukee. These ingredients include a readiness for change at the university, a charismatic leader who has captured the university’s imagination, a capable and committed administrative team, an inclusive process, and new financial resources.This combination makes it likely, the authors suggest, that the Milwaukee Idea will become much more than simply the latest administrative initiative foisted on an unwilling or indifferent campus. How much transformation is likely to take place and whether that transformation will lead to institutionalization depends on the extent to which UW-Milwaukee can address the barriers to change identified by the authors.These barriers include a lack of shared definitions of partnership and engagement, traditional institutional behaviors and values, territoriality, conflicts over funding priorities, a fragile infrastructure, and a lack of widespread understanding about what true diversity means

Non-Traditional Methods to Obtain Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT)

693JJ319C000015The use of passive data from location-based smartphone applications (LBS) and Global Positioning Services (GPS) to collect Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) has the potential to greatly reduce costs to State Department of Transportations (DOTs) and Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) and expand the coverage of up-to-date counts. This report evaluates the technical and statistical validity of traffic data derived from these sources using machine learning methods. Validity was determined by comparison to 4255 permanent counters, and a survey of recent publications about accuracy expectations. The document covers the input data and the development of the machine learning models and model validation. The results include the error by road volume, roadway and regional characteristics compared to typical estimation. The effects of reduced trip sample, ping rate, spatial accuracy and reference counters were also tested. The applicability of Probe Data was tested for other factors including, day of week, month of year, directional and ramp AADT, work zones ADT, K and D factors, peak hour truck data, special events or unusual weather and AADT by vehicle type

Guidelines for Obtaining AADT Estimates from Non-Traditional Sources

693JJ319C000015The use of passive data from location-based smartphone applications (LBS) and Global Positioning Services (GPS) to collect Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) has the potential to greatly reduce costs to State Department of Transportations (DOTs) and Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) and expand the coverage of up-to-date counts. This report evaluates the technical and statistical validity of traffic data derived from these sources using machine learning methods. Validity was determined by comparison to 4255 permanent counters, and a survey of recent publications about accuracy expectations. The document covers the input data and the development of the machine learning models and model validation. The results include the error by road volume, roadway and regional characteristics compared to typical estimation. The effects of reduced trip sample, ping rate, spatial accuracy and reference counters were also tested. The applicability of Probe Data was tested for other factors including, day of week, month of year, directional and ramp AADT, work zones ADT, K and D factors, peak hour truck data, special events or unusual weather and AADT by vehicle type

The doctoral studies paradox: Indigenous cultural paradigms versus Western-based research practices

This is an exploratory conceptual paper regarding the ontological and epistemological premises that are present in the enrollment of Indigenous peoples in doctoral programs at higher education institutions (HEIs). The paradoxical nature of navigating through distinct points-of-view about two distinct cultural perspectives, that of the doctorate representing a culminating recognition of a professional culture based on Western tradition and the norms and values of Indigenous cultures. There are personal risks involved in undergoing an education predicated on conflicting messages paradoxes represent from prior personal and collective experience and from institutional dicta and expectations. This paper looks at how an individual brings these elements together in a transformative manner that accepts or rejects governmental preference for enhanced participation by Indigenous peoples in doctoral education programs

Leadership in place : how academic professionals can find their leadership voice

In this stimulating collection of stories, ten academic leaders reflect from personal experience on leadership in place―an emergent mode of leadership that brings people together in order to effect organizational change. Originating from diverse sectors of the academy, each of the book\u27s contributors brings a fresh and deeply human perspective on academic leadership theories and their effective applications. Leadership in Place calls for a shift in attitude about leaders and leadership. It departs from the hierarchical view that academic leadership flows from a leadership position, and instead embraces a more lateral view where leadership roles are available to everyone. It calls for a rethinking of how our colleges and universities are led and organized by discussing the following: Importance of strong academic communities in preserving the integrity of academic programs Empowerment of part-time faculty by combining adaptive and transformative learning models Opportunities for, benefits of, and challenges in collaborative leadership Problems that can emerge in times of leadership transitions and possible solutions Concept of leadership as an attribute of the many rather than the few Advocating for academics to reengage and recommit to their institutions, the book creates an agenda for what higher education must do to create conditions under which leadership in place is the norm rather than the exception.https://aura.antioch.edu/facbooks/1062/thumbnail.jp

Rebooting the EdD

In this essay, Jon Wergin reminds readers of the philosophical and historical foundations of the doctor of education (EdD) degree. He argues that the EdD should be based, in large part, on John Dewey\u27s progressive ideals of democratization and Paulo Freire\u27s concepts of emancipatory education. Drawing on theories of reflective practice, participatory action research, and signature pedagogies, Wergin proposes five principles through which schoob of education can reboot their EdD degrees, creating programs that represent continued scholarship into practice and a commitment to social action. He then illustrates one potential application of these principles

Departments that work : building and sustaining cultures of excellence in academic programs

Evaluation in departments is widespread but often fails to spark positive change. Based on his extensive work with academic departments across the country, Wergin explains that successful department evaluation exists only when faculty and departments have a strong influence on the purposes, processes, and methods of evaluation. The central purpose of Departments That Work is how academic programs can make evaluation more useful and critical reflection more likely.https://aura.antioch.edu/facbooks/1064/thumbnail.jp

Deep Learning in a Disorienting World

Much has been written about the escalating intolerance of worldviews other than one\u27s own. Reasoned arguments based on facts and data seem to have little impact in our increasingly post-truth culture dominated by social media, fake news, tribalism, and identity politics. Recent advances in the study of human cognition, however, offer insights on how to counter these troubling social trends. In this book, psychologist Jon F. Wergin calls upon recent research in learning theory, social psychology, politics, and the arts to show how a deep learning mindset can be developed in both oneself and others. Deep learning is an acceptance that our understanding of the world around us is only temporary and is subject to constant scrutiny. Someone who is committed to learning deeply does not simply react to experiences, but engages fully with that experience, knowing that the inevitable disquietude is what leads to efficacy in the world.https://aura.antioch.edu/facbooks/1057/thumbnail.jp