LOBBYING TACTICS EMPLOYED IN HIGHER EDUCATION AT THE STATE LEVEL: A TWO-STATE STUDY

This study sought a better understanding of lobbying tactics used in higher education at the state level. Given the economic recession the United States experienced in recent years, it is now more important than ever for public higher education to maintain its current funding levels and effectively communicate needed policy changes. To advance all public institutions, there must be communication with legislative officials and state-level higher education governing board members. The primary research question for this study was: What strategies and tactics are used in higher education lobbying at the state level, and how do these strategies influence the decisions made by legislative decision makers? Through semi-structured interviews in North Carolina and South Carolina, the researcher coded and analyzed information using the framework for public policy development established by the work of Gabel and Scott. The researcher developed a case study for each state, extracted common themes, compared them through a cross-case analysis, and then used triangulation to help validate the results, mostly using newspapers and periodicals to back up what was discovered during the interviews. The analysis revealed the common strategies and tactics that guide lobbying activities in North Carolina and South Carolina. The researcher also conducted interviews with campus-based lobbyists at public institutions, elected officials, and higher education governing board members in North Carolina and South Carolina. This study identifies the most important state priorities in public higher education. This study went beyond previous studies as it examined two states with differing higher education governing structures. Further, this study involved interviews with elected officials, campus-based lobbyists, and higher education governing board members. The strategies and tactics identified will help higher education institutions advocate for funding and policy changes, and increase the body of knowledge of public higher education lobbying at the state level

LOBBYING TACTICS EMPLOYED IN HIGHER EDUCATION AT THE STATE LEVEL: A TWO-STATE STUDY

This study sought a better understanding of lobbying tactics used in higher education at the state level. Given the economic recession the United States experienced in recent years , it is now more important than ever for public higher education to maintain its current funding levels and effectively communicate needed policy changes. To advance all public institutions , there must be communication with legislative officials and state-level higher education governing board members. The primary research question for this study was: What strategies and tactics are used in higher education lobbying at the state level , and how do these strategies influence the decisions made by legislative decision makers? Through semi-structured interviews in North Carolina and South Carolina , the researcher coded and analyzed information using the framework for public policy development established by the work of Gabel and Scott. The researcher developed a case study for each state , extracted common themes , compared them through a cross-case analysis , and then used triangulation to help validate the results , mostly using newspapers and periodicals to back up what was discovered during the interviews. The analysis revealed the common strategies and tactics that guide lobbying activities in North Carolina and South Carolina. The researcher also conducted interviews with campus-based lobbyists at public institutions , elected officials , and higher education governing board members in North Carolina and South Carolina. This study identifies the most important state priorities in public higher education. This study went beyond previous studies as it examined two states with differing higher education governing structures. Further , this study involved interviews with elected officials , campus-based lobbyists , and higher education governing board members. The strategies and tactics identified will help higher education institutions advocate for funding and policy changes , and increase the body of knowledge of public higher education lobbying at the state level

Reimagine fire science for the anthropocene

Acknowledgements: The authors thank Kathy Bogan with CIRES Communications for the figure design and creation, and two anonymous reviewers for comments on an earlier version of the manuscript.Funder: National Center for Atmospheric Research 12|0; DOI: https://doi.org/10.13039/100005323Fire is an integral component of ecosystems globally and a tool that humans have harnessed for millennia. Altered fire regimes are a fundamental cause and consequence of global change, impacting people and the biophysical systems on which they depend. As part of the newly emerging Anthropocene, marked by human-caused climate change and radical changes to ecosystems, fire danger is increasing, and fires are having increasingly devastating impacts on human health, infrastructure, and ecosystem services. Increasing fire danger is a vexing problem that requires deep transdisciplinary, trans-sector, and inclusive partnerships to address. Here, we outline barriers and opportunities in the next generation of fire science and provide guidance for investment in future research. We synthesize insights needed to better address the long-standing challenges of innovation across disciplines to (i) promote coordinated research efforts; (ii) embrace different ways of knowing and knowledge generation; (iii) promote exploration of fundamental science; (iv) capitalize on the “firehose” of data for societal benefit; and (v) integrate human and natural systems into models across multiple scales. Fire science is thus at a critical transitional moment. We need to shift from observation and modeled representations of varying components of climate, people, vegetation, and fire to more integrative and predictive approaches that support pathways toward mitigating and adapting to our increasingly flammable world, including the utilization of fire for human safety and benefit. Only through overcoming institutional silos and accessing knowledge across diverse communities can we effectively undertake research that improves outcomes in our more fiery future

Reimagine fire science for the anthropocene.

Acknowledgements: The authors thank Kathy Bogan with CIRES Communications for the figure design and creation, and two anonymous reviewers for comments on an earlier version of the manuscript.Funder: National Center for Atmospheric Research 12|0; DOI: https://doi.org/10.13039/100005323Fire is an integral component of ecosystems globally and a tool that humans have harnessed for millennia. Altered fire regimes are a fundamental cause and consequence of global change, impacting people and the biophysical systems on which they depend. As part of the newly emerging Anthropocene, marked by human-caused climate change and radical changes to ecosystems, fire danger is increasing, and fires are having increasingly devastating impacts on human health, infrastructure, and ecosystem services. Increasing fire danger is a vexing problem that requires deep transdisciplinary, trans-sector, and inclusive partnerships to address. Here, we outline barriers and opportunities in the next generation of fire science and provide guidance for investment in future research. We synthesize insights needed to better address the long-standing challenges of innovation across disciplines to (i) promote coordinated research efforts; (ii) embrace different ways of knowing and knowledge generation; (iii) promote exploration of fundamental science; (iv) capitalize on the "firehose" of data for societal benefit; and (v) integrate human and natural systems into models across multiple scales. Fire science is thus at a critical transitional moment. We need to shift from observation and modeled representations of varying components of climate, people, vegetation, and fire to more integrative and predictive approaches that support pathways toward mitigating and adapting to our increasingly flammable world, including the utilization of fire for human safety and benefit. Only through overcoming institutional silos and accessing knowledge across diverse communities can we effectively undertake research that improves outcomes in our more fiery future

Reimagine fire science for the anthropocene.

Fire is an integral component of ecosystems globally and a tool that humans have harnessed for millennia. Altered fire regimes are a fundamental cause and consequence of global change, impacting people and the biophysical systems on which they depend. As part of the newly emerging Anthropocene, marked by human-caused climate change and radical changes to ecosystems, fire danger is increasing, and fires are having increasingly devastating impacts on human health, infrastructure, and ecosystem services. Increasing fire danger is a vexing problem that requires deep transdisciplinary, trans-sector, and inclusive partnerships to address. Here, we outline barriers and opportunities in the next generation of fire science and provide guidance for investment in future research. We synthesize insights needed to better address the long-standing challenges of innovation across disciplines to (i) promote coordinated research efforts; (ii) embrace different ways of knowing and knowledge generation; (iii) promote exploration of fundamental science; (iv) capitalize on the "firehose" of data for societal benefit; and (v) integrate human and natural systems into models across multiple scales. Fire science is thus at a critical transitional moment. We need to shift from observation and modeled representations of varying components of climate, people, vegetation, and fire to more integrative and predictive approaches that support pathways toward mitigating and adapting to our increasingly flammable world, including the utilization of fire for human safety and benefit. Only through overcoming institutional silos and accessing knowledge across diverse communities can we effectively undertake research that improves outcomes in our more fiery future

Reimagine fire science for the anthropocene

Acknowledgements: The authors thank Kathy Bogan with CIRES Communications for the figure design and creation, and two anonymous reviewers for comments on an earlier version of the manuscript.Funder: National Center for Atmospheric Research 12|0; DOI: https://doi.org/10.13039/100005323Fire is an integral component of ecosystems globally and a tool that humans have harnessed for millennia. Altered fire regimes are a fundamental cause and consequence of global change, impacting people and the biophysical systems on which they depend. As part of the newly emerging Anthropocene, marked by human-caused climate change and radical changes to ecosystems, fire danger is increasing, and fires are having increasingly devastating impacts on human health, infrastructure, and ecosystem services. Increasing fire danger is a vexing problem that requires deep transdisciplinary, trans-sector, and inclusive partnerships to address. Here, we outline barriers and opportunities in the next generation of fire science and provide guidance for investment in future research. We synthesize insights needed to better address the long-standing challenges of innovation across disciplines to (i) promote coordinated research efforts; (ii) embrace different ways of knowing and knowledge generation; (iii) promote exploration of fundamental science; (iv) capitalize on the “firehose” of data for societal benefit; and (v) integrate human and natural systems into models across multiple scales. Fire science is thus at a critical transitional moment. We need to shift from observation and modeled representations of varying components of climate, people, vegetation, and fire to more integrative and predictive approaches that support pathways toward mitigating and adapting to our increasingly flammable world, including the utilization of fire for human safety and benefit. Only through overcoming institutional silos and accessing knowledge across diverse communities can we effectively undertake research that improves outcomes in our more fiery future