Transforming a College: The Story of a Little-Known College's Strategic Climb to National Distinction

by George Keller

Overview

Forty years ago, North Carolina's Elon College was struggling to attract students and remain solvent. Today Elon enrolls students from 46 states and 40 foreign countries. Since 1988, it has erected a new library, student center, football stadium, fitness center, and science facilities on its 500-acre campus. The number of applications has risen 40 percent since 1995, and SAT scores of incoming students have improved by 98 points. Elon has emerged as one of America's most desirable colleges.

How did this transformation happen? What can other colleges and universities learn from Elon's remarkable turnaround? Taking a new approach to the study of higher education, George Keller examines the decisions made by Elon's administration, trustees, and faculty to transform a school with a limited endowment into a top regional university. Using Elon as a case study, Keller sheds light on high-stakes competition among America's colleges and universities—where losers face contraction or closure and winners gain money, talented students, and top faculty.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801897375
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	12/01/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	136
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

George Keller is an education consultant and one of America's leading scholars of higher education. The former chair of the graduate program in higher education studies at the University of Pennsylvania, he is the author of Academic Strategy: The Management Revolution in American Higher Education, also available from Johns Hopkins.

Table of Contents

Foreword Leo M. Lambert xi

Preface xv

1 Up from the Ashes 1

2 New Leader, New Initiatives 29

3 Student Life and Pleasures 41

4 Elevating the Academics 57

5 Financing the Rise 76

6 The Fruits and Ironies of Success 88

7 Analysis of an Ascent 98

Afterword Leo M. Lambert 109

Acknowledgments 137

Index 139

Editorial Reviews

Keller has brought his estimable experience as a consultant, strategic planner, and scholar to the task of presenting an engaging case study of institutional transformation . . . The resulting account is appealing and engaging, challenging the mindset of readers who are cynical about the possibilities for change in higher education and further inspiring those readers who remain hopeful that, at least in some situations, wholesale transformation is achievable.
--Review of Higher Education

The book is not intended to be a recipe for success. Rather, Keller hoped that others would draw inspiration from Elon's ascent. His words written in 2004 are just as true today, if not more so. 'America has never needed as many highly educated, creative, spirited persons as it does today.'
--University Advancement

What is striking about Transforming a college is the degree to which corporate and competitive strategy and management are so central to the success storyline.
--Canadian Journal of Higher Education

From the Publisher

Keller has brought his estimable experience as a consultant, strategic planner, and scholar to the task of presenting an engaging case study of institutional transformation . . . The resulting account is appealing and engaging, challenging the mindset of readers who are cynical about the possibilities for change in higher education and further inspiring those readers who remain hopeful that, at least in some situations, wholesale transformation is achievable.

Review of Higher Education

The book is not intended to be a recipe for success. Rather, Keller hoped that others would draw inspiration from Elon’s ascent. His words written in 2004 are just as true today, if not more so. ‘America has never needed as many highly educated, creative, spirited persons as it does today.’

University Advancement

What is striking about Transforming a college is the degree to which corporate and competitive strategy and management are so central to the success storyline.

Canadian Journal of Higher Education

Keller has brought his estimable experience as a consultant, strategic planner, and scholar to the task of presenting an engaging case study of institutional transformation... The resulting account is appealing and engaging, challenging the mindset of readers who are cynical about the possibilities for change in higher education and further inspiring those readers who remain hopeful that, at least in some situations, wholesale transformation is achievable.

Review of Higher Education - Kristen A. Renn and William A. Edwards

Keller's study sheds light on the competitive nature of higher education today, and may provide inspiration and guidance for other colleges and universities currently facing similar challenges.

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