I can’t believe it has finally happened, the book is coming out on August 1st. You can actually buy the thing here. https://www.cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-0364-0706-3
Here is the Blurb
Small colleges are at risk of shutting their doors forever. These institutions face overwhelming costs, low enrollment, and increasing competition from online universities. Once a pillar of upward mobility and community, these institutions are losing their influence. This book suggests pivoting the mission and operations of these small colleges, which make up more than half of higher education, to weave deeper into communities in which they reside and make a significant and direct impact. Let’s do away with our single-minded focus on abstract research, change the role of the professor, and move to help our communities in a systematic way. This book focuses on how these institutions can take direct action to make a bigger impact on their areas of influence, draw more students, and breathe lifeblood into a withering middle America.
This book was really a team effort! Thank you to every single person on the team that made this happen!
I just look around and I see the our local and regional college and universities struggling to keep up. For many of these communities their campus is some of the only “main street” organizations that still remain. Of course we have to keep the doors open, however, we also need innovate to maximize higher education’s effect on “main street”. The only problem is we have to rethink the role of higher education in local communities and change the roles of professors…not a easy sell for sure…but if we do big things can happen. This book starts the conversation!
matt wright research lab 