Exploring How Policy Integration Facilitates Change Implementation at a Midsize Public Research University (Poster 3)

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Thursday 9:50 a.m.
  In Poster Session: Higher Education Policy Analysis

Abstract

Employing a single-case, embedded design, this qualitative study explores a midsize public, research institution in the eastern United States to understand how one university navigated its policy environment. I used three frameworks to understand how academic units (AUs) and support units (SUs) worked together, how they integrated policies, and how participants experienced institutional change. Participants formed partnerships (AU-AU, SU-SU, and AU-SU) to work together and used various policy instruments to fuel change processes and protect boundaries between AUs and SUs. Colleges and universities seeking to develop or reboot their institutional change policies should focus on who is involved in changes, how they work together, and the role of policy actors within the units they represent and the institution at large.

Author

• Rachel E. Smith, Hampden-Sydney College