Magazine of Elon, Spring 2016

Focusing Institutional Culture on What Matters Most

Over the course of the past two years, I have had the wonderful opportunity to be part of a team writing a book to be published this spring by Jossey-Bass titled “The Undergraduate Experience: Focusing on What Matters Most.” My collaborators are Peter Felten, professor of history and assistant provost for teaching and learning at Elon (and our team’s fearless leader); the husband and wife team of John N. Gardner and Betsy O. Barefoot, eminent scholars of higher education who also happen to be parents of an Elon alumnus; and Charles C. Schroeder, one of the nation’s leading voices in student affairs administration.

It was truly a privilege to be part of a team of scholars and practitioners and to take the time to look back over our decades-long careers in higher education and reflect on the big question of what matters most in undergraduate education. During long team conversations held in the jury room of the Elon University School of Law, and reflection and writing time carved out over holiday breaks and in the summer, we developed a set of six core themes that guided our work.

In a nutshell, our book is about institutional culture. As President Freeman A. Hrabowski III of the University of Maryland Baltimore County observed in his foreword for our volume, “the substance of an institution’s culture is particularly critical to what we can achieve.”

Above all, we believe institutional culture dedicated to excellence in undergraduate education must be relentlessly focused on student learning. And excellent colleges and universities organize themselves in such a way that all people on campus—faculty, administrators, board members, direct-service providers and students—see themselves as part of a community of learners. As self-evident as it seems to say that learning matters, institutional cultures can easily drift into more peripheral territories.

We also focus on deep, personal, meaningful human relationships as the heart of the undergraduate experience, especially between students and mentors who will provide intellectual and personal challenge, help students discover their gifts and talents, and put students on a path of meaning and direction. Institutions that place a premium on human relationships of all types—student-to-student, student-to-faculty member and so on—are intentional about cultivating them.

Our book also emphasizes how much setting high expectations matters on campus, especially about what students will achieve and the overall excellence of the student experience. Institutional cultures with high expectations send appropriate messages to incoming students and support the high aspirations of faculty and staff in and out of the classroom. Many actors on and off campus, everyone from parents to trustees to alumni, play vital roles in communicating these high expectations. We also address the crucial idea of alignment in our book. Too often, higher education institutions seem to be a collection of disconnected silos, organized for the benefit of those at the top of the organization chart. When examined from a student point of view, institutional policies, resources and systems should be aligned to support the university’s learning mission. As simple as this seems, alignment takes focus to achieve.

We also touch on how a culture of improvement matters to a learning-focused campus. Institutions that are never satisfied with the status quo, avoid complacency and experience a continual state of “positive restlessness,” foster an ethos of innovation and evidence-based experimentation, which is central to a dynamic learning environment.

Finally, we reflect on how much leadership matters in shaping institutional culture. Leadership at every level of the university—not just the top—is crucial. The work of articulating and enacting institutional mission and vision is a shared responsibility, and without good leadership at every level, institutions will drift aimlessly, losing sight of the essential purpose of educating students.

In an era when there is much talk in the popular media about higher education being in a state of crisis, my co-authors and I take a much more optimistic view. Indeed, “The Undergraduate Experience” is replete with example after example of effective and inspiring institutional practices from colleges and universities across the country. Higher education may not be broken, but all of us need to act with purpose and urgency to shape institutional cultures to focus on what matters most.

Leo M. Lambert
President

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