In Realizing the Distinctive University: Vision and Values, Strategy and Culture, Mark William Roche changes the terms of the debate about American higher education. A former dean of the College of Arts and Letters at the University of Notre Dame, Roche argues for the importance of an institutional vision, not simply a brand, and while he extols the value of entrepreneurship, he defines it in contrast to the corporate drive toward commercialization and demands for business management models. Using the history of the German university to assess the need for, and implementation of, distinctive visions at American colleges and universities, Roche's own vision benefits from his deep connection to both systems as well as his experience in the trenches working to realize the special mission of an American Catholic university. Roche makes a significant contribution by delineating means for moving such an institution from vision to implementation. Roche provides a road map to creating a superb arts and sciences college within a major research university and offers a rich analysis of five principles that have shaped the modern American university: flexibility, competition, incentives, accountability, and community. He notes the challenges and problems that surface with these categories and includes ample illustration of both best practices and personal missteps. The book makes clear that even a compelling intellectual vision must always be linked to its embodiment in rhetoric, support structures, and community. Throughout this unique and appealing contribution to the literature on higher education, Roche avoids polemic and remains optimistic about the ways in which a faculty member serving in administration can make a positive difference. Realizing the Distinctive University is a must read for academic administrators, faculty members interested in the inner workings of the university, and graduate students and scholars of higher education.

In a world where the value of a liberal arts education is no longer taken for granted, Mark William Roche lucidly and passionately argues for its essential importance. Drawing on more than thirty years of experience in higher education as a student, faculty member, and administrator, Roche deftly connects the broad theoretical perspective of educators to the practical needs and questions of students and their parents. Roche develops three overlapping arguments for a strong liberal arts education: first, the intrinsic value of learning for its own sake, including exploration of the profound questions that give meaning to life; second, the cultivation of intellectual virtues necessary for success beyond the academy; and third, the formative influence of the liberal arts on character and on the development of a sense of higher purpose and vocation. Together with his exploration of these three values—intrinsic, practical, and idealistic—Roche reflects on ways to integrate them, interweaving empirical data with personal experience. Why Choose the Liberal Arts? is an accessible and thought-provoking work of interest to students, parents, and administrators.

The factors contributing to the greatness of a first-rank liberal arts college are difficult to analyze. Hidden from view in the mysteries of tradition and institutional aura, the insistent questions remain: How has it been done? Can it still be done? In an intensive analysis of three highly regarded liberal arts colleges, Burton R. Clark uses a developmental approach to formal organization to seek out answers to these questions. The author begins with a presentation of the historical development of three colleges, Antioch, Reed, and Swarthmore. He describes in detail how broad institutional innovations were introduced and made to endure. He then carefully notes the unique events, special conditions, and unusual features that are the components of each institution's fabric. Each of the three narratives is guided by comparative categories, that produce analytical and theoretical insights into organizational development. From the above data Clark develops the concept of the "organizational saga" as the central ingredient in the making of the distinctive college. He explains this concept in terms of organizational role and mission, using the historical narratives of the first section to suggest the bases for the development of sagas. In its empirical findings and conceptual formulations, The Distinctive College, first published in 1970, has played an important role in the analysis and understanding of college culture in contemporary America. It is a study of leadership, as well as an examination of how values are realized in the everyday routine of participants in the life of educational organizations. It remains the premier sociological study of institution building in American higher education.

General education is widely touted as an enduring distinctive of higher education, but what do we actually mean by general education? Differing perspectives not only make it challenging to consider its significance, but also open it up to a wide range of determinations regarding its effectiveness. This volume aims to sharpen understanding of the complex picture of general education by: describing how various conceptions of general education evolved historically, identifying various functions expected of general education in the contemporary context, and pointing out the educational practices that fulfill general education’s aims in the current context. The conceptions of, and aspirations for, general education are consequential. This volume disentangles the divergent conceptions that hinder its renewal and considers the range of avenues for realizing its effectiveness. This is the second issue of the 42nd volume of the Jossey-Bass series ASHE Higher Education Report. Each monograph is the definitive analysis of a tough higher education issue, based on thorough research of pertinent literature and institutional experiences. Topics are identified by a national survey. Noted practitioners and scholars are then commissioned to write the reports, with experts providing critical reviews of each manuscript before publication.

"A deeply thoughtful articulation of an enduring and appealing ideal. It is an ideal with a resonance beyond the world of Catholic higher education for all in the academy who still respond to the beckoning vision of the ultimate unity of all human knowing and who view it, indeed, as a necessary inspiration if we are to succeed in according to our intellectual activities the sort of seriousness and moral significance they properly deserve." --Francis Oakley, President Emeritus, Williams College "There is a real need, indeed an absolute necessity, for a Catholic university that is true to its religious values. By so being, it makes other, non-Catholic institutions that much better." --E. Gordon Gee, Chancellor, Vanderbilt University "Dean Roche has done a rare thing. He has articulated a sharp and clear Catholic theology of Christian higher education. What has been implicit in the practice of great Catholic universities has now been made explicit in this fine essay." --Robert Benne, author of Quality with Soul: How Six Premier Colleges and Universities Keep Faith with Their Religious Traditions "Catholic identity will mean nothing in the world of higher education if it lacks a genuine intellectual dimension. Mark Roche understands that fundamental fact, tackles the problem directly, and deals with it cogently." --Philip Gleason, author of Contending with Modernity: Catholic Higher Education in the Twentieth Century

The University has lost its way. The world needs the university more than ever but for new reasons. If we are to clarify its new role in the world, we need to find a new vocabulary and a new sense of purpose. This book offers nothing less than a fundamental reworking of the way in which we understand the modern university.