Momentum: The Responsibility Paradigm and Virtuous Cycles of Change in Colleges and Universities [Paperback]

An era of accountability has swept over the higher education landscape. Everyone it seemslegislatures, think tanks, newspapers, magazines, books, and bloggerswants to hold colleges and universities accountable. They are attaching strings to budgets; producing reports that read like expos?s; developing clever systems to rank and sort us; and writing books and articles that describe the end of college as we know it.

According to them, we need to be reformed, reimagined, and rebooted.

Momentum changes the conversation from how others are holding higher education accountable to why colleges and universities need to embrace the need to demonstrate their own responsibility. The responsibility paradigm that emerges fundamentally shifts the dialogue from fixing to preventing, from reacting to creating, from surviving to thriving.

To implement this new paradigm, the dynamics of virtuous cycles are introduced and described. These upward spirals build on their own successes and result in growing confidencea sense of vitality and resilience. The future of these institutions isnt the result of outside pressure or reformers. The future is something that can and should be created by those who take responsibility for it.

Seymour provides a realistic, effective framework for planning and executing major change in a college or university. It should be required reading for every institutional change-leadership team that intends to succeed. Ellen Chaffee, senior consultant, Association of Governing Boards

Seymour offers a thoughtful analysis of the opportunities facing higher education institutions today and urges a strategic call to action. Lori Gaskin, president, Santa Barbara City College

For decades as a universl3,