MHE 611 Foundations of Higher Education
The course is designed to provide an overview of the field of higher education in the United States. The historical underpinnings and development of the field will be discussed from a period of colonial colleges to a contemporary systems of varied post-secondary institutions. A major goal is to explain the antecedents and evolution of the higher education missions of teaching, research, and service across the diverse higher education landscape, as well as chart the changing values and institutional structures related to governance, academic professionalism, leadership, curricula, student culture, state relations, access, and accountability. Overall, the course will introduce higher education as an academic field of study and an area of professional practice developed over centuries of innovation.