Clark Kerr's University of California: Leadership, Diversity, and Planning in Higher Education

by Cristina Gonzalez

Overview

This volume provides an intellectual history of Kerr's vision of the "multiversity," as expressed in his most famous work, The Uses of the University, and in his greatest administrative accomplishment, the California Master Plan for Higher Education. Building upon Kerr's use of the visionary hedgehog/shrewd fox dichotomy, the book explains the rise of the University of California as due to the articulation and implementation of the "hedgehog concept" of systemic excellence that underpins the master plan.

Arguing that the university's recent problems flow from a "fox culture," characterized by a free-for-all approach to management, including excessive executive compensation, this is a call for a new vision for the university—and for public higher education in general. In particular, it advocates re-funding and re-democratizing public higher education and renewing its leadership through thoughtful succession planning, with a special emphasis on diversity.

Gonzalez's work follows the ups and downs of women and minorities in higher education, showing that university advances often have resulted in the further marginalization of these groups. Clark Kerr's University of California is about American public higher education at the crossroads and will be of interest to those concerned with the future of the public university as an institution, as well as those interested in issues relating to leadership, diversity, and succession planning.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781412814584
Publisher:	Transaction Publishers
Publication date:	12/15/2010
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	270
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Cristina González is professor of Spanish and professor of education at the University of California, Davis. Her areas of expertise include education policy and governance, educational leadership, history of higher education, history of the University of California, and diversity and inclusiveness issues. Her writings on higher education have appeared in such journals as Science, Academe, The Communicator, Women in Higher Education, and Journal of Hispanics in Higher Education.

Table of Contents

I: Exploring Clark Kerr’s Thinking; 1: Hedgehogs and Foxes; 2: Leadership Styles; 3: The Ingredients of The Uses of the University; 4: Language and Vision in The Uses of the University; 5: Diversity and Inclusiveness in The Uses of the University; 6: The Plot of The Uses of the University; II: History of American Higher Education; 7: The Strands of History; 8: The Hinge of History; III: History of the University of California; 9: The Hedgehog Concept; 10: The Trouble with Hedgehogs; 11: Foxes to the Rescue; 12: Fox Fatigue; 13: The Collapse of Fox Culture; IV: Looking for the Clark Kerrs of the Future; 14: Opportunity for Equality; 15: Leadership Renewal; 16: Succession Planning; Conclusion: The Roads Ahead; Epilogue

Editorial Reviews

This wide-ranging study offers a thoughtful and detailed assessment of Clark Kerr, describing his qualities of leadership, his significant role in the development of the University of California system and in the creation of its master plan, his views of the character and purposes of the university, and his central place in American higher education. It argues that this world needs visionaries (or “hedgehogs” like Kerr, as opposed to those who operate primarily as shrewd political “foxes”) for its renewal and future progress and that much work remains to be done, especially in the areas of equity for women and minorities, and in planning for the training and succession of new leaders who will bring new vision and work to effect needed change. Dr. Gonzalez lays out a broad and specific program for such reform while also writing a fascinating account of the University of California in the times of Kerr and his later successors to the present.” —Hanna Holborn Gray, President Emeritus & Professor of History Emeritus, The University of Chicago "Dr. Gonzalez has integrated and woven such vastly different literatures...leadership, the history of higher education, organizational change, and diversity....into a compelling narrative about the University of California and its leadership. It also brings into clarity the history of higher education more generally." —Daryl G. Smith, Professor of Education and Psychology, Claremont Graduate University “Building upon her own strong interests in the approaches of Clark Kerr, the hedgehog-fox concept and diversity, Cristina Gonzalez takes us on a delightful and multifaceted tour of university leadership through the ages, within America, and at the University of California. It’s an engrossing and instructive read.” —C. Judson King, Provost & Sr. Vice President - Academic Affairs, Emeritus, University of California "Cristina Gonzalez provides a lively and well-documented narrative concerning the leadership of Clark Kerr, one of the most important university presidents of the 20th century. Through a fascinating analysis of Kerr’s skillful efforts to build the University of California, Gonzalez identifies those key traits that would serve well today’s university leaders. This book should be of great interest and value to those who wish to understand the challenges facing American higher education today and the role that must be played by contemporary university leaders." —James J. Duderstadt, President, Emeritus, University of Michigan

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