

edited by Michael N. Bastedo, Philip G. Altbach, and Patricia J. Gumport
Now in its fifth edition! An indispensable reference for anyone concerned with the future of American colleges and universities.
Whether it is advances in information technology, organized social movements, or racial inequality and social class stratification, higher education serves as a lens for examining significant issues within American society. First published in 1998, American Higher Education in the Twenty-First Century offers a comprehensive introduction to the complex realities of American higher education, including its history, financing, governance, and relationship with the states...
Now in its fifth edition! An indispensable reference for anyone concerned with the future of American colleges and universities.
Whether it is advances in information technology, organized social movements, or racial inequality and social class stratification, higher education serves as a lens for examining significant issues within American society. First published in 1998, American Higher Education in the Twenty-First Century offers a comprehensive introduction to the complex realities of American higher education, including its history, financing, governance, and relationship with the states and federal government.
This thoroughly revised edition brings the classic volume completely up to date. Each chapter has been rewritten to address major recent issues in higher education, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the movement for racial justice, and turmoil in the for-profit sector. Three entirely new chapters cover broad-access colleges, race and racism, and organized social movements. Reflecting on the implications of ethnic and socioeconomic diversity within higher education, the book also grapples with growing concerns about the responsiveness and future of the academy.
No other book covers such wide-ranging issues under the broader theme of higher education's relationship to society. Highly acclaimed and incorporating cutting-edge research, American Higher Education in the Twenty-First Century is now more useful and engaging than ever.
Contributors: Michael N. Bastedo, Philip G. Altbach, Patricia J. Gumport, Peter Riley Bahr, Joy Blanchard, Julia Brickfield, Michael Brown, Katherine S. Cho, Daniela Conde, Charles H. F. Davis III, Hans de Wit, Peter D. Eckel, Martin Finkelstein, Denisa Gándara, Liliana M. Garces, Roger L. Geiger, Leslie D. Gonzales, Jillian Leigh Gross, Jessica Harris, Nicholas Hillman, Julia Rose Karpicz, Robert Kelchen, Adrianna Kezar, Lisa R. Lattuca, Demetri Morgan, Rebecca Natow, Anna Neumann, Audrey Peek, Laura W. Perna, Gary Rhoades, Tykeia N. Robinson, Roman Ruiz, Wonson Ryu, Lauren T. Schudde, Jeffrey C. Sun, David A. Tandberg
This fourth edition of the book has been thoroughly revised and offers a comprehensive introduction to the central issues facing higher education in the United States today.
Part history, part assessment of current issues, and part prognostication of our professional future, American Higher Education in the Twenty-First Century is an excellent primer, easily accessible for graduate students, legislators and/or their aides, and institutional administrators.
This excellent compendium is an indispensable reference... An impressive volume that those concerned with the future of American colleges and universities should acquire.
An excellent overview of most, if not all, of the major challenges that institutions of higher education are facing today and will continue to experience in the future.
Comprehensive and informative to both academic and non-academic readers.
This book offers as comprehensive a treatment of the subject as I have seen in a very long time. It is unique in that it explores contextual issues in higher education relative to larger policy concerns (at institutional, state, and national levels) rather than considering them in relation to technical institutional research/planning concerns. The scholarship reflects broad, comprehensive, and up-to-date treatment of important higher education issues that the scholars contributing to this volume have been studying for some time.
Anyone who wants an in-depth introduction to US higher education and its history, current issues, and trends should read this book, especially those new in the ranks of college faculty, administrators, and trustees; legislators and lobbyists; and personnel in state and federal agencies, accrediting bodies, and associations. Prior editions have fostered wonderful discussion in my graduate courses in higher education administration. The book would serve programs around the globe that have a course comparing higher education systems; this text will help people understand the American 'non-system.'
Bastedo, Gumport, and Altbach have delivered on crafting an updated version of American Higher Education that is highly relevant to academia in 2021, one that will remain a fundamental text for students of higher education for years to come. The fifth edition succeeds in bringing up to date the issues, trends, and challenges that higher education faces today while retaining all the strengths of the previous volume, including consistently clear writing and arguments that are situated in the literature and firmly grounded in data. Bravo!
Preface
Part 1: Core Enduring Missions
1. The Ten Generations of American Higher Education, by Roger L. Geiger
2. Academic Freedom: Its Historical Development, Current State, and Future Challenges, by
Preface
Part 1: Core Enduring Missions
1. The Ten Generations of American Higher Education, by Roger L. Geiger
2. Academic Freedom: Its Historical Development, Current State, and Future Challenges, by Jeffrey C. Sun
3. Curriculum Making in Higher Education: A Basis for Teaching and Learning, by Lisa Lattuca and Michael G. Brown
4. Harsh Realities: The Professoriate in the Twenty-First Century, by Philip G. Altbach and Martin J. Finkelstein
5. Teaching that Supports Students' Academic Learning: Implications for Higher Education Practice, Policy, and Leadership, by Anna Neumann
6. Graduate Education: From Research Foundations to Student-Centered Reform, by Patricia J. Gumport
Part 2: Macro Forces at Work
7. Global Patterns of Higher Education Development, by Philip G. Altbach and Hans de Wit
8. Activism and Social Movements in College: Actors, Contexts, Tactics, and Strategies of Postsecondary Political Engagement, by Charles H. F. Davis III, Demetri L. Morgan, and Katherine S. Cho
9. Federal Policy and Policymaking for Higher Education, by Robert Kelchen and Rebecca S. Natow
10. The States and Higher Education, by David Tandberg and Denisa Gándara
11. The Legal Environment: Higher Education Law and the Politics That Shape It, by Joy Blanchard and Liliana Garces
12. Financing American Higher Education, by Nicholas W. Hillman and Audrey Peek
Part 3: Frontiers of Rapid Change
13. Extending Opportunity, Perpetuating Privilege: Institutional Stratification amid Educational Expansion, by Lauren Schudde and Wonsun Ryu
14. A Critical Race Analysis of Racism in U.S. Higher Education, by Jessica Harris, Daniela Conde, and Julia Karpicz
15. Technology: The Solution to Higher Education's Pressing Problems?, by Laura W. Perna, Roman Ruiz, and Julia Brickfield
16. Boards, Administrators and Faculty: Collaborating Necessarily in New Ways, by Peter D. Eckel and Adrianna Kezar
17. Broad-Access Institutions: Sites of Possibility, Opportunity, and Epistemic Justice, by Leslie Gonzales and Tykeia N. Robinson
18. Community Colleges, by Peter Bahr and Jillian Gross Fortgang
19. Markets, State, and Higher Education: Trends in Academic Capitalism, by Gary Rhoades
Contributors
Index
with Hopkins Press Books