Becoming Great Universities highlights ten core challenges that all colleges and universities face and offers practical steps that everyone on campus—from presidents to first-year undergraduates—can take to enhance student life and learning.
This incisive book, written in a friendly and engaging style, draws on conversations with presidents, deans, and staff at hundreds of campuses across the country as well as scores of in-depth interviews with students and faculty. Providing suggestions that all members of a campus community can implement, Richard Light and Allison Jegla cover topics such as how to build a culture of innovation on campus, how to improve learning outcomes through experimentation, how to help students from under-resourced high schools succeed in college, and how to attract students from rural areas who may not be considering colleges far from their communities. They offer concrete ways to facilitate constructive interactions among students from different backgrounds, create opportunities for lifelong learning and engagement, and inspire students to think globally. And most of the ideas presented in this book can be implemented at little to no cost.
Featuring a wealth of evidence-based examples, Becoming Great Universities offers actionable suggestions for everyone to have a positive impact on college life regardless of whether their campus is urban or rural, private or public, large or small, wealthy or not.
Richard J. Light is the Carl H. Pforzheimer Professor of Teaching and Learning at Harvard University. His books include Making the Most of College: Students Speak Their Minds and Summing Up: The Science of Reviewing Research. He lives in Belmont, Massachusetts. Allison Jegla is a nonprofit leader and higher education strategist. She is from Portland, Michigan.
"Written in a simple and engaging style. . . [Becoming Great Universities] offer[s] several basic ideas and practical steps for students, staff, faculty and university leaders on how to make a university great."—Asia Pacific Journal of Education
“Richard Light and Allison Jegla have written a highly engaging and insightful book that deserves to be widely read.”—Morton Schapiro, Professor and President, Northwestern University
“This engaging, illuminating, and encouraging book proposes realistic reforms that could not only improve the substance of the learning and personal growth of undergraduates at a wide variety of institutions but also help counter some of the harsh criticism aimed at higher education.”—Steven Poskanzer, President Emeritus, Carleton College
“Light and Jegla suggest ways, often small but concrete, that can help faculty to be innovative, promote feedback, assess change, and create a campus atmosphere of diversity and goodwill. Becoming Great Universities is full of insights for administrators who want to take their institutions to the next level.”—Paula Marantz Cohen, Dean, Pennoni Honors College, Drexel University
“Light and Jegla remind us that small changes can make a big difference in the effectiveness of institutions and the lives of students.”—Brian Rosenberg, President in Residence, Harvard Graduate School of Education, President Emeritus, Macalester College
“Light and Jegla offer ways to engage and serve students more effectively both in and out of the classroom, and provide many good examples and ideas. This is a book about how to improve student learning and the student experience, issues that all institutions of higher education should care about. It is a book worth reading.”—Rebecca Blank, Chancellor, University of Wisconsin–Madison
“Richard Light and Allison Jegla’s book is a breath of fresh air. Rather than lambasting universities for their real or alleged shortcomings, Light and Jegla stress how these institutions, which in their view are already important forces for good, can focus on how they can become even better, serving their students and society more richly. Moreover, all this improvement can be achieved for free or almost for free.”—Michael McPherson, President Emeritus, The Spencer Foundation
