Transforming a College: The Story of a Little-Known College's Strategic Climb to National Distinction

By George Keller

Book Overview

George Keller's case study of Elon University's transformation from a struggling college with a limited endowment into a top regional university is now available in paperback.

Ten years after the publication of Transforming a College, Elon University continues to thrive as a school that reinvented itself and its community around the idea of inspiring and guiding students. George Keller's now-classic account has been used as an inspiration and playbook for many other institutions.

Available for the first time in paperback, this edition coincides with Elon's 125th anniversary. A new foreword and afterword from Elon president Leo M. Lambert tell the rest of the story of the university's ambitious agenda to position Elon as a top-ranked liberal arts university and a national leader in engaged teaching and learning.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1421414473
• ISBN13: 9781421414478
• Release Date: March 2014
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Length: 168 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.5" x 8.7"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

ELON HAS ELAN!

This book is a little gem, like the university it is about. As a college and career coach, I am recommending this book to my clients. George Keller, a prominent educational strategist, tells the story of Elon's meteoric rise over the past forty years from a small, very regional North Carolina college to a "hot", sought-after university with a national reputation, viewed as a model of hands-on student-oriented learning. I was utterly amazed by the vision and determination of Elon's administrators, trustees, alumni and faculty to create such radical change in an educational institution. This book certainly should be read by any parents or students interested in Elon University. But it also offers a broader message to families of college-bound students: Educational institutions, like all organizations, are not static, but are moving targets. They are growing, maintenancing, stagnating, or dying, but they are not standing still. That said, one can never freeze a college in time. Parents need to update their views on colleges to help support their children's choices. A college that was accessible to above-average students "back in the day" may be out of reach today, because of baby-boomlet compeitition. A college that was not even on our generation's radar screen may be a rising star today. One such rising star is Elon University, whose story is told so compellingly by George Keller. Kris Hintz, Position U 4 College LLC

My son goes to Elon!

For a parent -- whose son goes to Elon University (Class of '08) -- this is a fascinating read. It should be very interesting (required reading?) for any private college administrator, potential student/parent, or major donor (it desperately needs to build endowment). Last year there were 9,000 applicants for a Freshman class of 1,200. Elon is indeed a former "hidden gem" college that has definitely ARRIVED!