Designing the New American University

It is impeccably referenced and thoughtfully paced with detailed chapters building the model they support. Within the book is a trove of information on the trajectory for and challenges facing higher education. Whether one chooses to follow the prescription they suggest, or simply wants to better understand higher education, this book provides a most compelling read.

Dabars’ rich historical contextualization and Crow’s policy and managerial experience provide design principles encouraging institutions to leverage their own place in a locally appropriate way.

The New American University is the latest bold and meticulously argued model to reclaim what is distinctively American in higher education.

A brilliant, innovative, lucid, and path-breaking book—arguably the most significant book on higher learning since Clark Kerr’s The Uses of the University, published more than a half-century ago.

Michael Crow and William Dabars combine analytic social science, policy studies, and a humanistic understanding of how institutions have changed over time, to illuminate how the nation has shaped its institutions of higher learning and how they in turn have shaped, and must continue to shape, the nation.

Both this book and the model it demonstrates should be of great interest to all those concerned with the future of American higher education.

America has been blessed with the world's best universities, but it won't stay that way without wise change. Michael Crow has been inventing the new university for years; friends of higher education should go to school on his innovations, with this as their textbook.

Instead of dwelling on the past glories of American higher education alone, this book centers on reinvention and the dynamic nature of American universities. At a time when higher education is in flux—some would say in crisis—the clarity of Crow’s vision and proposed solutions make Designing the New American University essential reading.

This book is a route map, rationale, and guide for the few and the bold who dare to step forward to build the universities we need for the twenty-first century.

Michael Crow is one of the leading college presidents in America precisely because he understands how we must innovate at the collegiate level if we want to continue to lead in today's global knowledge economy, while at the same time expanding access and affordability to ensure more students have the opportunity to achieve the American Dream. This book is an important and insightful read.

This book deserves close reading since it sets the context and need for the design of a new type of research university and then presents the project of ASU as a case study that has already achieved goals that far surpass expectations. While not strictly a model it does show us the way to a significantly more optimistic and inclusive future for higher education.

Over the past twelve years, Michael Crow has transformed ASU into one of America’s proudest research universities. Now, he and his colleague, William Dabars, share this model of success and the efforts of the university to bring it to scale—presenting untapped opportunities to boost our economic and global competitiveness and to further invest in our next generation of leaders.