Creating Strategic Partnerships

"Whether considering a new partnership or examining a long-standing arrangement, this book is a go-to guide for everyone. Eddy and Amey take the array of questions to consider when partnering plus lessons learned and turn them into a complete handbook for how to build effective and lasting partnerships. Individuals, campus leaders, policy makers and more will benefit from the sound, practical wisdom found in these pages."

Elizabeth Cox Brand, Director, Research and Communications - , Oregon Dept. of Community Colleges and Workforce Development

"Partnerships are essential for the advancement of higher education in the 21st century. This book is a solid resource for institutional leaders seeking to develop and sustain partnerships, especially those designed to enhance student success."

Michelle Asha Cooper - , Institute for Higher Education Policy

“This well researched and thought provoking book will provide both the practitioner and researcher alike with valuable insights into why and how successful strategic partnerships work. Replete with scholarly evidence and practical examples, this remarkable book is a must read for any higher education leader.

Amey and Eddy provide valuable insight into why certain partnerships succeed and other fail while offering practical steps educational leaders can take to ensure every partnership they entire into is both mutually beneficial and sustainable. This well researched and thought provoking book will be valuable to the practitioner and researcher alike and is a must read for any higher education leader who wishes to leverage the power of strategic partnerships.

In an ever changing, challenging and competitive global environment, the need for colleges and universities to form mutually beneficial, strategic partnerships has never been greater. Unfortunately, too little has been written to help institutional leaders understand how to plan, develop and execute such partnerships. In this well researched and thought provoking book, the authors provide both empirical evidence and practical examples that will be invaluable to those leaders who wish to become 'champions' in forming lasting strategic partnerships.”

James T. Harris III, President - , Widener University

“Having worked with and evaluated many multi-entity projects and groups over the years (across institutions, states, educational sectors, and state agencies), I find the research synthesized in Creating Strategic Partnerships rings true. It delineates the complicated structures and perspectives of partnerships at both the entity and the individual levels. It addresses the key concepts of trust and mutual respect, as well as more functional areas. Reflection questions embedded throughout the text are an excellent guide for those participating in, those contemplating entering, and those wanting to foster strategic partnerships using available levers (funding, legislation, etc.). The final chapter is a short ‘how-to’ for sustaining lasting partnerships targeted at various role positions including campus leaders, policy makers, mid-level leaders, and individuals.”

Karen Paulson, Senior Associate - , National Center for Higher Education Management Systems

FOREWORD by Debra D. Bragg

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

PROLOGUE—The Increasing Role of Partnerships in Education

1. Creating a Strategic Partnership

2. Thematic Portrayal of Motivations to Partner

3. Relationships and Partners

4. Communication and Framing

5. Organizing Partnerships—The Role of Structure and Resources

6. Leadership and Partnering

7. Partnership Capital—Sustaining Strategic Collaborations

8. Strategies for Creating Lasting Partnerships

Appendix A. Chapter Summary Points

Appendix B. Considerations in Developing Strategic Partnerships Using the Partnership Model

References

Marilyn J. Amey

Marilyn J. Amey is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Educational Administration who teaches courses in the Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education programs. Her primary research area is leadership, and the postsecondary governance, administration, organizational change and faculty issues that fall within that larger rubric. She has particular interest in community colleges and the cultivation of new postsecondary leaders. Her current research involves serving as principle investigator of a project looking at K-14 partnerships, which builds on earlier work on interdisciplinary collaboration. She is co-leader of the evaluation team for a five university, NSF-funded consortium, looking at the evolution of interdisciplinary partnerships and academic work. She is co-author of Breaking Out of the Box: Interdisciplinary Collaboration and Faculty Work, with Dennis Brown, guest editor of an issue of the Community College Journal of Research and Practice, entitled: “Leadership as Learning: Rethinking Community College Leadership”, co-author with Linda Kuk and James Banning of Designing Organizations for Sustainable Change, and editor of Collaborations Across Educational Borders. Dr. Amey is immediate past editor of the NASPA Journal About Women in Higher Education, the 2005 Senior Scholar recipient of the Council for the Study of Community Colleges and its past President, the inaugural recipient of the Association for the Study of Higher Education’s Mentor Award and the chair of its Publications Committee. She teaches courses on administration and governance, leadership, community colleges and faculty.

Pamela L. Eddy

Pamela L. Eddy is a Professor of Higher Education in the Department of Educational Policy, Planning, and Leadership at the College of William and Mary. Her area of research concerns community colleges, organizational change, gender equity, and faculty work. Eddy is recognized as a key scholar on community college leadership and received recognition as the 2006 Emerging Scholar and the 2013 Senior Scholar from the Council for the Study of Community Colleges. Additionally, her scholarship was acknowledged by Central Michigan University when she received the 2007 Provost Award for her research and by the College of William and Mary when she received the 2011 Plumeri Award for Faculty Excellence. She received a 2009 Fulbright Scholarship to conduct research on college partnerships in Ireland. Eddy is the author of Community College Leadership: A Multidimensional Model for Change, and Partnerships and Collaborations in Higher Education. She served as editor of New Directions for Higher Education—International Collaborations: Opportunities, Strategies, Challenges, and of New Directions for Community Colleges—Leading for the Future. Eddy was recognized for her teaching and received the 2008 Central Michigan University Teaching Excellence Award.