Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education

The Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education (WISCAPE) was established in 2001 on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus to study the challenges confronting postsecondary education while bringing together university leaders, researchers, and policymakers to discuss issues and solutions. Housed in the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education, WISCAPE promotes interaction among these groups of people through research and a variety of programs.

Mission and Focus

Many complex social, economic, and political forces impact colleges and universities today. Presently, two of the greatest leadership challenges facing institutions of postsecondary education are: 1) adapting to the changing relationship between states and their public universities, and 2) increasing student access to and persistence within institutions of postsecondary education. Consequently, many WISCAPE programs and research projects focus on these two topics. But the center explores a wide variety of postsecondary education issues, and the ultimate purpose of WISCAPE programs is to foster the discovery and implementation of flexible leadership approaches that respond to these challenges.

WISCAPE’s mission is to facilitate and contribute to a dialogue about the challenges facing postsecondary education among education leaders, policymakers, researchers, and other key stakeholders, including community and government leaders, faculty, staff, and administrators. These exchanges are intended to increase participants’ understanding of the complex structures and cultures in institutions of postsecondary education, thus improving their decision-making and leadership practices.

Research

The goal of WISCAPE's research program is to facilitate studies that foster a dialogue among postsecondary education leaders, policymakers, researchers, and other key stakeholders. WISCAPE accomplishes this through support of the center’s faculty and staff affiliates, limited support of outside projects, some in-house research projects, and other scholarly activities.

Ongoing Studies

* "The Role of Institutional Context in Promoting the Success of First-Generation College Students", Sara Goldrick-Rab
* "The True Genius of America at Risk: Are We Losing Our Public Universities to De Facto Privatization?", Katharine Lyall and Kathleen R. Sell
* "A Simple Unifying Measure of State Support for Higher Education", Philip A. Trostel
* "Examining Differences in State Support for Higher Education", David J. Weerts
* "Nationalism, Transnationalism, and the American Scholar in the Nineteenth Century" Adam R. Nelson
* "The Role of Merit and Need in Student Financial Aid", William Reese and Jonathan Reischl
* "Leading a Small University", Harry Peterson

Completed Studies

* "Wanting Matters: How Expectations Shape the Success of Technical College Students", Sara Goldrick-Rab
* "Creating and Maintaining Safe College Campuses: A Sourcebook for Enhancing and Evaluating Safety Programs", Jerlando F.L. Jackson
* "National Study of State Support for Higher Education", David J. Weerts
* "Pathways to Alumni Involvement", Henry Lufler, Jr., David J. Weerts, Heidi Zoerb, and Justin Ronca
* "Making the Nation's Investment in Student Access and Success", W. Lee Hansen and Jacob O. Stampen
* "The Role of Academic Staff", Marc VanOverbeke

Programs

WISCAPE hosts conferences and forums that promote timely dialogues among postsecondary education leaders, policymakers, and other key stakeholders with the goal of increasing their understanding of leadership and management issues, best practices, and current research. These programs encourage participants to share their differing viewpoints on the challenges facing postsecondary education, an important component in promoting effective postsecondary education leadership practices and policies.

WISCAPE conferences and forums combine a variety of formats, including public lectures, panels of stakeholder representatives, invitational presentations, guest lectures in graduate-level courses, and scholars-in-residence programs.

External links

The Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education (WISCAPE) (http://www.wiscape.wisc.edu)

The University of Wisconsin-Madison (http://www.wisc.edu)

The University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education (http://www.education.wisc.edu)