Regional Stewardship and the Redefinition of Higher Education

Inspired by the late John Gardner, in May 2000 the "Alliance for Regional Stewardship" (ARS) was formed as a "peer-to-peer network of regional leaders working across boundaries to solve tough community problems." According to the ARS, regional stewardship is the leadership needed to address the complex problems of one's time. In January 2006, ARS, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASC&U), and the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) published "Making Place Matter: Tools and Insights for Universities Called to Regional Stewardship" "to provide tools and practical insights to regional and campus leaders as they seek to build and deepen their relationship to create more vital and viable places. According to these institutions and agencies, colleges and universities of all kinds across the nation should transform themselves into regional stewards. Should colleges and universities conceive of themselves as regional stewards and more aggressively and more creatively engage society's most pressing challenges? To address this question, the paper begins by reviewing the contested purpose of higher education in the United States. It then identifies why proponents, such as "Making Place Matter," believe that regional stewardship is needed, why higher education seems to be an attractive candidate for it and how higher education would be redefined if it adopted regional stewardship as its mission. The paper then argues that the redefinition of higher education in terms of regional stewardship, as defined by the above agencies, would not serve the students or the society well. The paper concludes that the notion of regional stewardship should be expanded and proposes a path for further reflection. (Contains 24 footnotes.)