HISTORY OF THE INSTITUTE

The Institute of Higher Education today is a leading center for scholarship, policy research, doctoral education, and public service and outreach in higher education. Throughout its 43-year history, IHE has fulfilled its original mission while extending its reach and impact far beyond what its founders had envisioned.

Meigs Hall, home of the Institute since 1999

IHE was established in response to a recommendation by the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) to establish one or two centers for the study of higher education in the region. University of Georgia President O.C. Aderhold established the Institute a few years later, in 1964.

The Institute's original mission was primarily public service and research. Its three original charges were: to enter into cooperative agreements with other educational agencies and organizations; to conduct institutional research for the University of Georgia; and to help recruit and develop faculty members for Georgia colleges. The Ed.D. degree program was established in the late 1960s, in collaboration with the College of Education and modeled after the higher education program at the University of Michigan. The Ph.D. was added in 1992.

After forty-three years, the institutional research function has its own department at the university, and the faculty development, outreach, and doctoral programs have all flourished.

The earliest outreach initiative of IHE, Faculty Development in Georgia, is still going strong, with over 237 graduates to date from nearly every institution in the state. In much the same spirit, IHE has developed the Governor's Teaching Fellows and Postdoctoral Teaching Fellows programs to enhance the skills and expertise of faculty at UGA and beyond. These initiatives have had a deep impact on Georgia higher education—and now, nationally with the Postdoctoral Teaching Fellows program—over several generations of faculty, improving the depth and quality of teaching across all Georgia institutions.

Public service and outreach initiatives have expanded from aiding in the development of new institutions of higher education in the region—especially historically black colleges and universities—to collaborating in the development of institutions worldwide through a rich array of international programs. Leadership in the field of institutional research continues, along with an established presence in education law through an annual conference and the newly formed Education Law Consortium.

The Ph.D. program continues to attract the brightest students in the region and beyond; graduates have gone on to significant careers in higher education leadership, policy work, and scholarship and teaching. The Institute has begun a collaboration with the School of Public and International Affairs to offer an M.P.A. with a concentration in higher education.

To develop and implement these initiatives, the IHE faculty has grown in both size and stature, from an initial staff of nine to a current roster of eight core faculty, four affiliated faculty, twelve Fellows, and a superb staff. Faculty members bring expertise in multiple disciplines, and are recognized nationally and internationally for their research, publications, and leadership in higher education.