The Biden School and the Engaged University of Delaware,

1961-2021

DANIEL RICH

This book reviews the history of the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration. The school’s journey is a case study of organizational leadership in higher education. Most studies of higher education leadership describe the contributions of one or a few university leaders, typically in a single period. The Biden School, by contrast, has engaged many leaders within the school, university, and community over more than a half-century. What began in 1961 as an experimental program supported by a single external grant emerged six decades later as one of the nation’s leading comprehensive schools of public affairs. That transformation reflects one of the most dynamic periods in the history of higher education, when the public purpose of universities was expanded. The history of the Biden School is a story of institutional innovation, perseverance, adaptation, and resilience.

222 pp 64 color and 14 b/w images

6 x 9

978-1-64453-295-9 paper $29.95S

978-1-64453-296-6 cloth $79.95SU

March 2023

Public Policy • Higher Education

Edited by Meredith K. Ray and Lynn Lara Westwater