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Abstract
Considerations of governance in US higher education do not typically include the academic department. This results in a knowledge gap about the role of these central organizing units of academic work in the governance of colleges and universities. Through the concept of microfoundations, we explore concrete ways in which departmental governance matters, how it may be challenging, and strategies for fostering effective governance within academic departments.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2026
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1002/he.70014
Repository Citation
Riffe, Karley A. and Pifer, Meghan J., "Academic Departments as Microfoundations of Institutional Governance" (2026). Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation Faculty Publications. 21.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/epe_facpub/21
Notes/Citation Information
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. © 2026 The Author(s). New Directions for Higher Education published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.