Award Date

5-1-2020

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Educational Psychology & Higher Education

First Committee Member

Vicki Rosser

Second Committee Member

LeAnn Putney

Third Committee Member

Bradley Marianno

Fourth Committee Member

Helen Neill

Number of Pages

151

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand the preservation of Nevada’s higher education governance entity through the theoretical framework of punctuated equilibrium theory, which may provide useful information to Nevada’s state policymakers as they seek to address the state’s educated workforce needs via postsecondary governance reform. This study sought to explore the Nevada legislative policymaking process, why policy actors responded as they did and the context in which they responded by examining the life cycle of three unique higher education governance reform bills. Interviews with 12 policy actors and review of over 150 public documents revealed three overarching themes: (1) public support of AJR 11 was insufficient to overcome a structure-induced equilibrium created by the Nevada Constitution; (2) the policy solution AB 331 offered was too extreme and complex to garner legislative support; and (3) perchance, unconventional tactics AJR 5 cosponsors employed in the legislative policymaking process of AJR 5 may induce for the first time, a policy punctuation that ultimately reforms Nevada’s higher education governance entity.

Keywords

Governance reform; Legislation; Policymaking; Postsecondary education; Regent; Reorganization

Disciplines

Education | Education Policy | Public Policy

File Format

pdf

File Size

1.1 MB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Download


Share

COinS