ABSTRACT
As we seek answers to society’s complex problems, many of us look back with some affection to what we believed were simpler times. Rightly or wrongly, we think that yesterday’s regional and national economics were easier to understand than are today’s global economics. We think that the pace of a world built on simple machines was more humane than the pace of one built with transistors, not to mention integrated circuits. Not only has our world gotten more complex, but the rate at which that complexity grows seems to have increased. In this dramatically changing environment, there is a striking difference between the historical stability of institutions of higher education and the rapid evolution of the societies of which those institutions are a part. That cultural gulf has caused many people to wonder if higher education is properly responsive to the contemporary needs of the community.
