ABSTRACT
At the heart of this book has been an interest in exploring and understanding how the linkages of postsecondary institutions—and their units—to various external constituencies help create pressures, demands, expectations, or incentives for organizational responsiveness to the issue of diversity. Professional schools and colleges, with their uniquely close ties to communities of practice, provide an exceptional vantage point from which to consider this subject. Still, the particular contexts in which public health, business, social work, and engineering disciplines exist are distinct from each other in terms of their respective stakeholder needs, interests, and influences. This book has attempted to reveal how the different environments confronted by professional schools and colleges interact with internal features of organization to differentially shape responsiveness to diversity.
