ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the reader to core ideas about change in higher education. We introduce a framework for organizing change strategies into four main categories and discuss the general efficacy of each category. Although many commonly used change strategies focus on individuals, such strategies are insufficient for creating meaningful and sustainable changes in higher education. We argue change strategies focused on environments and structures are necessary for sustained change and that the academic department is an important unit of change. We describe an important aspect of environments and structures, the often-hidden social connections among individuals, and discuss how knowledge of these social connections can improve the success of change strategies.
