Abstract
California is among a handful of states with no statewide entity for higher education. These entities, if well-structured, play a critical role in helping states achieve their higher education needs. There is growing interest among policy makers and higher education advocates to create a statewide entity for higher education, which may reflect current and prior intersegmental efforts. To help inform the state’s efforts, I conducted and analyzed semi-structured interviews with nine higher education leaders and experts in California to make recommendations about different organizational elements that can make a new statewide entity for higher education more effective. Using Bolman and Deal’s (2013) structural, human resources, political, and symbolic frames to ground my analysis, I found that with each of the notable functions of this type of entity, such as coordination, oversight, governance, and research, comes a set of tradeoffs that the state should carefully consider in the design of this entity. However, decision-making around each of the four frames and the role of this entity should be driven by its charge, which has been stated differently by key stakeholders. I recommend state and higher education segment leadership begin by determining a clear and achievable charge and proceed to determining an appropriate level of authority. This will solidify the entity’s place within the higher education landscape. I make further recommendations on leadership, staffing, agenda-setting, and culture with the aim of informing how each of these impacts’ organizational effectiveness.