What Universities Can Be

"What Universities Can Be by Robert J. Sternberg makes a compelling argument that standardized tests, admission standards, and much of college instruction administration and governance are well aligned and completely irrelevant for preparing young people to be creative participants in the workforce, who are appropriately engaged in civil discourse and service to others, and are capable of being the ethical leaders we need for the future. He explains how we could realign all of those elements in appropriate ways, and he provides clear and thoughtful insights into why the world of higher education looks the way it does."—Ed Ray, President, Oregon State University

"In What Universities Can Be, Robert J. Sternberg contributes notably to the higher education field by establishing a model to guide the evolution of the modern university. Sternberg's conversational style is interesting and highly readable."
—Pamela Fry, Associate Provost and Associate Vice President of Undergraduate Education, Oklahoma State University

"What Universities Can Be is excellent—compelling, interesting, articulate, and well-researched."—Debra Humphreys, Senior Vice President for Academic Planning and Public Engagement, Association of American Colleges and Universities

"Robert J. Sternberg draws on his exceptional scholarship and years in the administrative trenches to craft some nuggets of practical wisdom about what colleges and universities need to do to realize their espoused aspirations."—George D. Kuh, Director, National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment, University of Illinois

"What if we valued institutions of higher education for fostering good citizens and ethical leaders? Robert J. Sternberg, one of our most thoughtful psychologists, reflects intriguingly on this possibility."—Howard Earl Gardner, Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education, author of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness Reframed: Educating for the Virtues in the Twenty-first Century