| This dissertation explores connections between the evolution of the research mission at Wayne State and Cleveland State Universities and forces in their external environment, especially competitors, accrediting agencies, and state and federal governments, in the context of the post-World War II era. The primary research question is: what factors influenced the emergence of two urban state universities and the evolution of their missions in the post-World War II era? The study contributes a historical perspective on "academic drift": here, the development of a research mission at these institutions, members of a significantly under-researched sector of American higher education.; The mode of inquiry employed in this research centers on historical methods. The historical account of the emergence and evolution of these two institutions is in the form of a descriptive and interpretive narrative. The study employs case study methodology and utilizes concepts from institutional theory (e.g., isomorphism) as the analytical lens through which the histories of these schools is viewed. The unit of analysis is organizations. Data are drawn from both primary and secondary sources.; The most significant conclusion is that the leaders of these two urban state universities chose to adopt the "look and feel" of research institutions, developing graduate education, a research mission, and the organizational structures supporting that mission nearly identical to elite research universities, almost without thought for their urban location. Given all that was happening in the cities of which they were a part, including urban growth and political and social unrest, the power of the forces pushing these two institutions toward organizational conformity is striking. Senior administrators and the faculty leadership at both schools stayed focused on the development of a research mission in spite of the turbulence in the environment surrounding them. The leadership of these universities was not immune to the social and political contexts in which they were embedded. Yet by 1975, they each had engaged in substantial academic drift, creating doctoral programs and a research mission closely paralleling established research universities and expanding their mission in imitation of the perceived industry leaders, as predicted by institutional theory. |
