LINC Phase II Project Objectives and Activities

The FSPE/LINC initiatives seek to catalyze change in state and land-grant universities throughout the United States. The twelve institutional change models are highly collaborative and now impact 25 land-grant universities in 22 states, over 125 state colleges and universities, over 140 community colleges, and the entire United States public school (K-12) system of agricultural education.

The state and land-grant university system in the United States enrolls approximately 70 percent of all the undergraduates in the country. They contain virtually all the teaching, research, and outreach functions for agricultural and food systems education. There is a continued readiness for change; but new leadership and management models that stress collective and collaborative leadership, integrated throughout all levels of the university and including significant external stakeholders, are essential.

The original FSPE projects first participated in a highly collaborative visioning phase to set targets for long-term institutional change (FSPE Phase I). They are currently in an implementation phase (FSPE Phase II) that builds change models and addresses issues of capacity building, partnerships and policy at local, state and national levels. Phase I of LINC was designed to create the leadership development programs necessary to address issues of institutional change and sustainability in new and creative ways that will give the FSPE initiative and its grantee institutions a greater opportunity for success by developing new models of leadership for continuous change in higher education. Phase I was a design phase where visions were created and plans developed. In Phase II, projects are implementing highly collaborative leadership programs for institutional change in higher education.

The purpose of LINC Phase II is to continue to learn from Phase I by translating the concepts and models of leadership development and change into practice which will transform institutions by:

• Building intellectual and social capital for leadership by forming connections and commitments among faculty and external partners to develop interdisciplinary teamwork for shared leadership to address issues and solve problems related to the changing food system;
• Implementing a variety of leadership models which have the potential to enhance institutional transformation;
• Promoting university/community partnerships for change which assure that higher education is responsive to the needs of all people; and
• Developing engaged institutions which have commitments to external communities.

Anticipated Outcomes: It is anticipated that new models of leadership for institutional change will assure the following:

• Leadership models in place that have faculty and external partners working in collaboration for the common good of the institution and the communities they serve;
• The development of a critical mass of faculty and community partners demonstrating leadership skills built on shared visions and values;
• Successful long-term sustainable models of institutional transformation that are responsive to changes in the food system and that support economic, social sustainability for our future food system;
• Implementing policy, program, procedure, and funding changes necessary to assure that institutions are more responsive to societal needs; and
• Sustainable models of leadership development in universities to build a supply of sophisticated well-trained leaders for the future. Project has objectives and activities that will move them closer to realizing their vision are outlined here.

Go to the Project Summaries

If you have any questions or comments please contact Valerie Baten.

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