 | Dr. Patricia H. Murrell, Director Email: pmurrell@memphis.edu 306 Browning Hall
The University of Memphis
Memphis, TN 38152
Phone: (901) 678-2775
Fax: (901) 678-4291
| The purpose of the Center for the Study of Higher Education is to study, promote and support life-long learning. This interest extends to both formal and informal post-secondary learning opportunities, to both institutional and individual efforts, and to both developmental needs and organizational needs. One of the primary areas on which the Center focuses is leadership development. The Center’s definition of leadership, written by the Director, Patricia H. Murrell, is as follows: Leadership is the capacity to discern and develop one’s resources, whether human or material. It further involves marshaling those resources in resolving a problem, realizing a vision, or achieving a goal. It starts with who we are and then moves to what we do. Education is the most powerful tool in the leader’s repertoire. This purpose affirms the Center’s role in fulfilling the mission of The University of Memphis to be a major metropolitan research university and the academic center of the Mid-South region. As the University develops its own role as a major metropolitan research institution and shapes its purpose as the academic hub of the Mid-South region, the Center for the Study of Higher Education will remain a vital component in the activities of the College of Education. It will provide support for graduate and professional education in a growing field of study serving the region, the field of higher and adult education, and integrate its efforts with those of the University as a whole in fostering inter-institutional collaborations and shared projects and programs that benefit the area that The University of Memphis serves. Specifically, the Center joins the University in its commitment to providing excellent undergraduate, graduate, and professional education; in discovering and disseminating knowledge; in serving the metropolitan community, state and nation; in preparing students for successful careers and meaningful participation in a global society; in educating a diverse student body; and in promoting access without regard to race, gender, religion, national origin, age, disability, or veteran status. This purpose is pursued and realized through several non-credit programs including, but not limited to: The Center Director, Patricia Murrell, and Project Coordinators, Kathy Story and Carrie Brooks, serve as faculty members in Higher and Adult Education, and the Independent Academic and Honors Forum Programs. In addition, the Center provides professional development for faculty at the University upon request.
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