A case study of the twenty-year history of performance funding at the University of Memphis

Author

Dewitt Austin Latimer

Date of Award

5-2001

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Education

Major Professor

E. Grady Bogue

Committee Members

Jacquelyn O. DeJonge, Gerald C. Ubben, Sharon L. Yarbrough

Abstract

This case study was undertaken to provide a description of the impact of Tennessee's Performance Funding Policy on The University of Memphis over the past twenty years since its inception. Answers to three research questions were sought:

1. To what extent has performance funding penetrated The University of Memphis with regard to the awareness of the policy and its purposes?

2. To what extent has performance funding affected educational decision-making at The University of Memphis with regard to the programs and/or programmatic decisions of the institution in relation to the policy?

3. Based on professional experience and opinion, what strengths, liabilities and reform suggestions regarding the Tennessee Performance Funding Policy were identified by selected University of Memphis administrative and academic personnel?

Prominent sources of information for this study included an extensive review of the prevailing body of literature, available and relevant documentation obtained from The University of Memphis and the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, seventeen interviews conducted with select past and present administrative and academic personnel associated with the institution, and observations of the attitudes and actions relating to the policy or this study while conducting the on-campus interviews.

Findings from the study include significant educational gains early in the policy's implementation, inconsistent and sporadic communication about the policy within the university community throughout its history, and from the mid 1990s on, evidence that institutional response to the policy has become routine and unimportant and that the policy's existence has little effect on the strategic planning and educational decision making of the University.

Despite the policy's cited drawbacks, The University of Memphis feels the philosophical basis underpinning Tennessee's performance funding policy is sound, that the University stakeholders have a right towards public accountability, and that the performance funding policy is likely the best instrument to achieve that accountability.

Recommended Citation

Latimer, Dewitt Austin, "A case study of the twenty-year history of performance funding at the University of Memphis. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2001.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/8533