Introducing The Community-Centric Path to Rebuilding Trust in Higher Education

This new book by Campus Compact Fellow Byron P. White offers a bold alternative to the customer-focused strategies many colleges seek to regain stability.

Byron book cover

Campus Compact is pleased to release The Community-Centric Path to Rebuilding Trust in Higher Education, by Byron P. White.

This book reimagines community engagement as an essential operational driver for sustaining universities in the face of formidable societal and economic headwinds. By elevating engagement as a core organizational practice across all aspects of institutional operations, the book provides a blueprint for universities to thrive by pursuing deeper and more sustainable alignment with their communities.

As higher education faces a declining value proposition and stalled progress in university–community engagement, this book offers a bold alternative to the customer-focused strategies many colleges seek to regain stability. Across eight chapters informed by interviews with higher education leaders, examination of emerging frameworks, and compelling profiles of exemplary institutions, White showcases innovative principles and practices that advance strategic priorities and foster community-focused structures.

Tailored for higher education leaders, community engagement practitioners, and scholars, this volume makes a compelling case for integrating public impact with organizational transformation, while also providing valuable insights for other knowledge-based, civic-oriented institutions such as hospitals, museums, libraries, and arts organizations.

Campus Compact members get a discount!

Campus Compact is pleased to offer a discount on Routledge publications for Campus Compact members, learn more and complete a brief form to request a discount code.

Critical Reviews

Praise for The Community-Centric Path to Rebuilding Trust in Higher Education
A call to action and a blueprint for renewal.
- Charles “Chuck” Ambrose, Ed.D., Former president of Henderson State University and the University of Central Missouri
A hopeful roadmap for redesigning higher ed.
- Rita A. Hodges, Ed.D., Executive Secretary, International Consortium for Higher Education, Civic Responsibility, and Democracy
Shows how universities can rebuild trust and strengthen their value.
- Colin Groth, Chief Advancement Officer of StriveTogether