Robert M. Zemsky (born 1941) is a Professor of Education, the Chair of the Learning Alliance for Higher Education, and the founding director of the Institute for Research on Higher Education at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

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. He pioneered the use of prospective student market analyses in higher education.

Education

Zemsky earned a B.A. at Whittier College in 1962 and a Ph.D. in History at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in 1966; His dissertation advisor was

Edmund S. Morgan Edmund Sears Morgan (January 17, 1916 – July 8, 2013) was an American historian and an eminent authority on early American history. He was the Sterling Professor of History at Yale University, where he taught from 1955 to 1986. He specialized in ...

. He published a study of Massachusetts colonial politics, and taught in the American studies Department at the University of Pennsylvania.

Honors

He received two honorary degrees: a Doctor of Humane Letters (Honorary) from Towson University (1998) and a Doctor of Humane Letters (Honorary) from

Franklin and Marshall College Franklin & Marshall College (F&M) is a private liberal arts college in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It employs 175 full-time faculty members and has a student body of approximately 2,400 full-time students. It was founded upon the merger of Frankli ...

(2008). Zemsky was named one of higher education's top 40 leaders by
Change
' magazine in 1998. He is a former

Woodrow Wilson Fellow The Institute for Citizens & Scholars (formerly known as the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation) is a nonpartisan, non-profit based in Princeton, New Jersey that aims to strengthen American democracy by “cultivating the talent, ideas, ...

, and in 2005 he was a member of Secretary of Education

Margaret Spellings Margaret M. LaMontagne Spellings (née Dudar; born November 30, 1957) is an American government and non-profit executive who has been serving as President and CEO of Texas 2036 since 2019. She previously served as the eighth United States secreta ...

' Commission on the Future of Higher Education. He has also served as the co-director of the National Center on the Educational Quality of the Workforce, as a senior scholar with the National Center for Postsecondary Improvement, as chair and convener of the

Pew A pew () is a long bench (furniture), bench seat or enclosed box, used for seating Member (local church), members of a Church (congregation), congregation or choir in a Church (building), church, synagogue or sometimes a courtroom. Overview ...

Higher Education Roundtable, as senior editor for ''Policy Perspectives'', and as a founding member of the National Advisory Board for the

National Survey of Student Engagement The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) (pronounced: nessie) is a survey mechanism used to measure the level of student participation at universities and colleges in Canada and the United States as it relates to learning and engagement. The ...

(NSSE). Zemsky served on the Board of Trustees of

for 25 years and now serves on the board of Whittier College.

Research

Zemsky's research focuses on assisting institutions of higher education in balancing a commitment to their mission with market success, and he pioneered the use of market analyses in higher education. He is perhaps most famous for his reform efforts that encourage colleges and universities to move to a three-year bachelor's degree program, though he is often cited as a strong voice on college reform, addressing issues such as college cost and quality.

Consultant

Internationally, Zemsky has worked as a consultant and leader on the formation of national goals and education policies for organizations and governments in Japan, Hungary, Zimbabwe, Egypt,

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, India, Singapore, Vietnam, Australia, and Bahrain.

Publications

Zemsky is the author of several books, including ''The Structure of College Choice'' (1982), ''Structure and Coherence, Measuring the Undergraduate Curriculum'' (1989), ''Higher Education as Competitive Enterprise: When Markets Matter'' (2001), ''Thwarted Innovation: What Happened to e-learning and Why'' with William Massy (2004), and ''Remaking the American University: Market Smart and Mission Centered'' with Gregory Wegner and William Massy (2005). In his most recent book, ''Making Reform Work: The Case for Transforming American Higher Education'' (2009), Zemsky presents solutions for the future of higher education, arguing that faculty leadership and strategy are necessary to improve higher education. He suggests efforts should boost student performance in high school, focus on the science of active learning, push Congress to rethink financial aid, and update the rules governing university endowments.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zemsky, Robert Living people 1941 births Whittier College alumni Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni University of Pennsylvania faculty