Dorothy Norris-Tirrell

ORGANIZATION TERMINATION OR EVOLUTION: MERGERS IN THE NONPROFIT SECTOR

As the number of private, nonprofit organizations in the United States continues to grow annually, the competition for clients, funding, and volunteer time also escalates. As a result, some experts suggest that a restructuring of the nonprofit sector is occurring. The increasing number of mergers by nonprofit organizations is evidence of this restructuring. This paper examines merger as a termination alternative that avoids organization dissolution and focuses on the internal and external forces that drive nonprofit organization decision makers to consider merger. Three case studies are used to illustrate the concept of merger in the nonprofit context as a continuum of organization combination strategies that range from consolidation to acquisition.

Embedding Service Learning in Engaged Scholarship at Research Institutions to Revitalize Metropolitan Neighborhoods

Over the past 2 decades, the form and function of teaching, research, and service activities labeled as community and civic engagement has increased. At the University of Memphis, the evolution of engaged scholarship has been strongly influenced by the grassroots-level participation of faculty who embraced service learning as an integral component of the engaged scholarship process centered on building community partnerships. In this article, we outline the history of service learning and community engagement at the University of Memphis resulting in the Strengthening Communities Initiative and suggest the role of internal social movements in transforming institutions of higher education and communities. Our model calls for program-initiated service learning, reciprocal partnerships, and institution-level changes to support engaged teaching and scholarship. Such a transformation requires visionary leadership at the institutional level, external demands for new thinking and acting, and a critical mass of engaged faculty and students. In addition, the model suggests that an organizing structure, such as the Strengthening Communities Initiative program, is key to further institutionalize the social movement and ultimately influence the cultural and philosophical core of institutions of higher education.

Immigration and Its Impact on American Cities.

Preface Examining the Impact of Immigration on City Government Documenting Immigration Immigrant Decisions: Using a Field Survey Using the Experts: A Delphi Survey Effects of Immigration on Municipal Revenue and Expenditures: Estimates and Implications Immigration Forecasts Immigration and Municipal Services: Interpreting Projected Impacts Appendix A: Field Survey Instrument Appendix B: Delphi Survey (First Round) Appendix C: Delphi Survey (Second Round) Bibliography Index

Strategic collaboration in public and nonprofit administration : a practice-based approach to solving shared problems

The Promise of Strategic Collaboration A New Lens: The Life Cycle Model of Collaboration Assessing Collaborative Readiness: The Missing Strategic Step Strategic Collaboration in Action: Six Principles Attending to the Forgotten: The Elderly, Collaborative Practice, and Evacuation, P.J. Jenkins, J.J. Kiefer, and S. Laska Running out of Classrooms! Solving Overcrowding through Collaborative School Planning, E. Dalehite Moving Beyond Hierarchies: Creating Effective Collaboration Networks for West Nile Virus Biosurveillance in Oregon, G.B. Burke, C.M. Wirth, T.A. Pardo, A.D. Sullivan, H. Kwon, and J.R. Gil-Garcia Information Stewardship and Collaboration: Advancing Evidence-Based Public Policy Decision Making, J.A. Clay and C. Martin Choices and Challenges Sustaining a Rural Health Network When Funding Vanishes, D.J. Patt on and K.B. Stewart Collaboration, Citizen Participation, and Environmental Protection in the Marine Oil Trade of Alaska, G. Busenberg Paving the Way for Public Transportation in Texas through Public Collaboration, S.R. Majumdar, J. Pierce, and C. Moynihan Cape Fear Healthy Carolinians: Taking Risks, Crossing Boundaries, T.J. Barth and E.J. Demski Building a Community-Higher Education Collaboration to Meet the Needs of the Local Nonprofit Sector, D. Norris-Tirrell and S. Schmidt The Mastery of Strategic Collaboration Practice References Appendix A: Recommended Reading List for Collaborative Practice Appendix B: Collaboration Operating Guidelines Sample Appendix C: Participant Agreement Appendix D: Matrix of Collaboration Participant Roles Appendix E: Checklist for Strategic Collaboration Meetings Appendix F: Parliamentary Procedure Highlights for Effective Meetings Appendix G: Collaborative Analysis of a Contested Policy Issue Checklist Appendix H: Recent Collaboration Practice Literature

Organization termination in the nonprofit setting: the dissolution of children's rehabilitation services

Public and business sector organizations are the primary subjects of the existing literature on organization termination. This article considers the applicability of the termination literature to the nonprofit organization context. In particular, the literatures of public administration (public agency termination), organization theory (life cycles of organizations), and business administration (firm failure) are used to examine the termination experience of a specific nonprofit agency, Childrens Rehabilitation Services (CRS). After more than thirty years of providing residential treatment services to boys with emotional problems, the agency merged with another nonprofit rather than face bankruptcy. To understand the causes of CRSs termination, financial factors, deleons (1978) obstacles to termination, life cycle theory and the role of the agencys changing environment are studied. The case of CRS illustrates many of the findings of the organization termination literature and introduces a new point ess...

Waiving the MPA Entrance Exam: Impact on Performance

Abstract For decades, graduate schools around the country have used various graduate entrance exams as one of the key factors in determining graduate school admission. Although many people would argue that these scores are good predictors of graduate student matriculation, the evidence is not conclusive. Hence, the purpose of this study is to assess the impact of waiving the graduate admission exam on graduate student performance in the MPA program at the University of Memphis, summer semester 2001 through spring semester 2004. We examine performance using three measures: overall MPA grade point average, substantive contributions in core classes, and writing skills. Using data collected from student files (1995–2004), we determined that the grade point average of students who received the waiver did not significantly differ from non-waiver students. On one of the two faculty judgment measures—writing skills—chi-square analysis indicated that non-waiver students performed better than waiver students, but the differences lost significance in the full regression analysis. Overall, the implementation of an entrance exam waiver did not adversely affect program quality while positively enhancing program marketing and recruitment efforts, as measured by an increase in the number of MPA applicants.