Publications

22 May 2019
Research & Ideas

Forgiving Student Loan Debt Leads to Better Jobs, Stronger Consumers

income, and Sen. Bernie Sanders has pushed for eliminating undergraduate tuition and fees at public colleges and universities. Di Maggio is careful to note that his team did not study the costs of any debt-relief proposal. But it’s clear... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

1995
Article

The Positive Impact of Creative Activity: Effects of Creative Task Engagement and Motivational Focus on College Student's Learning

By: R. Conti, T. M. Amabile and S. Pollack

This study assessed the effectiveness of engaging students in a creative activity on a topic as a means of encouraging an active cognitive set toward learning that topic area. This technique was examined in three motivational contexts. Before reading a short... View Details

Keywords: Creativity; Cognition and Thinking; Behavior; Performance; Motivation and Incentives; Training

Article

Petting Away Pre-exam Stress: The Effect of Therapy Dog Sessions on Student Well-being

By: Emma Ward-Griffin, Patrick Klaiber, Hanne Collins, Rhea L. Owens, Stanley Coren and Frances S Chen

Recently, many universities have implemented programmes in which therapy dogs and their handlers visit college campuses. Despite the immense popularity of therapy dog sessions, few randomized studies have empirically tested the efficacy of such programmes. The present... View Details

Keywords: Well-being; Happiness

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2016
Case

Advanced Leadership Pathways: Mahendra Bapna and Technology Education in India

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Pamela Yatsko

March 2009 (Revised August 2010)
Case

The Posse Foundation: Implementing a Growth Strategy

The Posse Foundation selected high-potential, non-traditional students to attend selective colleges as part of a group of 10 from the same city. The organization had developed an ambitious growth plan, but because it focused on the most selective colleges, the pool of... View Details

Keywords: Diversity; Higher Education; Social Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Personal Development and Career; Partners and Partnerships; Nonprofit Organizations; Education Industry

September 2023
Article

Top Talent, Elite Colleges, and Migration: Evidence from the Indian Institutes of Technology

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury, Ina Ganguli and Patrick Gaulé

We study migration in the right tail of the talent distribution using a novel dataset of Indian high school students taking the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE), a college entrance exam used for admission to the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT). We find a... View Details

Keywords: Higher Education; Immigration; Talent and Talent Management; India

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June 2021
Case

Modern Endowment Management: Paula Volent and the Bowdoin Endowment

By: Luis M. Viceira, Emily R. McComb and Dean Xu

This case examines modern endowment investment management through the lens of a leadership transition between Chief Investment Officers (CIOs). In March 2021, Paula Volent is about to step down as the CIO of the endowment of Bowdoin College after twenty-one years, and... View Details

Keywords: Investment Portfolio; Investment Banking; Growth Management; Investment Return; Capital Markets; Interest Rates; Competition; Cost Management; Risk Management; Financial Liquidity; Performance Evaluation

October 2023
Case

Lasell University in 2023: Securing the Future

By: John Jong-Hyun Kim and Mary C. Sauer

In a groundbreaking move on September 20, 2022, Lasell University's President, Michael B. Alexander, announced an extraordinary 33% reduction in tuition, room, board, and fees, signaling a pivotal shift in higher education. Situated in an affluent Boston suburb,... View Details

Keywords: Higher Education; Cost; Valuation; Competitive Advantage; Education Industry; United States; Massachusetts

13 Jan 2015
First Look

First Look: January 13

timing of the national college entrance exam and introduced early admissions, and we propose a game-theoretic model that matches those facts. When applications reveal information about students that is of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Teaching Interest

United States in the World 39 - History of American Democracy

By: David A. Moss

For Harvard College undergraduates and MBA students

Today we often hear that American democracy is broken - but what does a healthy democracy look like? How has American democratic governance functioned in the past, and how has it changed... View Details

2010
Working Paper

Men as Cultural Ideals: How Culture Shapes Gender Stereotypes

By: Amy J.C. Cuddy, Susan Crotty, Jihye Chong and Michael I. Norton

Three studies demonstrate how culture shapes the contents of gender stereotypes, such that men are perceived as possessing more of whatever traits are culturally valued. In Study 1, Americans rated men as less interdependent than women; Koreans, however, showed the... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Perception; Values and Beliefs; Gender; Culture; Power and Influence

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14 Aug 2006
HBS Case

On Managing with Bobby Knight and “Coach K”

"Is it better to be loved or feared?" Machiavelli asked. At Harvard Business School, Professor Scott Snook uses this classic quote to help students become more effective leaders. Using two of the most successful View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Sports

March 2021 (Revised August 2023)
Case

Helen Keller: Changing the World

By: Robert Simons and Shirley Sun

This case describes the rise of Helen Keller who at 19 months became deaf and blind. Refusing to be sidelined from life, Keller showed great determination in learning how to communicate with others, employing tutors and travelling to Boston to enroll in the Perkins... View Details

Keywords: Mission And Purpose; Values And Beliefs; Success; Diversity; Leading Change; Personal Development and Career; Personal Characteristics; Power and Influence

15 Aug 2022
Book

University of the Future: Finding the Next World Leaders in Higher Ed

is a place, like the contemporary United States, of real income inequality across its schools, even as its students are recruited from every sector of American life. Like the United States, it has enviable resources, and it manages to... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Education

17 Sep 2018
Working Paper Summaries

The Impact of Penalties for Wrong Answers on the Gender Gap in Test Scores

Keywords: by Katherine B. Coffman and David Klinowski; Education

May 1994
Article

The Work Preference Inventory: Assessing Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivational Orientations

By: T. M. Amabile, K. G. Hill, B. A. Hennessey and E. M. Tighe

The Work Preference Inventory (WPI) is designed to assess individual differences in intrinsic and extrinsic motivational orientations. Both the college student and the working adult versions aim to capture the major elements of intrinsic motivation (self-determination,... View Details

Keywords: Creativity; Motivation and Incentives; Measurement and Metrics; Higher Education; Employees; Personal Characteristics

March 2018
Case

Summit Public Schools (A)

By: John J-H Kim and Aldo Sesia

Summit Public Schools was a very successful charter management organization with schools in California and Washington State. The students came from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds, many from economically disadvantaged households. While nearly all of its students... View Details

Keywords: K-12; Online Learning; Virtual Learning; Blended Learning; Secondary Education; Middle School Education; Early Childhood Education; Learning; Business Model; Performance Improvement; Technology

01 Jun 2023
HBS Case

A Nike Executive Hid His Criminal Past to Turn His Life Around. What If He Didn't Have To?

street-to-prison cycle that had ravaged his youth. He had passed a high school equivalency test and had earned a college degree, and by that point could envision a bright future as a budding accountant at Arthur Andersen, the firm he... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Apparel & Accessories

February 2003 (Revised October 2003)
Case

Versity.com

By: Leslie A. Perlow

Versity.com has grown from four college students working out of a dorm to a $125 million venture capital-backed company. The young founders and new professional managers struggle to create a company vision and grapple with the question of whether to acquire another... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Growth and Development; Organizational Design; Mission and Purpose; Strategic Planning; Conflict and Resolution; Mergers and Acquisitions; Management Teams; Core Relationships