The Biden School and the Engaged University of Delaware, 1961-2021

This book reviews the history of the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration from 1961 to 2021. The focus is on the school’s accomplishments over its first sixty years, how they were achieved, and why they are significant. The analysis describes the challenges and opportunities that shaped the school’s development and its emergence as one of the nation’s leading public affairs schools. What began in 1961 as an experimental program supported by a single external grant emerged six decades later as one of the nation’s leading comprehensive schools of public affairs. That transformation unfolded during one of the most dynamic periods in the history of higher education when the public purpose of universities was expanded. The history of the Biden School is a story of institutional innovation, perseverance, adaptation, and resilience.

This book reviews the history of the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration from 1961 to 2021. The focus is the school’s accomplishments and its journey as a case study of organizational leadership in higher education. The school has been an innovator in its organization and exemplifies the expansion of the higher education responsibilities to the larger society.

DANIEL RICH is University Professor of Public Policy emeritus in the Biden School of Public Policy and Administration at the University of Delaware in Newark. From 2001-2009, he served as university provost; from 1996-2001, as founding dean of the College of Human Services, Education and Public Policy; and from 1991-1996, as dean of the College of Urban Affairs and Public Policy, now the Biden School of Public Policy and Administration. His publications include thirteen books and edited volumes, and more than one hundred articles, monographs, and professional papers. 

Acknowledgments                                        000
Biden School Timeline                                    000
Introduction                                          000
PART I    CREATING THE DELAWARE MODEL (1961-1996)            
Chapter One        The Division of Urban Affairs                    000
    Chapter Two        The College of Urban Affairs and Public Policy        000
Chapter Three        Policy Partnerships and The Delaware Model            000
PART II    BECOMING A COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL (1997-2014)                
Chapter Four        The School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy            000
Chapter Five        The School of Public Policy and Administration            000
Chapter Six        Shaping Public Policy                        000
PART III    PURSUING A NEW VISION (2015-2021)                    
Chapter Seven        Rising Expectations                        000
Chapter Eight        The Biden School                        000
Chapter Nine        Legacies and Possibilities                    000
Selected Bibliography                                    000
Index                                            000