Michael K. McLendon

Associate Professor of Public Policy and Higher Education

Ph.D., University of Michigan, 2000

Joined faculty in 1999

Professor McLendon's scholarship and teaching focus on public policy, governance, and finance of higher education.Much of his research has examined the political, social, and economic contexts of state policy reform for higher education, and the role of democratic institutions and governance structures in shaping reform at both the state and campus levels.

His recent research includes studies of (1) the origins and spread of state accountability and financing reforms for higher education, (2) factors associated with state funding and tuition changes in public higher education, (3) innovations in campus tuition policy, and (4) governance and management trends in higher education.

Dr. McLendon's research has appeared in leading journals of the fields of educational policy and of higher education, including The Journal of Higher Education, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Journal of Education Finance, Research in Higher Education, Review of Higher Education, American Journal of Education, Teachers' College Record, Educational Policy, Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research, and as chapters in numerous books. He has served on the editorial boards of Research in Higher Education, Review of Higher Education, Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research, and others.  He is past editor of the Politics of Education Yearbook.

Dr. McLendon has served as a principal investigator and a lead consultant on numerous national studies, including ones funded by the Lumina Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the Association of Governing Boards of College and Universities. He consults widely with national policy organizations and with state governments.

Professor McLendon has held a variety of leadership roles at Vanderbilt University. From 2009-2011, he served as Peabody College’s associate dean and chief of staff. In this capacity, McLendon served as senior academic dean, with additional responsibilities for directing certain strategic initiatives of the college and liaising with state and local government. Prior to the role, he directed Peabody's nationally-ranked graduate program in higher-education studies and Vanderbilt's sole graduate program in public policy. He also chaired the academic policies committees of the Vanderbilt University Senate and of the Peabody Faculty Council.

He holds a Ph.D. in Higher Education Policy from the University of Michigan. Prior to undertaking his doctoral studies, Dr. McLendon served as a policy analyst on the Higher Education Committee of the Florida House of Representatives and as a member of the staff of U.S. Senator David Pryor in Washington, D.C.

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