As educators, we belong to one of the most positive of human institutions, one that serves the human need to learn more and create a better future.  As such, the real institution of higher education is more than a set of front offices or even a single institution. Instead, we can think of the real university as the collective force of millions of students and thousands of faculty members spread out and existing over time.  

While every human institution has flaws, the real institution of education has changed lives, improved social conditions, toppled dictatorships, and supported the invention of new and miraculous devices and procedures.  Higher education is the bedrock of every profession and serves as an incubator for new thinking and new learning (Redecker, et al., 2011).  

Faculty members play a pivotal role in higher education, as universities were originally unions of teachers, who set up a central location or university for their students.  University organization has changed over centuries, but faculty members central to student learning through relationships that support the construction of learning. 

As an SAS educator, I am always struck by the motivations of incoming doctoral learners who speak of earning a doctoral degree to serve. Our students are preparing to serve as leaders in the fields of health, education, and business and want to make a better future in their profession, community, or nation. And as SAS faculty, we play an important role in preparing future leaders for increasingly complex social organizations.  Like the magic of compound interest, our work with students today, may pay larger dividends for individuals and communities as the years pass.

Mother Teresa: "I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples".

Redecker, C., Leis, M., Leendertse, M., Punie, Y., Gijsbers, G., Kirschner, P. (2011). The future of learning: Preparing for change. European Commission. Joint Research Center-Institute for Prospective Technological Studies. Retrieved April 4, 2018 from http://hdl.handle.net/1820/4196