Chancellor biking on campus visit

Dr. Daniel Greenstein became the fifth chancellor of Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education on September 4, 2018. In that role, he serves as chief executive officer of the state's system of public universities, serving 80,000 degree-seeking students and thousands more enrolled in certificate and other career-development programs.

LATEST BLOG: Amid the national higher ed swirl, we stand together

 
Entering into a new calendar year affords an opportunity to reflect on higher education – our shared practice, mission, and passion. Such reflection occupied a good deal of my time during the recent holiday break.

For me, it’s a process. It’s richly informed by my PASSHE experiences and engagements with other universities, colleges, and entities operating in and around higher education. Inputs also include the research reports, articles, and books I consume voraciously when my schedule permits.  
 
To my surprise, I kept bumping up against “disruptive innovation” – a concept I thought had diminished its hold over the “higher ed imagination.” Harvard’s Clayton Christensen developed disruptive innovation decades ago in The Innovator’s Dilemma (1997). It characterizes how small-scale participants in an existing market can compete effectively with large-scale players – even overturn their hold over the marketplace – by introducing new technologies or approaches that give them reach into underserved markets. In The Innovative University (2011), Christensen applied the concept to higher education. He argued that online learning would enable new higher ed providers to challenge existing ones by serving student markets at lower cost and by reaching into new markets. As a result of disruptive innovation, Christensen believed that many higher education institutions would ultimately close.

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Chancellor Greenstein

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Chancellor Greenstein's Bio
Photo: Amanda Berg

Chancellor Dan GreensteinDr. Daniel Greenstein became the fifth chancellor of Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education on September 4, 2018. In that role, he serves as chief executive officer of the state's system of public universities, serving more than 80,000 degree-seeking students and thousands more enrolled in certificate and other career-development programs. Chancellor Greenstein is leading a system-wide redesign effort focused on increasing opportunities for students—including those in underserved populations—while enhancing the financial sustainability of the universities. 

Greenstein previously led the Postsecondary Success strategy at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where he worked with other higher education leaders across the country on initiatives designed to raise educational-attainment levels and to promote economic mobility, especially among low-income and minority students. He developed and implemented a national strategy for increasing the number of degrees awarded and for reducing the attainment gaps among majority and non-majority students at U.S. colleges and universities.  

Before joining the foundation, Greenstein was Vice Provost for Academic Planning and Programs for the University of California (UC) system. In that role, he oversaw system-wide academic planning and programs, including the University of California Press; the California Digital Library; the UC system's Education Abroad Program; internship programs in Washington, D.C., and Sacramento; and UC Online Education.  Greenstein has created and led several internet-based academic information services in the United States and the United Kingdom, and served on boards and acted in strategic consulting roles for educational, cultural heritage, and information organizations. 

He began his academic career as a senior lecturer in Modern History at Glasgow University in Scotland.  He holds both bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and a D.Phil. from the University of Oxford. An enthusiastic cyclist, Dan and his wife, Melissa, have two children.