William G. Tierney in EdSource: California higher education leaders have high hopes

Pullias co-director William G. Tierney was quoted in an EdSource article titled “California higher education leaders have high hopes for Newsom’s spending plans”:

Yet despite the state’s surplus, some experts think that Newsom will continue to pressure UC and CSU for more efficiencies, such as reducing the time it takes for students to graduate. “I think it’s inevitable that any governor — but certainly Gov. Newsom, with his experience with the CSU and UC systems — will push both systems for continuing efficiencies in cost,” said William G. Tierney, a professor of higher education at the University of Southern California and co-director of the Pullias Center for Higher Education there.

Although Newsom has pledged to avoid tuition hikes, Tierney said he does not anticipate enormous increases to higher education funding. “It’s definitely not automatic,” he said, noting that the incoming governor faces many competing demands, including helping the state recover from the recent wildfires. Even with the current surplus, the economy could change for the worse and Tierney said he thinks Newsom does not want the state to go into debt again.

Read the full article at EdSource. Tierney is an expert on higher education policy analysis, governance, and administration; his research interests pertain to faculty productivity, decision making, organizational re-engineering, and issues of equity.