Facilitator: BILL HARVEY, Penn State University
Moderator: SUSAN KINSEY, University of Pittsburgh
Panelists: RITA MARTINEZ-PURSON, University of New Mexico;
JUDAH ROSENWALD, University of California-Berkeley;
SUSAN LANE, University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth

    The Commission on leadership and Management studies the institutional trends that affect the organization of continuing education. The centralization-decentralization spectrum is one aspect of CE organization—and often the most dramatic example of reorganization. But concentration only on that dichotomy obscures the subtleties involved in reorganization and may obstruct genuine opportunities for CE growth. Rather than concentrating on the threat that reorganization might pose, CE leaders must analyze the conditions that lead to institutional reorganization, shape the resulting organizational forms, weather the reorganization process, and learn to thrive in the new environment.
    The panel will examine three aspects of reorganization:

• The conditions within an institution that are precursors to substantial reorganization, both a move to decentralization or one to centralization. By studying such conditions, CE leaders may learn to guide or influence substantial change at the institutional level.
• The (often) traumatic time during reorganization: preservation of staff/budget, assisting/resisting change, understanding the motives of institutional-level actors.
• The opportunities that arise after reorganization, i.e., recognizing new clients, establishing additional partnerships, and aligning with institutional goals.