Michael McLendon

Associate Dean & Professor

Ph.D., University of Michigan
3101 University Blvd, Ste.247,
Dallas, 75205
Box 382
214-768-4632
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Dr. Michael K. McLendon is a professor of higher education policy and leadership and the associate dean at the Simmons School of Education and Human Development at Southern Methodist University. In the Simmons dean’s office, Dr. McLendon oversees academic affairs and faculty development, and works closely with the dean on certain strategic initiatives.  Prior to his appointment at SMU, he served for thirteen years as a professor of public policy and higher education at Vanderbilt University, where he also held a number of leadership roles, including executive associate dean of the Peabody College of Education and director of the university’s graduate program in higher-education studies.  

Dr. McLendon’s research examines governance, finance and public policy as they relate to higher education. A primary strand of his research is directed toward understanding the factors influencing policy change at both the state and campus levels, with a particular focus on the role of political behavior in shaping the policy choices of states.  Among his recent studies are ones that have examined the determinants of state adoption of new accountability policies, financing innovations, and management practices in higher education; the factors associated with changes in state funding of public colleges and universities; and, the impacts of new policies that are designed to increase the performance of postsecondary education institutions and systems.  In a recent vein of research, Dr. McLendon and his colleagues have studied the effects of state policies on college student success.   

These and other studies have been published in leading field journals, such as The Journal of Higher Education, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Research in Higher Education, Review of Higher Education, American Journal of Education, Teachers College Record, Educational Policy, Journal of Education Finance, and Higher Education: Handbook of Theory of Research, and in books.  His research also has received coverage in numerous national media outlets.

Much of Dr. McLendon’s scholarship has been supported by foundations and public agencies. He has been as a principal investigator and a lead consultant on national studies funded by the Lumina Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the Association of Governing Boards of College and Universities. He also consults widely with national and state policy organizations, state boards of education, and governors and legislatures.     

Dr. McLendon teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on state policy and politics of higher education, university governance and administration, postsecondary education finance, American public policy and leadership theory and behavior. He received a variety of awards from Vanderbilt University in recognition of outstanding teaching.

Actively involved in national professional associations, Dr. McLendon has served as an elected member of the Board of Directors of the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE). Additionally, he serves or has served on the editorial boards of Research in Higher Education and Review of Higher Education, and is a former associate editor of Higher Education: Handbook of Theory of Research and of The Politics of Education Yearbook.

Dr. McLendon earned his Ph.D. in Higher Education Policy from the University of Michigan, an M.S. in higher education from Florida State University, and a B.A. in political science from Baylor University. Prior to undertaking doctoral studies, he served as a policy analyst in the Florida House of Representatives and as a staff member in the United States Senate, in Washington, D.C. In 2007, he was named a distinguished young alumnus of his undergraduate alma mater.

Selected Publications:

McLendon, M.K., Mokher, C., & Flores, S.M. (2011). Legislative agenda-setting for in-state resident tuition policies: Immigration, representation, and educational access. American Journal of Education, 117(4), 563-602.

Hearn, J.C. & McLendon, M.K. (2011). Governance: Toward new models and methods for understanding postsecondary governance. In M. Bastedo’s (ed.) Governing the University. The Johns Hopkins University Press.

McLendon, M.K., & Hearn, J.C. (2010). Openness laws, institutional governance, and democracy. Politics and access to state information about higher education. Teacher’s College Record, 112(10), 2649-2663.

Doyle, W., McLendon, M.K., & Hearn, J.C. (2010). Why states adopted prepaid tuition and college savings programs: An event history analysis. Research in Higher Education, 51(7).

McLendon, M.K., Mokher, C.G., & Doyle, W. (2009). Privileging public research universities: The political economy of state appropriations to higher education. Journal of Education Finance, 34(4), 372-401.

McLendon, M.K., Hearn, J.C., & Mokher, C. (2009). Partisans, professionals, and power: The role of political factors in state higher education funding. The Journal of Higher Education, 80(6), 686-713.

McLendon, M.K., Heller, D.E., & Lee, S. (2009). High school to college transition policies in the states: Conceptual and analytic perspectives on conducting across-state study. Educational Policy, 23(2), 385-418.

McLendon, M.K., & Mokher, C. (2009). The origins and spread of state policies privatizing public higher education. In C. Morphew and P. Eckel (Ed.). Privatization of the public research university. (pp. 24-62). Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

McLendon, M.K., & Hearn, J.C. (2009). Viewing recent U.S. governance reform whole: “Decentralization” in a distinctive context. In J. Huisman (Ed.). International perspectives on the governance of higher education. (pp. 161-181). New York: Routledge.

McLendon, M.K., & Cohen-Vogel, L. (2008). Understanding education policy change in the American states: Lessons from contemporary political science. Understanding the Politics of Education: AERA Handbook of Theory and Research. (pp. 66-112). Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association & Lawrence Erlbaum.

Hearn, J.C., McLendon, M.K., & Mokher, C. (2008). Accounting for student success: An empirical analysis of the origins and spread of state student unit-record systems. Research in Higher Education, 50(1), 665-683.

Mokher, C., & McLendon, M.K. (2008). Uniting secondary and postsecondary education: An event history analysis of state adoption of dual enrollment policies. American Journal of Education, 115(2), 249-277.

McLendon, M.K., Deaton, R., & Hearn, J.C. (2007). The enactment of state-level governance reforms for higher education: A test of the political-instability hypothesis. The Journal of Higher Education, 78(6), 645-675.

McLendon, M.K., Hearn, J.C., & Deaton, R. (2006). Called to account: Analyzing the origins and spread of state performance-accountability policies for higher education. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 28(1), 1-24.

McLendon, M.K., & Hearn, J.C. (2006). Mandated openness in higher education: A field study of sunshine laws and institutional governance. The Journal of Higher Education, 77(4), 645-683.

McLendon, M.K., & Hearn, J.C. (2006). Mandated openness and higher education governance: Policy, theoretical, and analytic perspectives. Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research, Vol. XXI (pp. 39-97). New York: Springer.

McLendon, M.K., Heller, D.E., & Young, S. (2005). State postsecondary education policy innovation: Politics, competition, and the interstate migration of policy ideas. The Journal of Higher Education, 76(4), 363-400.

McLendon, M. K. (2003). Setting the governmental agenda for state decentralization of higher education. The Journal of Higher Education, 74(5), 1-37.

McLendon, M.K. (2003). The politics of higher education: Toward an expanded research agenda. Educational Policy, 17(1), 165-191.

McLendon, M. K. (2003). State governance reform of higher education: Patterns, trends, and theories of the public policy process. Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research, Vol. XVIII (pp. 57-144). London: Kluwer.