From Bottom to Top Tier in a Decade

From Bottom to Top Tier in a Decade: Th e
Wagner College Turnaround Years is a memoir
recounting one of the most remarkable
turnaround stories in American higher
education, as recalled by the president who
led a fourteen-year campaign bringing
this fi nancially troubled, under-enrolled,
bottom-ranked college from disrepair and
impending closure to wide regard as one of
the top small, residential private colleges in
the east.
By the time Norman Smith departed in
2002, the college was ranked top tier, was
full to capacity, and was cited as one of
America's most beautiful college campuses.
Located on a hilltop overlooking Manhattan
that had once been Vanderbilt and Cunard
estates, Wagner College should never have
gotten into trouble. Th is recounting is
not only an engaging human story of the
many trustees, benefactors, faculty, and staff
who were key to the turnaround, but also
represents a case study template of what
must happen for any college to survive and
ultimately fl ourish in these competitive
times for private higher education.