Adapting to Change: Exploring Two Mergers in New England in Higher Education
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Authors
Oliver-Yeager, Jo
Date
2026-03
Type
Dissertation
Language
en_US
Keywords
Alternative Title
Adapting to Change in Higher Education Mergers
Abstract
The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand how university departmental-level
administrative staff perceive their institutions’ mergers in order to inform leaders of
practices that could better support staff during periods of institutional change. Data were
collected through semi-structured interviews with five participants, three from Vermont
State University and two from Boston University-Wheelock College, to capture staff
perspectives on their merger experiences. Guided by organizational change and social
learning theories, including the work of Bandura, Kotter, Lewin, Ichheiser, and Kübler-
Ross, this study explored how individuals experience, interpret, and respond to mergerrelated
change. Thematic analysis and hand-coding of narrative interview data yielded
several key themes: need for greater transparency; more effective communication;
intentional integration of institutional cultures; and increased support for staff morale
throughout the merger process. The findings address a gap in the literature by centering the
research on the often-overlooked experiences of departmental-level administrative staff.