Roland Kushner
Education
- Ph.D., Lehigh University
- M.B.A., Lehigh University
- B.A., Carleton University
Teaching Interests
What makes organizations effective? What can leaders and managers do in pursuing greater performance? These are the questions that I examine in my courses, as I work to help students understand the different needs of different organizations. My courses addresses management practices and decision-making in organizational settings from startups to small family businesses to global publicly traded firms to nonprofit organizations of all kinds. I encourage students to grow into ways of thinking and action that will help them achieve successful and fulfilling careers, working and learning how to be effective managers and leaders.
In the management area, I teach at the principles level, but also more advanced courses: Arts Administration, Management of Not-for-Profit Organizations, Small Business Management, International Management, and Business Policy and Strategy. I am also the Master’s of Organizational Leadership program coordinator and support students who want to pursue independent studies and other research projects.
Along with in-class study of fundamental issues, my courses feature observation of business, shadowing and consulting projects in organizations, and other activities to keep students connected to the world of business. Students experience lively and challenging class sessions.
Research and Scholarship
I am curious about many things, but my scholarship falls into two main areas. One is the economics and management of arts and culture. I co-authored the National Arts Index for Americans for the Arts, reported on arts and culture in communities and the nation, and managed the Local Arts Index database of the vitality of arts and culture in counties in the U.S. In 2021 I am collaborating with Greg Collins of our Business program on a new methodology for evaluating the vitality of the arts in different regions.
From 2006-2016, I collaborated with Chorus America to create annual Choral Operation Reports on the operations and finance of chorus organizations. In 2017 I did a large-scale study on choral conductors’ leadership practices, and in 2019 published a case study of Martin Guitar.
My work has been published in Stanford Social Innovation Review, Journal of Arts Management, Law, & Society; International Journal of Arts Management; Nonprofit Management & Leadership; European Journal of Marketing; Nonprofit Policy Forum; Journal of Higher Education; Journal of Cultural Economics, The CASE Journal, and Brookings Institution Press.
I’m also interested in strategic management in nonprofit organizations. I examine questions like, What makes them effective in fulfilling their missions? What are the best practices for their Boards of Directors? How can they manage their resources effectively? Many Muhlenberg students have helped me in these research projects.
Muhlenberg is my career now, but earlier I was a concert promoter, artist’s manager, festival organizer, fundraiser for a choir, and radio station manager. I am also a performing songwriter. Before joining the Muhlenberg faculty in 2006, my management consulting practice served organizations in the Lehigh Valley, nationally, and globally. Now, I counsel nonprofits in this area and volunteer as a board member in community nonprofit organizations and on a charitable foundation.
- Arts Administration
- CUE: Business Policy & Strategy
- Leading in a Global Environmnt
- Management
- Management of Not-for-Profit Organizations
- Multidisciplinary Leadership
- Strategic Thinking
Publications
Kushner, R. J. (Spring 2023) The Invisible Balance Sheet, Stanford Social Innovation Review
Kushner, R. J. (2022) "Teaching Curatorial Decision-Making with the Inner Impresario American Journal of Arts Management (Teaching Notes) Vol 11, May 2022.
King, Sean, R. J. Kushner, David Mickenberg & Todd A. Watkins, (2022, Spring) What Next for the Cultural Coalition? Pandemic as turning point in reimagining the governance of regional arts and culture service, Journal of Nonprofit Education and Leadership 12 (2)
Sung, H., Kushner, R. J., & Hager, M. A. (2020). Exploring the dimensional structure of the arts in communities. In Phillips, Rhonda G., Mark Brennan, and Tingxuan Li (eds.), Culture, community, and development (pp.103-115). London: Routledge.
Kushner, R. J. (2019), Building, Leading and Sustaining a Cultural Enterprise. Martin Guitar in 2019 The CASE Journal, 15 (4), 306-336. doi: 10.1108/TCJ-07-2018-0086
Kushner, R.J. (2018), Evaluating a Nonprofit Health Index as a Policy Tool, Nonprofit Policy Forum, 9(3), doi:10.1515/npf-2018-0010
Kushner, R. J. & Randy Cohen (2017), Creating A Policy Index for the Arts, Stanford Social Innovation Review 153 (4), 48-53.
Kushner, R. J. & Randy Cohen (2016) National Arts Index 2016. An Annual Measure of the Vitality of Arts and Culture in the United States, 2002-2013 Washington, DC: Americans for the Arts (this was published annually 2010-2016).
Kushner, R. J. (2013) Cultural Enterprise Formation and Cultural Participation in America’s Counties in Rushton, Michael (ed.) Creative Communities: Art Works in Economic Development. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
Kushner, R. J. & Randy Cohen (2011), Measuring National-Level Cultural Capacity with the National Arts Index, International Journal of Arts Management 13 (3), 20-40.
Kushner, R. J. (2011) Scale, Scope and Structure in the Community Chorus Industry, Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society 41 (1), 38-54.
Kushner, R. J. (2009) Instructor’s Manual for Social Entrepreneurship. A Modern Approach to Social Value Creation by Arthur C. Brooks. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall (with PowerPoint slides for instructor use).
Presentations
Adjacency and Evolution in Regional Arts & Culture: Examining Agglomeration Spillovers in Pennsylvania Counties, Pennsylvania Economics Association, Erie, PA, June, 2022, with Greg Collins and Todd A. Watkins.
Place of Hope’s Board Chair and the Disrupted Meeting, Eastern Academy of Management/CASE, Portland, ME May 2022
The Art of the SuperFIPS. Geographic modeling of regional arts capacity using adjacent-county measures, Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action, Atlanta, CA, November 2021, with Greg Collins
Nonprofit arts adaptation to COVID-19. Initial evidence and emerging scenarios, Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action virtual conference, November 2020, with Randy Cohen
What Next for the Cultural Coalition? Pandemic as turning point in reimagining the governance of regional arts and culture services, Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action virtual conference, November 2020, with Sean King, David Mickenberg, and Todd A. Watkins.
Towards a Constructive Epistemology of Nonprofit Management Education, Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action, San Diego, CA, November 2019
Teaching an Artistic Programming and Curatorial Decision-Making Process Using Constrained Optimization and Voter Preference Models, Association of Arts Administration Educators, Madison, WI, 2019
The Intersection of Governance Values and Governance Roles in Nonprofit Organization: The Case of the Arts, Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action, Austin, TX, 2018
Building and Leading a Cultural Enterprise: Martin Guitar and C. F. Martin IV in 2018 teaching case with Samuel M. Thompson, Eastern Academy of Management, Providence, RI, 2018
Capital Expansion Planning for Nonprofit Live Performing Arts, Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action teaching section, Grand Rapids, MI, 2017
An Impact Model for a Nonprofit Health Index, to Independent Sector “Our Common Future” Conference, Detroit, MI, October 2017 and to Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action, Grand Rapids, MI, 2017
The Invisible Balance Sheet as an Organizational Capacity Model, Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action teaching section, Washington, DC, 2016
Birds Without End: Sell or Stay, North American Case Research Association, Las Vegas, NV, 2016
Measuring the Vitality of Arts and Culture in the U.S. with the National Arts Index, presentation to Korea Arts Management Service 2015 Arts Industry Forum, Seoul, South Korea, December 2015.
Op-Eds
“How Small Businesses Make the Lehigh Valley a Better Place to Live” The Morning Call, Allentown, PA March 19, 2016.
- Jenna Tormey ’21: Adapting During Covid: Arts Organizations Responses to Covid-19.
- Erika L. Davis '16: Cooperative Businesses at Work: From Global to Individual Perspectives.
- Allison Conley '16: Nonprofit Dance Entrepreneurship: The Novel and Seasoned Ventures.
- Taylor L. Smith '15: Cultural Omnivores and Voluntary Price Discrimination.
- Judith Mandel '13: Decision-Making in Nonprofit Theater Programming.
- Ryan Lindsay '12: The Arts In Local Communities: Analysis of Primary Data from the Local Arts Index Project.
Accounting, Business, Economics & Finance
Business Administration
Organizational Leadership
Contact: rolandkushner@muhlenberg.edu