Geoffrey Cox describes how two disparate universities joined hands to provide students with an education based on real-world experiences.

In 2001, United States International University (USIU) and the California School of Professional Psychology (CSPP) merged into one entity, but the venture was troubled from the start. The two institutions of higher learning had little in common—back-office technology infrastructures couldn’t talk to each other, and due to cultural differences, nor could employees and faculty members. By the time Geoffrey Cox joined newly formed Alliant International University in 2004, it was losing millions per year, and its accreditation was in jeopardy.

“It was a textbook example of how mergers go bad. Both institutions were experiencing some kind of financial trouble and were concerned about their own future, and that doesn’t make for a smooth merger,” said Cox.

But Cox and his co-leaders got the university moving in the right direction, and today, it is serving 3,500 US students in six California locations. It also has a campus in Mexico City, where 113 students are enrolled, as well as international programs in Hong Kong and Tokyo. As a graduate institution, more than 90% of its total student base is working toward a master’s or doctorate degree in one of the university’s three main schools: education, psychology, and business/organizational management.

Geoffrey Cox

According to Cox, USIU’s mission was to create a network of international campuses to allow students a multitude of cultural experiences. At one time, it had locations all over the world, but by the time of the merger, it had shrunk down to its main campus in San Diego. CSPP’s mission was to provide psychology students with a hands-on clinical training model, as opposed to the research model found in most universities. Cox’s first job was to find a way to bring these two organizations with multiple campuses and programs together under the same mission.

In 2005, Alliant launched the Renaissance Plan, “a frank discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of each institution,” said Cox. “At the time, people were still referring to the institutions as its two former entities, and we needed to find a common bond that would tie us together.”

The Renaissance Plan focused on four major pieces: the university’s graduate programs, its undergraduate programs, international education, and distance learning. Without a doubt, Alliant needed to strengthen and widen its graduate programs, which have traditionally been its bread and butter. To do that, some reorganization was in order.

For example, after the merger, Alliant was operating two management/business programs: USIU’s traditional business school and CSPP’s school of organizational studies, which stemmed from its psychology program. After a year of careful analysis, Alliant decided to merge the two programs and launched the Marshall Goldsmith School of Business in 2006, which offers MBA and doctorate degrees in business and organizational psychology.

Cox describes the new school as less focused than traditional business schools on disciplines such as accounting and finance and more focused on management skills. “We teach the fundamentals, of course, but we are focused on the human side of enterprise because the talents you need to succeed have less to do with technical skills and everything to do with your ability to deal with people,” said Cox.

On the undergraduate side, Alliant eliminated the first two years of its undergraduate program and now caters to students transferring from community colleges. “This is a fairly unique model and something few schools have done,” Cox said.

The impetus behind the dramatic shift is the unmet need inside California’s vast network of community colleges. According to Cox, half of the students attending one of California’s community colleges plan to get a four-year degree, but only half of those students manage to do it. In addition, the vast majority of this segment of the population is made up of minorities. “Because we have a very strong commitment to multi-cultural education, we can help these students succeed,” said Cox.

As for international studies, Alliant is growing in leaps and bounds. For starters, it has plans to reinvigorate the programs offered at its Mexico City campus, which it has been running for nearly 40 years. “It is smaller than we would like it to be, but we see great opportunity to bring American education to Mexico,” said Cox.

For the past five years, Alliant has been offering a master’s degree in counseling in Tokyo—the first Western-oriented clinical psychology program offered in Asia. According to Cox, clinical psychology is not an established profession in Asia, yet urbanization and environmental factors challenging traditional family values are causing great demand for such services. To further aid in these efforts, Alliant opened a doctoral program in clinical psychology in Hong Kong in February.

Alliant hasn’t made great strides in distance learning—but for good reason. As the market is oversaturated with online undergraduate and graduate degree programs, Alliant wants to hold off until it has a unique, competitive product to offer to the marketplace.

In three short years, Alliant has made a complete turnaround—from losing $7 million a year in 2003 to a surplus of $2 million in 2006. But to Cox, the turnaround means more than numbers. “We brought two separate, very different universities together to form one organized whole that we believe will improve the lives of thousands of students for years to come.”