Dr. Raymond Higbea, Associate Professor and School of Public, Nonprofit, Health, Hospitality and Tourism Management Director

Office Address: 240C Richard M. DeVos Center - Pew Campus
Phone: (616) 331-6869
Email: [email protected]

Teaching Areas:
PNH 631 - U.S. Health Policy and Politics
PNH 632 - Health Services Financial Management

Experience:
Raymond J. Higbea, PhD, FACHE has been a graduate professor of business administration and health administration since 2006 at three area universities teaching financial management, economics, policy, and operations courses.  His most recent appointment is as Associate Professor (tenured), MHA Program Director (August 2018-May 2020), and Chair, School of Public, Nonprofit, & Health Administration (May 2020-June 2021), and Director, School of Public, Nonprofit, Health, Hospitality, and Tourism Management (July 2021-present) at Grand Valley State University (GVSU).  At GVSU, he has led the MHA team through the final stages of CAHME accreditation and moved program delivery to a fully hybrid/blended model.  Classroom teaching innovations include fully hybrid/blended approaches to teaching finance, policy, and economics such as use of videos (professor and students), virtual classroom technology, online discussions, cases, online problem instruction and solving in Excel, and online quizzes.  Recent scholarship includes peer reviewed manuscripts on ethics, models of care, and water fluoridation, social determinants of health, 12 case studies for and undergraduate policy book (Health Policy Management: A Case Study Approach, 2019) and a book he co-authored with Greg Cline, PhD (Government and Policy for U.S. Health Leaders, 2019).  His most awards include Faculty Mentor (2016) ACHE Regent’s Faculty Award (2019), GLACE Service Award (2020).  He has been an ACHE Fellow since 2007, GLACHE Board member (2016), GLACHE Treasurer (2019-2020), and GLACHE DEI Committee chair (2019-2021). 

Prior to his academic career, Dr. Higbea spent 45 years in hospital in a variety of clinical (nursing) roles for about 25 years and midlevel leadership roles for about 20 years.  Throughout his hospital leadership career, he was known for working effectively with multiple teams to improve patient care, flow, access, and outcomes; efficiencies in care models and delivery; and the use of data and financial analysis to drive patient outcomes and financial performance. 

Education:
Ph.D., Western Michigan University
MHA, University of North Florida
B.S., Bob Jones University (SC)
A.S., Regents College (NY)
Dr. Higbea's Curriculum Vitae