Systemness is the state, quality, or condition of a complex system, that is, of a set of interconnected elements that behave as, or appear to be, a whole, exhibiting behavior distinct from the behavior of the parts. The term is new and has been applied to large social phenomena and organizations (healthcare and higher education) by advocates of higher degrees of system-like, coherent behavior for delivering value to stakeholders. In sociology, Montreal-based Romanian academic Szymon Chodak (1973) used "societal systemness" in English to describe the empirical reality that inspired Emile Durkheim. The healthcare-related usage of the term was as early as 1986 in a Dutch psychiatric research paper. It has recently been adapted to describe the sustainability efforts of healthcare institutions amidst budget cuts stemming from the 2008–2012 global recession. The higher educational use appears to have featured in professional discussions between sociologist Neil Smelser and University of California Chancellor and President Clark Kerr in the 1950s or 60s; in the foreword to Kerr's 2001 memoir, Smelser uses the term in inverted commas in recalling such discussions. The term's overt operationalization, however, was instituted by The State University of New York's (SUNY) Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher in the State of the University Address on January 9, 2012. Zimpher noted systemness as "the coordination of multiple components that, when working together, create a network of activity that is more powerful than any action of individual parts on their own." The concept was later explored in the volume, Higher Education Systems 3.0, edited by Jason E. Lane and D. Bruce Johnston. Use in higher education The term "systemness" has received widespread adoption in discussions within and among the leaders of multi-campus university systems to discuss the evolution of multi-campus collaboration and coordination in a range of different programmatic areas. The term was first coined by Nancy Zimpher, the former chancellor of the State University of New York. In 2019, Daniel Greenstein, chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education launched a blog, titled "Signs of Systemness," noting "Our universities will be stronger, better, and offer even greater value to their students and communities by working together." A 2020 review of the president of Washington State University, a developing multi-campus system, revealed that one of the core question facing the institution is how to develop "systemness," stating, "as Washington State University morphs from a single institution into a system, it is fair