In the moments that define institutions—enrollment cliffs, program closures, funding crises—it is not governance structures or strategic plans that determine the outcome.
Liberal arts units at STEM institutions are often adaptive, ready to innovate, conversant with the culture of tech fields and comfortable aligning their scholarship with colleagues in different disciplines.
As mission statements become highly generalized, they provide diminishing guidance for allocating resources, defining target student populations or evaluating program and institutional performance.
Students regularly rely on AI to better understand complex course material, save time and improve grades. Sometimes, their instution discourages or bans its use.
