Standardized tests, once thought to be the best way to compare students from diverse backgrounds, are criticized as being biased and inconclusive. A small but growing number of colleges have made such testing optional for applicants. Does a test-optional policy result in a more diverse student body or improve attainment and retention rates? Measuring Success: […]
Academia continues to evolve for women aspiring to move into leadership positions. Once a career environment that offered few opportunities and minimal support for women's leadership, the situation is improving for faculty and administrative positions, at colleges and universities, public and private, large and small. In my own career path, I navigated through the university […]
Providers were asked: How well are colleges using data to measure faculty performance, and what related areas need the most improvements? "Colleges will typically show the faculty how their scores compare to others at the school, usually those in the same department. But they rarely ask the instructors how they plan to improve any low […]
When it comes to a student's priorities, knowing the locations of classrooms and dining halls outweighs finding the blue emergency boxes installed around campus, and downloading ride-share and meal delivery apps ranks higher than accessing safety apps. "We have a group of 18- to 22-year-olds on campus and their safety is the last thing on […]
Administrators, faculty and staff at the State University of New York College at Old Westbury are committed to the success of every one of their nearly 5,000 students. So when the sprawling Long Island school started looking for a new campus card system a few years ago, all roads led to TouchNet OneCard VIP. "OneCard […]
Measuring faculty effectiveness has never been a perfect science—and it has always held potential for contention among instructors and administrators. Today, tighter budgets, greater demands in terms of student outcomes and service responsibilities, and a push for hard data increase the pressure to develop fair and accurate evaluation systems. The types of information collected on […]
Every semester, hundreds of freshmen at Champlain College in Vermont gather in a campus meeting room to play the "Game of Life." It's not the traditional board game. Instead, this event simulates financial decisions students will make after graduation. Each student is assigned a salary based on their major and then turned loose in a […]
Let's face it—running any department at a university, college, or other higher education institution brings unexpected twists and turns each day. This is especially true when it comes to managing the workforce, which is typically a diverse group of employees including hourly and part-time workers, student workers, employees with varied native languages, and more. Now […]
The traditional, nail-biting wait for an admission offer has, at some colleges, given way to a process offering immediate gratification for prospective students: the instant decision day. This admission recruitment strategy—involving applicants getting an on-the-spot admission decision during a scheduled event—has gained a lot of traction, particularly as a way for colleges that aren't Ivies […]
Imagine a relay race with no one to hand off the torch? This is the daunting challenge we face with the future of agricultural education. Nationwide, fewer than one out of ten students are likely to consider agriculture as a career and among agricultural students, one out of ten will actually consider agricultural education as […]
