Effective collaboration between administration, academic officers and faculty is crucial for effective leadership at colleges and universities. Enrollment levels, academic freedom, financial viability and student success could all be affected if these individuals don't team up to develop and implement an effective strategy. I recently had firsthand experience on how close collaboration between the chief […]
After six colleges and universities in the Boston Consortium launched a self-insurance program in 2012, healthcare costs at Wheaton College ceased their upward spiral. Health premiums at the small liberal arts college had been increasing by 7 percent annually, but now costs have remained flat for the past four years. "We've changed the trend line […]
Meredith College, celebrating its 125th anniversary, recently adopted a new brand—"Going Strong"—that reflects its reputation, enrollment and financial strength. While Meredith's fundraising and application rate are the highest in our history, several other women's colleges have recently either gone coed or closed. Questioning the relevance of women's colleges is a bit obvious—and not so easy […]
The MBA required to develop the leaders and entrepreneurs our societies need involves a far stronger focus on knowing, doing and being—so says Srikant Datar, Patrick Cullen and David Garvin in Rethinking the MBA: Business at a Crossroads (Harvard Business Review Press, 2010). How and what students learn matter greatly—but let us not forget the […]
The twin goals of affordability and diversity dominate the nation's push to expand access to higher ed, but another critical factor—geography—is drawing more attention for the role it plays in where students go to college. With more than half selecting colleges less than 50 miles from home, there's growing concern about "education deserts"—localities that lack […]
As the 2016 Presidential campaign heats up this summer and the nation looks inward, candidates need to come up to speed in addressing a chronic water crisis in Flint, Michigan and across America. For good reason, this water resource catastrophe has captured the attention of national media and turned Flint into the posterchild for rebuilding […]
Vocation: It's a word with deep and important significance. Liberal Arts: This is an ideal of education with an equally deep set of meanings. Liberal arts colleges already do a great job developing a diverse group of socially responsible, critical thinkers, but they must start guiding students to their true vocations. For liberal arts colleges, […]
Choices for commencement speakers are making headlines this season, and higher ed officials are aiming to make sure those headlines are positive. Many colleges now prioritize student input and diversity when choosing commencement speakers. They are also developing screening processes to ensure speakers are both engaging and appropriate for the audience of graduating students and […]
With unsafe lead levels in city water systems, injured military veterans in need of smart prosthetics, and a demand for sustainable sources of clean energy, our need for engineers has never been greater. The good news is that despite concerns to the contrary, the ranks of engineers in the United States are growing. About 100,000 […]
Creating new academic initiatives with other institutions relies on three key ingredients: interest in the program from faculty and students; commitment from each campus administration; and a reasonable opportunity for success. This advice comes from Neal Abraham, a physics professor and executive director of the Five Colleges, Incorporated in Massachusetts. It's the second largest consortia […]
