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 […]
Two- and four-year colleges across the nation have plugged the black hole of remediation with a range of programs designed to keep students enrolled while steering them toward greater levels of success. Some institutions have upgraded their assessment process to ensure incoming students take placement exams seriously and aren’t assigned a higher (or lower) level […]
Officials at the University of Missouri in 2012 looked at the business troubles of its academic press and decided the most prudent path forward was to shut it down. The community disagreed, lobbying against the closure, and the university recanted. The whole affair emphasizes that academic publishing is not about dollars, but about the proliferation […]
On a cold evening in December 2014, over 400 students, faculty and staff gathered quietly on the central plaza of Salisbury University's Maryland campus. Chalked on the pavers were the silhouettes of 24 bodies. As victim names were read, students proceeded to lie down within the outlines and observe several minutes of silence, remembering black […]
Carine Feyten Chancellor and president, Texas Woman's University Topic: Safety and security Trend: Campus safety certainly is going to get more attention from senior administration—and how we are perceived by prospective students and their families will impact their "buying decision." Finding the right balance of open and enjoyable campus life and controls that might mitigate […]
The spaces we create for people with learning disabilities can support success or guarantee failure. Three decades ago, I led a team in designing an entire college campus specifically for students with learning disabilities. Some $40 million later, we had transformed the former Windham College into Vermont’s Landmark College. It was the first purpose-built environment […]
Student success is the number one goal at Columbia College Chicago. When an increasing number of students were delaying that success because of financial challenges, administrators took action. New this fall were automated payment plans that encourage students and their authorized users—usually parents—to spread out a semester’s worth of tuition payments. Using plans from Nelnet […]
In the eyes of many, higher education has become an industry focused on a singular goal—career training—and college students these days forgo the big questions about who they are and how they can change the world. In The Purposeful Graduate: Why Colleges Must Talk to Students about Vocation (University Of Chicago Press, 2015), Tim Clydesdale […]
The setting: AAA Four Diamond Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando, a 230-acre Spanish Revival resort where guests strolled along the headwaters of the Florida Everglades (beware of gators) and next to a championship golf course en route to UBTech sessions and other conference activity. The conversation: technological innovation and leadership as well as institutional and […]
Despite the economic and demographic factors that indicate challenging times ahead for higher ed, campuses across the country are busy building, according to a survey of college and university leaders by UB. The survey took a look at the inspiration behind campus construction efforts and the overall institutional impact of the projects. With student enrollment […]
