A public healthcare crisis thrust Southern Methodist University into the spotlight in September when a Liberian man visiting Dallas was diagnosed with the Ebola virus. The hospital where Thomas Eric Duncan was treated and later died—Texas Health Presbyterian—is less than four miles from SMU’s campus. It’s a facility where students are transported for emergency medical […]
The temperature around higher education unionizing efforts often runs hot. Officials are reluctant to have outside labor groups on campus or to relinquish control over important personnel decisions—including pay, benefits and other sensitive employee issues. But should higher ed leaders fear unionization efforts? One primary area of worry for institutions whose employees are beginning to […]
The University System of Georgia has worked to combine several more of its higher education institutions this year in what is likely the nation’s most aggressive and high-profile campus consolidation program. Around the country, institutions are merging at a slower pace, with some proposed consolidations collapsing under backlash from students and other community members. “I […]
People often go to college for the wrong reasons, with assumptions about how it's going to benefit them, says Donald Farish. "When it doesn't come out the way they imagined it would be, then, of course, it's everybody else's fault." Farish, president of Roger Williams University in Rhode Island, will be the inaugural speaker at […]
Each year, the market for tenure-eligible faculty positions becomes more and more competitive, and a greater number of newly minted Ph.D. graduates struggle to find a job. The U.S. annually produces about 70,000 new doctoral graduates, representing a significant investment of time and money by both the students and their universities. Considering that cost, and […]
With a design to do things their own way, Generation Z, or people ages 16 to 19, could change higher ed. According to the “Portrait of Generation Z” report released by Northeastern University, nearly two-thirds of Gen Z-aged respondents said they want to learn about entrepreneurship in college, including how to start a business. More […]
For the first few months of a New Year, many of us are eager to get physically fit. And those of us who work in PR and marketing must stay professionally fit by remaining relevant to meet and even surpass those needs our institutions will always have. We must stay ahead of the curve as […]
President Barack Obama is not acting like someone whose party suffered heavy defeats in the recent midterm election. Last month he previewed America’s College Promise, an ambitious plan that could help his earlier goal of increasing the number of college graduates to become a reality. “Put simply, I’d like to see the first two years […]
Colleges and universities have widely embraced sustainability goals and commitments, from climate action plans to zero-waste goals. However, in order to see measurable results, they must address the largest growing waste stream in the United States: electronic waste, or e-waste. This web seminar, originally broadcast on July 15, 2014, shared how the University of San […]
The goal of retaining students—and seeing them through to degree completion—has become the focus of numerous research initiatives, articles, technology solutions and intervention strategies. While most of the studies reach very different conclusions, most researchers seem to agree that no one factor holds the key to student persistence. How can higher education leaders accurately predict […]
