The January 2018 issue of UB featured its annual list of challenges for higher education, and No. 4 was both clear and encompassing: data analytics is everyone's job. In the survey of administrators, all groups selected "greater emphasis on leveraging data to identify and solve problems" as the top way their roles are evolving in […]
1. Tackle issues head-on and promptly. This may be especially important for tech staff who ignore policies, fail to carry their load or can't seem to get along with co-workers. "Don't let the bad behavior of a few poison those who want to work," says CIO Yvette Brown Koottungal at Barry University in Florida. She […]
Whether you call them huddle rooms, breakout rooms or collaboration rooms, small group spaces cropping up in various campus buildings are changing the way academic facilities are used. The trend has extended beyond the campus library, where these spaces were traditionally located. Now small breakout rooms for student collaboration are becoming a mainstay in engineering […]
Lyon College President W. Joseph King and former university president Brian C. Mitchell have written a practical guide for new and veteran leaders. How to Run a College (2018, Johns Hopkins) examines how colleges operate and how they can build on their fundamental strengths. More importantly, it corrects a number of commonly held misperceptions about […]
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 […]
Search committees and institutions recruiting academic leaders are often met with a major sticking point: the most appealing candidates often don't have much fundraising experience. Yet in today's climate, non-tuition sources of revenue are increasingly important and fundraising provides resources that can truly advance a university's agenda. Leaders across campus—deans, program directors, functional administrators, research […]
We are in the business of teaching and learning. So why not expand our learning and explore our mistakes—and the lessons we absorb from them? With almost 20 years on the communications side of higher education, I've learned a great deal from key stakeholders and my brilliant teams. But I've learned from my mistakes, too. […]
Mentorship is widely regarded as a high-impact practice in various learning environments—from hospitals to science laboratories to leadership development programs. With proven examples of the power of mentorship in place, it is time to approach this educational practice more systematically and intentionally. One area with tremendous promise for such a systemic approach is helping students […]
President Lyle Roelofs likes to buy running shoes for his students at Berea College—as long as they get some exercise with him twice weekly before class. Starting at 7 a.m., students—along with faculty, staff and community members—can run four miles with him or walk two with his wife.
How can institutions embrace transparency and flexibility around changing models of revenue and cost mix, student success and graduation rates? This web seminar outlined some insights into how to meet student, institutional, system and/or political goals in the changing world of higher education. Whether your challenges are within a single institution or across a statewide […]
