He holds a law degree and an MBA. He has a background as a dot-com pioneer, corporate chief, consultant, and world traveler. He's an experienced pilot and also sang in an award-winning male chorus. John Williams, president of Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania, might well be a contender for Dos Equis' next World's Most Interesting Man. […]
Donald Trump's pick for secretary of education, billionaire businesswoman and philanthropist Elisabeth "Betsy" DeVos, is more of a household name in K12 than higher ed circles. DeVos has worked to promote school choice and voucher programs, including creation of Detroit's charter school system. She sits on the board of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, whose […]
A greater level of accountability around access and outcomes looms on the horizon for higher ed administrators in 2017 and beyond. Experts across the ideological spectrum predict the federal government and the general public to demand more transparency in the data released about how graduates of specific campus programs fare in the job market. This push could […]
Universities welcome media coverage of college sports, groundbreaking research and alumni achievement—all of which generate recognition and revenues supporting their educational mission. Too often, however, racially charged events at universities have dominated those headlines. Racial diversity, inclusion and equality in higher education are hot topics. Low numbers of minority faculty, students and administrators, as well […]
When Lisa Severy became a career counselor in the mid-’90s, the dominant philosophy in serving students was this: “I’ll help you catch your first fish.” Now the idea has evolved to: “I want to teach you to catch fish so you’ll be able to do this forever.” The process involves meeting students’ needs—and providing what […]
The power of the admissions interview is, in context and value, unmatched by any other element of the enrollment process, says Jonathan Burdick of the University of Rochester. The meetings "add color to what is otherwise a black-and-white representation of a student, or add a third dimension to what is otherwise flat pieces of paper," […]
Almost everybody ranks colleges these days—old stalwarts like U.S. News & World Report, influential upstarts like Washington Monthly and click-baiting websites that measure everything from campus sustainability to most attractive students to coolest mascots. William Destler, president of Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, even found his university named one of the "geekiest" in […]
Two students were expelled and dozens more disciplined when a video emerged last March of the University of Oklahoma’s Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter singing racist songs with lyrics about lynchings. In the fall, the University of Missouri saw numerous protests over the treatment of black students and the failure of administrators to address the problem. […]
Alumni. That’s what alumni association magazines should, to a much greater extent, be about. At least they should if we want them to do better at marketing the university. Marketing is not the only purpose of these publications, of course. But the alumni magazine can be a powerful marketing tool that doesn’t conflict with its […]
Some colleges and universities don’t need to market themselves to prospective students. Names like Harvard, Princeton and Stanford are the academic equivalent of Rolex, Tiffany and Mercedes. Other schools don’t have it so good. So more of them are advertising these days. But some, paradoxically, seem to do it without much use of what is […]
