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 […]
Online learning has expanded dramatically over the past two decades, reaching a high of more than 5 million enrollments in 2013. While that expansion has slowed recently, it still far exceeds overall growth in higher education. The growth of Penn State World Campus has mirrored this trend, consistently outpacing annual projections. What started as a […]
Soon after becoming president of Georgia State University in 2009, Mark P. Becker set out to answer a question: How can you create a better university, in the heart of a large, diverse city, where many of your students are first-generation or low-income, and who face challenges not seen as commonly at a typical flagship […]
Oral Roberts University made headlines recently with news that all first-year students will be required to buy and wear a Fitbit, one of the many fitness-trackers that have come to market in recent years. The device, worn on the wrist, uses an accelerometer to turn movement into digital measurements that can track steps taken, distance […]
Thirty years ago, we knew that larger institutions would consume smaller, more fragile schools – pure mergers as they came to be known. Yet, during the early higher ed merger mania era, many found that consolidations of venerable institutions offered a creative and more equitable non-merger alternative – read as, Azusa Pacific University, Birmingham-Southern College, […]
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 […]
Today’s rapidly evolving technology has higher education on the move, literally and figuratively. Mobile devices are powering a shift to more learning on the go, driving increased video consumption and requiring IT to fund ongoing bandwidth and infrastructure expansion. Tech is enabling big changes in how colleges deliver academic programs and grant credentials. Increased automation […]
What's going on? Marvin Gaye's plaintive question from decades ago echoes hauntingly today. With each new incidence of brown-skinned people being brutalized, it returns more bitterly to our lips, triggered by each new image from Ferguson to Tempe, Baltimore to Cleveland, Staten Island to Charleston the list goes painfully on. The geography and frequency […]
As long as there have been cars on campus, there has been frustration over parking. Hundreds of cars spewing exhaust as drivers troll for a free spot harms the environment. Inefficient campus-owned vehicles only worsen the situation. The fact is, old-school vehicle management strategies are running on fumes. In the last few years, parking technology […]
