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 […]
Embezzlement originating from any corner of campus can threaten any college and university. As for the losses, they can be big. Take, for example: Emory University in Atlanta. In July, a former employee received an 18-month prison term for stealing over $300,000. As an administrative assistant in the school of nursing, she misled students into […]
When making decisions about Hope College’s website redesign, project team members found themselves looking at a photo of Adam, an 18-year-old freshman, to gauge what he might think is the most logical place for a piece of content—or whether he thinks the content should be there at all. And then, knowing Adam’s mom is very […]
Academia’s cyber preparedness (or lack thereof) has received less media attention than that of certain retailers and financial institutions, but nonetheless the cyber risks confronting universities are pervasive and alarming. Consider recent breaches suffered by educational institutions. At the University of Maryland, an outside source gained access to a secure records database that held information […]
With YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets, virtually nothing escapes the pubic's notice, and judgment. It's one reason higher education is paying much more attention to risk management now than in the past. There are also more risk-generating contingencies, such as mass shootings, and accountability standards, such as for the prevention of sexual […]
In 2015, many college-bound Americans will have some public higher learning or post-secondary education experience at the 1,132 community, technical, municipal, and county colleges across the Nation. In fact, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, 7.7 million Americans are already enrolled in Community Colleges. By now, everyone has heard about the President's call […]
Colleges and universities across the country are poised to lose more than credibility if they don’t comply with sexual assault regulations and policies. At Dartmouth University’s national sexual assault summit in July, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education Catherine E. Lhamon spoke bluntly. “I will go to enforcement, and I […]
The need for proctoring derives from the perceived need to prevent “academic dishonesty”, aka cheating. The issues with proctoring include 1) the assumption of guilty until proven innocent (all students are potential cheaters), 2) the cost borne by the student directly or indirectly, 3) the Orwellian loss of privacy, and 4) that the vast majority […]
Student loan default can affect an entire campus, as high default rates negatively impact an institution’s federal funding. Therefore, it is essential to keep cohort default rates as low as possible. The right education and communication strategies can help borrowers gain the financial skills necessary to avoid default. This web seminar, originally broadcast on February […]
