Wendy Woodward had never worked in a high-tech environment when she accepted a position managing academic technology at Northwestern University. But she believed her corporate experience equipped her with the project planning, leadership and business process skills she needed to do the job. "I'm not the most technical person in the room, but I understand […]
Walkways, walls, lecterns, chairs and benches. Hardly rarities on a college campus. But these standard items, when rendered in bronze and granite on a major University of Dayton thoroughfare, carry great historical significance and critical contemporary purpose. At this Catholic, Marianist university in Ohio, an artistic arrangement of three aligned chairs, a pulpit, an inscribed wall, […]
These days a majority of college students attend institutions in cities, but that wasn’t always the case. Higher education—as it was conceived from the earliest days of the nation—purposely took place in rural areas, far from the immoral influences of fast-growing cities. A university education focused on philosophical discussions and classical literature. The few city-based […]
While executing an eight-building, $157 million construction and renovation project in 2014, officials at Del Mar College in Texas forgot one critical player: the tech expert. Information technology administrators weren’t brought on board until just before the design was finalized. At that point, they had to scramble to integrate technology into a range of facilities—from […]
The Chicago Cubs finally learned this lesson: A baseball team without a good farm system won’t make it to the top. Higher education needs to focus on employee development and start rebuilding their own farm systems. Why do so many colleges look externally for new talent instead of developing their employees? Due to an external-candidate […]
There’s no doubt that higher ed institutions have access to tons of student data these days, but what separates actionable insights from analytics overload? Colleges and universities that crack the code can embark upon data-based decision-making as it relates to student success initiatives. Others, struggling, get lost in the numbers. “Most institutions are data rich […]
Purdue University surprised its faculty and the general higher ed sector this spring with its plans to acquire Kaplan University for a symbolic $1 (with a revenue-share plan spanning 30 years). Less noted is the opportunity Purdue has to learn from its new unit. Purdue, an Indiana land-grant institution, will form a new, public university […]
Renowned research chemist Karen Wetterhahn was working with dimethyl mercury in her lab at Dartmouth College, when she spilled a drop of the toxic compound on her glove. She had taken every precaution possible while working with the volatile substance, from using a hood to prevent her from inhaling fumes, to wearing a face shield […]
On some college campuses, the endangered species aren't in the environmental science textbooks. They're in the president's office. Based on a wide array of real and perceived performance issues, university presidents are facing growing challenges to their powerful roles. New findings by Southern Methodist University researchers reveal that "involuntary" presidential departures rose dramatically between 2007 […]
The first clue that something was wrong at Tidewater Community College in Virginia emerged in March 2016 when at least 15 employees discovered they could not file their tax returns. After the IRS informed the employees that their returns had already been submitted, college officials realized someone had breached the computer system. The attack began […]
