Changing Higher Ed

In this podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Steve Katsouros of Come to Believe Foundation and Network , which works with colleges and universities to replicate a successful DEI, enrollment, and graduation model. Dr. Katsouros was the founder of Arrupe College, a two-year institution that is part of Loyola University Chicago. Arrupe has an amazing track record for completion and having st...

Higher education is currently forcing many adult learners to jump through hoops to complete their degrees. Although many of these nontraditional students can be successful, colleges and universities should still meet adult learners where they are, as higher ed faces dwindling enrollment and a workforce that is relying less on employees with four-year degrees.  Higher ed institutions can start the...

Successfully reinventing a college or university into a truly innovative school after cutting a major portion of programs sounds near impossible, but the experiences at National Louis University (NLU), a four-campus private institution in Chicago, proves that presidents and other decision-makers can achieve the same without having to rebuild trust in faculty and staff.  NLU is also the poster chil...

Dr. Drumm McNaughton interviews Dr. Lucie Lapovsky of Lapovsky Consulting about higher education finances, including how low enrollment is forcing smaller, non-elite colleges and universities to shift cost functionality, drop majors, consolidate, reset their tuition, price-match the competition, embrace online learning and micro-credentials and retain students. Podcast Highlights Operating online...

Podcast Summary Dr. Drumm McNaughton interviews CFO Tom Netting of TEN Government Strategies about the Biden administration's student loan forgiveness plan, the Omnibus Appropriations Bill, delays in upcoming regulations, and the effects that changes in Congress will have on higher education. Podcast Highlights Chief Justice Amy Coney Barrett reviewed and dismissed two of the six filed suits again...

Dr. Drumm McNaughton, CEO and Higher Education Consultant at The Change Leader and Deb Maue, Senior Vice President for Enrollment and Marketing at Aurora University, discuss what has happened in 2022 and predict trends in higher education for 2023. Read the summary at https://changinghighered.com/2023-higher-education-predictions-2022-year-in-review  

Dr. Drumm McNaughton , in conversation with Danny King , co-founder and CEO of the global digital credentialing platform Accredible, about this new—and now mainstream—technology that is transforming the hiring industry and higher ed's approach to credentialing. Podcast Highlights In the last decade or so, digital credentialing has become mainstream, with most organizations around the world—includi...

Podcast Summary Dr. Drumm McNaughton , in conversation with Dr. Nathan Long , President at Saybrook University, about how Saybrook has managed to more than double enrollment over the course of eight years. Podcast Highlights To connect with prospective students, update the university's mission every four to five years using data obtained from market research. Allocating a high percentage of the ov...

In the conclusion of this two-part series, Dr. Drumm McNaughton and Dr. Belle Wheelan , president of the Southern Association of Colleges Commission on Colleges , discuss the tsunami of issues facing higher ed and accreditation today, including several hot-button issues, how she responds to criticisms of accreditation, recent SACSCOC standards, and what's ahead for accreditation.   Podcast Highlig...

In the first of this two-part interview, Dr. Drumm McNaughton interviews Dr. Belle Wheelan, president of the Southern Association of Colleges Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) , about the tsunami of issues facing higher ed and accreditation today, including three recent examples of undue political influence on governing boards.   Podcast Highlights The current misunderstanding of accreditation like...

Host,  Dr. Drumm McNaughton is joined by Dr. Jana Mathews in discussion about the changing role of faculty in student mental health – how helicopter parents, social media, and the pandemic lockdowns shaped today's undergraduate students, along with three tips for faculty as they navigate this unprecedented landscape, and how Higher Ed Administration can support Faculty in this transformational rol...

Dr. Drumm McNaughton  interviews Dr. Larry Large , long-time higher education administrator, president of LD Large Consulting, and president emeritus of Oglethorpe University about the most important disruptions facing higher ed today and how higher leaders can respond. Podcast Highlights The world of higher education has changed over the past thirty years in ways that affect virtually all areas o...

  Dr. Drumm McNaughton  interviews Chris Kuberski , president of Highland Community College in Illinois, about her tremendous strides in the last three years to overhaul the organizational culture at her institution in order to provide an exceptional student experience through exceptional faculty and staff experiences.   Podcast Highlights Want to offer an exceptional student experience? First, do...

Dr. Drumm McNaughton  interviews John A. White , a long-time leader in academia who most recently served as Chancellor of the University of Arkansas, about current trends in higher ed governance and governing boards that likely will erode operational efficiencies—and how a focus on alignment can help leaders succeed. Podcast Highlights The insertion of former politicians into higher ed executive r...

Dr. Drumm McNaughton  interviews Jeff Spear, Principal at CFO Colleague , about the situation in higher education finance and how leaders can rethink finance in the face of current challenges. Podcast Highlights While the GI Bill and other government programs have achieved a great deal, the result has been discounts and tuition increases that render the price tag of a college education virtually m...

Dr. Drumm McNaughton  interviews Dr. Daniel Aguilar , a higher ed consultant in social justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion issues, on reframing higher ed's fragmented approach to diversity on campuses to better meet the needs of individual students while also boosting the university's return on investment. Podcast Highlights Social justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion – JEDI is not mere...

Dr. Drumm McNaughton interviews Phil Hill , a top expert on educational technology and online project management, to discuss the current—disrupted—state of the industry and the answers college and university presidents must come up with to survive the existential questions facing institutions today. Podcast Highlights Unlike their predecessor MOOCs, OPMs are here to stay. Now mainstream throughout...

Dr. Drumm McNaughton  interviews Ryan Craig , a Forbes journalist, author, Managing Director at Achieve Partners, and leader in the movement to establish an apprenticeship system for training and hiring employees. McNaughton and Craig discuss why traditional higher education will decline unless dramatic transformation is made to create workforce readiness.  Podcast Highlights The gap between the t...

Dr. Drumm McNaughton  interviews Dr. Ami Moyal , president of Israel's Afeka College of Engineering, about how he used the skills and insights from his years as CEO of a high-tech company to transform Afeka's curriculum and processes to better meet current and future industry demands with the implementation of a continuous improvement culture. Podcast Highlights Change must start from the inside,...

Dr. Drumm McNaughton interviews Dr. Richard "Dick" Chait , a distinguished Fulbright Scholar and one of the top higher education management and governance experts, about the evolving roles, responsibilities, and key traits of effective board members and trustees. Podcast Highlights Governance in higher education has changed over time, and governance structures must continue to evolve for instituti...

Dr. Drumm McNaughton interviews Amy Privette Perko , CEO of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, about the educational model of collegiate sports and the changing face of the NCAA. Podcast Highlights Two concurrent – but not directly connected – sets of major changes relating to the NCAA were made public in June and July of 2021, marking a period of transformational change in colleg...

Dr. Drumm McNaughton interviews Rick Beyer, Executive Chairman at Core Education Services , PBC, about new and innovative ways that smaller colleges and universities can leverage shared services and affiliations to survive and prosper in the future. Podcast Highlights The COVID-19 pandemic has compounded previously existing and systemic problems in higher education, which will require transformati...

In this episode of the podcast, two-time former president of the University of South Carolina, Harris Pastides, shares his experiences and beliefs about what it takes to lead an institution of higher education in the 21 st century. Throughout his remarkable career, Pastides has led with a student-centered approach, a willingness to show his own humanity, and a commitment to making himself accessib...

In this episode, Brandon Busteed explores the dramatic and positive shift taking place in people's perceptions of education technology and online learning. A recent poll showed that Americans have increasingly positive opinions about the quality of online education, with 47% saying that online learning is just as good as in-person education. Even more impressively, a growing percentage – 8%, up fr...

In this episode, Drumm McNaughton and Mike Goldstein, Managing Partner at Tyton Partners , discuss the emerging trend among colleges and universities to engage in very different kinds of partnerships than what we have seen in the past. As many schools struggle to generate sufficient revenue, mergers and acquisitions are becoming more common, especially among smaller schools. Goldstein explains how...