Changing Higher Ed

H. Robert Showers Esq. has had a long and storied career in law. Prior to founding Simms Showers LLP, he was a principal at Gammon & Grange in charge of the litigation department, and before that was with the U.S. Department of Justice where he was acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General, a federal prosecutor and Chief of the Civil Section in the US Attorney's Office, and was Founder and Executiv...

Online education continues to grow. And with the constant developments in technology, the delivery systems are rapidly evolving. Therefore, institutional need to be thoughtful about which programs they offer online, who they contract with to offer these services, what types of systems and support structures they put into place and how they get faculty buy-in. Background on WICHE and WCET Western I...

Dr. Judy Kjelstrom is a pioneer in creating interdisciplinary programs that create well-rounded students who are well-equipped to thrive in today's rapidly changing world. Kjelstrom, the director emerita of University of California Davis' Biotechnology Program, now serves as the academic coordinator for the UC Davis Graduate School of Management. For her significant body of work, Kjelstrom was nam...

We find ourselves in a political climate where many say that college graduates are not ready to join the workforce.   This is true in many respects, but the greater truth is that the majority of higher ed has lost its way when it comes to preparing students for life, something equally if not more important than being prepared to assume a position in the workforce. Then there is Texas A&M. Like the...

Since seating the 116th Congress three weeks ago, there has been a lot going on in Washington. Tom Netting of CSPEN, the Central States Private Education Network, which represents schools nationwide to public policymakers in Washington and throughout the nation, joins us to give an update on what we can expect out of the 116th Congress with respect to higher education, the 2019 Negotiated Rulemaki...

In addition to enjoying the holidays, December is a good time to pause and take stock of the past year. This also is an opportune time to get out the crystal ball to contemplate what might happen in 2019. 2018: The Year in Review There were a number of very nice gifts under the tree this year, but also a lot of lumps of coal. In 2018, we saw four big themes: marketplace dynamics; Washington follie...

The higher ed sector has been relatively immune (or perhaps resistant?) to change since its inception, but in the past 10-15 years, and especially since the Great Recession, multiple things have changed, forcing changes on it. We now are seeing market forces unleashed, including consolidation, mergers/acquisitions, and closures as we've rarely seen before (and not in my lifetime). Understanding Hi...

Higher ed institutions are grappling with declining enrollment. The old ways of recruiting students that institutions used during the "go-go" years 15 years ago no longer work – there is far more competition for a shrinking pool of "traditional" students, student demographics have changed, and numerous other reasons. This has resulted in deep discounting of tuition, institutions investing in "clim...

Carol Aslanian is a market researcher who helps colleges build strategies and new programming to increase enrollment by focusing on post-traditional students, those students who used to be called "adult students." Carol began her career in higher education research in the 1980s at the College Board. Her first project in the post-traditional student world was called Youth and Direction for a Learni...

Dr. Dewey Clark is a very special university president.   Unlike most of his contemporaries, his undergraduate degree is from the school he is now leading, and following graduation, was invited to work on staff in admissions which he did for nine years before going off for a 24-year career in business. This experience has conditioned his thinking about higher ed. He understands that a university o...

Jeri Prochaska and Tom Netting of CSPEN, the Central States Private Education Network, represent higher ed institutions nationwide to public policymakers in Washington and throughout the nation. CSPEN is focused on making sure that the education industry has all the information that's coming out of Washington.   They believe communication is the key, thus allowing the industry to advocate for itse...

Dr. Scott Cowen is the personification of a proven crisis leader.   When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, Scott was just six years into his tenure of 16 years at Tulane. Katrina's devastation was massive – over $650 million in damages to the University alone. There was no playbook for what needed to happen – up to this point, no university had encountered such devastation – and the decis...

The CFO of a higher ed institution is a strategic leadership position that requires a mixture of talents. Not only must they have a strong financial background, but they must also be able to look across the spectrum of the operations at an institution, and sometimes that includes security and financial aid. The role requires looking at an institution from a 30,000 foot perspective vs. a day-to-day...

Everyone wants more revenues for their institutions, but no one wants to pay any more than their "fair share" in taxes. That's where Dave Moja comes in. Dave is a partner and Professional Practice Leader for Tax at the accounting firm Capin Crouse. His areas of expertise are tax and accounting; financial and UBIT consulting; and higher education metrics, reporting, and development of alternative r...

Dr. Nick Dirks has the pedigree of one of the top educators in the world, and the "battle scars" of someone who's been in the hot seat in higher ed and survived it.  As the 10th chancellor of UC Berkeley, Dr. Dirks saw many victories and faced many challenges during his tenure, all the while ensuring that the students of Berkeley received the top public university education in the US (and arguably...

Fundraising is an art form, and Martin Leifeld has become a master artist.  Not only has he perfected the art form, he has raised it to new levels through old-school methods that include building relationships, understanding the donors' priorities, and mastering the ask.  Martin has raised over $500 million for education institutions and nonprofits, and in this podcast, he give us a tutorial on th...

HR is one of those critical things that all organizations need, but most don't put the focus on what it can do for your institution from a strategic perspective except as a financial consideration. This is one of the biggest mistakes that executives make - thinking about HR as a tactical tool as related to budget instead of a strategic tool that can create the culture and excellence that it strive...