Future U Podcast - The Pulse of Higher Ed

As the academic year comes to a close, Jeff and Michael spoke with higher education reporters from the Washington Post, NPR, and the Chronicle for HIgher Education and Open Campus about their perspective on the past year and what the future will hold for campuses—including the stories that they believe aren't being discussed nearly enough.

In the wake of COVID-19, many university presidents have struggled to communicate amidst a fluid and fast-changing set of circumstances outside their control. What does it take to lead in these times? David Gergen, advisor to four U.S. presidents and several university presidents, joins Jeff and Michael for a wide ranging conversation on leadership on campus in these challenging times. 

Michael Baston, president of Rockland Community College, joins Jeff and Michael to talk about the precipitous decline in enrollments in community colleges since COVID-19 and to reflect on what it will take to boost student outcomes at community colleges. 

Tamara Hiler joins us to talk through the opinions of higher education institutions and policy by students and the public, and Jeff and Michael reflect on key issues one year into the pandemic response. The Future U Podcast is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Follow Future U on Twitter • Facebook

Former Secretaries of Education Margaret Spellings and John King join Jeff and Michael to discuss their views about the new administration in Washington, DC and what they hope is on the horizon for higher ed policy. High on their list? A return to normalcy and support for the neediest students. The Future U Podcast is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and by Nelnet Campus Commerce...

With daily signs of momentum in the effort to vaccinate U.S. adults, college leaders are beginning to plan for a new normal in higher ed after the pandemic. The president of Georgia State University, which has been a leader in the student success movement, joins Future U to talk about what institutions need to do to improve the student experience in the decade ahead.  Follow Future U on Twitter •...

Colleges have received more than $36 billion from federal stimulus bills over the last year. Two former Hill staffers representing both sides of the aisle, Alison Griffin and Julie Peller, discuss how higher ed legislation really moves on Capitol Hill and what Congress should be tackling next.  

The pandemic has dramatically changed the outlook for new college graduates. Matt Sigelman, CEO of Burning Glass Technologies, a labor-market analytics firm, discusses what higher ed can do to help students prepare for life after college, including the academic programs to put in place. The Future U Podcast is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation . Follow Future U on Twitter • Facebo...

Michelle Weise returns to Future U to talk about her new book, Long Life Learning: Preparing for Jobs that Don’t Even Exist Yet and why creating a new learning ecosystem for what’s ahead is so critical for all of us. The Future U Podcast is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation .  Follow Future U on Twitter • Facebook

As part of an annual tradition on the podcast, Jeff and Michael sit down with higher ed reporters to talk about the biggest stories and trends. Melissa Korn from the Wall Street Journal and Kirk Carapezza from GBH radio in Boston. The Future U Podcast is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation . Follow Future U on Twitter • Facebook

The 23-campus California State University system was among the first to announce in the spring it would go mostly online for the fall (and eventually for the spring). As a complement to the previous episode where Jeff and Michael talked about what it took to welcome students back to campus, in this episode they talk with the president of Sonoma State University about why the Cal State system made...

As colleges considered whether to open their campuses to students in-person for the fall, different institutions approached the question from different vantage points. In this episode, Michael and Jeff talk with the president of Boston University, which welcomed students back, to understand what went into that decision and the logistics behind pulling it off. Questions? Comments? Connect with us o...

Emily Oster joins Michael and Jeff as the debate over reopening both K–12 schools and colleges has reached a fever pitch. Oster, a Brown University economist, has been at the forefront of the public conversation about schools and COVID-19. Jeff and Michael asked Oster about the dynamics of being a public intellectual on a university campus and how she deals with criticism. Questions? Comments? Con...

Regional public universities are the workhorses of the higher ed systems of many states. Overall, the 400-plus regional public universities across the U.S. educate some 40% of all American undergraduates. But often they are stuck in the middle between better known public flagship universities and community colleges. After years of declining state revenues, and in some states declining enrollments,...

When we think of hybrid education we tend to think of the classroom–a mix between online and face-to-face learning. In this episode, Marni Baker Stein, provost and chief academic officer at Western Governors University talks about how the fast-growing online institution had to rethink all its services and offerings to students in the virtual world, providing a roadmap to traditional institutions i...

Southern New Hampshire University has skyrocketed to the top of largest higher education institutions over the past decade, as its president, Paul LeBlanc, has led it through a dramatic transformation. In this episode, LeBlanc talks about the perilous state of higher education, its importance for the nation and world, what Covid-19 and the recession will and won’t accelerate, and how the distincti...

With international enrollment down sharply, especially in STEM fields, and potential students questioning the worth of mostly online education, how can graduate schools adapt and innovate? We talk to David Poole of the University of Miami College of Engineering and Jillian Baer of Liaison International about graduate admissions in 2020 and beyond. Questions? Comments? Connect with us on Twitter or...

Jeff and Michael preview Jeff’s new book, Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions , which goes on sale September 15. Jeff, who embedded in three different college admissions offices, pulls back the curtain on how admissions decisions get made and discusses how their choices are much more than just GPAs and test scores. Please make sure to order your own copy of Jeff’s book today! htt...

Higher education is now facing another fall of remote learning, just months after many colleges and universities had announced they’d be coming back to campus. Jeff and Michael talk to the president and CFO at one of the first institutions that decided to reverse course, Dickinson College. They also catch up with the College Crisis Initiative at Davidson College. https://archive.org/download/episo...

Is summer over already? Higher ed didn’t have much of a summer break this year, and Michael and Jeff begin the fourth season of FutureU by reviewing the big headlines and talk about the trends that will shape the coming academic year — as well as a preview of Jeff’s new book that will be released in September. https://archive.org/download/episode-62-s-4-e-1/Episode%2062%20%28S4%2C%20E1%29.mp3 Ques...

When Michael and Jeff began season three of the podcast last August, few could have imagined the disruptions to higher ed and the country by the time this season comes to a close. In the last episode before the regular summer hiatus, Michael and Jeff look back on their favorite episodes and ahead on the issues that will shape the coming months. https://archive.org/download/ep-61-final/Ep%2061%20-%...

Martin Van Der Werf from Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce joins the podcast to discuss the center’s attempts to rank colleges and universities on the return on investment of their degrees. https://archive.org/download/episode-60-final/Episode%2060%20Final.mp3 Questions? Comments? Connect with us on Twitter or Facebook, or email FutureUpodcast at gmail dot com.

As colleges and universities announce their plans for getting students back on campus, Michael and Jeff talk with Farnam Jahanian, president of Carnegie Mellon University and Lenore Rodicio, provost at Miami Dade College about their approaches to returning this fall. https://archive.org/download/episode-59_202006/Episode%2059.mp3 Questions? Comments? Connect with us on Twitter or Facebook, or emai...

John Katzman, founder and CEO of Noodle Partners, and Ben Nelson, founder and CEO of the Minerva Project, join Jeff and Michael to talk about how COVID-19 might transform higher education in the longer – and what institutions should be doing in response. https://archive.org/download/episode-58/Episode%2058.mp3 Questions? Comments? Connect with us on Twitter or Facebook, or email FutureUpodcast at...

Fernando Bleichmar from Cengage joins Michael and Jeff to talk about three waves of the higher ed response to Covid-19, what’s worked and not worked on campuses, and the results of a new survey of faculty and institutions the company conducted with the Online Learning Consortium, UPCEA, and other organizations. This episode of Future U is brought to you by Cengage. https://archive.org/download/epi...