Higher Ed Spotlight

When Nicole Lynn Lewis arrived on campus for the first time, she quickly realized there was very little support for student parents like herself. Now, as the founder and CEO of the nonprofit Generation Hope, Nicole has dedicated her career to advocating for student parents around the country – a group that makes up almost a quarter of all undergrads. She talks to Ben about the challenges she faced...

Tech entrepreneur, author, and former Princeton literature professor Ann Kirschner talks to Ben about the lessons learned from her extensive career across education, business, and tech. They discuss the relevance of the liberal arts to working life, what the public and private sectors can learn from each other, and whether long-established universities have the ability, and the incentives, to chan...

Charles Isbell, Dean of the College of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology, talks to Ben about how the modern experience of the university is changing for students and faculty alike. He explains how race affects students' experiences in higher education, how technology is reinventing student services, and why computer science needs diversity if it wants to solve the problems of tomorr...

Ben talks to Millie Garcia, President of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, about access to college and its benefits to society. They discuss her experiences as a first-generation college student, why state schools are more important than the Ivy League, and why a college education should be within everyone's reach. Higher Ed Spotlight is a new podcast, sponsored by Chegg...

Ben goes to DC to talk with US Under Secretary of Education James Kvaal about the Biden administration's priorities for higher education. They discuss student loan forgiveness, the regulation of for-profit colleges, and what the government can do to make college a safe investment for young people.  Higher Ed Spotlight is a new podcast, sponsored by Chegg, that aims to explore the future of higher...

Ben sits down with Paul LeBlanc, President of Southern New Hampshire University, for a frank discussion of the challenges facing non-traditional students. They look at who is being failed by the status quo in higher education, why the sector struggles to drive social mobility, the case for competency-based education, and the importance of showing students they matter. Higher Ed Spotlight is a new...

Higher Ed Spotlight is a new podcast series hosted by veteran journalist and higher education policy expert Ben Wildavsky, and produced with sponsorship from leading online learning platform Chegg. The series   takes a candid and unique look at the state of higher education today through conversations with the visionaries, academics and innovators on the frontlines shaping the future of learning.