One of our country’s more shocking statistics is that 20 veterans commit suicide every day. Last year it was worse, with 22 veterans ended their lives by their own hands every day. This public health crisis is frightening, extraordinarily sad, and simply unacceptable. A veteran student told me about the suicide rate and what our local college…
Category: Deanspeak
Posts about the wide realm of higher education from a deanly perspective
On Stressing College Bound High School Seniors and Their Families
Talked recently with a college-bound high school senior about how they feel about their search and applications to college? I used to approach the exchange with good cheer. Now my queries are more sympathetic than enthusiastic. Students with hopes for admission to strong colleges and universities are stressed, confused, and increasingly ill-served by higher education.…
Reasons for Rebuilding, Re-engineering, or Reforming
At a recent college retreat my leadership team watched Simon Sinek’s TED talk about how great leaders inspire action. It is a good video and like most popular TED talks, it provoked reflection and discussion. We did not, though, sort it all out. I sensed that the key message of the presentation – the importance…
People Mapping: Friends Matter
Sometimes the most basic functions of higher education are missed or ignored. Take, for example, the influence of friendships on college students. We all know that friends matter greatly to the college experience. Talk with a college graduate and more often than not, their best friends for life are college friends. People meet their spouses…
An Ambitious Agenda for Community Colleges
America’s community colleges – and there are about 1,200 of them – educate more than 10 millions people every year. Community colleges serve a myriad of needs, ranging from training to swimming to language to college courses. Most community college students hope to obtain a four-year degree. Unfortunately, less than 40% are successful in earning…
There’s No System In Our Financial Aid System
Sara Goldrick-Rab is a respected professor of education with a rare trait: she is comfortable in the role of public intellectual. Her most recent book, Paying the Price: College Costs, Financial Aid, and the Betrayal of the American Dream, has generated a good deal of well-deserved interest. It is a data-driven study that argues that the…
Credentials and Credentialing
Higher education performs two critical functions: dissemination of knowledge and information (education), and certification of that knowledge and information (credentialing). We spend the majority of our work in higher education on the first half of that equation. We argue about relevance and value, about teaching and research, and wrestle endlessly about better ways to help…