Author: Daniel Fusch

The Higher Education Business Model is Broken, But We Can’t Lose Sight of Why We Broke It, and Who We Needed to Break It For

by Mary Hinton

“The pandemic has forced us to confront higher education’s broken business model more directly. While we can no longer afford to be broken, the fundamental items that caused the problem are not resolved. The very thing that broke us – our missional focus on those who we must serve, though such service is not ‘profitable’ – is what sustains our communities during the pandemic. With a spine of steel and great will, we must reinvent ourselves in order to serve those who need us most.” by Mary Hinton, President, Hollins University “The economic model is broken.” “Your expenses are too high. “ “We can find all the answers through technology and you are no longer needed.” “There’s no real value to what you offer.” As a college president, I have heard these statements and the attendant negative narrative about higher education for far too long. At every opportunity, those of us in higher education are forced to articulate and provide concrete evidence of our value proposition: Again and again, we repeat our value. Having served on the board of a health system, I often heard the president respond to a similar narrative decrying the broken healthcare model, the questionable value […]

The Reopened Academic Library: Strategies for the Support and Safety of Students and Staff

by Daniel Fusch

“We’re already seeing … you tell someone to cover their nose with their mask and they roll their eyes at you. Our staff have a lot of anxiety. But we’re all in this together.” “We need students to physically distance and stay safe, and to wear masks, but the academic library is not set up to be, and doesn’t need to be, the ‘COVID police’; what do we do?” by Daniel Fusch, Academic Impressions In mid-August, we held a four-hour virtual workshop in which academic library leaders from across North America convened to share challenges and strategies as they prepare for the fall. Amid all the uncertainty and unpredictability, one thing is clear: For many institutions, the academic library – long core to both the academic and social life of the campus – is only going to be more critical this fall. This is the case both for institutions that have a reopened physical campus and for institutions that are primarily virtual, at which the academic library may be one of the few sites on campus that remains open to the campus community. Our virtual workshops are unique in providing a space where participants can connect with their peers and leading […]

Is It a Microaggression?

by Myron R. Anderson, Ph.D., Kathryn S. Young

Is it a microaggression? The authors of Fix Your Climate, two leading experts on hierarchical microaggressions, discuss how microaggressions operate within an academic workplace and offer a few quick tips for identifying and reducing them. Microaggressions, microbullying, and bullying are the silent destroyers of a university’s climate. Because microaggressions have a cumulative and amplifying effect (an organizational culture rife with microaggressive behavior becomes a fertile ground for microbullying behaviors), it is crucial to both educate your departmental or institutional culture about microaggressions and help your faculty and staff understand what they are, what they are not, and how they work. Identifying a microaggression Let’s look at two quick scenarios. SCENARIO A A white, male assistant professor says to a colleague, “Someone mistook me for a security guard.” I ask, “How did that make you feel?” He responds, “Fine. It was funny.” Is this a microaggression? Probably not. His feelings weren’t hurt. The incident did not relate to an aspect of his identity. No microaggression. SCENARIO B If you change the race of the individual in the same scenario, the outcome of the scenario might also change. An African-American, male, assistant professor says, “Someone mistook me for a security guard.” A […]

Showing Care, Community, and Service Excellence on Campus During a Pandemic

by Heath Boice-Pardee

Our care for students in the fall must be expressed, paradoxically, both by the barriers that we put in place to separate our community and by the measures we take to keep our community connected and welcome. Here are examples of service excellence, hospitality, and care from other sectors that can translate well on our campuses. by Dr. Heath Boice-Pardee, Associate Vice President for Student Affairs at Rochester Institute of Technology and co-author of Elevating Customer Service in Higher Education: A Practical Guide As campuses reopen or partially reopen and then continue to adjust throughout the fall, it is paramount that we think carefully about how to provide excellent service to students while social distancing, and about how to show visible and meaningful care for the health and safety of the campus community. While in the past care could be expressed by smiles, handshakes, and even hugs, times have changed. Care must now be expressed by promoting safety measures that have been newly created and implemented. We will all be critiqued on: This is an unprecedented situation, in which our care for students in the fall must be expressed, paradoxically, both by the barriers that we put in place to […]

You Were Just Named Interim. Now What?

by Ashlyn W. Sowell

Being named the interim leader in your unit or department can be both exciting and scary.  Unfortunately, there are not many road maps out there to guide you. Here is some guidance from others who’ve been there. by Ashlyn W. Sowell, Associate Vice President for Campaign Operations and Engagement, Johns Hopkins University In this time of a global pandemic, high unemployment, and financial pressures, it is likely that more people in advancement will be named to interim roles and likely for longer time periods.  Perhaps some guidance would be useful from a few of us who have been there: Here is what we have to share. Accepting and Adapting to the Role You might have a range of emotions when asked to take on a new interim role – surprised, flattered, and maybe a bit nervous. The first piece of advice Rachel gave was to say yes! A leader in your institution has asked you to step up, and they probably vetted your name well in advance. This could be a great opportunity for you to learn, lead, and grow. Aristide agreed, saying, “Never turn down an assignment.” Think about the portfolio of work and where this might lead you […]

Research Brief: The Blockchain – A Review of the Opportunities for Higher Ed

by Alicia Miranda

What the blockchain does is get rid of the notion that institutions operate as siloed entities, involving them instead as part of a larger system of data transactions. An exclusive report for our members by Alicia Miranda, Senior Research Analyst, Academic Impressions On average, college students will now attend three or more institutions before receiving a degree. Yet the current system for storing student data is designed and operates on the assumption that students will stay at one place for four years, that they will learn all the qualifications they hope to present as potential future job candidate from that one institution, and that this institution will always be in existence. There are several flaws in that assumption: All three of these circumstances can make it quite difficult for a student to gather their own data when they need it. The current model of higher education is both resilient and persistent; many of the same structures have endured since the middle ages. But as we move through the digital revolution, existing systems are proving inadequate to meet students’ (and others’) needs. Current data sharing causes friction because of the need of an intermediary (in this case, a higher-ed institution). It […]

Forecasting the Fall: Calamity or Opportunity?

by Forecasting the Fall: Calamity or Opportunity?

In these rough waters, higher education leaders cannot indulge the luxury of sitting back and waiting to see what everyone else does. Whatever happens with the pandemic or the economy, we are not going to see a simple “return to normal” or to the conditions under which our institutions operated in January, and leaders must take decisive action if they are to position their institutions for a changing future. by John King, Ed.D., strategic consultant, recently interim provost at the College of Western Idaho Higher education finds itself at a tipping point where leaders must make decisions about how to respond to today’s chaotic world situation: Return operations as they were, or adjust to a changing world? As of this writing, COVID-19 has infected over two million Americans, that we know of. Experts are saying that we are at the front end of this pandemic curve as opposed to its end. We are also experiencing an economic downturn that has caused massive unemployment and officially thrown the country into a recession. On top of all that, recent civilian deaths at the hands of police have led to nationwide protests over racial and social inequality and excessive police violence against minorities. […]

The Words We Use: How Higher Ed is Responding to Calls for Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

by Ashvina Patel

Increasingly, faculty leaders are responding seriously to the call for more “culturally relevant pedagogy,” referring to more inclusive classrooms and pedagogical styles. This article draws on findings from a recent inquiry into how institutions are thinking about equity within pedagogy. In late 2019 (prior to the COVID-19 pandemic), I conducted 28 phone interviews with both administrators and academics in higher education, from distinct universities. I spoke with leaders of Centers for Teaching and Learning, leaders in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and faculty in leadership positions. My research also included a review of timely literature on this topic. In this article, I share a quick snapshot of how institutions are responding to the call for culturally relevant pedagogy. by Ashvina Patel, Ph.D., Research Analyst, Academic Impressions Want more articles and reports like this one delivered to your inbox? Sign up for our free Daily Pulse on higher education. The Words We Use What do we call the effort? “Decolonizing curriculum,” “decolonizing the classroom,” “culturally relevant curriculum,” “culturally responsive materials,” “inclusive pedagogy,” “inclusive teaching content,” “diversity in curriculum,” “hidden curriculum,” and “uncovering implicit bias” are just some of the words higher education institutions are using to describe a change that is both […]

We are Outside the Box – Now is the Time to Think Like It

by W. Kent Barnds

What does the future of higher education hold? How will our sector emerge from this crisis? To answer these questions well, we need to think bigger and bolder, with all the creativity at our disposal. by W. Kent Barnds, Executive Vice President for External Relations, Augustana College I once had a boss I called “the king of cliché.” I often found myself struck by the ease with which he would rattle off a cliché perfect for the moment. I’ve been thinking about him in recent weeks as the higher education community has resorted to management by cliché. Everywhere I turn right now, I hear “Don’t waste a good crisis” or “We are all in this together.” Unfortunately, these sentiments seem to me to result in doing either the wrong thing or nothing at all. In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis in this country, we are seeing so-called decisive actions from those higher education institutions that want to take advantage. They are cutting programs and people and executing pet plans behind the scenes. Many of these changes do damage to the mission and will ultimately result in weaker rather than stronger colleges. Others have already cut to the bone and […]

COVID-19 Testing and Contact Tracing: 3 Tips as You Prepare to Reopen Campus

by Daniel Fusch

COVID-19 testing and contact tracing is an evolving topic with many unknowns, but several critical tips emerged from a recent discussion among peers at different institutions, both residential and commuter. by Daniel Fusch, Academic Impressions On May 28, 2020, academic leaders, student health, and student affairs professionals from just under two dozen campuses met online to compare notes as their campuses prepare to reopen. The topic at hand was how to manage COVID-19 testing and contact tracing as students return to campus, and a variety of institutions were represented, from urban residential campuses to small, rural commuter schools. We used an Open Space format to surface the most critical questions and working collaboratively to produce solutions. This virtual workshop was unique in its format, the second in an ongoing series of collaborative events held by Academic Impressions to help institutions navigate how to reopen campus and resume operations. (You can find out about this series here.) Open Space is a format you don’t usually see in a virtual professional development event; each of our virtual workshops provides an active learning environment where participants can set the learning agenda collaboratively, explore ideas, get inspired by what their peers are trying, and […]