Category: Blog

Creating Inclusion in STEM

By Brice Yates, Ph.D. Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer for the College of Chemistry University of California, Berkeley     The challenges of increasing minoritized individuals enrolling in STEM have been well documented and discussed for many decades. STEM departments within colleges and universities have become more intentional in their recruitment efforts of enrolling minoritized individuals into their programs, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. As departments and institutions are seeking to increase diversity through minoritized student enrollment, departmental administration needs to take an in-depth look at the current climate existent within their departments. It is imperative for departments to have an understanding of their current climate as recruitment and retention efforts will be reflected in the environment. Within STEM, minoritized students may encounter a department that is largely homogenous from faculty to support staff, as well as their student peers. Feelings or actions of exclusion often arise in homogenous departments and can have a negative effect on minoritized students. The feeling of exclusion can occur via classroom setting and research groups. Research groups are comprised of graduate students (and to a lesser extent undergraduate students) who are a part of a principal investigator (research faculty) groups. An […]

Falling Up: How to Develop BIPOC Leaders and Students in Higher Ed

By Chet Jordan, Ph.D. Dean of Social Sciences and Professional Studies, Greenfield Community College     We often neglect silence. In our quest to preserve and uplift success, we shy away from what isn’t there, from who and what was left behind, and from the stories that got lost along the way. It is beautiful to celebrate the grit, determination, and ability of those who cross the finish line but there is kaleidoscopic complexity in each individual who never comes into the camera’s view. One of the largest subgroups in the American higher education system is comprised of transfer students. Although students transfer in various directions throughout the system, a vast majority attempt to transfer from community colleges to four-year institutions. Recent data show that 31% of students who first enroll at a community college transfer to a four-year college within six years (Shapiro et al., 2019). Astonishingly, close to 80% of community college students hope to earn a bachelor’s degree, yet 60% who enroll in a community college with the hope of transferring to a four-year institution fail to do so.     ..by mapping everything out early and tracking my steps, my priorities were clear; I knew what […]

The Great Resignation: How Higher Ed Can Take on Private Industry

The Great Resignation is hitting colleges and universities especially hard. Even before the pandemic, retention of the best staff and faculty was a growing concern, given the lure of higher pay in the corporate sector, competition between academic institutions themselves, and increased and continual pressure to do more with less in the academic workplace. The COVID-19 pandemic worsened these challenges by severely depressing departmental budgets, demanding rapid transitions in the way higher-ed professionals pursue their work and deliver services to students, and by exposing and deepening workplace inequities, particularly for women and for faculty and staff of color. A recent survey that we conducted found that nearly half of respondents reported feeling clinically meaningful levels of burnout, not far off from the working population at large. Today, when we speak with human resources professionals in higher ed, they frequently share their frustration (and sometimes even fatalism) at what many see as a long and losing battle to hire, retain, and develop top talent for their institutions at a time when higher education is seeing unprecedented brain drain toward private industry and when the prospect of working together toward a common good is no longer enough, by itself, to attract and […]

How Lynn University Uses Block Scheduling to Provide Flexibility for Students

By Katrina Carter-TellisonVice President for Academic Affairs, Lynn University At Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida, the pandemic caused us to challenge long-held assumptions and reimagine everything from classroom schedules and course delivery methods to campus tours. As an independent institution with approximately 3,400 students from more than 100 counties, it was important to increase flexibility and reduce risk during a prolonged period of uncertainty with rapidly changing conditions. We developed a plan for block scheduling as a way to minimize exposure for faculty and students and to enable administrators to implement a quick switch from in-person to remote instruction if necessary. We also sought to provide students with more options to fit their circumstances due to health issues or travel disruptions. After implementing the approach for a full academic year, we are seeing that this innovation precipitated by the pandemic has the potential to become a permanent feature. Reimagining the 16-week semester Block scheduling breaks up traditional 16-week semesters into four-week sessions with synchronous classes four days per week. Students can choose to focus on one course at a time or fast-track with two courses each session. They also have the option to complete the semester early, start late, […]

Addressing a Changing Landscape in Higher Education Due to COVID-19: Lessons From One Institution for Academic Leaders

ByAnand R. Marri, Dean and Professor, Teachers College, Ball State University Paaige K. Turner, Dean and Professor, College of Communication, Information, and Media, Ball State University Susana Rivera-Mills, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Ball State University While the COVID-19 pandemic has presented numerous challenges for higher education institutions across the world, it also offers an opportunity to reflect upon how this moment can prepare academic leaders for a changing landscape. The lessons we learned at Ball State University are organized into three areas, those that can take higher education forward into the future, those that are applicable for that moment, and those that did not achieve the intended objectives. Ball State University serves over 22,000 undergraduate and graduate students both on campus and through our numerous online programs. Currently, over one-third of our undergraduate students receive Pell Grants and over 25 percent of our undergraduate students are first-generation college students. The COVID-19 pandemic presented a new set of challenges and exacerbated existing challenges across higher education while providing an opportunity to affirm commitments to institutional values. Beneficence is Ball State’s iconic statue that represents the beneficence and tenacity of the Ball Family and our community. Ball State […]

It’s Not Really the Dark Side: 5 Tips for Faculty Interested in Administration

By Manya C. Whitaker, PhDAssociate Professor & Chair of Education, Crown Faculty Center Director, Colorado College When I started graduate school in 2006, I had no interest in becoming a professor or joining academe. I wanted to work at a think tank researching youth development to inform public policy. But in my third year of graduate school, I was a Teaching Assistant (TA) for a developmental psychology class and everything changed. I discovered the joy of teaching and eventually petitioned to teach sections of the course. When I entered the job market, I was certain to apply to small liberal arts colleges where teaching was paramount in the job description. Ten years later, I know I made the right decision. But I also confess that in year 6, teaching started to lose its appeal and I sought new challenges. I asked my chair if I could be the associate chair to ease the workload in the department. He happily agreed, and I had my second professional epiphany—I like administrative work! I’ve always been a person who made lists and found joy in crossing each item off. I have very detailed schedules that tell me what I should be doing almost […]

Minors Matter: How Interdisciplinary Solutions Benefit Institutions and Students

By Hilary L. Link, PhDPresident of Allegheny College Between the end of the 19th century and the first part of the 20th, higher education in this country became more and more specialized and fragmented due to a number of factors: new research findings, the growth of experimental and scientific methods, the application of science to industry, and “an increased awareness of social problems brought about by an increasingly industrial and urban society.” Emblematic of this specialization, which continues today, is the focus on a student’s major, required by almost every college and university. Most majors are too discipline-specific on their own to give graduates the tools to solve the ever-more-vexing problems of today’s complex world. A major in English may present a career path that is traditionally narrow; combine it with a minor in Environmental Science and graduates expand their opportunities, for instance, as researchers in the natural sciences, leaders in the burgeoning alternative energy sector, grant-writers for climate action nonprofits or environment-focused policymakers and communications professionals. Our problems demand solutions that integrate different perspectives and disciplines, which is precisely why minors matter today more than ever before. As an interdisciplinary scholar of Renaissance art and literature, I have been […]

The Antidote to Pandemic Disillusionment: Shepherding Your Community with Intention and Care

By Mary Dana Hinton, Ph.D.President of Hollins University As part of our opening State of the University address, a tradition on many college campuses, Hollins University faculty and staff had the opportunity to learn together in a variety of small group settings. Besides hearing information about the university and how we are performing, we also used the moment to engage in shared professional development by choosing from nearly a dozen learning sessions. These ranged from an overview of our general education revision process to discussions about community engagement and outreach, enrollment, and more. As few leaders may be willing to confess, but all will understand, I chose the session on mental health and wellness. If ever there was a time to seek as much mental health support as possible, it’s now. Even if it means being vulnerable in front of my community. In this educative session, the facilitator shared an interesting model of disaster/trauma response. While the COVID-19 pandemic may not properly fit the definition of disaster, it has certainly been disastrous, and traumatic, for many. As I looked at this model, it felt like an accurate and affirming reflection of my lived experience, my interior life, and my leadership […]

Managing Change During COVID-19: Equipping supervisors for change in a time of unending uncertainty

By Amanda Morrow, SHRM-CP, Human Resources Business Partner, Rice Universitywith editing contributions from Melinda English, Rebecca Gould, and Susann Glenn Panic Over one year ago, the isolated whispers of a novel coronavirus grew into a boisterous, full-blown pandemic alarm that reverberated across the globe. As a result, universities and colleges worldwide were suddenly tasked with leading their staff, faculty, and students through unprecedented challenges and unforeseen complications. We, here, at Rice University in Houston, Texas, were no exception. On March 5, 2020, our Crisis Management Team alerted the campus that a staff member who had been under quarantine with a possible case of the coronavirus has tested positive for the disease. While swift action was taken to isolate the affected individual and those with whom they had contact, this news catalyzed sudden and wide-reaching action across campus. As the implications of SARS-CoV-2, a highly contagious, airborne disease, began to take form, the Human Resources (HR) team sprang into action. Our team immediately began supporting efforts to close down the campus to only essential personnel; to provide critical guidance to supervisors as they sent most (if not all) of their employees-home to work fully remote; to redesign how work was being […]

Why Free College Isn’t Enough

Eileen L. Strempel, UCLA Stephen J. Handel, College Board Eileen Strempel and Stephen Handel are authors of a book released in 2021 titled Beyond Free College: Making Higher Education Work for 21st Century Students. In their book, Eileen and Stephen share a compelling case that post-secondary degree or certificate is essential to participation in our American democracy and economy. In their recently released book Beyond Free College: Making Higher Education Work for 21st Century Students, Eileen Strempel and Stephen Handel shift the conversation from college access to degree completion, and make a compelling case that a post-secondary degree or certificate is essential to participation in our American democracy and economy. Focusing on today’s transfer students at a time when 36 million Americans have earned some college credits but no degree, Strempel and Handel introduce us to the plight of the neo-traditional student—27% of whom are also parents. Drawing upon extensive research, the authors offer a strategic guide to the policies that deliver the best return on investment in rebuilding the American economy post-pandemic, both in terms of national public policy and for college leaders seeking action steps for their campus. At a time when free college has gained remarkable popularity, […]