Search Results for: conflict

Tailoring the RCM Model to What Works For You

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

In an era of public scrutiny and requests for increased financial accountability, higher-ed leaders are looking for ways to show the public that they are addressing the issue of rising college costs. Many have turned to responsibility-centered management (RCM) as a way to reduce costs and encourage financial responsibility within individual academic departments. While many institutional leaders see RCM as a way of decentralizing financial decision-making, allowing vice presidents and deans to take responsibility for their own budgets, they may not realize that certain principles of this financial structure can be tailored to fit the distinct culture of their campus, even without wholesale adoption of an RCM model. The University of Notre Dame recognized how they could adopt some principles from RCM to meet their institutional needs and goals. Here is what they did, and what you can learn from it. Adopting Elements of RCM – Not the Whole Model Linda Kroll, associate vice president for finance at the University of Notre Dame, states that when their institution looked at some of the fundamental elements of the RCM model, university leaders liked that the model allowed for: Distribution of responsibility to unit leaders Creation of a culture that rewards lowering […]

College Student Mental Health Statistics and What They Really Mean

Posted on by Daniel Fusch

There has been a lot of media attention to college student mental health statistics and to the upsurge in demand for mental health services. But does the data really suggest a mental health “crisis”? What does the upsurge actually mean for postsecondary institutions? Where do we need to shift the conversation, and what do we need to do next? Learn more in the infographic and article below. What the Upsurge in Demand for Mental Health Services Means (and Doesn’t Mean) The first thing I want to underscore is that institutions are facing an unprecedented level of demand from students seeking help and support for mental health issues. Counseling centers are not new on campus–and mental health services are certainly not new–but the upsurge in volume from students accessing these services is. The two main presenting issues we’re seeing in students are anxiety and depression. The other issue institutions are concerned about but that is statistically much less frequent is suicidality. If you read the press on this topic, there are a lot of articles that emphasize the number of college students committing suicide. That’s obviously a horrible mental health outcome and something institutions are investing prevention and education efforts around, […]

7 Steps to Launch a Robust Brand Strategy

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

Recently, during an Academic Impressions webcast (you can order a recording here), we covered the approach that the University of California, Davis took to overcome a crisis and rebuild its internal culture, while also promoting itself and its strengths to external audiences. No matter where your institution currently stands, the same steps can be used when considering a wide-scale and new approach to branding. Here is an outline of seven critical steps to developing a robust brand strategy. 1. Identity Research and Analysis The first step in branding is knowing three elements about your institution: Only after you have been thoughtful about each of these steps, can you start to use your research to build your platform. In this step, you can truth-test your perceptions about your institution with the most important people you want to engage. Doing this helps senior leaders fully see reputational gaps and why your targeting marketing and branding efforts will advance the university. 2. Define Marketing and its ROI After the first step, conversations with senior leaders, key champions and opinion leaders about what marketing is and is not able to achieve will help you manage expectations. In addition, this is the time to share […]

IngenioUs Leadership in Action: The Power of Unleashing Human Experience and Potential 

Posted on by Brady Stanton

“When doing what we most love transforms us into the best possible version of ourselves and hints at even greater future possibilities, the urge to explore becomes a feverish compulsion.” -Steven Kotler1   Leadership in higher education goes beyond operational management—it is about creating a culture that inspires every individual to unleash their full potential. Over five seasons of the IngenioUs podcast, I’ve interviewed over 100 college and university presidents, uncovering key themes that show how exceptional leaders shape environments where human experience and potential can truly flourish.  In this first article of a new blog series, I explore a foundational theme: the transformative power of leadership that prioritizes people and a human-centered culture.  The stories in my latest book Ingenious Leadership reveal a powerful truth: the most impactful leaders are those who embrace authenticity, cultivate emotional intelligence, foster inclusion, and develop others to achieve their full potential.      Embrace Your Story: Authenticity as Leadership Strength Mary Dana Hinton, President of Hollins University, exemplifies the transformative power of owning one’s narrative. Growing up in the American South, Hinton often felt marginalized. Initially, she believed she needed to conform to traditional leadership norms to succeed. However, her journey toward educational equity revealed […]

Five Skills We Need to Be Teaching Leaders Now to Prepare for an Uncertain Future 

Posted on by Sarah Adams

If the last five years in higher education have taught us anything, it’s that disruption is no longer episodic; it’s continuous. Financial pressure, demographic shifts, changing public expectations, advances in artificial intelligence, and growing questions about the value of higher education are no longer distant threats but daily leadership realities.  We cannot predict exactly what higher education will look like in five or ten years. But we can predict this: that change will be constant, that ambiguity will be the norm, and that leaders will be asked to make high-stakes decisions with incomplete information and competing interests.  That future offers profound implications for leadership development. If we continue to prepare leaders only for today’s higher education landscape, we will leave them underprepared to lead our institutions into the future.  The future demands leaders who can think strategically and expansively, who can engage in anticipatory thinking, and who can navigate complexity without defaulting to fear, rigidity, or zero-sum thinking. Following are five skills that leadership programs should be teaching now.  1. Design Thinking: Encouraging “Possibility” Thinking  Design thinking is, at its core, a disciplined approach to problem-solving that prioritizes curiosity, empathy, experimentation, and learning. It emphasizes divergent thinking, generating many possibilities, before moving into convergent thinking, where choices are narrowed and decisions are made.  The sequencing […]

What the Chief of Staff Needs to Do on Day One

Posted on by Daniel Fusch

In this series, we’ve talked about how the chief of staff can operate as an effective liaison, what qualities presidents desire in the chief of staff, and where new chiefs of staff could look for resources. Now, in our fifth article, we want to ask: What does the new chief of staff need to do, their first day, first week, first month on the job? In this series of articles, experienced chiefs of staff offer critical advice on managing the chief of staff role. We will share their answers to questions such as these: Contributors to this series include: We hope you will enjoy the series and share each article with your peers. If you find these articles useful, please consider attending and learning from these and other experts at these virtual trainings: Today, here is the fifth installment in our series: 5. What Does the New Chief of Staff Need to Know? Academic Impressions. The four of you have served as chiefs of staff. What is one specific piece of critical advice you would offer to a new COS? Chris Romano, Ramapo College. Relationships are everything in this role. An effective chief of staff must spend his/her time among the campus and […]

5 Questions to Help Restore a Strained Town/Gown Relationship

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

PART OF A SERIES ON RFPs, CAPITAL PLANNING, AND PUBLIC/PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS This is the first in a series of articles by Neil Calfee. Currently the principal of NPC Group, specializing in the creation and negotiation of public/private Partnerships, Neil Calfee previously served as Arizona State University’s director of real estate development. He has over 15 years of experience in development and management of complex development projects involving partnerships between government entities and the private sector. This article offers Calfee’s advice for strengthening often-strained town/gown relationships, and is written from his unique perspective in working for both Arizona State University and the City of Tempe. We also recommend his previous articles with AI: You may also be interested in his recorded webcast, “Creating Financial Expectations in the Housing RFP Process.” by Neil Calfee (NPC Group) “Love/hate” may be a little strong in describing many town and gown relationships, but “strained” may not be too far off the mark. The town/gown relationship can be full of drama, jealousy, passive-aggressiveness, and it can take “staying together for the kids” to a whole new level. But the town/gown can also be quite rewarding and mutually beneficial, and given that breaking up is nearly impossible, it’s best […]

Mergers and Acquisitions: Strategic Questions Every University Leader Should Ask Now – Not When It’s Too Late

Posted on by Daniel Fusch

Higher education mergers are often seen as a sign of personal and institutional defeat, to be avoided at all costs. Yet the truth is that waiting until the last possible moment, when the institution is in full tail spin, is the true sign of failure. The time to be watching for strategic partnerships or opportunities for merger or acquisition—specifically those opportunities that make the institution stronger, not weaker—is always now. An interview with Ricardo Azziz and Nivine Megahed Recently, we spoke with Dr. Ricardo Azziz, the Chief Officer, Academic Health & Hospital Affairs, State University of New York (SUNY) System Administration, who oversaw the merger that resulted in Georgia Regents University (now Augusta University), serving as founding president, and with Dr. Nivine Megahed, Ph.D., the President of National Louis University, who oversaw the university’s acquisition of Kendall college (a for-profit Laureate Education college). Dr. Azziz and Dr. Megahed also joined other experts in leading our 2019 conference Preparing for the Future: Institutional Mergers and Strategic Alliances in Higher Education. We wanted to ask a few key questions before the event. Here’s what Ricardo Azziz and Nivine Megahed shared with us. We hope you will find their perspectives useful and thought-provoking and […]

From Information Overload to Collaborative Learning: Why Higher Ed Needs Higher Tech

Posted on by Daniel Fusch

Our campus communities — students, faculty, staff, alumni — deal with information overload across many platforms and apps. Isn’t it time we brought campus communication and learning into one high-tech ecosystem? Editorial by Kathy Edersheim (President, Impactrics LLC) and Yasim Rahman (CEO, Unio) Today, while we all deal with massive information overload, this is an acute problem for students. Simply by carrying a smartphone, students are bombarded with information almost constantly. And, as mentioned in a recent Nielsen study, 98% of students from age 18-24 own a smartphone. Millennials wake up with their phones, sleep with their phones, take their phones to their bathrooms and, yes, some check it during sex. (See this study on smartphone separation anxiety.) The massive data deluge leads to information overload, confusion, and a general lack of focus and attention. Colleges need to do whatever they can to simplify navigation of the educational experience to foster a positive experience and successful completion. It is shocking that only about 60% of high school graduates who started college in 2009 finished within six years – by 2015- and that challenges in coping with college were a key factor.*role=”document”, aria-multiline=”true”, aria-readonly=”false”**aria-label=”Block: Paragraph”* Where does all the information – and information […]

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