Formally defined, structured faculty mentoring is more critical now than ever – and not only for early career faculty but for faculty throughout their career. Expert David Kiel explains why this is the case and how we can improve faculty mentoring programs. Often faculty members do not learn core skills in their graduate programs. While […]
In the wake of recent declines in online program enrollment across many institutions, renewed attention to online student success and retention has become especially critical. We wanted to hear the best current thinking on improving online student retention, so we reached out to a panel of three accomplished experts in this area: You can read our […]
You’re in class (online). Your students are in class. And all of your minds are on COVID-19, quarantine, and making ends meet. How can we as instructors step back, break down the sense of isolation and hopelessness, and use the sharing of our experiences of crisis to create a safe space for students to grow […]
Series: Managing the Student LifecycleThis new series convenes expert perspectives on student success and predictive analytics. We hope to empower enrollment managers, student affairs professionals, deans, and faculty to think deeper about their student data, predictors of success, and managing the student lifecycle holistically from recruitment to retention to completion. Earlier in this series:Improving Student Success […]
Recently, I had the privilege to sit in on a press release of the very preliminary findings from a joint Eduventures/Ellucian survey reporting on institutions’ level of commitment to competency-based education (CBE). The full report on the survey will not be released until June, and in fact the survey is still open. But as of […]
Introduction Six months ago, I wrote a piece about what I had learned as a university president in the early days of the pandemic. We were less than 30 days into the national shutdown. It was hard to imagine that the pandemic, and our lives on campus, would evolve as they have. The subsequent surfacing […]
Every leader generally experiences the same leadership life cycle, or what I call “Whitney’s Leadership Life Cycle,” that includes a set of stages as they begin, serve in, and leave a leadership role. There are four stages to every leadership position: Aspiring, Acquiring, Attending, and Adjourning. In order to be a successful leader, I suggest […]
This is a unique and challenging time, yet it’s crucial not to remain overly consumed with the present crisis; we need to reserve time each day to think through the possibilities of how our future, and how the future of our unit and our institution can be different when we all return. By now, […]
At four institutions, a university president exited abruptly – in a single week in June. What causes such abrupt departures? And how can they be prevented? On June 24, 2019, campus leaders and stakeholders awoke to find out that four campus presidents (Auburn, Bennett, Marist, Mullenberg) “were out, without notice or explanation”—to quote the headline […]
With faculty and students both stressed during the pandemic, microaggressions may become more frequent in our online learning environment. Here are some practical strategies for mitigating the impact of microaggressions in online and remote classes. by Dr. Tasha Souza, Associate Director for Inclusive Excellence for the Center for Teaching and Learning, Professor of Communication, Boise […]
