When I interviewed Olivia during the summer of 2024, I was collecting stories from higher education administrators about leadership and burnout. Olivia is a senior leader in academic affairs whose
When we talk to administrators on unionized campuses, they tend to describe the constraints they face and inability to make positive changes for VITAL (visiting, instructional, teaching, and lecturing) faculty.
Prensky’s seminal work on digital natives posited that students who grew up with digital technology were naturally digitally skilled and literate (Prensky, 2001). This assumption has been widely debated and,
Exemplifying the trend that dean positions open every four to six years, in the past 26 years, I have held dean and director positions at five institutions—an average a new
It’s happened. You are now in charge of your college’s zero textbook cost (ZTC) pathway program. There are early steps every leader should take to create a scalable ZTC program.
One word that I heard repeatedly from the 50+ higher ed leaders I interviewed last summer[*] was “impossible.” According to these interviewees, leadership jobs today are impossible, working with faculty
To a professor for one half-century and historian of literacy, today’s incessant cavils that college students either “aren’t reading” or “can’t read” are reminiscent of the early 1960s’ repeated rediscoveries
When faculty discuss artificial intelligence, conversations often focus on the ethics of using AI in research, writing, instruction, and administration. But these discussions must increasingly explore the legal implications of
At about this time last year, I argued that one strategy to use to help combat the loud and negative public attitudes toward higher education might be to employ a
College faculty are experts in their fields, and they spend years researching intriguing topics in their academic disciplines. When faculty attend conferences or workshops, these are most often in their
