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Blog:  Confessions of a Community College Dean On Thursday The Girl asked me what the story was on the GameStop stock bubble. Having listened to Marketplace for years, I gave a five-minute description of short selling, mutual funds and market manipulation. Her conclusion: “That just sounds like astrology for rich people.” I report, you decide. -- I’m glad to see credit transfer get its own blog in Inside Higher Ed . Transfer is widely misunderstood within the industry and widely ignored outside it. Successful “vertical” transfer of credit -- from a community college to a four-year school -- is an excellent way to reduce the cost of a degree. It’s a frontal assault on student loans. Thursday’s post is correct that articulation agreements alone aren’t enough to do the job, although in fairness, I’ve never heard anybody claim that they are. They’re necessary but not sufficient. But when politicians talk about community colleges, transfer almost never comes up. They lo...

Blog:  Learning Innovation Dr. Vickie Cook is among the most well-known and respected leaders and scholars in the world of higher education and online learning. I’m honored that Vickie agreed to answer some of my questions about her alternative-academic career. Question #1:  My hope in this Q&A is to ask you about your experience, and advice, as an alternative-academic.  But so that everyone has some context, can you first help us understand what your job entails as the Executive Director, Online, Professional & Engaged Learning at the University of Illinois? Online, Professional, and Engaged Learning (OPEL) at UIS promotes learning through initiatives in four departments: Center for Online Learning, Research, and Service (COLRS), Continuing and Professional Education (CAPE), Office of Engaged Learning (OEL), and the Center for Faculty Excellence (CFE). First related to online learning, I oversee the coordination of all support for our online academic...

Blog:  Call to Action: Marketing and Communications in Higher Education Let me tell you a story about a parent showing their child how to cook the holiday roast beef.  The parent meticulously reviews every step with their child, selects the cut of meat, and how many pounds are needed for their family of six. They explain seasoning the meat and setting it on the counter before cooking. Finally, the parent explains the last step “... cut off the ends of the roast before setting it in the oven to roast.”  When asked why, the parent shrugs their shoulders and says “because that’s the way it’s always been done.” The child looks at their grandparent for a better explanation. They respond while holding their hands 18 inches apart, “Because growing up, the oven was only this big.”  Practically speaking there was no reason to continue to trim the roast. Modern ovens are bigger and easily fit a full-size roast. But: “this is the way things have always been done.” S...

Blog:  Higher Ed Gamma Everyone harbors secrets not shared with anyone – not a partner, a therapist, or a physician.  Typically , these involve fantasies, emotional infidelities, family and financial secrets, and health or hygiene. The reason: They’re too intimate, embarrassing, and humiliating. They conflict with our self-image and our ego ideal. Concealing secrets, all of us recognize, exacts a cost. Sometimes the cost is mental: Carrying a secret requires us to expend mental energy that could otherwise be directed elsewhere. It may leave us feeling guilty or ashamed or remorseful. But the cost can also be interpersonal. Hiding secrets from a partner or a close friend is emotionally taxing. It raises the specter of deceit, disloyalty, and duplicity. It creates a wall that separates us from those we are closest to. Higher education, too, has many deep secrets that deserve a public airing.  Some secrets aren’t secret to aca...

Growing up in a small town near Trenton, N.J., Ewan Johnson said there were birthdays when his mother couldn't afford to buy presents for him and his sister, but she did her best by baking cookies. There were times when she worked overtime in her job helping people with disabilities. “I come from a low economic background. Going to college was literally my only way out,” Johnson says. But like many students, Johnson said, the maximum in Pell Grants he received wasn't enough to pay for living expenses and tuition and fees at Temple University, where he earned a bachelor's in strategic communications and political science. He took out the $31,000 limit in federal loans that dependents are allowed -- an amount that “will mean I won’t be able to afford to live alone for at least another 10 years,” when he will be 34. And he was still short more than $100,000. “I wouldn’t have been able to go to college if my mom didn’t take out Parent PLUS loans,” he said, referring to t...

Mary C. Boyce , dean of the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science and Morris A. and Alma Schapiro Professor of Engineering at Columbia University, has been named provost there. Bernard D. Bull , president of Goddard College, in Vermont, has been appointed president of Concordia University Nebraska. Marielena DeSanctis , provost and senior vice president of academic affairs and student services at Broward College, in Florida, has been named president of Community College of Denver, in Colorado. Montserrat Fuentes , executive vice president and provost at the University of Iowa, has been chosen as president of St. Edward's University, in Texas. Nancy Gonzales , provost pro tempore and Foundation Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University, has been promoted to executive vice president and university provost there. Lori Stewart Gonzalez , vice chancellor for academic, faculty and student affairs at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in...

An academic has urged researchers to avoid making submissions to the National University of Singapore (NUS) Press after it canceled his contract to publish a book that was critical of the Thai monarchy. Coup, King, Crisis: A Critical Interregnum in Thailand , edited by Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a prominent overseas Thai critic, is a collection that examines Thailand’s political transition from 2014 to 2019, through a series of essays by 14 Asian studies scholars. It had been due to be published by NUS Press, but the publisher reversed course in March 2020. Criticism of the monarchy is illegal in Thailand because of lèse-majesté laws. The title was subsequently picked up by Yale University’s Council on Southeast Asia Studies and released in December 2020 . Now that the book is out, Pavin has appealed to NUS to investigate the decision making behind his case. He also called for other academics to refrain from submitting to or conducting peer review for NUS Press but stressed that he...

A case that rocked the music field last year is back -- this time in the form of a defamation and retaliation lawsuit against the University of North Texas , one of its graduate students and 17 professors of music history, theory and ethnomusicology. This phase of the case continues to highlight music theory’s historical lack of diversity and inclusion. It’s also about the boundaries of academic critique. More to the point: Is calling a colleague a racist for his race-based comments against the law? Timothy Jackson, distinguished university research professor of music theory at North Texas, thinks it is, at least in his case. His suit, filed this month in federal court in Texas, alleges that his colleagues defamed him as a racist for comments he made in the academic journal he founded 20 years ago. And he alleges that North Texas succumbed to the “academic mob” and retaliated against him in violation of his First Amendment rights, by first investigating the journal and then seeki...

Notre Dame de Namur University may have found the miracle its leaders were praying for last spring. Through a transformative pivot to online and graduate education, the university may be able to remain open for the foreseeable future. Just 10 months ago, the private Roman Catholic university’s future was more grim . It halted undergraduate admissions after years of declining enrollment and dwindling tuition revenue. Faculty members and higher education experts agreed that it looked as though Notre Dame de Namur was headed for closure within several years. But Dan Carey, interim president of the university, said in March that he was still looking for a potential intervention. On Monday, he said he'd found one. The university will lop off its undergraduate programs and focus solely on online graduate education. It may also offer some degree-completion programs for students with associate’s degrees. While the university may hold some in-person classes, most teaching will take pl...