Campus – Page 3 – Reflections On Higher Education

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Rural Students

Reading the Chronicle of Higher Education on January 6, 2021, I came across an advertising banner that gave me pause. It read, “A College Lifeline: Higher Education for incarcerated and rural students – and why it matters.” I downloaded this…

The New Normal

The concept of “new normal” is wearisome. Enterprises of every kind falter assuming there was an old normal. Normalcy is an innovation-robbing concept. In February, I reflected on demographics and their impact on shaping a regional research university like West…

Intercollegiate Athletics

No matter the size of the university or college, its mission, its status as public or private, flagship or regional, intercollegiate athletics plays an important role in how the institution is perceived. For almost 150 years, intercollegiate athletics has created…

Changing Times

As we begin 2019 anyone involved in higher education, student or family member, spouse or friend, high school principal or daycare worker, instructor or president, knows things are changing at universities. Whether a public or private, for-profit or not-for-profit, online…

Love

Jesus Christ responded to a question from a student regarding the greatest commandment in the Law: “And he said to him, ’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all…

Teaching First

Originally published on November 30, 2015.  As we begin this season of reflection, “Teaching First” is worthy of another look as we focus on the first purpose of the university and the importance of staying true to our roots. Forward…

Rural Kids in College

  Contrary to predispositions, some rural kids do very well in universities. A recent Opportunity Insights  study reports that rural students from many areas of the country are as upwardly mobile as their contemporaries from urban or suburban communities. However,…

Purpose and Place

The roots of higher education in the United States are knotted into purpose and place.  From a functional standpoint, all universities, public and private, existed for producing ministers. At Harvard, three in four graduates in the seventeenth century became working…

Two Worlds

There are multiple views of the university and its purpose. Uncle Johnny remembers fraternity parties, the “gentleman’s C” and leisurely student life as the be-all and end-all. Aunt Susie reminisces of working 40 or 50 hours a week on top…

Corporate Confidence

This series of six reflections on corporate culture was originally published in October and November 2013.  I am on summer break but I think these still have some value.  WVW. Second in a series of reflections on corporate culture Any…

Travel and Education

Americans are becoming more insular. Universities value international exchanges and study experiences for the benefit to students. IES Abroad and other study-abroad organizations encourage learning abroad because of the many identified, positive outcomes. A lack of understanding between different people…

Micromanagement

  Originally published March 26, 2013.  Slightly updated and worth a second look. Real leadership liberates, never limits: it unleashes people to work with passion. Effective universities recognize that strength in academic programs exists on the ground, with engaged faculty,…

What Do I Owe Parents? 

I daily take in and reflect on student expectations of our university. I speak with parents and guardians less frequently, though I owe them a great deal. While the step-out-of-the-nest for the student is a “big deal,” it is also…

Measures of Excellence 

A recent commentary in the Chronicle of Higher Education, a trade publication for university personnel, says that a “tyranny of metrics” undermines higher education.  The thought has enough truth in it to command attention. Yes, a metric focused environment might…

Pipelines

In the United States, a significant number of undergraduates continue their education to obtain graduate degrees. Of the 1.8 million undergraduates in 2014, 750,000 pursued and earned master’s degrees and over 50,000 earned PhDs (not including professional doctorates such as…

WT and a Master Plan

Buff Courts under construction  WT Archives Campuses are places. The idea of a campus, and its nature, is central to what a university is. “In a letter Charles C. Beatty (Graduated 1775) wrote to his brother-in-law Enoch Green (Graduated 1760)…

Education and Progress

Eighth in a series on why U.S. Universities are great Pragmatism in U.S. higher education calls for faculty and students to address real problems. Paul Simon, former Illinois Senator and presidential candidate, told me he viewed the Paul Simon Public…

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