In 2010, I wrote an essay, "The New Indentured Educated Class," for The New England Journal of Higher Education. This piece was pivotal in raising public awareness about a new group of Americans, an enormous group of us—educated and deeply in debt. At that point, few were talking about the student loan debt crisis, aside from me and a couple of others. However, things have changed—politicians ...
It was disgruntled students that coined this phrase on my last campus. The "Bounce” was costing them precious time spent chasing signatures and removing often-unnecessary registration “holds” when they wanted only to finally get to class! Individually, the students praised our office staff, but begged us to please “talk to each other.” Crazy thought, right?
All this ...
The New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) will hold its 14th annual New England Higher Education Excellence Awards celebration and dinner in Boston on Friday, March 4, 2016.
Here is a bit about the 2016 recipients ...
The David and Rosamond Putnam Family of New Hampshire will receive NEBHE's 2016 Governor Walter R. Peterson Award for Leadership, named for the late New Hampshire...
Advice on how to connect and lead ...
Whether you are a first-time college or university president, or one with years of experience leading an institution, an essential part of the job is communicating. While it might sound obvious, the importance of reaching out, connecting and building and maintaining relationships cannot be stressed enough. Done well, it can lead you toward great success, and ...
Regis North to offer bachelor's degree completion programs in nursing, public health and other health sciences ...
With liberal arts colleges and universities reporting losses in student enrollment and retention, and our nation’s workforce growing older and more diverse, colleges and universities are being forced to rethink their approach to educating and engaging students.
Regis is no e...
Using data from NEBHE "Guide" to discern value of New England colleges ...
The data published by Boston magazine and the New England Board of Higher Education the 2016 Guide to New England Colleges & Universities provided me with the opportunity to examine the higher education institutions (HEIs) prices, defined as tuition and plus fees, as a function of several independent factors including...
It is time to push back at least a little on this very fashionable rubric. While the NEBHE Conference on the subject was generally excellent, especially in the morning, its uncritical acceptance of the whole idea was worrisome. See Center of Attention: Learners.
A fundamental problem is its metaphor. There can be only one “center” of anything, so the question is: In institutions of what use...
Last week, NEBHE convened 300 or so educators and policy leaders for a gathering in Boston on “Learner-Centered Institutions: The Future of Higher Education.”
One key question … what is a “learner-centered institution” anyway? The latest in a torrent of meaningless eduspeak? Or as the conference subtitle suggested, a true paradigm shift in the way we teach and learn?
The definition...
Observations of a retired college president ...
I am sure you've heard colleagues when they return from sabbatical surprised by how much their institutions changed while they were on leave. The apparent change is even more profound for someone who left the arena seven years ago, as I did.
Here are five issues that, in the past few years, have caught my attention either by reading about the...
Compare the typical college campus today with one 30 years ago, and some stark differences become apparent. More students than ever are enrolling in college; however, graduation rates have remained fairly consistent over the past 30 years, according to the College Board. College campuses are much more diverse than before, increasing from roughly a 20% minority student population in 1990, to 42% in...
In 2010, I wrote an essay, "The New Indentured Educated Class," for The New England Journal of Higher Education. This piece was pivotal in raising public awareness about a new group of Americans, an enormous group of us—educated and deeply in debt. At that point, few were talking about the student loan debt crisis, aside from me and a couple of others. However, things have changed—politicians ... 
It was disgruntled students that coined this phrase on my last campus. The "Bounce” was costing them precious time spent chasing signatures and removing often-unnecessary registration “holds” when they wanted only to finally get to class! Individually, the students praised our office staff, but begged us to please “talk to each other.” Crazy thought, right?
All this ... 
Advice on how to connect and lead ...
Whether you are a first-time college or university president, or one with years of experience leading an institution, an essential part of the job is communicating. While it might sound obvious, the importance of reaching out, connecting and building and maintaining relationships cannot be stressed enough. Done well, it can lead you toward great success, and ... 
Regis North to offer bachelor's degree completion programs in nursing, public health and other health sciences ...
With liberal arts colleges and universities reporting losses in student enrollment and retention, and our nation’s workforce growing older and more diverse, colleges and universities are being forced to rethink their approach to educating and engaging students.
Regis is no e... 
Using data from NEBHE "Guide" to discern value of New England colleges ...
The data published by Boston magazine and the New England Board of Higher Education the 2016 Guide to New England Colleges & Universities provided me with the opportunity to examine the higher education institutions (HEIs) prices, defined as tuition and plus fees, as a function of several independent factors including... 
It is time to push back at least a little on this very fashionable rubric. While the NEBHE Conference on the subject was generally excellent, especially in the morning, its uncritical acceptance of the whole idea was worrisome. See Center of Attention: Learners.
A fundamental problem is its metaphor. There can be only one “center” of anything, so the question is: In institutions of what use... 
Last week, NEBHE convened 300 or so educators and policy leaders for a gathering in Boston on “Learner-Centered Institutions: The Future of Higher Education.”
One key question … what is a “learner-centered institution” anyway? The latest in a torrent of meaningless eduspeak? Or as the conference subtitle suggested, a true paradigm shift in the way we teach and learn?
The definition... 
Observations of a retired college president ...
I am sure you've heard colleagues when they return from sabbatical surprised by how much their institutions changed while they were on leave. The apparent change is even more profound for someone who left the arena seven years ago, as I did.
Here are five issues that, in the past few years, have caught my attention either by reading about the... 
Compare the typical college campus today with one 30 years ago, and some stark differences become apparent. More students than ever are enrolling in college; however, graduation rates have remained fairly consistent over the past 30 years, according to the College Board. College campuses are much more diverse than before, increasing from roughly a 20% minority student population in 1990, to 42% in...