Colleges and universities experienced something of a wakeup call in 2010, when hackers breached an Ohio State University system containing the social security numbers, dates of birth and physical addresses of 760,000 people. Though it was unlikely that data was released, the investigation and remediation effort was massive and incredibly costly, including offering 12 months of free credit-monitori...
Sanctuary? How will higher education fare under a President Donald Trump? The campaign’s misogyny shouldn’t sit well with a student body that is now majority-female. Its disavowal of climate changes won’t impress research universities. And the xenophobia won’t help economies and cultures bolstered by foreign enrollment. The number of foreign students in the U.S topped 1 million in 2015-16....
In September 2016, I wrote an op-ed for Harvard Business Review called “We Need a Better Way to Visualize People’s Skills." In it, I describe a Github of competencies for the workforce, but here’s how the same idea would translate into higher education.
George McCully wrote recently in “Pushing Back on Higher Education as Trainer for High-Tech Jobs” (The New England Journal of Higher Ed...
The relationship between employer and employee has changed significantly over the past 40 years. One of the greatest changes in this relationship is in the nature of employee retirement.
While pension reform at public and private colleges has helped ensure institutional financial viability, retirement security for employees has declined. With the redirection of retirement plans from defined ben...
Colleges and universities have a significant role to play in shaping the future of race and class relations in America. As exhibited in this year’s presidential election, race and class continue to divide us. Black Lives Matter movements, campus protests and police shootings are just a few examples of the proliferation of intolerance. It seems like we understand each other less each day. Higher ...
The recent decision by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in the Columbia University case granting students who serve as teaching or research assistants at private universities the right to unionize dealt a major blow to private higher education as we know it. The NLRB’s cavalier disregard for the complexities of a university education is breathtaking.
In a long-anticipated decision, t...
Looking at the housing and living challenges facing U.S. communities, one thing is clear: Smaller things are coming our way. Even in regions where open space is plentiful, living quarters are shrinking as more people simplify and economize. New houses are being built that are strikingly small, with some totaling less than 500 square feet, about a fifth of the average 2,600 square feet for American...
A real (and perhaps not uncommon) anecdote: Two sets of researchers, using a respected national longitudinal data set, have been working on related but distinct topics, employing mainly descriptive approaches in their research. In the interests of informing their own work, one group asked the other to share its paper. Reading it, they see that some findings look unrealistic at best, if not inaccur...
Every September, I get a new fix of inspiration at the Business Innovation Factory (BIF) summit of innovators. Last week, I was at BIF’s 12th summit, my sixth. My main inspiration this year came from Dave Gray. The founder of the strategic design consultancy XPLANE, co-founder of Boardthing and author of Liminal Thinking gave a simple message: Shut off autopilot. As he said, the only place we...
Regularly reported statistics about high and growing student-loan debt levels, combined with increased rates of delinquency and default, have prompted calls to address the student-debt “crisis.” For New England, with its highly educated population and large higher education industry, student-loan debt is an important economic policy issue. Over the past decade, all six of the New England state...
Colleges and universities experienced something of a wakeup call in 2010, when hackers breached an Ohio State University system containing the social security numbers, dates of birth and physical addresses of 760,000 people. Though it was unlikely that data was released, the investigation and remediation effort was massive and incredibly costly, including offering 12 months of free credit-monitori... 
Sanctuary? How will higher education fare under a President Donald Trump? The campaign’s misogyny shouldn’t sit well with a student body that is now majority-female. Its disavowal of climate changes won’t impress research universities. And the xenophobia won’t help economies and cultures bolstered by foreign enrollment. The number of foreign students in the U.S topped 1 million in 2015-16.... 
In September 2016, I wrote an op-ed for Harvard Business Review called “We Need a Better Way to Visualize People’s Skills." In it, I describe a Github of competencies for the workforce, but here’s how the same idea would translate into higher education.
George McCully wrote recently in “Pushing Back on Higher Education as Trainer for High-Tech Jobs” (The New England Journal of Higher Ed... 
The relationship between employer and employee has changed significantly over the past 40 years. One of the greatest changes in this relationship is in the nature of employee retirement.
While pension reform at public and private colleges has helped ensure institutional financial viability, retirement security for employees has declined. With the redirection of retirement plans from defined ben... 
Colleges and universities have a significant role to play in shaping the future of race and class relations in America. As exhibited in this year’s presidential election, race and class continue to divide us. Black Lives Matter movements, campus protests and police shootings are just a few examples of the proliferation of intolerance. It seems like we understand each other less each day. Higher ... 
The recent decision by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in the Columbia University case granting students who serve as teaching or research assistants at private universities the right to unionize dealt a major blow to private higher education as we know it. The NLRB’s cavalier disregard for the complexities of a university education is breathtaking.
In a long-anticipated decision, t... 
Looking at the housing and living challenges facing U.S. communities, one thing is clear: Smaller things are coming our way. Even in regions where open space is plentiful, living quarters are shrinking as more people simplify and economize. New houses are being built that are strikingly small, with some totaling less than 500 square feet, about a fifth of the average 2,600 square feet for American... 
A real (and perhaps not uncommon) anecdote: Two sets of researchers, using a respected national longitudinal data set, have been working on related but distinct topics, employing mainly descriptive approaches in their research. In the interests of informing their own work, one group asked the other to share its paper. Reading it, they see that some findings look unrealistic at best, if not inaccur... 
Every September, I get a new fix of inspiration at the Business Innovation Factory (BIF) summit of innovators. Last week, I was at BIF’s 12th summit, my sixth. My main inspiration this year came from Dave Gray. The founder of the strategic design consultancy XPLANE, co-founder of Boardthing and author of Liminal Thinking gave a simple message: Shut off autopilot. As he said, the only place we... 
Regularly reported statistics about high and growing student-loan debt levels, combined with increased rates of delinquency and default, have prompted calls to address the student-debt “crisis.” For New England, with its highly educated population and large higher education industry, student-loan debt is an important economic policy issue. Over the past decade, all six of the New England state...