Ten Ways to Find Inspiration for the Coming Year
This article first appeared in Academic Leader on August 1, 2022. © Magna Publications. All rights reserved. The start of the academic year is nearly upon us. On our campuses, student orientations are in full swing, new faculty orientations are being planned, and faculty are planning their syllabi. Some might argue...
Accessibility: Making a Plan to Do What’s Right (and Required)
As of 2017, the last full year we have data for, there were 5,567 Office of Civil Rights (OCR) investigations dealing with accessibility in K–20 institutions (Department of Education, 2019, p. Z-22). In 2018, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Title III Lawsuits in federal courts were projected to hit almost...
Considerations for Meaningful and Credible Strategic Planning
Formulating strategic plans is a relatively common activity in higher education. Some institutions have strong traditions in this regard, and all levels periodically engage in this process. Others participate occasionally. Much depends on the interest and motivation of the upper administration. In fact, planning of this type is often initiated...
Leadership That Leads to Learning
Students look to teachers for leadership. The teacher is the person in charge—the course’s designated leader. That’s hardly revelatory, but how does leadership inform our practice? Do we think reflectively and critically about our roles as leaders? With a new academic year about to begin, perhaps it’s a good time...
Priceless Gift Exchanges between Faculty and Students
Teachers and students can give each other priceless gifts. “Professor Jones changed my life!” The comment is usually followed by the story of a teacher in love with content, students, and learning. How many times have I told the story of my advisor who was the first person to suggest...
Can Innovation Be Taught?
As budgets tighten at colleges and universities, academic leaders are repeatedly urged to be more entrepreneurial in their approaches. “It’s time to think outside the box,” we’re told. “Be creative. Be daring. Be innovative.” But what do you do if you’re not a naturally innovative person? Or how can you...
Leading a Diversity Culture Shift: The Pivotal Role of Academic Leadership
On college campuses around the nation, students have exerted pressure for progress to be made on diversity and social change. Student demonstrations that began in 2014 and 2015 have taken place in an increasingly hostile national climate and in the face of intervention by conservative legislators in the governance of...
Exodus or Migration? Faculty Are Leaving
Higher ed is losing faculty. Some believe nontenured faculty are leaving, while others insist that tenured faculty are leaving too. Who’s right? Who’s wrong? It depends on whom you ask. According to an October 2020 Chronicle of Higher Education survey of 1,122 US college and university faculty, more than two-thirds of...
Chaos and Confusion: Reducing Instructional Uncertainty in Times of Crisis
“There may be times when what is most needed is, not so much a new discovery or a new idea as a difference ‘slant.’”—Owen Barfield Educators live in a constant state of disrupted comfort. Classrooms, students, curriculum, assessment, and strategies change daily. In 2020, our foundation was shaken to the...
Throw the BUMs out: Higher Education Acronyms Impede Communication
Like a light bulb drawn atop a cartoon character’s head, the bright light that came from the dean of students’ office radiated the brilliance of his idea. Survey data had indicated an issue with first-year students connecting with their advisors, and he firmly believed that it was contributing to the...
