This article begins by observing that foundations come in all shapes and sizes. The mission and grant-making philosophy of any foundation are determined by an unscientific mixture of its history, changing external realities, and leaders. The article then continues by describing The Teagle Foundation, a small, philanthropic organization with about…

Learning Analytics (LA) has been identified as one of the top technology trends in higher education today (Johnson et al., 2013). LA is based on the idea that datasets generated through normal administrative, teaching, or learning activities--such as registrar data or interactions with learning management systems--can be analyzed to enhance…

Data collected by the US Department of Education in 2008 indicate that US colleges and universities enrolled 707,000 students with disabilities, divided roughly equally between public and private institutions. The survey found that 31 percent of these students reported learning disabilities, 18 percent ADD or ADHD, 15 percent mental illness or…

According to a 2010 survey on how university presidents spent their time, the respondents revealed that on a list of six common responsibilities, the one to which they devoted the least attention was "academic affairs." Derek Bok writes in this article that, although this finding seems to have attracted little attention, he finds it…

Although business and higher education may use the same language, it does not always have the same meaning. In this article, author Paul Gaston writes that there is nothing to be gained, and in fact much to be lost, if educational leaders do not know how to tell others who they are. Academic leaders tend to frame issues in a purely academic…

For many years, higher education institutions have been harvesting the low-hanging fruit when it comes to budget reductions and adjustments. Easier changes have often been made--such as cutting administration, using more adjunct faculty, contracting out inefficient or non effective auxiliary operations and so forth. Until recently such strategies,…

Over the past decade, the federal investment in higher education has grown, the public demand for a postsecondary degree has risen, and skepticism about the value and meaning of the degree has increased. This confluence has prompted a more intense federal interest in having clear and comparable information about colleges and universities available…

We know that social-networking sites, especially Facebook, offer all students the means to accumulate social capital through connection strategies. Developing social and academic connections through Facebook is particularly important for first-generation college students (FGCS), who may find participating in traditional engagement activities and…

The Obama administration has some improbable critics: members of the Historically Black College and University (HBCU) community. What started out as carefully worded commentaries have given way to more direct criticisms and complaints about the administration's policies affecting HBCUs. Although some of these gripes can be attributed to…

One strength of liberal arts and sciences colleges is their emphasis on so-called "high-impact practices" (HIPs), which are known to be associated with student success. These practices include first-year seminars, learning communities, and study abroad, among others. What all of these HIPs share is a deeper level of engagement and active…

The pace of technological innovation is affecting nearly every organization in the world. Unfortunately, much of the recent conversation about the uses of technology in higher education has become derailed by the intense promotion of, and equally intense reaction against, the development of massive open online courses (MOOCs). Some of the…

This article presents a new model of education that works with employers to help their employees gain the skills and credentials needed for promotions and career mobility. Southern New Hampshire University's College for America, a competency-based education model for working adults, increases their access to, and the convenience of higher…

This article describes the changes and challenges that Competency-based education (CBE) has bought to the higher education arena. Cautions are being offered about the most prominent features of the version being promoted today, particularly its hyper-individualization. CBE's recent prominence is due to better technology, a friendly policy…

To remain internationally competitive, states needed clearer, higher, and comparable K-12 learning standards aligned with college and career expectations, and as ambitious as those of the countries that lead the world in education. Idaho's old academic standards were not preparing students for postsecondary education, which contributed to the…

In this article, Lauren S. Cardon states that what faculty see as student apathy or disengagement in the millennial generation is due to a number of factors, most of which are associated with the technological revolution. Millennial students are generally resistant to highly abstract material if not given the opportunity to reflect on its…