What's it like to lead a University in the middle of a pandemic? Add cuts to state funding and declining enrollment, and you'll get a taste of the challenges my guest has faced.

State governments, and state universities are under tremendous financial pressures, causing Presidents in the most recent ACE survey of College Presidents to express their concerns that the “long term financial viability” of the school has risen to their number 2 concern, behind student, faculty and staff mental health concerns. 

My guest today is Dr. James Johnsen, former President of the University of Alaska System (UA) from 2015-2020, where he led the system through a historically challenging period marked by severe cuts in state funding, declining enrollment, and the COVID-19 pandemic. 

He has been a visiting scholar at the Center for Studies in Higher Education at the University of California, Berkeley and has completed specialized training in negotiation and leadership at Harvard and finance at Northwestern. He earned his EdD from the University of Pennsylvania.

Interestingly enough, Alaska announced they were dropping three Division II sports in September 2020-ice hockey, gymnastics and alpine skiing. But, unlike the University of Iowa and the University of Minnesota, they threw a lifeline to those teams--if they could fundraise two years of operating expenses, the sports would be reinstated.

A great conversation about finances, gold and oil and their impact on state revenues, and making difficult choices to remake higher education in Alaska.