Sarah Holtan, PhD, sits down with Dr. David Rosowsky PHD, Chief optimism officer, connector, collider, university senior leader, and author, for a masterclass in a subject that makes most academics run for the hills: the university budget model. In this blunt and refreshingly clear conversation, Dr. Rosowsky—sometimes called the "Ted Lasso of higher ed"—cuts through the jargon and political noise to reveal why so many institutions get budget model transitions dangerously wrong.

Dr. Rosowsky breaks down the critical difference between a university’s budget (the amount of money available) and its budget model (the rules for allocating that money). He explains the spectrum of models, from highly centralized systems to the more transparent Responsibility Centered Management (RCM), and clarifies that the “best” model depends on an institution's unique culture and strategic goals.

The conversation offers crucial guidance on the why, when, and how of changing a budget model, stressing that the best time for change is during periods of stability, not crisis. Dr. Rosowsky also discusses the right level of faculty engagement and identifies deans and department heads as the key drivers of a successful budget system. This is a must-listen for leader looking to align financial strategy with institutional mission.

Episode Highlights:

05:24  -  What they sort of assume is that if we fix the budget model, we somehow fix the budget, or we somehow create new revenue or new money, so that conflation happens all the time. The budget model is not the budget.

12:01 -  The decision to change the budget model is made at the wrong time, right? It's made when campuses feel there's a crisis present or a crisis looming.

22:58 - Why are we doing this? What are the outcomes we hope to achieve? What are the fears or concerns or worries or anxieties we might have that we can track and monitor?

26:56 - The levers that can be pulled. Those are being pulled by department chairs and by deans.

Sarah Holtan, PhD

LinkedIn

David Rosowsky, PhD

LinkedIn

What’s the Best Budget Model for Our Institution?

In this episode, Sarah Holtan, PhD is joined by her old friend, veteran NBC Sports Boston reporter Trenni Casey, for a candid look at the evolving world of sportscasting. Trenni traces her 25-year career path, offering critical insights for today's aspiring journalists, academic leaders, and athletic directors.

They discuss the essential skills for success in the modern media landscape. While foundational traits like curiosity and authenticity are timeless, the industry now demands multifaceted content creators who can shoot, edit, and engage across all social platforms. Trenni provides a crucial reality check on the industry’s financial shifts, including lower salaries and the return of the "one-person-band" journalist.

The conversation explores future trends, from the impact of AI on broadcasting (like an AI Al Michaels) to growth areas in women’s sports and analytics. Trenni also delivers pointed advice for athletic departments: media train your athletes and coaches to protect both them and your brand. This episode is a must-listen for anyone navigating a career in modern media.

Episode Highlights:

11:14 - I think you have to be. More multifaceted now than you ever were before. You cannot just be a sideline reporter. You cannot just be an anchor. You cannot just be a writer for a newspaper or a website. You have to be able to do all of it, and you don't need to be the best at every facet of it, but you need to be pretty good at all of them.

30:11 - There was a wrap-up every night on Peacock that was voiced by Al Michaels, except it wasn't Al Michaels; it was AI Al Michaels. So they paid Al Michaels for the licensing to his voice.

34:18 - It blows my mind that every single, teen, college, whatever, does not have a media coach on retainer.

37:55 - Stop building $30 million student centers that have like state-of-the-art cold plunges and give that money to kids.

Sarah Holtan, PhD

Website

LinkedIn

Trenni Casey

LinkedIn

NBC Arbella Early Edition With Trenni

Sarah Holtan, PhD welcomes the Founder of School of Podcasting, Dave Jackson, for a reality check on campus podcasting. Colleges are rushing to launch podcasts, but does every institution actually need one or know how to make theirs stand out?

With higher ed under pressure to connect, retain, and recruit, Dave peels back the curtain on what really makes a college podcast worth listening to and worth producing. If you think just starting a show will solve your engagement woes, you might be burning time and budget for nothing.

Wondering why some university shows flourish while others fade fast and how to avoid podcast purgatory? This episode spills the secrets seasoned creators use to balance brand, authenticity, and campus goals.

Episode Highlights

05:40 - They said, close your eyes, and as vividly as you can picture yourself walking to the front desk and turning in your test and going over and grabbing the door handle and leaving and walking out. Because I said, the minute I get outside of the classroom, it all comes back. And they said, well, just visualize it.

08:34 - When somebody is passionate about the subject that comes through. I always talk about how it's not the tech a lot. I mean, a lot of podcasters, boy, we just love to look at microphones and software and things like that and why you need a decent microphone. It's just not something I cover on my show because it's not my passion. I'm like, pick a microphone.

12:21 - One of the best compliments I've ever received is somebody said I was talking to them in an event and they're like, wow, you're just like you when you are on the mic.

27:14 - I know we're all worried that if I say the wrong thing, I'm going to get canceled and things like that. And I always tell people there is a name for those people. It's called not your target audience.

Sarah Holtan, PhD

Website

LinkedIn

Dave Jackson

LinkedIn

Website

Did you know a 20% drop in international students could wipe out nearly $2 billion in college tuition in just a year? The financial pain universities are feeling right now isn’t just about bottom lines, it's about fewer programs, job losses on campus and in local communities, and a shrinking workforce for the future.

In this episode, Tom Dretler, CEO and co-founder of Shorelight Education, breaks down exactly what this revenue cliff means and why colleges can't afford to keep waiting for old models to work.

Can universities reinvent themselves fast enough to protect students, faculty, and towns when international enrollments plummet? Find out what Tom recommends for leaders facing their toughest year yet.

Featuring Tom Dretler, CEO of Shorelight Education, on the true impact of plummeting international enrollments, and the urgent strategies colleges need now.

Episode Highlights

03:51 - We have a $56 billion services trade surplus in higher education, which makes up, believe it or not, 20% of the entire US economy's services trade surplus.

10:12 - International students do subsidize domestic students. So in the short term going to see canceled programs, we're going to see staff reductions, we're going to see less programmatic offerings, we'll probably see rising tuition prices, and we're going to see universities, as I mentioned, starting to look at one, can they be successful with international students going forward? Is there a new normal? And let's just adapt to the new normal.

20:54 - We're so domestic. But anyway, bright spots there are, you know, the cliche being that whenever there's massive change that there are always opportunities for innovation.

Sarah Holtan, PhD

LinkedIn

Tom Dretler

LinkedIn

Website

The Impact of a 20% Decline in International Students

Sarah Holtan, PhD sits down with Gary Daynes, PhD, the Founder and Principal, Back Porch Consulting and Interim President Salem Academy and College, for a blunt conversation about why most small schools are making strategic mistakes, and what they can do about it. This chat is a must for anyone working in higher ed who’s tired of wishful thinking and wants practical advice on how to future-proof their institution.

Gary explains why wearing too many hats isn’t just exhausting but often a symptom of bigger strategic problems. He calls out the damaging habits of building plans on imaginary growth, and shares the overlooked power of focus: it’s not just about efficiency but about creating a mission that actually matters to students, staff, and the broader community. If you’ve ever wondered whether your school’s “unique” value is just a buzzword, this is your episode.

Are colleges shooting themselves in the foot with unfocused missions and bloated org charts? Listen in to hear Gary’s straight talk on what truly moves the needle at small colleges.

Episode Highlights:

12:30 - In the growth period, many schools added professional master's degrees. And so their net tuition revenue was growing in part because they had an MBA that had 100 students, or they had added an MFA or something like that that had strong local attraction that generated a lot of revenue.

22:21 - Athletics is an area where schools who do athletics well are learning to support students in the ways that students most need to be supported.

24:07 - If you have a school with 1,000 students and you have 75 English majors, you better damn well figure out what's going on with your English program, because that is remarkable. And you need to preserve the strength of that program and duplicate the duplicatable things elsewhere in order to ensure that other programs are strong in that sort of way.

Sarah Holtan, PhD

LinkedIn

Gary Daynes, PhD

LinkedIn

Website

Book

Sarah Holtan sits down with Dr. Robert Kelchen, Professor of Higher Education at University of Tennessee - Knoxville, to ask the hard question: can a new college president truly turn around a university’s finances? If you’ve ever wondered why some presidents seem to steady the ship while others are just along for the ride, this is an episode you can’t miss.

Most people think hiring a new leader is a silver bullet, but Robert uncovers why financial miracles rarely happen overnight—especially at public universities. He reveals how private colleges, without state funding, are forced to make tough, often painful choices about staff and programs just to keep the lights on.

What are colleges getting right (and wrong) when they hire new leaders, and what can faculty and staff really do to survive the shake-up? Listen and learn from a leading higher ed finance expert.

Episode Highlights:

03:37 - At public universities, they're dealing with the state, dealing with governors, lawmakers, higher education boards, and that limits their ability to make changes as quickly.

05:46 - It's not reasonable for the first couple of years, but it's also something that is coming up in more job postings for presidents. So even if it's not realistic to expect it, institutions are expecting it.

13:10 - These are positions that they're emotionally draining and the expectations are often not realistic. And that's why you see both presidential salaries going up to basically get people to do the job, and also the tenure going down.

Sarah Holtan, PhD

LinkedIn

Robert Kelchen

Linkedin

Can New Presidents Improve Colleges’ Financial Health?

Paying for college stirs up way more than just number crunching—it’s a raw experience laden with stress, overwhelm, and uncertainty. In today’s episode, Sarah Holtan, PhD, sits down with Mark Mitchell, Vice President of Access and Affordability of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), to cut through the facts and talk about the very real feelings families face when tuition bills are due.

Mark reveals what’s changed in the financial aid landscape and why the pressure is only getting heavier for families—and what colleges can actually do about it. If anxiety, confusion, and those unexpected extra costs sound all too familiar, what simple tweaks could make college feel like a better investment?

Don’t you want to hear what most colleges are missing when trying to ease the burden for students and their families? Mark Mitchell breaks it all down—emotion, process, and practical solutions—in this eye-opening conversation.

Episode Highlights

04:05 - It was the first time since we've done this survey that stress topped the list of emotions.

09:56 - If more families are working more to make the tuition work, it's easy to imagine like the added stress that that brings with it.

14:39 - It's more about how to make sure that that stress doesn't make them stop doing what they need to be doing for their child.

37:05 - If somebody's struggling with something, just ask them. Get a group of families together and say, hey, what's wrong with this process? How can we make it better? What are you struggling with?

Sarah Holtan, PhD

LinkedIn

Mark Mitchell

Linkedin

Website

In this insightful episode, host Sarah Holtan, PhD, sits down with Kevin McClure, PhD, Professor of Higher Education at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. They discuss the critical state of employee well-being in higher education.

Dr. McClure unpacks the evolving landscape of university workplaces, addressing the challenges facing faculty and staff post-pandemic, and offers actionable steps for leaders looking to create a truly caring institution.

The conversation dives deep into why employee well-being is more than an HR talking point—it's a strategic imperative for any college hoping to thrive. Dr. McClure shares research-backed strategies, stories from his own journey through burnout, and the essential structural and leadership changes required to make real progress.

Episode Highlights

02:05 - The state of employee well being in higher education is not great... we're still recovering from a really challenging time period during the pandemic.

09:50 - Doing what's right for employees is actually doing what's right for the organization more broadly.

21:14 - We can't really bring individualized solutions to organizational challenges because they're only going to go so far.

36:38 - Care is something that leaders themselves can also expect, and that's a reasonable expectation.

Sarah Holtan, PhD

LinkedIn

Kevin McClure, PhD

LinkedIn

Linktree

In this forward-thinking episode, Sarah Holtan, PhD sits down with Melik Peter Khoury, DBA, to explore how higher education leaders can harness the transformative power of AI—not just as a technological tool, but as a driver for architectural, workflow, and cultural change in universities.

Rather than dwelling on AI as a source of academic anxiety or a threat to jobs, Dr. Khoury shares actionable strategies for integrating AI into executive functions, staff productivity, and student learning.

Listeners are invited to rethink old paradigms and learn how embracing AI can help institutions stay relevant, flatten organizational structures, empower staff, and offer students the fluency they’ll need in an AI-powered workforce.

Episode Highlight

05:02 - If you don't know how to use AI, if you don't embrace it, if you don't understand how it works, then your organization is going to be out of date before you even know it.

17:15 - AI will make certain tasks redundant. But right now, in my opinion, the lack of imagination from organizational design is what would make employees obsolete.

27:56 - If you are graduating a student and they are not AI fluent, you're already making them obsolete in the workforce.

37:44 - If you are in a leadership position in higher education and you do not experiment with AI, and then show your direct reports and their direct reports and your peers that you are and normalize it, you will get stuck in time, and the world will pass you by.

Sarah Holtan, PhD

LinkedIn

Melik Peter Khoury, DBA

LinkedIn

Website

Could a better way to support faculty actually decide which universities survive the coming years? In this episode, Sarah Holtan, PhD, talks with Derek Bruff, the Associate Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at the University of Virginia, about how Centers for Teaching and Learning (CTLs) shape a college’s future, even when budgets are tight and change is constant.

Derek shares his candid perspective on what makes a CTL truly matter: it’s not just space and tech, but trust-based relationships, faculty skill-building, and aligning with what the university really values. If you’ve ever wondered why some CTLs thrive while others fade, or how to measure their real value, this episode will surprise you.

Want to know the one key metric that gets admin attention (and how your CTL stacks up)? Listen in as Derek pulls back the curtain on CTL impact.

Episode Highlights:

17:57 - It's important to have people in your center who can build kind of trust based working relationships so that faculty come to see the people in your center as folks they can trust, they can be a little vulnerable with to say, you know what? This part of my teaching is not going as well as I wish it were.

22:46 - It's really hard in 2025 to separate technology out of teaching and to think of those as two separate things. Right? So much of the teaching that we do is technology integrated. And so I think CTLs need to have kind of a a at least a voice and a space in that. They don't necessarily need to run the thing or have a lot of resources in this, but there needs to be kind of a an organizational structure in place where CTLs can speak into those technology issues on campus.

26:26 - If you're not able to hire a full time person into a CTL role, there are a number of campuses that will make this a part time faculty job. And so you might give a faculty member a course release or two or more so to free up time to kind of serve a CTL like function. This is a this can get things started. It's hard to have a huge impact with that model, but it is one that I see a lot.

Sarah Holtan, PhD

LinkedIn

Derek Bruff

LinkedIn

Podcast

Website