IngenioUs

In this episode we speak with the very wise Joanne Soliday, higher education author, speaker, presidential advisor, and catalyst for change. With over 30 years’ experience on college and university campuses, Joanne transforms each environment she touches through her strategic vision and ability to speak truth. Following over twenty years in leadership positions at Elon University and West Virginia Wesleyan College, Joanne founded Credo, a higher education consulting firm dedicated to empowering small, independent colleges and universities to thrive. In her work at Credo, Joanne has partnered with over 250 private colleges and universities. This strategic work led to her to co-author two books for leaders in higher education. Her most recent book, “PIVOT: A Vision for the New University,” explicates a picture of possibility for the future of independent colleges and universities; it is the critical reimagining of how that education is shaped, providing a vision for the new university. Joanne’s first book, “Surviving to Thriving: A Planning Framework for Leaders of Private Colleges and Universities,” is a guide for independent college and university leaders, unpacking the nine critical elements of the Thriving Framework® through which institutional health can be both understood and improved. To learn more about Joanne's professional journey, see here.

Like it or not, things are changing in higher education. The need for revisioning around curricula, delivery modes, student support services, and technology became acute in response to the pandemic. Assessing and codifying those changes while continuing to imagine an ambiguous future requires change leadership to happen at all levels of the institution. Mid-level leaders find themselves particularly challenged as they must manage tensions up, down, and across the organizational chart. In this IngenioUs mini episode, we speak with Dr. Robyn Parker, newly appointed Vice President for Academic Affairs at Saybrook University about our upcoming Leading Edge Thinking in Higher Education free webinar that she will be facilitating.  This webinar features conversations with higher education change leaders who have led from the middle and lived to tell about it! They’ll share insights about what worked, what didn’t, and why. We’ll leave you with a few frameworks and tools to use in your own change endeavors. In addition to Dr. Parker, presenters include Dr. Allison Gillespie, Assistant Provost for Academic Affairs at The University of Southern Mississippi, Dr. Jeffrey Ratliff-Crain, Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs & Innovation at University of Minnesota-Rochester, and John Montana, Executive Director, Strategy & Innovation at Wake Forest University School of Business.  The webinar is scheduled for February 16th at 12:00 noon (ET).  Register here:  https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/8181576390986985997

Bradley University President Stephen Standifird is not worried about the impending demographic cliff.  Instead, Standifird is laser focused on facilitating a rethink about how his University operates based on student needs and aspirations. In our conversation Dr. Standifird shares his conviction that it is not enough today for colleges and universities to merely be student concerned. At Bradley, they are taking it a step further, using the research-informed insights gleaned in a recent strategic planning process about what today's college-going students are looking for to redesign the system around them.  It's a subtle yet powerful distinction.

According to Arizona State University's president, Dr. Michael Crow, the current higher education context needs a different kind of leadership.  Crow calls for an intellectual leader, an intellectual architect and designer who can think and lead in new ways.  In this episode we speak with President Crow and his co-author of The Fifth Wave: The Evolution of American Higher Education, Dr. William Dabars about the remarkable transformation of ASU under Crow's leadership. Listen in to learn what strategies have been most impactful and what new innovations President Crow is particularly excited about.

It’s not every day — or every decade — that you hear of a new university starting up. For a nonprofit, it's not the most lucrative business venture, and the startup costs and regulatory hurdles are intense. But Caitlin O’R. B. Carter and Maren Rosenbach are determined to build a new kind of higher-education institution in the Seattle area. In this first episode of 2022, we speak with these bold founders of Wright University. Named after Carter’s late grandmother who was a lifelong educator, Carter and Rosenbach envision Wright University to be an inclusive four-year school focused on racial and social justice “by employing and educating those historically excluded by academia.” They are aiming to raise $500 million in capital to open a physical campus in the Seattle area and start enrolling students by fall of 2023.  Listen in to learn more about their compelling vision and what it takes to start a new university in the midst of a worldwide pandemic.

In this IngenioUs mini episode we speak with enrollment management expert Tim Fuller about what it takes to bring in the class during these anxious and uncertain times in higher education. Long time enrollment practitioner, owner and SVP at Credo and now founder of his own consulting firm, Fuller Higher Ed Solutions, Tim is our featured presenter at our January 19th, 2022 Leading Edge Thinking in Higher Ed webinar.  In our brief conversation here, Tim shares a few high level take aways for what webinar attendees can expect to learn.  To register for the webinar:https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/753877266104900111

Tim founded Fuller Higher Ed Solutions in June of 2020 to focus even more of his time on enrollment health, strategic planning, and leadership counsel. A frequent conference and campus presenter, Tim underpins over 40 years of data trends and research with storytelling, wit, and campus examples to bring statistics to life and connect his audiences with the part they all play in an organization’s strategic enrollment health, plan for the future, and overall mission.

When Dr. Stephen Lehmkuhle became the chancellor of the brand-new University of Minnesota-Rochester campus, he had to start from scratch. There was no legacy mission, no physical campus, no academic programs, no athletic teams and so on.  Lehmkuhle quickly realized that his first and most important act was to confirm the central organizing purpose of the campus. In our conversation, Stephen shares what it takes to build a campus from scratch.  According to this seasoned educator, even for those who work on campuses with long histories and enduring missions, a renewed focus on campus purpose can inspire new and fresh ways of thinking about the many elements of campus operation and function that we take for granted.

Stephen Lemkuhle is the author of the recent book, Campus with Purpose: Building a Mission-Driven Campus, a book that tells the story of the creation of the University of Minnesota-Rochester where he served as inaugural Chancellor.

As Maryville University's 10th president (since 2007), Dr. Mark Lombardi has led an innovative revolution, earning national distinction, resulting in mind-bending enrollment growth and gains in student learning, success, and retention.  With enrollment reaching 11,000 and with 90+ campus-based, online, undergraduate and graduate degree programs and a 98% job placement rate (meaning students obtain a job in their chosen field or attend graduate school within six months of graduating), Maryville is clearly on a roll. What's the secret to Maryville's success?  Lombardi attributes several important 'pivot' points including the relentless and courageous pursuit of innovation, a revenue-driven business model, and a highly personalized approach to learning that is informed by learning theory, analytics and diagnostics, and life coaching.  And according to Lombardi, they are just getting started!  Nationally, President Lombardi is recognized as a thought leader in the higher education revolution and is also co-author of the recently released book Pivot: A Vision for the New University (2019).

In his latest IngenioUs blog article, David J. Staley, Ph.D. suggests that higher education leaders need to be thinking in more imaginative ways about what universities can be.  According to Staley, bringing change to the university means 'reforming the university as a new discipline or a new design practice.'  As usual, Staley's thinking is provocative and is informing how we think about educating the next generation of higher education leaders.  Listen here and let us know if you have examples of expansive university making models to share.