By Melissa Morriss-Olson “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”—Albert Einstein Higher education leaders today face unprecedented challenges: shifting demographics,… Read more

I define perpendicular change as an unexpected deviation from the assumed trend line, usually a 90° shift from the presumed direction the future is headed.  If it taught us nothing… Read more

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” —Peter Drucker Higher education is undergoing an existential transformation. Rising college closures, student skepticism about the value of a… Read more

Ned Scott Laff and Scott Carlson, Hacking College: Why the Major Doesn’t Matter—and What Really Does (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2025). Andrew S. Hanks, Shengjun Jiang, Xuechao Qian, Bo Wang,… Read more

Since 2019, more than 60 U.S. colleges and universities have closed permanently, merged, or consolidated.[1] Another 200 private institutions face significant financial vulnerability.[2] With undergraduate enrollment declining by 8% over… Read more

Jessica Riddell, Hope Circuits: Rewiring Universities and Other Organizations for Human Flourishing (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2024). As a theorist of higher education, I am very interested in imagining new forms… Read more

“Most of us go to our graves with our music still inside us, unplayed.” —Oliver Wendell Holmes Leadership in higher education is more than strategic planning and operational efficiency—it is… Read more

“When doing what we most love transforms us into the best possible version of ourselves and hints at even greater future possibilities, the urge to explore becomes a feverish compulsion.”—Steven… Read more

Susan Goldin-Meadows, Thinking With Your Hands: The Surprising Science Behind How Gestures Shape our Thoughts (Basic Books, 2023). As an educator, I am exquisitely sensitive to the information students are… Read more

In a recent University Business column, an intriguing list highlighted the 100 best university presidents of the last decade. Surprisingly, none came from elite, resource-rich institutions. This revelation underscores a… Read more