Publications

Inside Higher Ed, August 2020

If you stay in the trench, you can’t see what’s in front of you, let alone what’s on the horizon. Reflecting upon years of discussion about American higher education, we’ve noticed that the very structures and principles that have made our model great are potentially holding us back. It’s time to ask ourselves: Are those principles and structures ones that we would design were we to start from scratch?

Specifically, does our current system of organizing our institutions as academic schools, colleges and departments still make sense? Have our organizational structures evolved as we have added — but rarely subtracted — new departments, programs and centers? Is a proliferation of departments good for students, faculty members, employers or the university?

Trusteeship magazine, Association of Governing Boards of Colleges and Universities (AGB), July/August 2020

Higher education was hit especially hard by the COVID-19 pandemic due to the large numbers of students on campuses, the timing of the outbreak, and the financial challenges many institutions already faced. For colleges and universities to successfully emerge from the pandemic, they will need to make important decisions and changes. Institutions must be willing to invest in ensuring resilience.

Original (full length) essay can be found here.

Inside Higher Ed, May 2020

Colleges need to communicate culture to articulate who they are, what they offer and why it matters, write David Rosowsky and Kimberly Hallman, and that need has ballooned in the global pandemic.

AdWeek, April 2020

The sudden shift to remote teaching and learning following the Covid-19 outbreak and global pandemic has been a remarkable experiment for students, faculty, instructional staff and colleges and universities at large. We are learning on the fly, from one another and through trial and error about how to teach online, how to communicate with students in and out of class and how to maintain continuity in a severely fractured academic year. While not perfect, we are now meeting our students where they live.

Original (full length) essay can be found here.

The Chronicle of Higher Education, April 2020

Even as we continue to navigate this challenging and disruptive time, we need to turn our collective attention to what’s next. For college leaders, that means focusing on the fall-2020 semester. We must start thinking now about how we will ramp back up, what we will look like as an institution, and how we can best serve our students…

AGB Leadership & Governance Blog, 2020

The world is changing. Higher education must also change. Such words are now said so often they hardly seem provocative.  And, a quick read of the news quickly illustrates the necessity of change (or at least the implications for not doing so). An increasing number of colleges and universities are reorganizing, merging, or closing.

The EvoLLLution, August 2019

Transparency in the budgeting model plays a central role in the success of the adoption of a new approach. However, institutional leaders must also be conscious of their institutional culture and realities to ensure they choose a model that fits their context.

The EvoLLLution, July 2019

STEM and liberal arts have been at odds for too long. Purposeful and conscious partnerships between these two faculties are essential to supporting the skill development of the 21st century professional, and to ensuring the university stays relevant to the needs of its key stakeholders.