Changing Higher Ed
Changing Higher Ed is a podcast dedicated to helping higher education leaders improve their institutions. It offers the latest news and insights from top experts in higher education, sharing perspectives on how to grow institutions. Host Dr. Drumm McNaughton is a top higher education consultant with executive leadership experience in academe, nonprofits, government, and business.
Episodes
Faculty-Led AI at Scale: From UC Santa Barbara to the California Community Colleges
At UC Santa Barbara, Kavitta Ghai recalls, students waited two days, on average, to get a question answered. For a student whose scholarship was just pulled or whose tuition is due tomorrow, that is too long, and at community colleges, she notes, most classrooms have no teaching assistant at all. She argues AI can now offer the round-the-clock support students have never had, if it is built and go
AI Guardrails for Universities: Why an AI Policy Needs a Tech Stack to Enforce It
Most AI risk at a university does not start with a hacker. It starts with a student, a faculty member, or a researcher copying something out of the learning management system and pasting it into a personal AI account, where every safeguard written into the institution's enterprise licenses no longer applies. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dean
FIRE's 2027 College Free Speech Rankings: What Actually Moves a School's Score
Texas A&M holds a green light rating for its speech policies and still fell from 47th to 192nd in this year's College Free Speech Rankings. Harvard climbed from 245th to 71st without changing a single policy, a sign that how leadership responds to speech controversies matters more than what is written in the handbook. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks
Washington Update: Title IV Risk, Neg Reg, and the Midterms
Student loan default and repayment rates have continued to be calculated through years of dormant collections, and some institutions could soon face single-year default rates high enough to threaten their Title IV eligibility. That risk is arriving alongside final OB3 rules, sweeping accreditation proposals from the AIM negotiated rulemaking, and midterm elections that will reshape every committee
How Gies Gives Every Junior a Live Client Project
Most institutions measure access at admission and affordability, then ration the experiences that actually change student outcomes to whoever finds them. The experiential learning that employers say they want gets delivered to honors cohorts and groups of thirty while everyone else gets the catalog. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. W. Brooke
Workforce Readiness: Why Higher Ed Struggles to Use Employer Support
Workforce readiness is usually framed as a funding and program-design problem. In some states and at some institutions, the funding and the employer willingness already exist, and what is missing is a structure on the institution's side that can take the offer and act on it. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Brad Griffith, president of Buckeye In
Diversifying Revenue Without Diluting Mission: Inside Rollins College's Innovation Triangle
Private colleges under enrollment pressure get told to diversify revenue. The venture that follows usually either fails to earn or drags the institution away from the academic identity families were paying for. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Brooke Barnett, President of Rollins College. The conversation covers how a tuition-dependent priva
Adult Learners: Redesign, Don't Just Recruit
Institutions recruiting adult learners are inserting them into schedules, deadline policies, and course structures designed for 19-year-olds, then treating the resulting attrition as a student problem. The barriers doing the damage are recent design decisions, not fixed features of higher education, and several of them cost almost nothing to remove. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podca
Reputation, Revenue, and the Cost of Silence in Higher Ed Communication
Most institutions in a crisis don't believe they're in one. The word calls up a scandal with a camera crew outside, and nothing on this week's agenda looks like that, so the answer is often no. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Evan Nierman, founder and CEO of Red Banyan, a strategic communications firm built around high-stakes rapid response. Th
Why Is Enrollment Falling Short When Applications Are Up?
Applications keep climbing while the class comes up short. The gap sits in the phase most institutions treat as the finish line: what happens after the acceptance letter goes out. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Mike McGetrick, Vice President of Spark451, which he co-founded. Spark451 is a Jenzabar company. The conversation covers why enrollmen
The Purpose of Liberal Arts Education in the Age of AI
The same students who say college costs too much are overwhelmingly saying it was worth it, and that contradiction is the key to the entire public confidence debate. In Gallup-Lumina polling cited in this episode, 93 percent of bachelor's students called their degree a worthwhile investment. The doubt is about price, not the education, and generative AI has raised the stakes for confusing the two.
Building Fairleigh Dickinson's Lifelong Learning Ecosystem Across Five Generations
Program discontinuation is usually the fight presidents avoid. Fairleigh Dickinson University put a significant slate of program discontinuations and consolidations to a faculty referendum, and roughly 88 percent of the faculty endorsed it. The vote reflects a larger redefinition underway at FDU: a shift from the four-year degree to a university built around lifelong learning. In this episode of t
Pairing Liberal Arts with Tech Readiness: Five Institutional Decisions from Manhattan University
At Manhattan University, the case for the liberal arts is being made with outcomes, not nostalgia. Its graduates rank in the top 2% nationally for mid-career salaries, and The Wall Street Journal ranked the university 73rd in the country for graduate salaries, social mobility, and cost-effectiveness. The more useful story for institutional leaders sits underneath those numbers: a set of deliberat
Student Retention: Using AI to Spot Disengagement Before Dropout
Most retention systems flag struggling students through grades and attendance. By the time those indicators fire, many students are already halfway out the door. Elvee's survey of 1,050 U.S. college students shows why: 86% start college highly motivated, 42% come close to dropping out at some point, and only 17% of those who struggle ever request help. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed®
Higher Ed's Trust Problem Isn't a PR Problem: AAC&U's Trust Agenda
Half of college presidents worried about public trust are answering with a public relations campaign. According to the AAC&U report at the center of this episode, that is a reasonable instinct but the wrong one. Public confidence in colleges and universities has slid for more than a decade, and messaging alone will not turn it around. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm
Why Research Funding Cuts Are a Strategic Risk, Not a Budget Problem
When the federal government freezes research funding, leaders tend to treat it as a budget problem: a number that was cut and might later be restored. The harder truth in this conversation is that much of the damage cannot be undone. Halted studies, shuttered labs, and departed early-career researchers do not simply resume when the money comes back. Research funding cuts are a strategic risk, not
When AI Finds the Administrative Friction Higher Ed Leaders Miss
Most AI conversations in higher education focus on the academic side. The administrative side gets less attention and is producing the bigger near-term financial wins for institutions willing to govern the rollout. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Justin Beck, CEO of Gravyty, about how AI is being applied across enrollment and advancement at i
Inside CSU's ChatGPT Edu Rollout Across 22 Universities
AI implementation in higher education is often framed as a technology question. California State University treated it as change management with technology as the catalyst, rolling out ChatGPT Edu to 22 universities in 18 months while running the largest AI survey ever conducted at a single university system. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with
AI in Higher Education: Bias, Procurement, and Human Oversight
At sixteen, with straight A's in math and science, Dr. Karen Panetta's school career assessment told her to sell makeup or be a cook. A male friend with lower scores got engineer or politician. No AI was involved. Just a rules-based system applying gender and biographical filters to two teenagers. That same logic now sits inside AI tools landing in admissions offices and HR systems across higher
AI-First Business Education: How Kogod Transformed Culture, Curriculum, and Faculty Adoption
Most business schools are still forming committees to figure out what to do about AI. Kogod School of Business at American University formed a committee, but far from the typical higher ed standards. Leadership gave it six weeks and a five-page limit, and used the recommendation to integrate AI into every department, major, and minor. Three years later, undergraduate enrollment is up 40%, applicat
Closing Higher Education's AI Readiness Gap with Human-First Transformation
AI adoption in higher education is moving faster than institutional change models were built to handle. Students are already using AI at high rates, while many institutions are still trying to decide where AI belongs, who should lead it, and how much change is required. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Nikki Barua, serial entrepreneur and founde
Scaling Higher Education: An Entrepreneurial Approach to a Consolidating Market
Scaling higher education is no longer a theoretical strategy. As the sector moves deeper into consolidation, institutional leaders need to confront whether their operating models, credential structures, partnerships, and delivery systems are built for the market ahead. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Stephen Spinelli, President of Babson Co
Why College Presidents Need a Coalition for Civic Preparedness
Civic preparedness in higher education can no longer be treated as an assumed byproduct of a college education. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Raj Vinnakota, president of the Institute for Citizens & Scholars, about how colleges and universities can rebuild the civic skills students need to navigate disagreement, evaluate credible information,
International Enrollment Strategy: Taking Higher Education to the World
International student enrollment in the United States reached record highs in 2024–2025, followed by a sharp and uneven decline heading into 2025–2026. While top-tier institutions continue to attract global talent, regional and private institutions are facing growing pressure as visa restrictions, geopolitical dynamics, and shifting perceptions of the U.S. reshape the enrollment landscape. In this
Higher Ed Technology Change Management and Digital Transformation
Higher education's track record with technology change is uneven for a reason, and the reason is rarely the technology. It is whether leadership treats change management as a discipline that runs from planning through sustainment, or as a rollout activity bolted on at the end. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Mike Toguchi, Chief Strategy Office
Building Workforce Readiness Through Real Startup Experience
Most institutions offer experiential learning. Few deliver it. The gap between the claim and the outcome is structural, and closing it requires more than a better course design. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Chris Crittenden, founder of Sandbox, a for-credit startup incubator operating at eight universities, about what it actually takes to pr
2026 Title IV Changes and How Higher Education Can Adapt to the OBBBA
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is changing higher education in ways many institutions still have not fully accounted for. Title IV loan limits change on July 1, 2026. Accreditation reform is next. Together, those developments are forcing institutions to confront graduate funding pressure, cost structure, program design, student demand, and the pace of institutional change. In this e
Inside Neg Reg and the 2026 Higher Ed Changes
Higher education has spent years hearing that affordability, student debt, and public skepticism are putting pressure on colleges and universities. What is different now is that those pressures are shaping federal action in ways that will directly affect Title IV funding, graduate program financing, accreditation reform, and institutional decision-making before July 1, 2026. In this episode of the
Aligning Education & Work: The 2026 Lumina-Gallup Employer Report
New data from Lumina Foundation and Gallup's Aligning Education and Work: What Employers Say Higher Education Must Deliver shows that employers still value college degrees — but have serious concerns about whether graduates are ready to use them. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Courtney Brown, Vice President of Impact and Planning and Chie
AI Can Fill The Vessel. Can Colleges Still Light The Fire?
AI in higher education is no longer just a technology issue. The larger question is whether colleges and universities will redesign learning so students develop judgment, critical thinking, and decision-making skills in a world where AI can already generate summaries, essays, and plausible answers on demand. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Franc
Students Are Acting Like Consumers. Higher Ed Needs to Catch Up
Jeff Dinski helped start Cold Pizza at ESPN, the morning show that eventually became First Take. On a daily show, ratings are everything. You either produce something people want to watch, or you do not last. He carried that discipline into edtech, and it is the lens through which he looks at higher education: are you really giving students what they need, or are you producing what is convenient f
SACSCOC Updates: Substantive Change, Standards, and Outcomes Transparency
Accreditation is often treated as a compliance cycle, but SACSCOC is signaling a faster-moving, more transparent operating posture that will affect how institutions plan change, document quality, and explain outcomes to the public. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Stephen L. Pruitt, President of the Southern Association of Colleges and Scho
How University Presidents Lead with Moral Courage Under Political Pressure
Higher education's public trust problem is not something presidents can fix with better messaging. In this conversation, AAC&U President Dr. Lynn Pasquerella describes a structural squeeze on institutional independence that shows up as academic freedom fights, curriculum mandates, and growing skepticism about higher education's value. In episode 300 of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm M
FIRE on Campus Leadership and the Defense of Open Inquiry
Free speech on campus is not an abstract constitutional issue—it's a governance challenge for presidents and boards. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton is joined by Dr. Sean Stevens, Chief Research Advisor at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), to examine the current state of campus free speech and what institutional leaders must do to
Stop-Outs, Transfers, and ROI: The Data Already Exists and You're Not Using It
Higher education is under mounting pressure to prove its value. But the data institutions need to respond already exists — most are just not using it strategically. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Melba Amissi, Chief Customer and Operations Officer at the National Student Clearinghouse, about how the Clearinghouse's cross-institutional data
Agile Change Management for Today's Higher Education Leaders
Agile change management in higher education is no longer optional. Institutions are navigating continuous disruption from AI, shifting student expectations, workforce pressures, and internal cultural resistance. The challenge leaders face is not how to implement change once, but how to build the institutional ability to adapt continuously. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. D
Using Entrepreneurship to Redesign the College Operating Model
In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Jeff Meade, Founding Director of the Every Quinnite is an Entrepreneur program at Paul Quinn College, about how the institution has embedded entrepreneurship into the operating model of the college itself. Rather than treating entrepreneurship as an elective or a business school track, Paul Quinn uses it as a stru
Reduce Student Debt Risk and Improve Employability with Distributed Practicum
Workforce readiness, hands-on learning, and flexible credentialing are no longer peripheral conversations in higher education. They are central to how institutions are being judged on value, relevance, and outcomes. In this episode of Changing Higher Ed podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Jarred McNeely, Provost and Chief Academic Officer at Sonoran Desert Institute, about how applied, skill
Empathy in Higher Education Leadership Without Losing Your Edge
Empathy is easy to talk about and harder to practice when the pressure is high. In higher education, leaders are often navigating conflict, fatigue, and urgency, which is exactly when empathy gets misread as weakness instead of treated as a leadership competency. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Laura Parson, Associate Professor at North Dak
The Case for a Chief Enrollment Management Officer in Higher Education
In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Dan Predoehl, assistant dean of Extended Learning and director of the Emeritus Institute at Saddleback College, one of the nation's highest-performing community colleges. The conversation focuses on why enrollment challenges persist even at strong institutions and how treating enrollment as a shared responsibil
How Stevens Tech Became One of the Strongest Transformation Stories in Higher Education
Institutional transformation in higher education is often described in broad terms. At Stevens Institute of Technology, Dr. Nariman Farvardin describes transformation in operational terms: disciplined strategic planning, academic realignment, and year-after-year execution systems that produced what Dr. Drumm McNaughton calls the Stevens Miracle. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed podcast, D
Higher Education 2026 Planning and Lessons Learned from 2025 Predictions
Higher education enters 2026 under conditions that are no longer hypothetical. In this 8th annual end-of-year episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton is joined by Tom Netting of TEN Government Strategies to review how the predictions made at the end of 2024 played out during the 2025 operating year and what those outcomes mean for institutional planning in 2026. Rather tha
Strategic Insights from the 2025 AAC&U Employer Survey: What Employers Want From Higher Education
In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Ashley Finley, Vice President of Research and Senior Advisor to the President at the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), about the findings of the 2025 AAC&U Employer Survey and what they reveal about employer expectations for higher education. Based on nearly 20 years of longitudinal re
Higher Education Communication Strategy Under Political Pressure and Crisis Risk
Higher education communication is no longer a marketing function. It is a strategic discipline shaped by political pressure, governance risk, and real-time public scrutiny. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with David Maffei, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Americas at Staffbase, about how university presidents and boards must rethink
How Higher Ed Leaders Can Take Back the Public Narrative
Higher education is facing a growing disconnect between public perception and the realities of campus life. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Peter Murphy Lewis, CNN political analyst, filmmaker, and director of People Worth Caring About, about how institutions can reclaim their narrative and rebuild trust through authentic human stories. This
Innovation in Higher Education: How Leaders Build the Capacity to Adapt
Higher education leaders are being asked to innovate faster than their institutions are built to move. This episode of Changing Higher Ed explores how presidents and boards can change that. Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Erika Liodice, Executive Director of the Alliance for Innovation and Transformation (AFIT), about how institutions can strengthen their innovation capacity through futures think
Accreditation Trends and WASC Priorities for Student Success
Accreditation trends and expectations are shifting under rising accountability pressures, financial constraints, and increased scrutiny of student outcomes. This episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast features Maria Toyoda, President and CEO of the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC), in a strategic conversation with Dr. Drumm McNaughton about how institutions can strengthen
The Real Cost of Overlooking Teaching Quality in Higher Ed
Improving how teaching happens in the classroom is one of the most effective ways to increase student retention, stabilize tuition revenue, and strengthen institutional reputation—yet most universities don't manage it strategically. In this episode of Changing Higher Ed, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with David Gooblar, Associate Professor at the University of Iowa and author of The Missing Course,
Free Speech on College Campuses: Insights from FIRE's 2025 Report
Free speech on college campuses has become one of higher education's most volatile and defining challenges. In this episode, Dr. Drumm McNaughton talks with Dr. Sean Stevens, Chief Research Advisor at FIRE—the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression—about findings from FIRE's newly released College Free Speech Rankings and the state of academic freedom, the growing political pressures on
Aligning Higher Education Strategy and Programs with Workforce Needs and Student Value
Host Dr. Drumm McNaughton welcomes Dr. Harrison Keller, president of the University of North Texas and former Texas commissioner of higher education. This episode of the Changing Higher Ed podcast helps higher education presidents, boards, and senior leaders rethink how to connect institutional mission with workforce readiness. It explores how institutions can better align employer partnerships, f
Holistic Enrollment Strategy and Management: Filling the Enrollment Pipeline
At one of the smallest graduate schools in the nation, a system built to serve just over a hundred students is redefining how higher education can grow. CUNY's Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism has proven that scale isn't the key to enrollment stability—structure is. By integrating admissions, student affairs, career services, and alumni engagement into one cohesive unit, the school
Executing a Debt-Free Higher Education Turnaround with Real Estate
When every board discussion centers on deficits, deferred maintenance, or another "strategic realignment," higher education leaders start asking what it would take to fix the system instead of just managing decline. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Beth Martin, President of Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU), who led her institution through a
Cybersecurity Risk Management in Higher Education—It's Not Just an IT Problem
Higher education institutions are increasingly at risk from cyberattacks that threaten enrollment, accreditation, financial aid compliance, and reputation. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Brian Kelly, Chief Information Security Officer at Community Health Networks of Connecticut and former higher education CISO, about why cybersecurity must be
Higher Education Fundraising and Strategic Planning Alignment
Higher education institutions face strained budgets, declining enrollments, and shifting donor behavior—making fundraising a strategic priority, not just an operational function. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Bill Crouch, CEO of BrightDot and former university president, about how presidents and boards can strengthen higher education fundr
How AI Dashboards Can Strengthen Board Governance
AI dashboards offer higher education boards the opportunity to boost performance to improve their institutions. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed Podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Marc Huffman, CEO of OnBoard and eSCRIBE, about how AI dashboards provide trustees with better insight into board work and support more effective board governance. This conversation is especially relevan
International Student Recruiting in Higher Education—23 Touchpoints, Visa Barriers, and Retention Risks for Boards
Families are writing universities directly to ask if it's safe to send their children to the United States. Institutions are also facing longer visa backlogs and growing competition from abroad. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Roger Douglas, Dean for International Programs and Development at St. Martin's University, about how leaders can str
Enrollment Management Solutions in the Enrollment Cliff Era
This episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast focuses on enrollment management solutions presidents and boards can use to navigate the enrollment cliff. Bill Conley and Bob Massa of Enrollment Intelligence Now join Dr. Drumm McNaughton to share practical guidance on setting realistic enrollment goals, aligning enrollment with finance, and managing institutional risk. (Part one examined the cha
Beyond the Headlines: Reframing Enrollment Management in the Enrollment Cliff Era
Institutions face converging pressures that are reshaping enrollment management. Declining participation rates, tuition discounting that erodes net revenue, international enrollment volatility, and political mandates are forcing colleges to rethink how they attract and retain students. Enrollment management is no longer just admissions and aid — it has become a strategic system linking recruitment
Caltech's Approach to Stronger Private Board Governance
Caltech's board once had nearly 80 members; too many for focused discussion or quick decisions. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton talks with Cathy Light, Caltech's Secretary of the Board, about how the institution streamlined governance, strengthened committees, and made trustee reorientation mandatory. Light, who has held senior roles at Carnegie Mellon Uni
How University Leaders Can Transform Institutions with Program Realignment and Scalable Mental Health Services
40% of California's licensed doctoral psychologists come from one university that nearly failed a decade ago. Their turnaround didn't come from diversifying programs or chasing enrollment—it came from making the hardest decision in higher ed: cutting what wasn't excellent. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Andy Vaughn, President and CEO of Alliant
Helping First-Gen and Low SES Students Succeed: A Regional Model That Works
With first-generation and low SES students facing steep barriers to completion and career entry, Great Jobs KC has built a replicable model that starts in high school, continues through college, and delivers real workforce outcomes. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Great Jobs KC CEO Earl Martin Phalen about how regional collaboration, wraparound
Washington Update: July 2025 Reconciliation Bill's Impact on Higher Ed
Higher education leaders are facing the most sweeping set of federal regulatory and funding changes in over a decade. In this Washington Update episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton welcomes back frequent guest Tom Netting, president of TEN Government Strategies, to discuss the July 2025 budget reconciliation bill—federal legislation that significantly alters student loa
Building a Connected College by Aligning Strategy and Services
Most colleges rely on more than 20 disconnected systems to support students, creating confusion, reducing engagement, and lowering graduation rates. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Elliot Felix is the founder of brightspot Strategy (acquired by Buro Happold in 2020) and the author of The Connected College: Leadership Strategies for Student Succ
Using AI to Fix Admissions and Enrollment Without Losing the Human Touch
AI can change how colleges and universities approach enrollment, making it faster, fairer, and more aligned with student success. In this episode of Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton talks with Ashish Fernando, founder and CEO of EDMO and iSchoolConnect, about how institutions can use artificial intelligence to improve admissions, automate routine tasks, and personalize support wit
How Utah State Is Using a Connected Campus to Boost Student Engagement and Persistence
Digital transformation in higher education often focuses on technology. But for Utah State University, the transformation has been about outcomes: improving retention, strengthening equity, and building scalable systems of support without overhauling infrastructure. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Rene Eborn, Associate Vice President of Strategi
Strategies to Help Adult Learners Re-Enroll and Graduate
How Cross-Sector Partnerships Help Adult Learners Return, Persist, and Complete Degrees With over 41 million adults in the U.S. holding some college credit but no degree, colleges and universities are under pressure to implement effective adult learner enrollment strategies. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Malik Brown, President and CEO of Gradua
High Structure Course Design for Student Engagement, Retention, and Success
Higher education leaders are searching for better ways to engage students, improve retention, and close equity gaps—especially in the wake of COVID-related learning disruptions. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Justin Shaffer, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies and Teaching Professor in Chemical and Biological Engineering at the Colorad
Shared Services and Consolidation Strategies for Small Colleges
Shared services and consolidation strategies are helping struggling small colleges stabilize operations, reduce costs, and pursue sustainable growth—without compromising institutional identity or student outcomes. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, host Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Jason Duggan, CEO of Thesis Elements, about how these approaches are being used to help small co
Adding Leadership Development to Academic Curriculum Design in Higher Ed
While higher education leaders often cite leadership development as a priority, few institutions treat it as a teachable, measurable skill. In this episode of Changing Higher Ed®, host Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Scott Cowen about why leadership education should be integrated into the academic curriculum—and how institutions can implement it effectively. President Emeritus of Tulane Unive
When DEI Is Off the Table: How Higher Ed Leaders Can Still Drive Institutional Change
Higher education's approach to DEI is under fire—from political pressure, public skepticism, and internal fatigue. But abandoning DEI isn't the only option. In this episode of Changing Higher Ed®, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Columbia Law professor Susan Sturm about how higher ed institutions can continue to drive inclusive institutional change—without relying on traditional DEI frameworks tha
Aligning Higher Ed with Workforce Needs and Nontraditional Learners
Higher education is facing a growing disconnect between traditional academic pathways and the needs of today's learners and employers. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Kathleen deLaski, founder of Education Design Lab and author of Who Needs College Anymore?, about how institutions can realign academic programs to better serve nontraditional stud
Confronting the Storm: Resistance to Change and Current Attacks on Higher Education
Higher education faces increasing external pressures and diminishing public trust—creating an urgent need for institutional adaptation. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Brian Rosenberg, former president of Macalister College and author of "
Strategic Affiliation in Higher Education: What Colleges Can Learn from The Colleges of Law and TCS Education System
Strategic affiliation in higher education offers an alternative path for institutional sustainability—one that maintains mission and autonomy while accessing shared infrastructure and support. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Matt Nehmer, President of The Colleges of Law, about his institution's affiliation with The Community Solution Educati
Higher Education Strategic Planning That Drives Growth and Faculty Buy-In
Strategic planning in higher education isn't just about setting goals—it's about building the kind of stakeholder engagement and leadership alignment that can drive lasting institutional change. In this episode of Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Andrew T. Hsu, President of the College of Charleston, about how a collaborative planning process helped increase enroll
Capital Funding Strategies in Higher Education: How Universities Are Solving Infrastructure and Student Housing Challenges
With state capital support on the decline and infrastructure aging out of usefulness, higher education leaders are under pressure to find new ways to fund capital projects—without compromising mission, control, or long-term sustainability. In this episode of Changing Higher Ed®, Dr. Drumm McNaughton explores creative capital funding strategies institutions are using to meet urgent facility and hou
What's Fueling the Collapse in Public Trust in Higher Education
Public confidence in colleges and universities has dropped dramatically—only a third of Americans say they trust higher education. In this episode, Dr. Drumm McNaughton talks with Dr. Courtney Brown, Vice President of Strategic Impact and Planning at Lumina Foundation, about Gallup–Lumina's latest findings and what institutional leaders must do to address the affordability and workforce relevance
Using Faculty Satisfaction Data for Strategic Change in Higher Education
Most institutions survey their faculty, but few turn that data into meaningful action. This episode explores how higher education leaders can use faculty satisfaction data to inform strategic planning, strengthen shared governance, retain talent, and lead institutional change. Dr. Drumm McNaughton is joined by Dr. R. Todd Benson, Executive Director of COACHE (Collaborative on Academic Careers in H
Short-Term Credentials: What College Leaders Should Know
As short-term credentials gain traction, higher ed leaders face a critical question: Are these programs truly cost-effective and accessible—or just shorter? In this episode, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Jinann Bitar, Director of Higher Ed Research and Data Analytics at Education Trust, about the cost-efficiency, accessibility, and policy implications of short-term credential programs. They dis
Washington Update: Dismantling the Department of Education and Redefining Oversight for Higher Ed
Tom Netting, president of TEN Government Strategies and a trusted Washington insider, returns to provide a critical update on sweeping federal changes affecting higher education. In conversation with Drumm McNaughton, he breaks down the Trump administration's executive order to dismantle the Department of Education, a move that's already led to major staff reductions and the redistribution of resp
Enrollment Marketing Strategy: How to Attract Students and Align Programs
Enrollment marketing strategy is no longer optional—it's essential for institutions looking to grow in a competitive, high-cost digital environment. In this episode, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Max DesMarais, Director of Strategy at Vital, about how colleges and universities can use data, content strategy, and full-funnel marketing to improve student recruitment and ensure academic offerings
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