Reinventing U

Is a college degree still the quickest path to a good-paying job? That is the question at the heart of Kathleen deLaski's timely 2025 book, which is the focus of this episode of Reinventing U. As deLaski notes, headlines are dominated by the cost and ROI of a 4-year degree, and more families are asking themselves: Is college worth it? For many Americans, confused and stressed by mixed messages, the answer, deLaski contends, is increasingly: No. But, if college isn't the guaranteed route to success it once was, what comes next? Who Needs College Anymore? describes the workarounds that could well become the “new normal” for how America prepares for work.

Leading Generously with Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Interim Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies, Michigan State University

The University Unfettered Public Higher Education in an Age of Disruption Ian F. McNeely Columbia University Press The public university as we once knew it is gone and never coming back. After generations of fickle state support, public universities behave more and more like their private counterparts—charging what the market will bear, offering what consumers demand, competing relentlessly with peers, and managing their own priorities. But looking back on how we got here offers surprising reassurance. U.S. public universities emerged largely intact after a decade of disruption bookended by a financial crisis and a pandemic. Resisting widespread calls for corporate reinvention or “disruptive innovation,” they hewed to their core missions. If anything, exposure to the rigors of competition only enhanced their longstanding commitments to the public good.   READ MORE        

We interview Dr. Mary Wright, Associate Provost for Teaching and Learning, Executive Director of the Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning, and Professor (Research) Sociology, at Brown University. She is also a former president (2017-18) of the Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Network in Higher Education, the U.S. professional association for educational development. The conversation focuses on Dr. Wright's new book, Centers for Teaching and Learning: The New Landscape in Higher Education (2023), a study of aims, strategies, tactics, organization, and evaluation approaches for over 1,200 Centers for Teaching and Learning. Listeners of Reinventing U can purchase Dr. Wright's book directly from JHUPress, using promo code HCTL23 at checkout for a discount (active through 7/7/24). UERU members can access an extended version of this episode in MyUERU. 

This episode features an interview with Dr. Corbin Campbell, the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Associate Professor in the School of Education at American University, hosted by Steve Dandaneau, Executive Director, and Emma Hanson, Senior Student Coordinator. The topics include Dr.Campbell's newly published book: Great College Teaching: Where It Happens and How to Foster It Everywhere, published by Harvard Education Press. 

In episode 10, we talk with Father Jim Heft, an Alton M. Brooks Professor of Religion at the University of Southern California and Founder and President Emeritus of the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies (IACS). Father Heft was also honored with the Theodore Hesburgh Award for long and distinguished service to Catholic Higher Education in 2011.  He served on the board of the American Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities and chaired that board for two years. He spent many years at the University of Dayton, serving as chair of the Theology Department for six years, Provost of the university for eight years, and then Chancellor for 10 years. He left the University of Dayton in the summer of 2006 and founded the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies (IACS) at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Father Heft has written and edited numerous books and has written more than one hundred and fifty articles and book chapters. Most recently, he co-edited Empty Churches: Non-Affiliations in America with Jan Stets and wrote and published with Oxford University Press, The Future of Catholic Higher Education. Topics discussed in this episode include the challenges of Catholic Universities such as commercialism and secularism, communication between the disciplines, the idea of the open circle, identifying universal concerns, Catholic social teaching, traditions and traditionalism, and academic freedom and fidelity.

In episode 9, we talk with Colin Potts, the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education at Georgia Institute for Technology where he oversees offices and programs that effect undergraduate education such as the Georgia Tech Career Center, the Honors Program (HP), Academic Engagement Programs, Tutoring & Academic Support, Undergraduate Academic Advising, Pre-Graduate & Pre-Professional Advising, Summer Session Initiatives, and Serve-Learn-Sustain (SLS). Dr. Potts also sits on the President’s cabinet and represents Georgia Tech’s undergraduate academic affairs to the University System of Georgia Board of Regents and the Association of American Universities (AAU). Dr. Potts also serves as the President of the Reinvention Collaborative. Topics discussed include the role of “research” in research universities in strengthening undergraduate education, the scholarship of teaching and learning in reference to the Boyer report, university-wide reform efforts, adapting to Covid-19 as a paradigm shift in higher education, and the importance of entrepreneurship at research universities as a growth and creation of knowledge.

In episode 8, we talk with Deborah A. Santiago, the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Excelencia in Education. Before Excelencia, she was Vice President for data and Policy Analysis at the LA County Alliance for Student Achievement, a policy analyst at the Library of Congress’ Congressional Research Service on legislative issues in higher education, and informed programmatic and budgetary efforts in the Office of Post-secondary Education at the US Department of Education. She also served as the Deputy Director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans. Topics discussed include the basic mission of Excelencia in Education and how to frame the proverbial big picture, the social mission of Excelencia, and how educators can prepare themselves for the Latino students of today and tomorrow.

In episode 7, we talk with Eric Waldo, Executive Director of Michelle Obama’s Reach Higher Initiative and Chief Access and Equity Officer at The Common Application. Before joining the White House, Waldo was Deputy Chief and Staff at the Department of Education, where he helped lead the initiatives for The Recovery Act under former president Barack Obama. Waldo also helped manage the Department of Defense global K-12 school system as the co-chair for the Advisory Council for Dependence Education and served as Deputy Staff Council for Obama’s presidential campaign. Through policy, advocacy, and community engagement, Waldo encourages all students to strive for a post-secondary education. Topics discussed include A Student’s Guide To Your First Year of College, the importance for colleges to be student-ready, the key to success is being a lifelong learner, higher education credentialing, making education the great equalizer, the role of socioeconomic status in equity and diversity, democratizing education, bettering teacher compensation, fixing a broken accrediting system in higher education, and popping the bubble of elitism. You can listen to Waldo’s educational podcast, SwampED, or follow him on twitter @ewwaldo or @swampEDpod

In episode 6, we talk with Dr. OiYan-Poon, Associate Professor of Higher Education Leadership and Director of the Center for Race and Intersectional Studies in Educational Equity, the RISE Center, at Colorado State University. Dr. Poon also served as President of the University of California Student Association, is an advocate for the establishment of the Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI) designation, and is a cofounder of the Chinese Americans Reimaging Leadership Summit in Boston. Topics discussed include Dr. Poon’s coauthored bookDifficult Subjects, how to teach in a world of precarity, scholarly activism, knowing your audience in the STEM fields, intersectionality, expectations from the RISE Center, and equity and the university business model.

In episode 5, we talk with Dr. Debie Rudder Lohe, Director of the Policy Reinert Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning at St. Louis University. Dr. Lohe was also appointed acting Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs and Development. Topics that are discussed include transformation teaching and learning through writing and pedagogy, undergraduate education at a Jesuit or Catholic university, the forming of self for an educated person, the role and pattern of language and the training of a humanistic eye, mending the tension between the value of disciplines and the value of inter-disciplines, the role and strengths within a writing center, and using the POD Network as a UVP member.

In episode 4, we talk with Dr. Michael Dennin, Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning and Dean of Undergraduate Education at the University of California, Irvine, a long-time member of the RC's UVP network and a professor of physics and astronomy. Some topics included administrative structure, coaching through mistakes and goal setting, social mobility, role of public research universities, Learning Assistants, and reinvigorating the humanities.

In episode 3, we interview Dr. DeAngela Burns-Wallace, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies at the University of Kansas about changing the culture of busy-ness and meetings that many university administrators face. Topics include managing email, maintaining schedules that allow administrators to be effective change agents, and how to help students cope with information overload and over-scheduling. Thanks to The Rubbish Zoo for theme music.

In episode 2, we interview Dr. Anne Cleary, Professor of Psychology at Colorado State University and co-author of A Guide to Effective Studying and Learning. Topics include effective learning techniques, dispelling myths about learning, and helping students manage cognitive load. Thanks to The Rubbish Zoo for theme music. 

In episode 1, we interview Charlie Nutt, Executive Director of NACADA. Topics include the roles of advisors and administrators in student success, changing campus culture to embrace collaboration, and addressing achievement and equity gaps.  Thanks to The Rubbish Zoo for theme music. An extended version is available to members at http://reinventioncollaborative.org.

This is an intro to Reinventing U: A Podcast of the Reinvention Collaborative, hosted by Steve Dandaneau, Executive Director, and Liz Mauk, Assistant Director. The RC is a national consortium of research universities dedicated to strengthening undergraduate education. Visit http://reinventioncollaborative.org for more information.