Changing Higher Ed Podcast Por Dr. Drumm McNaughton arte de portada

Changing Higher Ed

Changing Higher Ed

De: Dr. Drumm McNaughton
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Changing Higher Ed is dedicated to helping higher education leaders improve their institutions. We offer the latest in higher ed news and insights from top experts in higher education who share their perspectives on how you can grow your institution. Host Dr. Drumm McNaughton is a top higher education consultant, renowned leader, and pioneer in strategic management systems and leadership boards. He's one of a select group with executive leadership experience in academe, nonprofits, government, and business.The Change Leader, Inc. Economía Gestión Gestión y Liderazgo
Episodios
  • Students Are Acting Like Consumers. Higher Ed Needs to Catch Up

    Students Are Acting Like Consumers. Higher Ed Needs to Catch Up
    Mar 11 2026
    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 for you? In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton and Jeff Dinski, Chief Strategy and Corporate Development Officer at Ellucian, the largest edtech company in the world serving roughly half of all U.S. colleges and universities, dig into the structural forces behind higher education's confidence crisis, what Workforce Pell Grants will actually change, and what institutional strategy has to look like from here. This conversation is especially relevant for presidents and boards who want a clear-eyed, outside-in read on what students are demanding, where the federal policy environment is heading, and which institutions are best positioned to adapt. Topics Covered: • Why the confidence crisis has bipartisan roots and why neither political party has done higher education any favors • Why student pathways are becoming individualized and what that means for program design and delivery • Real examples of institutions where undergraduates do actual corporate work, not fetch-coffee internships, as part of their degree programs • What Workforce Pell Grants will fund for the first time and which institutions are best positioned to benefit • Why the DBA vs. research PhD distinction matters for building workforce-aligned faculty pipelines • The Silicon Valley master's program model: tenured faculty for foundational content, industry adjuncts for advanced applied coursework • Why smaller private institutions face the steepest challenges and what community colleges are doing right • Two strategic tenets every president and board should act on now Real-World Examples Discussed: • Programs where freshmen through seniors do real corporate job functions as part of their degree requirements • A Silicon Valley master's program that deliberately splits teaching between tenured faculty and cutting-edge industry practitioners • Business schools' long-standing use of practitioners alongside academics as a model the broader curriculum can adopt • Ellucian's Journey platform, built to help institutions launch and scale non-degree and continuing education programs Three Key Takeaways for Leadership: 1. Experiment with non-degree courses now. Workforce Pell Grants will fund new program types at scale and institutions with existing capacity will be first to benefit. 2. Find workforce partners you trust. Aligning curriculum with employer needs requires real relationships with real hiring managers, not assumptions about market demand. 3. Create conditions for faculty innovation. The early adopters already exist at most institutions. Find them, support them, and let their demonstrated impact bring others along. This episode offers a practical, outside-in perspective on the structural choices facing higher education and a concrete framework for how institutions can respond before circumstances force their hand. Read the transcript: https://changinghighered.com/higher-education-disruption-workforce-pell-student-as-consumer/ #StudentSuccess #HigherEducation #HigherEducationPodcast #WorkforceDevelopment #EdTech
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    38 m
  • SACSCOC Updates: Substantive Change, Standards, and Outcomes Transparency

    SACSCOC Updates: Substantive Change, Standards, and Outcomes Transparency
    Mar 3 2026

    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 Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), about substantive change reforms, standards revision planning, outcomes transparency, and what institutional leaders should be watching right now.

    Topics Covered

    • Substantive change reforms approved in December, including eliminating more than half of existing categories, shifting others to presidential review, and reducing approval times to as little as one week

    • Why SACSCOC is emphasizing student benefit as a decision lens for institutional change

    • The vice president liaison model and how it supports institutional navigation of SACSCOC processes

    • The planned three-member rapid response team concept and when it may be used

    • Law or Lore and why written requirements versus institutional assumptions can create unnecessary friction

    • Standards revision planning, including public drafts and how feedback is incorporated

    • The dynamic public-facing dashboard planned for spring and what it may make more visible

    • Torch Awards and how outcomes signals relate to public trust and accountability

    • Workforce alignment, affordability pressure, and the pathways from high school through postsecondary to careers

    • Credit transfer as a public trust issue and why it is often perceived as a money grab

    • Serving working adults as a design requirement, not an add-on

    Real-World Examples Discussed

    • Georgia film-industry growth and the need to stand up new majors and degrees quickly

    • Gwinnett Tech's advising approach that helps students sequence coursework to earn certificates along the way

    • Workforce shifts such as autonomous trucking pilots and how programs could expand beyond a single credential to broader skills

    Three Key Takeaways for Higher Ed Leadership

    1. Faster change pathways increase the value of disciplined internal governance and clean documentation of readiness.

    2. Student benefit and measurable outcomes are becoming a more visible way institutions will need to justify change and demonstrate quality.

    3. Transparency tools and outcomes signaling will influence how stakeholders judge institutional credibility, affordability, and workforce relevance.

    Read the transcript
    https://changinghighered.com/sacscoc-accreditation-substantive-change-standards-2026/

    #Accreditation #SACSCOC #HigherEducation #HigherEducationPodcast
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    58 m
  • How University Presidents Lead with Moral Courage Under Political Pressure

    How University Presidents Lead with Moral Courage Under Political Pressure
    Feb 24 2026

    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 McNaughton speaks with Dr. Pasquerella about why liberal education is often misunderstood, why academic freedom is inseparable from institutional autonomy, and why presidents and boards need to treat this moment as a governance and mission issue, not a temporary political cycle.

    Pasquerella explains how these pressures tend to escalate incrementally, why institutions lost control of the public narrative, and what it takes to rebuild credibility through community anchoring, transparency, and a renewed public-good case for higher education.

    This conversation is especially relevant for institutional leaders navigating legislative interference, polarized stakeholder environments, and the operational consequences of eroding trust.

    Topics Discussed
    • Why academic freedom and institutional autonomy erode incrementally
    • What Supreme Court precedent signals about academic freedom and university self-governance
    • Why liberal education is about intellectual freedom, not partisan ideology
    • How higher education lost the public narrative and why marketing is not the solution
    • Moral distress and moral injury in the presidency under coercive mandates
    • Belonging uncertainty, cognitive bandwidth, and the institutional impact of student wellbeing
    • Community anchoring as the practical path to rebuilding trust
    • How institutions can reimagine learning without abandoning rigor
    Real-World Examples Discussed
    • Legislative interference that dictates curriculum and constrains shared governance.
    • The closure of a college as a community-level loss, not only an institutional event.
    • How belonging signals show up later as persistence, completion, and learning outcomes.
    • Why transparency about tradeoffs affects institutional credibility
    • How community advisory input can keep programs aligned with civic and workforce needs.
    Three Key Takeaways for University Presidents and Boards
    1. Treat academic freedom and institutional independence as a board-level governance priority, because erosion is gradual and easy to normalize.

    2. Rebuild trust through consistent community presence and usefulness, not positioning statements.

    3. Address belonging and wellbeing as institutional effectiveness variables, because belonging uncertainty reduces cognitive bandwidth and performance.

    Read the transcript and the accompanying post: https://changinghighered.com/moral-distress-belonging-presidential-leadership-in-higher-ed/

    #HigherEducation #HigherEducationPodcast #AcademicFreedom #PublicTrust #LiberalEducation
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    44 m
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