During any campus crisis, families want timely, accurate, credible, consistent information. Communicating with families about COVID-19 is particularly important. Many students are moving into the family home to study remotely. How can parent and family professionals h...
Many universities recently sent messages to students, faculty, and staff explaining that students would stay at their permanent address and learn online after spring break. But how did parents and families get that message? Many learned from social media, mainstream me...
Faculty members are quickly moving classes online. But are administrators prepared to manage mission-critical meetings while practicing social distancing?
Two years ago, we launched TorchStar, a higher-education consulting firm committed to “smart frugality.” We conduct...
When I went to college, my Dad drove me eight hours to the college of my choice and dropped me at the curb with one big suitcase. I moved in with a roommate I didn’t know and started classes. About once a month, I used the one pay phone on the floor to place a collect...
Student voices. They sometimes speak up in some classrooms, speak out about certain incidents, and shout loudly at most athletic events. But do they influence university decision making? Administrators usually hear the voices of two types of students: leaders and strug...
Universities generate data. Some of it is created for clearly defined uses in the same way that chefs pick specific ingredients to make a fine meal. But some is more like leftovers that end up in the dumpster unless they can be repurposed.
Meetings are the administrative equivalent of grading. Meetings can fill an administrator’s calendar in much the same way that grading fills a faculty member’s inbox. Both are tedious. Both are mission critical. Grading individual work remains one of the best ways to a...
