Many college libraries have undergone transformation in recent years to serve as hubs for student success, offering a central location for students to hang out, work with peers and connect to support resources like tutoring. This reimagination of the library often comes with a physical reconfiguration, relocation of offices and expanded services, all in hopes of supporting access and student success. In this episode of Voices of Student Success, Katie Clark, higher education market manager for K...
Nov 13, 2024•38 min•Ep. 135
Internships are a high-impact practice that can provide students with valuable career skills, a professional network and on-the-job experience, but not every student has the opportunity to participate. A recent report found of the 8.2 million students who wanted to intern in 2023, close to half didn’t participate in one. Many of these students are from historically marginalized groups, including first-generation, low-income, community college students and students of color. The University of New...
Oct 30, 2024•21 min•Ep. 134
The partisan divide in the U.S. seems unbridgeable at times, and many issues in higher education are deeply dividing politicians. But with the 2024 election just days away, there’s a remarkable amount of alignment around the importance of workforce development and training and how to strengthen it. A new episode of The Key explores explores the relative consensus between the parties and its implications. Joining the discussion are Amanda Winters, program director for postsecondary education at t...
Oct 24, 2024•33 min•Ep. 133
In this episode of The Key, Melissa Ezarik speaks with University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s chancellor, Donde Plowman, and Amber Williams, vice president of student success on their efforts to ensure their teams—and students—are aware of and confident about their strengths as they navigate their work. Williams, who joined the institution in 2020, soon before it fell a bit short on its retention increase goal, has found it helpful to remind colleagues that data is about individuals and showing wh...
Oct 21, 2024•23 min•Ep. 132
In July 2023, Congress lifted a ban on federal Pell Grant funding for incarcerated individuals in prison education programs, but there still remain barriers to enrollment and success for these learners. The Petey Greene Program (PGP), a non-profit organization that partners with prisons and higher education institutions, launched a College Bridge program in 2020 to increase college-level writing, reading and math skills for incarcerated students. In this episode, PGP’s Chiara Benetollo, executiv...
Oct 16, 2024•25 min•Ep. 131
Prior research shows students who have at least one connection to campus are more likely to persist, retain and complete a college degree, particularly for students from historically marginalized or less privileged backgrounds. However, building high-quality and long-lasting relationships can feel challenging or unattainable for many college students. In this episode, Elon University’s Peter Felten, and Emily Krechel, who serve as members on the Mentoring Initiatives Design Team, discuss the rol...
Oct 02, 2024•29 min•Ep. 130
Rising costs of living and increasing student housing rates have exacerbated college retention efforts as campus leaders look to tackle a rising concern: basic needs insecurity. A lack of essential resources such as food, housing and clothing and general financial strain are two of the top reasons students say they leave college. To address this issue and provide resources to students, the University of Houston opened its Center for Student Advocacy and Community in 2020, which houses some of th...
Sep 18, 2024•31 min•Ep. 129
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, colleges and universities have seen heightened tensions on campus as student protesters demand change from their administrators. Anti-war protests on college campuses are not a new phenomenon, with many institutions seeing similar unrest during the 1960s during the Vietnam War. The University of South Carolina was one such institution, which saw a general unrest among its student body amid racial tensions, the anti-war movement and other i...
Sep 04, 2024•27 min•Ep. 128
With student mental health concerns on the rise, college leaders have turned their attention outward to campus facilities and the role space, light, sound and décor can play in student learning and healthy living. Many college campuses have established wellness rooms, sensory spaces or relaxation zones to promote healthy habits and academic success for learners. The focus on environmental wellness is also an inclusive effort, supporting students who struggle with sensory issues, including those ...
Aug 21, 2024•33 min•Ep. 127
Community college students make up 40 percent of enrollment in U.S. higher education, and 80 percent of those students want to go on to earn a bachelor’s degree. However, only around 16 percent of those students will be successful in transferring and completing a four-year degree within six years after transferring. Transfer students often lose credits when continuing to their bachelor’s degree, slowing their progress toward graduation and increasing the costs associated with higher education. T...
Aug 07, 2024•33 min•Ep. 126
Discussions about the impact of generative artificial intelligence in teaching and learning are steadily moving beyond questions about whether and how students will cheat. Today’s episode of The Key is drawn from a workshop expertly led by Inside Higher Ed’s Colleen Flaherty at the Digital Universities U.S. conference at Washington University in St. Louis. The conversation on “Teaching with Generative AI: Benefits and Risks” featured four thoughtful experts on teaching and learning: Asim Ali, ex...
Jul 31, 2024•26 min•Ep. 125
Student mental health is a growing concern for higher education administrators and practitioners as national rates of anxiety, depression and loneliness grow among college learners. During the COVID-19 pandemic, colleges and universities made heavy investments into digital solutions to improve students’ health and wellness, but how well do these applications serve students? In this episode, Sara Abelson, assistant professor and senior director of training and education at The Hope Center, explai...
Jul 24, 2024•22 min•Ep. 124
Nationally, Black students are less likely than their white peers to persist, retain and earn a degree. Many interventions at colleges and universities seek to support struggling Black students, but a new program at Sacramento State University aims to celebrate Black excellence and history, recognizing Black students as scholars. In this episode, hear from Luke Wood, president of Sac State about the California State University’s commitment to improve Black student success, the foundation of the ...
Jul 10, 2024•22 min•Ep. 122
Recent public polls have found American’s confidence in higher education is waning, but current college students say they still see the investment they’re making in their future. Colleges, universities and national groups are looking to help students make the most of their degree through professional skill development and embedding careers into curriculum. In this episode, hear from Shawn VanDerziel, CEO of the National Association for Colleges and Employers about the national state of career cu...
Jun 26, 2024•32 min•Ep. 121
Colleges are increasingly being judged by how well they prepare students for jobs and careers after they leave, and in response most are trying to adapt their programs and offerings to align with the needs of employers. How are they doing? This week's episode of The Key uses two recent studies (from Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce and from the Upjohn Institute) as a jumping-off point for a larger conversation about how colleges and universities are responding to the...
Jun 20, 2024•25 min•Ep. 120
National estimates find around one in five students have dependents, but few colleges and universities have accurate numbers of who their parenting students are and what their circumstances may be. Student parents are faced with additional financial stress and time constraints compared to their non-parenting peers, so how can higher ed leaders find these parents and better serve them? In this episode, hear from Eddy Conroy, and Da'Shon Carr from the think tank New America to learn about their St...
Jun 12, 2024•34 min•Ep. 119
Colleges and universities are undergoing intense pressure from a lot of angles – and their provosts are arguably at the epicenter of most of them. A new episode of The Key, Inside Higher Ed’s news and analysis podcast, explores our 2024 Survey of College and University Chief Academic Officers and topics such as the future of tenure, cost-cutting around academic programs, and the potential impact of generative artificial intelligence. Joining the discussion are Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed'...
Jun 05, 2024•30 min•Ep. 118
The last year has been a hellish one for many college financial aid directors – and, not surprisingly, for the head of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, who’s leaving his role after 14 years. This episode of The Key features a conversation with Justin Draeger, who recently announced that he would soon wrap up his work as president and CEO of NASFAA for a new role leading Strada Education’s efforts to make higher education more affordable. In the conversation, he d...
May 31, 2024•24 min•Ep. 117
Discussions about the impact of generative artificial intelligence in teaching and learning are steadily moving beyond questions about whether and how students will cheat. Today’s episode of The Key is drawn from a workshop expertly led by Inside Higher Ed’s Colleen Flaherty at the Digital Universities U.S. conference at Washington University in St. Louis. The conversation on “Teaching with Generative AI: Benefits and Risks” featured four thoughtful experts on teaching and learning: Asim Ali, ex...
May 22, 2024•28 min•Ep. 116
How Arizona State University is working with Open AI to shape the development of generative AI. This week’s episode of The Key explores the recently announced partnership between Arizona State University and Open AI – one major way colleges and universities are trying to make sure higher education isn’t left behind in generative AI’s development. The conversation that follows was drawn from a session last week at the Digital Universities U.S. conference that Inside Higher Ed put on with our part...
May 14, 2024•35 min•Ep. 115
Zakiya Ellis, a longtime policy expert, on whether we’re asking the right questions and have the right data. This weeks’s episode of The Key podcast explores a vexing question: how might policy makers and college leaders go about showing that getting a postsecondary education pays off for later in life? The episode features a conversation with Zakiya Smith Ellis, a principal at the education policy consulting firm Education Counsel and former senior Obama education aide and secretary of educatio...
May 01, 2024•31 min•Ep. 114
This week’s episode of The Key explores whether the emergence of shorter-term and alternative credentials pose a threat -- or offer salvation – to traditional colleges and universities. The episode draws from a panel discussion at last week’s annual ASU+GSV Summit involving a number of thoughtful higher ed leaders. It featured Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, President Marlene Tromp of Boise State University in Idaho, Ann Kirschner, interim president of Hunter Colleg...
Apr 23, 2024•38 min•Ep. 113
Half of all graduates don’t work in jobs that require a bachelor’s degree. What can institutions do to best prepare their students for work? More than half of bachelor’s degree holders are underemployed a year after graduation, and roughly four in 10 are still underemployed a full decade later. How worried should we be about those rates, and what can colleges and universities do to decrease them? That question was at the heart of “Talent Disrupted,” a recent report from Strada Education Foundati...
Apr 10, 2024•31 min•Ep. 112
Many students on college campuses struggle with substance use and abuse, but fewer have a supportive community they can turn to. In this episode, Angela Lauer Chong, associate vice president for student affairs and dean of students at Florida State University speaks about supporting students’ physical and emotional health through LIFT, a collegiate recovery program. Hosted by Inside Higher Ed Student Success Reporter Ashley Mowreader. This episode is sponsored by InsideTrack . Read a transcript ...
Apr 03, 2024•18 min•Ep. 111
The “guided pathways” model as not just a student success initiative, but a way to redesign how a college operates. This week’s episode of The Key podcast explores the “guided pathways” model, which hundreds of community colleges have embraced to give students a clearer path to reaching their educational goals. Davis Jenkins, a senior research scholar at the Community College Research Center at Columbia University’s Teachers College, and Hana Lahr, a senior research associate and director of app...
Mar 28, 2024•29 min•Ep. 110
In this episode, host Ashley Mowreader spoke with Ron Slinger, president of Miles Community College, to learn more about the college’s Opportunity Realized program and how the initiative is benefiting Montana, the college and students’ futures. Hosted by Inside Higher Ed Student Success Reporter Ashley Mowreader. This episode is sponsored by InsideTrack ....
Mar 20, 2024•24 min•Ep. 109
A panel of news hounds discusses some of the biggest stories involving colleges. This week’s episode features a conversation about some of the hottest news developments unfolding in higher education today. Topics include how the recent formation of a union for basketball players at Dartmouth College might help to reshape college sports, the turmoil created by the federal government’s botched roll-out of the federal financial aid form, and what Inside Higher Ed’s recent survey of college and univ...
Mar 15, 2024•32 min•Ep. 108
Affordability is a top concern for higher education leaders, and professors are directly responsible for the affordability of their course materials. In this episode, Patty Goedl from the University of Cincinnati at Clermont discusses her OER e-textbook, which she wrote and developed to make her managerial accounting course more accessible to learners. Hosted by Inside Higher Ed Student Success Reporter Ashley Mowreader. This episode is sponsored by InsideTrack ....
Mar 06, 2024•19 min•Ep. 107
What would postsecondary education look like in a world where true lifelong learning – people engaging in education or training at many points throughout their lives – was the norm? This week’s episode of The Key features a conversation with Mauro F. Guillén, the William H. Wurster Professor of Multinational Management at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and author of The Perennials: The Megatrends Creating a Post-Generational Society. The book isn’t about higher education; i...
Feb 27, 2024•27 min•Ep. 106
The episode features two higher education professionals, Mike Krause from the John M. Belk Endowment and Ashley Flood from Purdue Global, on adult learners. Krause and Flood talk about the needs of adult learners, how an institution can support their success and practical ways to assist students. Hosted by Inside Higher Ed Student Success Reporter Ashley Mowreader. This episode is sponsored by InsideTrack ....
Feb 21, 2024•27 min•Ep. 105
