Building a Connected College by Aligning Strategy and Services
Release Date: 07/15/2025
FIRE on Campus Leadership and the Defense of Open Inquiry
Changing Higher Ed
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 protect open inquiry under increasing political and social pressure. Drawing on FIRE’s national research and campus speech databases, Stevens outlines the sharp rise in government-involved...
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Stop-Outs, Transfers, and ROI: The Data Already Exists and You're Not Using It
Changing Higher Ed
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 , speaks with , about how the Clearinghouse's cross-institutional data can help college presidents and boards navigate the accountability, affordability, and workforce alignment challenges reshaping higher education. Drawing on a career in financial services, fraud analytics, cybersecurity, and operational transformation, Amissi brings an outsider's perspective to higher ed — one grounded in...
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Agile Change Management for Today's Higher Education Leaders
Changing Higher Ed
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 , speaks with , an immersive learning company focused on adult learning, about why higher education must move from traditional change models to an agile, iterative approach to leadership, teaching, and institutional strategy....
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Using Entrepreneurship to Redesign the College Operating Model
Changing Higher Ed
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 structural solution to some of higher education’s biggest challenges: workforce readiness, student engagement, institutional costs, and student debt. As one of only eight federally recognized work...
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Reduce Student Debt Risk and Improve Employability with Distributed Practicum
Changing Higher Ed
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 , Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with , Provost and Chief Academic Officer at , about how applied, skills-based education can be delivered beyond traditional campuses without sacrificing rigor or quality. McNeely shares how SDI redesigned hands-on instruction for distributed learners by moving labs into students’ homes, rethinking assessment around demonstrated...
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Empathy in Higher Education Leadership Without Losing Your Edge
Changing Higher Ed
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 , speaks with and founder of , about building empathy as a practical skill leaders can use without surrendering standards or authority. Parson breaks empathy down into usable behaviors, including perspective-taking, emotional self-management, and question framing that reduces defensiveness. The discussion also...
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The Case for a Chief Enrollment Management Officer in Higher Education
Changing Higher Ed
In this episode of the , Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with , 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 responsibility—rather than a system with clear executive ownership—creates fragmentation across admissions, student services, academics, and outcomes. Dr. Predoehl explains the Chief Enrollment Management Officer concept and why a cabinet-level...
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How Stevens Tech Became One of the Strongest Transformation Stories in Higher Education
Changing Higher Ed
Institutional transformation in higher education is often described in broad terms. At Stevens Institute of Technology, 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, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Nariman Farvardin, President of Stevens Institute of Technology, about how Stevens achieved sustained success since he became president in 2011. Under Dr. Farvardin’s leadership,...
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Higher Education 2026 Planning and Lessons Learned from 2025 Predictions
Changing Higher Ed
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 than offering speculative forecasts, this episode uses 2025 as a calibration year. When predictions materialize, they remove ambiguity. They clarify which pressures are structural, which risks persist,...
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Strategic Insights from the 2025 AAC&U Employer Survey: What Employers Want From Higher Education
Changing Higher Ed
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 and what they reveal about employer expectations for higher education. Based on nearly 20 years of longitudinal research, the 2025 survey challenges many of the dominant public narratives about the value of college. Employers continue to express strong confidence in higher education, place equal importance on workforce preparation...
info_outlineMost 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 Success about how building integrated systems where strategy, services, and technology work together can improve student outcomes without increasing institutional complexity or cost.
Felix, who has worked with more than 100 institutions including MIT, NYU, and the University of Virginia, draws on his background in architecture and design thinking to offer practical solutions for breaking down silos and creating seamless student experiences. This conversation provides actionable strategies for institutional leaders seeking to move from fragmentation to alignment while managing limited resources.
This episode is particularly valuable for presidents, trustees, and senior administrators looking to redesign operations and improve student success through systemic coordination rather than adding more programs and services.
Topics Covered:
- Why the "additive culture" in higher education creates operational sprawl and student confusion
- How design thinking can transform institutional strategy and student experience
- Practical approaches to breaking down silos without major reorganizations
- Using RACI models and governance structures to enable faster, smarter decisions
- The critical importance of aligning strategic planning with budget decisions
- Reframing risk as a condition for progress through prototyping and piloting
- Strategic partnerships as tools for expanding capacity without internal complexity
Real-World Examples Discussed:
- NYU's transformation of computer labs into "connect and create" collaborative spaces
- UVA's co-location of different advising functions for seamless student support
- Purdue University's Communicators Council as a model for decentralized coordination
- Colorado State's IT governance process for strategic technology investments
- The pitfall of institutions with both writing centers and writing labs in the same building
- Quinnipiac's healthcare partnership providing both services and talent pipeline
- Amarillo College's community partnerships that increased graduation rates from 14% to 65-80%
Three Key Takeaways for Leadership:
- Create a focused strategy that prioritizes where to invest, makes hard tradeoffs, and aligns budget with institutional goals
- Break the cycle of fragmentation by consolidating services and systems to improve access, reduce duplication, and enhance outcomes
- Reframe risk as progress by encouraging piloting and iteration to unlock innovation without waiting for consensus or perfection
This episode offers institutional leaders a clear, actionable framework for moving from fragmentation to alignment while improving student outcomes through strategic execution rather than adding complexity.
Recommended For: Presidents, trustees, chief academic officers, student affairs leaders, and institutional planning teams focused on improving student success through systemic coordination.
Read the transcript: https://changinghighered.com/connected-college-strategy-to-improve-student-success/
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