How Higher Ed Leaders Can Take Back the Public Narrative
Release Date: 11/25/2025
Why Is Enrollment Falling Short When Applications Are Up?
Changing Higher Ed
Applications keep climbing while the class comes up short. The gap sits in the phase most institutions treat as the finish line: what happens after the acceptance letter goes out. In this episode of the , speaks with , Vice President of Spark451, which he co-founded. is a Jenzabar company. The conversation covers why enrollment falls short when admissions and marketing are both performing. Drawing on twenty-five years in university marketing, branding, and enrollment marketing, McGetrick explains what Spark451's focus groups revealed about when families actually begin their due diligence,...
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The Purpose of Liberal Arts Education in the Age of AI
Changing Higher Ed
The same students who say college costs too much are overwhelmingly saying it was worth it, and that contradiction is the key to the entire public confidence debate. In Gallup-Lumina polling cited in this episode, 93 percent of bachelor's students called their degree a worthwhile investment. The doubt is about price, not the education, and generative AI has raised the stakes for confusing the two. In this episode of the , speaks with , where she is leading t, about the purpose of liberal arts education in the age of AI. Acampora argues that the purpose of higher education is human formation,...
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Building Fairleigh Dickinson’s Lifelong Learning Ecosystem Across Five Generations
Changing Higher Ed
Program discontinuation is usually the fight presidents avoid. Fairleigh Dickinson University put a significant slate of program discontinuations and consolidations to a faculty referendum, and roughly 88 percent of the faculty endorsed it. The vote reflects a larger redefinition underway at FDU: a shift from the four-year degree to a university built around lifelong learning. In this episode of the , Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with and the first FDU graduate to hold the office, about the four-P framework guiding that redefinition: programs, people, partnerships, and place. Avaltroni...
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Pairing Liberal Arts with Tech Readiness: Five Institutional Decisions from Manhattan University
Changing Higher Ed
At Manhattan University, the case for the liberal arts is being made with outcomes, not nostalgia. Its graduates rank in the top 2% nationally for mid-career salaries, and The Wall Street Journal ranked the university 73rd in the country for graduate salaries, social mobility, and cost-effectiveness. The more useful story for institutional leaders sits underneath those numbers: a set of deliberate decisions about , technology preparation, faculty adoption, hiring, and alumni engagement. In this episode of the , speaks with , President of , about how the institution pairs a liberal arts...
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Student Retention: Using AI to Spot Disengagement Before Dropout
Changing Higher Ed
Most retention systems flag struggling students through grades and attendance. By the time those indicators fire, many students are already halfway out the door. Elvee's survey of 1,050 U.S. college students shows why: 86% start college highly motivated, 42% come close to dropping out at some point, and only 17% of those who struggle ever request help. In this episode of the , speaks with , CEO of , whose work with U.S. colleges centers on reading behavioral data for early signals of student disengagement. Drawing on his background in commercial technology, Dar explains how patterns in...
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Higher Ed's Trust Problem Isn't a PR Problem: AAC&U's Trust Agenda
Changing Higher Ed
Half of college presidents worried about public trust are answering with a public relations campaign. According to the AAC&U report at the center of this episode, that is a reasonable instinct but the wrong one. Public confidence in colleges and universities has slid for more than a decade, and messaging alone will not turn it around. In this episode of the , speaks with , lead author of and he co-directs AAC&U’s Advancing Public Trust in Higher Education initiative, about why trust has eroded and what campus leaders can actually do about it. Their conversation moves past naming...
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Why Research Funding Cuts Are a Strategic Risk, Not a Budget Problem
Changing Higher Ed
When the federal government freezes research funding, leaders tend to treat it as a budget problem: a number that was cut and might later be restored. The harder truth in this conversation is that much of the damage cannot be undone. Halted studies, shuttered labs, and departed early-career researchers do not simply resume when the money comes back. Research funding cuts are a strategic risk, not a line item. In this episode of the , speaks with , President and CEO of the and former chancellor of UC Berkeley. Dirks , reflecting on the protests that had put Berkeley at the center of national...
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When AI Finds the Administrative Friction Higher Ed Leaders Miss
Changing Higher Ed
Most AI conversations in higher education focus on the academic side. The administrative side gets less attention and is producing the bigger near-term financial wins for institutions willing to govern the rollout. In this episode of the , speaks with , about how AI is being applied across enrollment and advancement at institutions including Empire State University, Florida Southwestern State College, and Boise State University. Drawing on his career across Blackboard, Instructure, Kaltura, and now Gravyty, Beck walks through the specific case studies behind administrative AI adoption: a...
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Inside CSU’s ChatGPT Edu Rollout Across 22 Universities
Changing Higher Ed
AI implementation in higher education is often framed as a technology question. California State University treated it as with technology as the catalyst, rolling out ChatGPT Edu to 22 universities in 18 months while running the largest AI survey ever conducted at a single university system. In this episode of the , speaks with , about how the system designed and executed its generative AI implementation and what the of 94,060 respondents reveals about AI adoption, faculty engagement, and student behavior. Drawing on her work co-leading the academic side of CSU's GenAI initiative,...
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AI in Higher Education: Bias, Procurement, and Human Oversight
Changing Higher Ed
At sixteen, with straight A's in math and science, Dr. Karen Panetta's school career assessment told her to sell makeup or be a cook. A male friend with lower scores got engineer or politician. No AI was involved. Just a rules-based system applying gender and biographical filters to two teenagers. That same logic now sits inside AI tools landing in admissions offices and HR systems across higher ed, with one critical difference: AI does not eliminate human bias, it removes the human accountability that used to make bias correctable. In this episode of the , speaks with , Dean of Graduate...
info_outlineHigher education is facing a growing disconnect between public perception and the realities of campus life. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Peter Murphy Lewis, CNN political analyst, filmmaker, and director of People Worth Caring About, about how institutions can reclaim their narrative and rebuild trust through authentic human stories.
This conversation is especially relevant for presidents, trustees, and senior leaders navigating public skepticism, political pressure, and communication environments where external voices often define higher education’s story.
Some of the Topics Covered
- The forces driving negative public narratives about higher education
- How political rhetoric and social media distort campus realities
- Why families respond more strongly to human stories than to data or institutional claims
- How student and faculty voices build credibility across audiences
- Ways to adapt a single story for parents, prospective students, legislators, and alumni
- The importance of short-form storytelling for modern communication channels
- The CARE framework (Confront, Amplify, Reshape, Evergreen) for building narrative strategy
Real-World Examples Discussed
- How the documentary model helps institutions show their value through lived experience
- Using student and faculty stories to counter assumptions about campus culture
- Why a 45-second authentic clip can strengthen trust more than a polished statement
- How major industries changed public perception through narrative work (e.g., Formula One’s “Drive to Survive”)
Three Takeaways for Higher Education Leaders
- Talk about the elephant in the room.
- Talk about it through a story — show, don’t tell.
- Eat that elephant one bite at a time. You can start tomorrow with your cell phone or an intern. One day at a time. One bite at a time.
Read the transcript: https://changinghighered.com/reclaiming-the-higher-education-narrative/
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