Who Are Accreditors and What Do They Want?
In recent years, accreditation has become a lightning rod in debates over higher education, federal oversight, academic freedom, institutional accountability, and the future of federal financial aid. Like most institutions that have existed for more than a century, accreditation has its flaws. But before deciding whether it should be reformed, replaced, or defended, it’s worth asking a simpler question: Who are accreditors, and what do they actually do?
Dust Off Your Documentation: A Spring Cleaning Guide
Reactive maintenance is how you end up with an academic catalog that references a dean who left two years ago and a student handbook that contradicts your syllabus. A little proactive attention goes a long way, and late winter (which, again, we’re rebranding as Early Spring) is a great time to do it before the end-of-semester chaos kicks in and everyone's bandwidth evaporates.
Thankfully, Words Do Have Meaning
We’ve gotten used to a filtered version of reality, one where we can speak our opinions without seeing the immediate effects our words had on others. The thing is, though, our words do have an effect. They impact other people. They can hurt. They can comfort. They are powerful.
Mission Obsession: Don’t be the Thanos of Higher Ed
If you read the title of this blog and thought, “Oh no! She’s going to use comic book villains to highlight some important points about institutional missions!” buckle up, buttercup, because you’re 100% right.