When Your Favorite Airline Stops Feeling Like Itself: A Lesson in Mission Drift for Higher Ed
I still fly Southwest occasionally. Old habits. But I'd be lying if I said the experience feels the same. And that's the thing about trust; it's much easier to lose than to rebuild. Once a loyal stakeholder starts wondering whether an institution was really built for them, winning that confidence back costs far more than it would have taken to keep it in the first place.
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.
The Practical Guide to Auditing Your College’s or University’s Website
The specifics vary by agency, but the core categories are consistent: student achievement data, accreditation or authorization status, tuition and refund policies, complaint procedures, and, if you offer programs leading to professional licensure, disclosures about whether those programs actually meet state requirements.
Rubrics That Stick the Landing: Lessons from Olympic Scoring
When the inevitable challenge arrives, the meticulous, defensible standards embedded in your rubrics will be the most effective advocates for student achievement, faculty equity, and the integrity of your degrees. A well-designed rubric provides the most effective mechanism for achieving transparency, protecting instructional consistency, and affirming academic standards. Let's break down what that looks like, Olympic style.
It's a Wonderful Life (in Compliance)
You're filing reports, chasing down documentation, explaining state authorization requirements to people who would rather talk about literally anything else, and making sure the institution doesn't accidentally enroll students from states where you're not authorized to operate. It's not glamorous. And on the hard days, it's easy to wonder: Does any of this actually matter? It does. More than you know.
Do You Need a Mock Site Visit? (Yes.)
We want your mock site visit to end in applause (metaphorically—though, hey, if an evaluator does clap, let it happen). A mock visit is your best bet for making that happen. Before the reviewers arrive, give yourself the gift of a dress rehearsal. Find the weak spots while you can still fix them. Discover your star performers before the stakes are real. And walk into your site visit with the kind of confidence that only comes from having already done it once.