Despite the University of Phoenix being slapped with a $191 million fine by the Federal Trade Commission in 2019 over deceptive advertising, paying back $50 million in cash to former students, and canceling $141 million in student debts, the University of Idaho believes the pros outweigh the cons. And they might be onto something.

Idaho’s acquisition of UoPX’s fully developed online infrastructure is helping expand its academic offerings and student outreach, both conducive to boosting enrollment in light of higher education’s sweeping demographic changes.

More from UB: How are these schools boasting such strong placement rates for students?

Increased academic equity

The University of Idaho will increase its academic reach to two important student demographics busier than the average early-20-something-year-old student. The University of Phoenix primarily serves online, non-traditional students, most of whom work full-time. As more students decide to work to combat rising school costs and debt, they are at a higher risk of performing worse and taking longer to graduate. First-generation college students are also more likely to work part-time. Online program offerings from the University of Phoenix will allow these students to work and learn at their own pace and could potentially foster higher persistence and retention rates.

“U of I excels at delivering courses in person and the University of Phoenix excels at delivering courses online. Together, we can meet the needs of all learners and complement each other,” reads one statement from a University of Idaho FAQ posting.

Similarly, U of I states the two schools “share a mutual desire to reach first-generation and underserved students.” UoPX’s 80% first-generation student body will greatly increase the effectiveness of U of I’s mission.

Expand program offerings

Nursing and counseling are currently not offered among U of I’s academic programs, and the affiliation will give the college access to a new cohort of students pursuing these programs.

Diversify revenue streams

The University of Idaho is creating a nonprofit to acquire the for-profit college, yielding $10 million in annual revenue due to the municipal bond debt used to finance the purchase.

“The affiliation will diversify our revenue streams to provide greater economic stability for delivery of educational opportunities,” University of Idaho President Scott Green said during a meeting with the Idaho State Board of Education, according to Forbes.

While the two colleges will initially operate as two separate institutions, the acquisition could potentially add 85,000 students to the University of Idaho if UoPX were to fully integrate.

The post The 3 reasons this university’s acquisition of a for-profit institution is a good thing appeared first on University Business.

Trocaire College President Bassam Deeb cited the “extreme” challenges higher education, in general, is facing for the two colleges’ split. Among them are demographic shifts affecting Western New York, pandemic-related ramifications and lack of student interest.

“This is not the outcome we strived for as significant human and financial resources have been invested by both institutions in the attempt to consummate the proposed transaction,” Deeb said in a statement.

Discussions between the two colleges first began in October 2021. Discussions were moving so positively that last August, the schools issued a memorandum of understanding. Medaille subsequently sold Trocaire six properties totaling $1,960,256. The two schools are based in Buffalo, located just nine miles apart.

Facing underwhelming financial and enrollment prospects, Medaille sought an acquisition with Trocaire to preserve its 148-year-old legacy, along with its programs, faculty, staff and students. All “Medaille legacy” students still enrolled following the end of the spring semester would have had all their credits transferred to Trocaire without any loss of credits.

While “disappointed” that the acquisition is not happening, Medaille Interim President Lori V. Quigley could not comment on why it happened, citing confidentiality provisions, according to The Buffalo News. Deeb similarly declined to comment or elaborate on why the plan fell apart, though he seems to stand with Quiqley’s sentiments.

“This is on top of the emotional effort expended by many board members, senior leadership and faculty and staff at both institutions who worked so diligently on this matter over the last several months,” Deeb said.

Plans might have fallen apart during the schools’ pending approval with state and regional governing bodies, such as the state Education Department, the Attorney General’s Office and Middle States Commission on Higher Education, their accrediting agency.

Medaille’s Board of Trustees is set to meet today to discuss the university’s remaining options. With little room to continue, the university may face a potential closure. Last year, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education issued a statement to Medaille requesting Standard II compliance, such as “adequate fiscal and human resources, including physical and technical infrastructure, to support operations.” If closure is the case, Medaille could join a growing list of small private colleges with religious roots announcing closures this year, such as Finlandia University, Iowa Wesleyan University and Cardinal Stritch University. Medaille’s closure could potentially displace around 1,600 students.

More from UB: Over half of all transfer applicants hail from the country’s wealthiest zip codes

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Hampshire College is now set to welcome more than 300 students, its largest class since 2018. With 285 first-year students and 21 transfers, it follows four years of improving enrollment since its nearly fatal 2019 crash. Its Fall 2023 admission numbers are a 17% increase over last year, according to a statement.

The Massachusetts-based college is benefiting from a promising fundraising campaign, an attractive academic curriculum and a diversified recruiting strategy. These improvements are in small part due to the contributions of Hampshire College President Ed Wingenbach.

Shortly after assuming the presidency in August 2019, Wingenbach launched an ambitious $60 million fundraiser. As of January, the college has raised almost $40 million, nearly two-thirds of its target with a 2024 deadline, according to the Daily Hampshire Gazette. One of its most notable donations was $5 million from an anonymous source.

With the pandemic further catalyzing student interest in social activism, Hampshire College revamped its curriculum to address such topics as climate change and white supremacy, according to Mass Live. Its “radical approach” to education is a chief factor pushing enrollment, said Wingenbach in the statement.

“These numbers offer compelling proof that as students and families make their college choices, they’re drawn to an experience organized around the generation of new possibilities, new questions, and new solutions to the complex challenges our future presents,” said Wingenbach.

Additionally, the school has spread its recruitment class across 37 states. About 24 students are international and nearly 100 are of an underrepresented minority race or ethnicity.

New College, new students

Following Ron DeSantis’ revamped vision for a conservative-leaning institution at New College of Florida, Hampshire College pledged to match the Florida students’ current tuition if they transferred. Consequently, three of its incoming students hail from New College, while another 20 are pending.

More from UB: These college programs are helping students afford basic needs amid skyrocketing rent

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The playbook for any given institution’s alliances can vary wildly. For example, Lewis University and St. Augustine College announced this week their plans to merge. Two weeks ago, Drexel University and Salus University decided to explore an “affiliation.”

Alliances can be highly individualized depending on each institution’s unique set of challenges and the temperament of its leaders. However, here are some throughlines explaining most alliances.

More from UB: Did emergency funding create a crutch for the Connecticut college system?

Why are schools joining alliances? And who are they?

Josh MacIntosh, director of the Transformational Partnerships Fund, identified a few key long-term problems most of these schools cite as their rationale for an alliance:

• Demographic changes: Colleges face lower enrollment numbers due to a smaller pool of traditionally aged college hopefuls.
• Market pressures: Online, digital-first learning environments.
• Student preference: Change in what students and parents are looking for in a degree.

These new challenges facing higher education generally seem to impact under-resourced, private institutions in regions with depleted recruitment pools and that lack the brand recognition to attract outside prospects. Without significant state funding or endowments, they are reliant on tuition revenue to survive, but their lack of enrollment restricts their financial capital, making them incapable of updating antiquated systems or funding new academic programs that meet market demand.

Benefits of an alliance

Michael Thomas, president of the New England Board of Higher Education, has witnessed “a notable increase” in higher education institutions open to exploring new models of alliances. Here are some of the key benefits these institutions take advantage of:

• Brand boost: Mergers can improve brand, reputation and institutional identity of one or both institutions
• Diversify offerings: Alliances can broaden and enrich courses, programs, degrees, activities and resources available to students and faculty.
• Slash costs: Institutions can expand their course offerings while eliminating duplicates, which lowers the burden of each institution’s expenses. They can consolidate academic, administrative and support assets to achieve economies of scale.
• Avoid insolvency: In the worst-case scenario, a merger alliance allows the institution to survive and dodge disrupted operations.

How to corral leadership support

Of the alliances MacIntosh has helped facilitate, he’s noticed that some institutions can be held back by frays in leadership solidarity.

“I’ve been impressed with the quality of presidential leadership,” he says. “I think more often than not the presidents who are trying to do the right, courageous thing are held back by their boards. That seems to be the case more often than not.”

One important word of advice MacIntosh believes can ease one’s concern over the prospect is to remember that exploring different options is not binding.

“Whether they go through with it or not, most will come out of the experience having learned something about themselves,” he says. “If you start early and you manage the process right, I think the discussion you have going forward can be quite the positive thing. It’s certainly not a disaster.”

It’s also important to remind oneself what the priorities are when considering alliances.

“Part of student-centric, mission-driven leadership is to be able to take yourself out of the equation and say, ‘What’s the right thing to do?'” MacIntosh says.

Recent examples of strategic alliances

Lewis University and St. Augustine College

Lewis University will acquire St. Augustine College when the two merge, pending approval of the Higher Learning Commission, Illinois Board of Higher Education and the U.S. Department of Education.

Capitalizing on Chicago’s growing Hispanic population, students will have access to a broader range of academic programs in a bilingual format, according to Patch.

Montclair State University and Bloomfield College

Aside from curriculum, leadership must consider what a merger can do for a school’s brand and identity.

As New Jersey’s largest Hispanic-serving institution, Montclair State University sympathized with Bloomfield’s mission to “empower first-generation students from diverse backgrounds,” according to NJ.com. Now with the backing of a publicly funded university, Bloomfield can continue to fulfill its mission with a revamped, robust set of resources under a new banner:  Bloomfield College of Montclair State University.

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Medaille Interim President Lori Quigley announced the move Tuesday in her State of the University address. She explained that Medaille, based in Buffalo, was driven to take the action by COVID-19, low birth rates and subsequent poor enrollment numbers in the area’s private institutions.

Medaille University is just one private school in the Northeast among a growing list of others that could not recover from the pandemic and the region’s reduced demographic of typical college-aged students.

Dodging a closure, Quigley’s perspective on the merger is optimistic, referring to it in her State of the University address as “a win-win for both institutions.”

“Combining professional programs in health care and technology with experiential learning and professional training in education, business and social sciences is a tremendous foundation and synergy for success, allowing the surviving institution to best serve its student population and the surrounding community,” Quigley said.

Committees from Trocaire, also based in Buffalo, and Medaille began discussions on the merger in October 2021 and issued a memorandum of understanding last August, according to The Buffalo News. Following their cooperative agreement, Medaille sold Trocaire six properties totaling $1,960,256 late last year, according to WIVB.

Medaille students will not be considered transfer students and will not experience any loss of credits once they begin at Trocaire. Degrees obtained by “Medaille Legacy” will read Trocaire College beginning with those graduating in August 2023. Additionally, students from both schools will be able to house in former Medaille resident halls.

Medaille’s athletics program is also not slated to change for the 2023-24 academic year, which is slated to continue as usual, according to Quigley.

All school endowments from donors will be transferred to Trocaire College. The Medaille Alumni Association is planning to meet with Trocaire President Bassam M. Deeb on April 19, according to Quigley.

More from UB: Strikes and unions: Graduate students marshal their forces nationwide

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Just last week, it was announced that Bloomfield College, a small private institution in New Jersey, would become a subsidiary of Montclair State University, the large public school nearby. The state of New Jersey contributed $12.5 million to help facilitate the deal. “This partnership could serve as a new national model for how institutions with similar missions can innovate through integration and become partners in ensuring student success instead of competitors,” Montclair State President Jonathan GS Koppell said in a statement.

While public-private mergers may be rare, one higher ed consulting firm is encouraging more administrators to consider the prospect of affiliation or consolidation. With the number of traditional-age students declining, the skepticism around the value of post-secondary degrees rising, and the costs of deferred maintenance mounting, some campus leaders may not be acting quickly enough to assure their institution’s health, says the firm Tyton Partners.

“The denial is so pronounced that there seem to be as many recent examples of institutions waiting too long to merge as there are examples of successful mergers,” the company says. “Too little, too late has become too common in higher education and yet the number of failures continues to grow.”

Here are Tyton’s 9 key steps for administrators evaluating a potential merger:

Making the merger decision

1. Take a market view: While campus leaders are well versed in their own finances, many lack perspective on whether their programs are gaining or losing market share. Administrators and trustees must have a handle on their relative competitive performance to properly assess long-term institutional health.
2. Speak plainly: The scope of a college’s financial risks may not become clear unless leaders are open and transparent about the “business of keeping an institution afloat.” Leaders must have unadulterated discussions about markets, market share, consumers, and competition.
3. Don’t wait until it’s obvious: Mergers are often difficult and painful, but these deals only succeed when an institution remains relatively viable and has something to offer if it’s absorbed by another college or university. 

More from UB: How a looming economic slump could upend higher ed’s playbook

Moving forward

4. 4. Act with conviction: Administrators and trustees must present a united front in support of the merger to instill confidence in potential partners.
   5. Seek expert help: College presidents cannot rely solely on their networks to find a suitable partner for a merger. An outside expert is often more aware of the work that goes into a merger and better positioned to identify, approach and negotiate with a partner.
   6. Market your strengths: Engaging a potential partner is “effectively a sales process designed to find the best long-term match.” Administrators should be able to promote their strengths and show how they will benefit a merger partner.
   7. Search strategically but widely: Market consolidation, program extension, degree extension, geographic expansion, entry into non-credit offerings, or augmenting specific capabilities or technologies are among the many factors administrators must focus on when seeking a partner in a merger.

   Choosing a Partner

   8. Let go of preconceptions: Don’t assume you thoroughly understand an institution based on its size or status. For instance, some large, bureaucratic, state universities can be remarkably nimble while traditionally conservative schools may be acting on new, expansive mandates from their boards.
   9. Understand your priorities: When entering a merger, leaders should prioritize their list of mission-oriented and economic goals, such as academic autonomy, staff and faculty employment and the preservation of an endowment, or a myriad of other factors. Understanding which issues are paramount and which are secondary is critical to a successful outcome.

Mergers between established institutions are, of course, more complex than a list of important steps. “Institutions contending with the potentially existential issues can utilize this list to provoke a conversation that can better structure the merger process,” Tyton says. “This can make all the difference in preserving the mission and impact of the institution.” [soliloquy id=”900″]

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As enrollments of undergraduates have dipped over the past few years, there has been a keen interest taken by institutions of higher education on one that has grown a bit. Graduate programs not only present the potential for more students and the continuance of lifelong learning but also opportunities to connect beyond campus. The small, private Lenoir-Rhyne program has an astounding 120 partnerships, including 85 in Asheville alone. Not coincidentally, it has grown that pool of enrollees by around 17% since 2019.

So what are their secrets to success?

“It’s a very vibrant community,” says Michael Dempsey, Dean & Director of Lenoir-Rhyne Graduate Studies. “We have a very high-quality facility. All the rooms are tricked out with the latest technology. [Students] get a very individualized learning experience. Our classes are typically small. We hire professors who live in this community. We own two thirds of the building. The entity that owns the other third is the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce, which is a master stroke, if you will, on how you connect with the business community and serve students at the same time.”

But Dempsey says it is so much more. It is extremely competitive in pricing. It has embraced “hybrid learning and turned it on its ears.” It has under its roof an Equity & Diversity Institute that boasts a 30-seat-hour platform for students to explore the topics in professional settings. And it is incredibly open-minded when it comes to collaboration, something that can be a lesson for other institutions and programs struggling to make headway.

To learn more about how this small university grad program is excelling and what Dempsey sees in the future for the industry, University Business sat down with this former longtime journalist to get his take:

Lenoir-Rhyne’s program came out of the pandemic pretty well. How did it manage to do that given the challenges facing much of higher ed?

From fall of 2022 to fall 2023, we grew by 10%. That was a bit of a surprise. We didn’t know what was going to happen, certainly at universities, where we pride ourselves on direct contact with people. We were doing some stuff differently when the pandemic started from a PR and marketing standpoint. The partnerships have helped us grow our enrollment tremendously. But I think a lot of people got very philosophical and thought, now is the time for me to make a move in a different direction with my career and decided to go back to school. Most of our programs are very job-oriented. We have a high level of educational attainment in the Asheville area of people who already have bachelor’s degrees in our area compared to the rest of the state.

Some of the university’s decisions have been to do away with tradition and deliver online for students. Talk about those efforts.

As the Academy has changed over the years, we are much more astute at delivering coursework to someone in the comfort of their home, so that they can do what they do for a living. Consumers have gotten really used to doing things their way. And we have to transform to serve people’s needs. Some universities have said, forget about it, everyone’s coming back to the classroom. Well, that’s just not how Lenoir-Rhyne University operates. Yes, there’s a certain undergrad experience where you’re going to want to have your 18-year-old in a classroom, but when you’re talking about adults who are very good at managing themselves, you want to assist them in any way you can.

Can you provide insight into the winning formula you have for building partnerships and relationships?

As a non-state institution, we have much more leverage than typical state schools to do what we want to manage our revenue. So, our tuition discount partnerships go two ways. We approach a company and say, we would like to engage with your employees and tell them what we have to offer. We’ll give them a small discount to come to us. We also say to them, if you want one of our professors who is a content expert to help your company, we would be happy to have them speak to your folks for a half day or a luncheon, talking about their area of expertise.

More from UB: President Series: Creating partnerships and lifelong learning

How do you connect with the business community and serve students at the same time? If a college president approached me and said, we’re thinking about doing this, what are your recommendations? First I’d say, you have to have assets to pull it off. But if you can do it, put a stake in the ground and say, we’re investing in this community. We’re going to do this a little differently than the average university has done, and really show the community that you want to be a part of it. It’s been a real boon for us. There’s no silver bullet for growing enrollment. But through partnerships and by being able to connect significantly with companies, people see us time and again helping them. Word of mouth gets around that our programs are beneficial. Next thing you know, we have a lot of people coming from a certain company to take classes.

Do you foresee an expansion of partnerships for higher ed in the future?

We’re going to see a lot more collaboration across institutions in the future, rather than competition. We’re doing it here in Asheville. All of the universities and colleges, community colleges and K-12 systems are now sitting at the table talking about how we can nurture people through their educational journey, and get them into family-sustaining jobs. Higher ed is very competitive, but let’s move past that. We can do this collectively with other institutions, to help draw employers and people to our region, and to serve them better. Lenoir-Rhyne is a very different place than Warren Wilson College. We’re very different from the community college down the road. And we’re very different from the big university in Western Carolina. But put all these apples in one basket, you’ve got a pretty good bag of apples that can go pretty far. That’s much smarter than being overly concerned about getting our piece of the pie.

A truly forward-thinking piece is the Equity & Diversity Institute, which was in the works before the George Floyd murder happened in 2020. Are those the kinds of initiatives that can truly make a difference in higher ed and in communities?

About 20 years ago, we diversified our business model greatly to include lots of professional-based graduate studies programs. Then we added two campuses. So, taking a student that formerly went from point A to point B, which would be high school graduation to college graduation, and now taking them from point A to point C, which is the graduate college. As you look at the demographics in the United States, by the year 2040 we are going to be a minority-white country. Furthermore, the younger people coming up, they’re very interested in impact. And they’re very interested in leveling the playing field for different types of folks.

I was raised in Charleston, S.C., in a very segregated place. We didn’t talk about equity much in the late 70s. Now, younger people and older people are very concerned about this. And that’s good for business. If you want your business to survive, you don’t want to just hire the same people over and over again. Innovation comes from different viewpoints and thinking differently. So, how do you recruit equitably? Have you taken an inventory and equity inventory of your business? How do use analytics equitably? When we engage with adult learners, folks who have come from underrepresented populations, we’ve got to be doing stuff that’s really innovative and really special. Not bells and whistles and stuff to just make it appear to be valuable. But add real value to their lives.

So becoming much more open, then?

Universities are much more focused on a wider group of people than they had been in the past. It’s a different business. If you read our mission statement, it doesn’t have anything to do with revenue. It has to do with helping people make their way in the world and helping people become better versions of themselves. That’s the rock we stand on.

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By many measures, these are the best of times for the expanding flagship campus that dominates 918 acres inside Kentucky Route 4. While many institutions across the nation are experiencing the pains of inflation, retention and completion, the University of Kentucky is both surging and serving. Its freshman enrollment in 2022 is a record, but a few other data points are just as important: like the boost of 300 new first-generation students to 25% overall. Or closing in on a 70% six-year graduation rate with 7,600 degrees conferred. Or being able to fund $3 billion in new and improved facilities during the past decade.

But one of the proudest stats, Capilouto points out, is that even with the university pulling in enrollees from 120 different countries and every state in the U.S., 65% of its students are still from the Bluegrass State.

“A priority for the University of Kentucky is keeping our doors open widest for Kentuckians,” said Capilouto, who was born in Alabama and held key positions there for a long time but whose allegiance has shifted to blue and white. “If we can shrink the amount of financial need for our students, we appreciably increase the likelihood of student success. Twenty-five percent of our students come from families whose median household income is around $25,000. We have a high percentage of first-generation students. We will have ill-served Kentucky if we don’t think with greater certainty that success is a real possibility for those students.”

It is a high-wire act for any institution, especially those that rely so heavily on state funding, but it is one that Kentucky has managed well. UK not only has boosted outcomes among students but also now ranks in the Top 5 of all in-state Fortune 500 companies in the U.S. for employees to work by Forbes. UK HealthCare also ranks in the top 40 nationally on Forbes’ list of best large employers. It is all part of a strategic plan called UK Purpose, installed a little more than a year ago to “put students first, take care of people and inspire ingenuity.”

To learn more about how this university, known for helping students and its fierce athletics programs (No. 9 overall in the Director’s Cup, which measures all teams, not just football and basketball), University Business sat down for an engaging conversation with the president:

One of the university’s missions, noted in your strategic plan, is to take care of people. Can you talk about what that entails and how you’re doing that at UK?

The first foundational principle is putting students first in everything we do and taking care of our people … so we can better take care of Kentucky–the students who are on campus, the individuals in 120 counties that turn to our extension offices for support and the 40,000 patients that come to UK HealthCare to be treated. To do all those things, we need to have a healthy, inspired workforce. Over the last 10 years, we’ve put together a compensation plan that increased salaries, expanded health care benefits and kept a lid on premium costs. We’ve also increased beginning pay. We were really the first in our region to establish $15 an hour and have continued to move that up. We’ve also moved up wages of those just above that. We also recognize that in these unprecedented times of COVID and economic stress that we have to do more for those we serve. For students, we have established a phone number that will have wellness specialists who can immediately connect them to a service they need (financial wellness, emotional wellness or counseling).

With students as high priority, how is the University of Kentucky responding to those who want assurances of relevant career paths and for employers who need talented workers in the next few years?

Part of our strategic planning is to focus more intently on workforce challenges for Kentucky. We need more health care personnel. We’ve received a grant to immediately increase class sizes in these fields. The state has been generous in its support (over $300 million this academic year) such that we can use our monies to build health education buildings and have health professions housed within them. We have made it possible for hospitals, some in rural areas, to better recruit. Research has shown if you recruit and train people from rural or underserved areas, the likelihood of their remaining there after graduation improves. So, we opened the Bowling Green campus and had that first graduation this year. We opened the Northern Kentucky campus (part of UK Engage). We offer an education where students can work at the intersection of the disciplines. That’s going to be important. Most of the challenges we face in our country involve multiple disciplines working together. This education they receive here is the first step in lifelong education that they’re going to have to undertake to get a job, create jobs and maintain work that provides meaning and purpose in life.

New innovation occurs frequently on your campus, whether it be research, health care or just in new construction. What is happening now and in the future at UK that you’re most excited about?

One of our foundational principles is inspiring ingenuity. We don’t necessarily have to incentivize this. People come up with an idea and run with it. A few years ago, I attended a national meeting and heard about esports. I realized these aren’t just games. The people who engage in this are folks who may be working on development of the metaverse. I talked to [other campus leaders] about it. The next thing I know, we have an esports lounge facility gaming area that is quite popular, and we have some exceptional students who use that as an experience to prepare them for a great job. I see innovations everywhere, in terms of teaching and the way we treat patients. Telehealth has expanded at a rapid pace. So, I’m very encouraged about the vibe at the university to create and innovate.

We’ve had a very interesting past couple of years, in terms of health and COVID, and now monkeypox circulating. How well are you prepared for the rest of the 2022-23 academic year in protecting your community?

The forced experiences we had to endure have taught us much. I have never been so proud of an institution as I was the University of Kentucky during these challenging times. We had to innovate. We had to create quickly mechanisms to respond to this pandemic: How are we going to open campus? Are we going to close campus and still provide education, research services and care? How are we going to best protect campus to reopen? We took responsibility for providing vaccines to every K-12 employee both in public and private school districts, all first responders, others who are critical to our economy, and did all that when we had a shortage of vaccines, no scheduling software, and no dedicated facility. So, we improvised. In a short time, we provided 250,000 vaccinations. We know how to pivot. We know how to respond. We are paying close attention to monkeypox. If that raises a significant problem, we’ll be able to act.

As president, you’ve eloquently delivered positive and timely messages to students, especially during crisis moments. Is that messaging one of the best tools a president has?

It’s a tool with a privilege that has to be respected. You have to do well. People may listen the first time. But you’ve got to have something to say if you want them to listen time and again. I feel quite fortunate that I live on campus, so you can sort of keep your hand on the pulse of things. But my cabinet and others that work on these matters never get far from this campus. It’s a well-read team of communications expertise. With their help, I think we’re able to communicate effectively. It is a team sport here.

What are you hoping to see happen over the next five years from the university?

I do hope that we develop continuous learners who are able to teach themselves, because it’s a rapidly changing economy. Being comfortable amongst the differences, and being able to develop fruitful, productive relationships across different individuals, is going to be a strength, given the tensions surrounding social and culture issues. Developing a deeper understanding of yourself and others who may have a different story, different faith, different color of skin, creed, identity. We know that when we have diverse perspectives around the table, we tend to be more innovative, more successful in creating solutions. We can’t lose sight of our responsibility to Kentucky.

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Trustees chair Dianne Byrum issued a statement to the Lansing State Journal on Monday that some members of the deeply split board were attempting to oust the 68-year-old Stanley. She said that call was unwarranted, citing his work in lifting the university through the pandemic as one of the reasons he should remain in the position.

“In recent days, some members of the MSU Board of Trustees, for which I serve as chairperson, have created confusion over the future of our university’s president,” she said in that statement. “These actions do not represent how the board of an institution of higher education should act.”

A personnel matter is one of the linchpins driving the push to oust Stanley. In mid-August, the Board launched an investigation over Provost Teresa Woodruff’s removal of College of Business Dean Sanjay Gupta for his alleged “failure to report” under Title IX, a move backed by Stanley. However, MSU’s Faculty Senate led by business college members defended Gupta and his assurances that he did follow procedures and lauded his work at the university. They demanded that the Board inquire about the steps taken to remove him.

As the investigation continued, the Board met with Stanley on Sunday to discuss potential exit strategies regarding his contract, according to the Detroit Free Press, Detroit News and Lansing State Journal. Stanley, who took over in the aftermath of the Larry Nassar abuse scandal that rocked the university, now faces the possibility of being asked to step down with two years remaining, a move that sparked outrage from Barbara Snyder, president of the Association of American Universities.

“I am appalled at reports of interference in MSU’s day-to-day operations by the university’s trustees, who are elected officials,” she said. “If the reports are accurate, then this is inappropriate meddling by a board charged with governance, not management.”

If forced to resign, Stanley could be presented with a parachute package but still be able to return to the university in a faculty capacity, according to reports. That has been the offer at other institutions to leaders who have exited  under controversial circumstances, including Judy Sakaki at Sonoma State University in California. Stanley is being paid more than $950,000 per year, though like Sakaki, he would have that amount reduced significantly.

Stanley has remained mum since he offered this response Aug. 30 to an inquiry about Gupta’s removal as dean: “Dr. Gupta served in his role as dean at the will of the Provost, and she was well within her rights to make this leadership transition. I fully support this decision and the process utilized to come to this action. The administration will cooperate with the outside counsel.”

However, questions were raised by business leaders and the Senate about his ouster, and they sent a letter to the Board of Trustees, writing, “we are puzzled about Provost Woodruff’s implication that Dean Gupta has failed to create safe and respectful working environments in our college because this is inconsistent with all we witnessed over the last seven years.”

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Compliance with Title IX has been watched closely at the university since the extent of Nassar’s abuse was revealed–more than 260 young women who were subjected to his sexual abuse, including members of the USA Gymnastics program. And presidents have been monitored closely since Lou Ann Simon resigned in 2018. Ex-Governor John Engler was named interim president in 2018 but was forced out by the Board for his cold remarks on survival victims and on Nassar.

According to mandatory guidelines at MSU, all employees must “promptly report incidents of sexual harassment, sexual violence, sexual misconduct, stalking, and relationship violence that are observed or learned about in their professional capacity; and involve a member of the university community or occurred at a university-sponsored event or on university property.” Gupta told the Lansing State Journal that he did.

“During the past few months, I’ve fully cooperated with the Office of Institutional Equity’s investigation, which remains ongoing, and I’ve acted accordingly with transparency to ensure a thorough and accurate report,” he said. “I’ve served MSU for 15 years, including the last seven as dean of the business school–and I’m confident the proper steps to initiate an investigation of alleged misconduct, which I took extremely seriously, had been taken and that mandatory reporting obligations had been met.”

It is unclear when, how or to whom that reporting was delivered and the contents involved. Since his removal, Judith Whipple has been named interim dean in his place. She had been the interim associate dean for faculty and doctoral programs. Her appointment was not unanimous, as two Board members voted against it, and there was concern from some about naming a dean as the investigation proceeds.

Gupta, listed now as accounting and information systems professor on Michigan State’s website, has been with the university since 2007, serving as an instructor and chair of the department. He came over from Arizona State University, where he served 15 years as a professor.

As his university bio states, Stanley has been tasked with ensuring “the university is a safe, respectful and welcoming place for all.” As he took over at the start of the 2019-20 academic year, he and Michigan State not only were dealing with the fallout from the Nassar scandal but were thrust into the COVID-19 pandemic. He and the university have come under fire for the continuation of mandatory vaccines, though Stanley pointed to Michigan State’s own research showing that institutions with mandates did better in lower positive case counts than those that didn’t. Research has been a hallmark at the university, which spent more than $725 million in 2019 and has continued to push further in a 30-year alliance with the Henry Ford Health System.

An infectious disease specialist, Stanley graduated from Harvard Medical School, did a fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine and later served as chair of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity. He has a long history in higher education and was the former president at Stony Brook University in New York from 2009-2019.

The post Reports: Michigan State president facing uncertain future amid investigation appeared first on University Business.

Heralded as a partnership to help streamline the siloed information among colleges and universities and students, initial reports from clients have given the two brands and the signature Learn Ultra learning management system an emphatic thumbs up.

“It was very gratifying to hear clients that were saying, I have seen an incredible difference in the last nine months in terms of the acceleration of the innovation,” says Jim Milton, CEO of Anthology, referring to a recent user conference it held for hundreds of education technology and higher ed professionals. “We’ve increased our investments significantly and as a result, we believe we’re well on our way to being the world-class LMS in the marketplace.”

Still, Milton admits that despite the fanfare of the announcement and the groundbreaking potential of this expansive ecosystem–from ease of use across student information systems to teaching, enterprise resource planning and engagement–future success will be determined by a number of factors.

“A challenge for a company like us ours to make sure that we still drive the innovation, the best-of-breed, best-of-suite types of solutions,” he says. “We have to have the best LMS on the planet, the best CRM on the planet. If we do that and we are innovating in terms of the integration points, breaking down the data silos and creating comprehensive learner records, that’s really what our challenge and opportunity is. That’s what we’re focused on.”

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So how does Anthology plan to achieve that? And what are some of the company’s feelings about higher education and its embrace of technology as institutions work to rebuild enrollments and create better student experiences and outcomes? University Business sat down with Milton to learn more:

Tell us more about the new Anthology, with Blackboard on board, and why it promises to be such a difference-maker.

We have by far the most comprehensive set of edtech solutions, which allows us to start to address some of the bigger challenges facing education and technology, in particular, breaking down data silos that exist. We’ve been talking about that in education for how many years and decades? In a way, we sort of created the problem–technology companies and higher ed companies that have hundreds of different solutions from different vendors deployed that have created this proliferation of data points. And never the twain shall meet. So we have the opportunity to improve areas like retention for students and learners once you have a single view of a learner. It’s not been done before. We’re the first to do it, and certainly in higher education.

Can you tell us more about the single-view approach and how it can be so pivotal for students and universities?

What we’re attempting to do is to be able to create a comprehensive learner record, the ability to correlate all of those transactions first and foremost with our systems, but to other third-party systems, as well. You don’t have to have our LMS, SIS or CRM, but ultimately it will be easier when it’s our solutions.

Tying together those interactions, those transactions so that I can start to build more information about [an individual]: Does he need help? Does he need intervention? How are we able to leverage how I’ve done from a GPA perspective that may exist in the SIS? How do I, in the alumni or advancement office, leverage reaching out to an alum who was in a co-curricular activity–for example in Greek life–when he was on campus 10 years ago? How do I tie that data together and deliver a better experience to the student or learner? That’s what we’re working on solving.

So much of what institutions are focused on revolves around students, creating career pathways, integrating new technology and offering stout resources. In another interview you did, you talked about “intelligent experiences.” So how do colleges recruit, retain and prepare learners for that journey?

The number of interactions that a learner or student will use in a traditional institution is in the tens of thousands, typically across disparate systems. As I engage with that institution, from the point that I’m being potentially recruited to when I graduate, I get a degree and somebody reaches out to me from the alumni office. They really don’t know who I am. What we’re trying to solve is learning more about each of those individuals to drive better outcomes (graduation, career progression, co-curricular activities, donations to the university.) We’re thinking about this holistically. We believe in education technology, where all of these disparate applications that we’ve propagated collectively into higher education have just introduced a myriad of data points. How do we connect all those dots so that we can ultimately better serve that student?

What are some of the biggest challenges facing higher education in ensuring successful student outcomes?

Where do I begin. Think about the percentage of freshmen that start a four-year baccalaureate degree in the United States. On average, only 60% graduate and get a four-year degree after six years. In community colleges, it’s the low 30s after three years. That would be categorized as failure in most other industries. That to me, is still the biggest challenge facing higher education. Yes, the demographics are leading to enrollment declines now, and that gets a lot of the press. A second challenge is, I’m competing more now with other institutions, especially if I pivoted to an online modality or hybrid model, which seems to be where a lot of the pendulum is settling in. So I have to differentiate myself. I have to have more sophisticated recruiting. Driving up enrollment is certainly a big challenge for institutions, especially since they have more competition now, but I would still argue retention and driving better outcomes is still the foremost challenge.

Serving all institutions must be unique, each with their own challenges, right?

Yes and no. There’s a lot of commonality. Obviously, if you’re an Ivy League school, you probably have less of an issue on enrollment, or you have different challenges than if you’re in an open-enrollment community college. Whether you offer credential skills or graduate degrees, you’ll have some differences. But it’s really just the degree of the challenge that you have. Even if I’m recruiting, and I’m an Ivy League school, I still want to get the right student. I want to have diversity. There are other things that are going to drive me in terms of my recruitment strategy. I probably have higher retention rates, but I still want to provide those students of Harvard with the services to get them into the right area, the right career path, the options that are available to them. Community colleges have a unique set of challenges,  the services that these institutions have to provide to that student–mental health, shelter, in some cases–is beyond what they felt they had to have 5 or 10 years ago. It’s a challenging time to be a college president or cabinet member. We’re helping as best we can to improve the efficiency from an administrative perspective and drive a better experience for the learner.

When you look across the landscape of higher ed, what do you think we will see more of, or less of, in the next five years?

The proliferation of all of these solutions, I would hate to see us add more to that. Beyond the largest institutions that have very large IT departments, many simply cannot handle the integration of all of these disparate systems and can’t build that single view of that learner or student on their own. Tools and capabilities that are more holistic in nature need to emerge. We just have to be one of the first to do it. Not to say that there aren’t opportunities for innovation, but it has to be in the context of all the other systems around it so that it’s optimizing a particular department, function or workflow.

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