June 12, 2025 • 31 mins
In this episode, Nelson Baker, Ph.D. and interim inaugural dean at the College of Lifetime Learning at Georgia Institute for Technology, talks about what it takes to think differently, innovate and adapt in a changing higher education landscape. By his own admission, he does a lot of listening across various constituent groups, and he likes to ask the “what if” questions. Tune in to learn more about the work Georgia Tech is doing – both as one of the early pioneers for online-at-scale degrees and now a college of lifetime learning. In his own words: “The life span of a college degree no longer equals the life span of work.”
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Episode Transcript
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Wendy Colby (00:11):
This is Wendy Colby , vice President and Associate
Provost at Boston University andthe host of BU Virtual Connects
.
I am excited to welcome NelsonBaker, whom I've come to know as
a true pioneer, innovator,partner and collaborator in
higher education.
At a time when the highereducation landscape presents
unprecedented challenges andopportunities, nelson has
(00:34):
remained steadfastly focused onexpanding reach and impact for
learners.
Nelson serves as the interimdean of the College of Lifetime
Learning at the GeorgiaInstitute for Technology, which
was one of the first to launchaffordable online degrees at
scale.
Now he is steering a newcollege for lifetime education
which is reaching over 250,000teachers, students and working
(00:58):
professionals.
Today, nelson and I will probeon the topic of academic
innovation and the role it playsin helping our universities
become stronger and moreresilient in the face of
disruption.
As university leaders, ourgreatest opportunity may be in
opening the dialogue, learningfrom each other and working more
closely as a community toadvance knowledge and impact
(01:21):
across higher education.
Welcome, nelson.
Nelson Baker (01:25):
Wendy, thank you so much for having me today.
Look forward to theconversation.
Wendy Colby (01:29):
Absolutely Such a pleasure.
So let's get started.
You know Georgia Tech has sucha long history of innovation.
You were one of the firstuniversities to introduce online
at scale degrees at anaffordable price point.
Can you talk a little bit aboutwhat it means to be a pioneer
in that space and what you'velearned over the years?
Nelson Baker (01:49):
Happy to, and I think we're privileged to be
able to say that our faculty,our administration, our
university system have beenbehind us the whole way, because
we've allowed them to join inthis process.
And I'd say one of the thingsthat you have to be able to do
is listen, and listen intentlyto your stakeholders.
(02:12):
What are they seeking?
What are they trying to dodifferent?
Why are they trying to do it?
And then how might you map intothat so that you're actually
meeting their needs in differentways and different fashions?
And that's really what led toour degrees of scale activities.
We kept hearing that peoplecan't come to our campus.
Well, that's not a new thing.
(02:33):
We've had distance programs fora long time.
But they said could you makethem more interactive?
Could you make them moreengaging?
Could you make them shorter,perhaps, as opposed to a
50-minute lecture?
Could you make it so that I cancome at my time, not just your
time, so not synchronous, butasynchronous.
Could you reduce the price?
There's this whole long listthat we hear and you can't
(02:54):
necessarily meet all those needs, but intently listening has
been part of our DNA andcontinues to be part of our DNA
as we think forward.
The second component that Iwould say, though, is to be able
to take calculated risks and tomake those big bets on where
you think the future might be,but to have plan Bs and Cs in
(03:15):
case the plan A may notnecessarily work out the way you
had intended, because we're ina business that we want people
to learn and be educated, and wedon't want that to fail.
So how might we deliver in away that gives us the plan B and
that, for us, was falling backon the traditional methods of
distance learning?
Wendy Colby (03:35):
Absolutely, and, of course, you know, we're now at
a time where there are many moreonline at scale degrees, many
more universities have aportfolio of online programs,
and I wonder I'd love to getyour thoughts on how should we
be thinking about the onlineportfolio, if you will?
Is it as important as theresidential portfolio in our
(03:57):
higher education institutions?
Should every institution havean online strategy?
You know, curious as to howyour online strategy has changed
the student population you'reserving at Georgia Tech.
Nelson Baker (04:10):
Yeah.
So your last statement, thestudent population, I think, is
where this for Georgia Techanyway conversation began.
Who is our student?
And so to the first questionshould every university have an
online program?
What depends on who yourstudent is and what are their
needs?
And I think it's really tryingto figure out who is your
(04:31):
customer, what do they want, howdo they want education
delivered?
And then you get into what arethe modalities for delivery?
Could be residential, could beonline, could be a hybrid.
All those things becomepossible.
And so those are the questionswe ask, and, as a public
research university here inGeorgia, we want to consider our
(04:53):
student our constituent base ofall citizens, not just those
post-high school students.
Although they're a tradition ofour university, we have no
plans to jettison it or changeit, because that's a meaningful
part of who Georgia Tech is andour role in servicing the
industries and citizenship ofthe state of Georgia and far
beyond.
But we were hearing from othersthat wanted a Georgia Tech
(05:16):
education, who couldn't come toour campus, and we wanted them
to be our students.
This mission actually began in1908 with the Georgia Tech
Evening School, and we openedclassrooms available to working
professionals in the evening tocome and get degree programs.
It's evolved since then, andone of the things we heard back
(05:38):
to that intense listening iscould we make them more flexible
and less expensive?
Thus a degrees at scale idea.
Wendy Colby (05:46):
And what have you seen, nelson, as some of your
most popular online at scaledegree programs?
You know, when you talked aboutopening access and listening
and identifying, you know thekinds of students or the
learners who want to also takeadvantage of a program at
Georgia Tech.
Nelson Baker (06:04):
Well, our first one was in computer science, so
we're doing these at GeorgiaTech at the master's degree
level.
They're not quite as long aswhat an undergraduate degree
might be.
The student population of thoseindividuals is more varied in
terms of demographics, age,gender, et cetera, than what we
(06:24):
may see on campus, but we wantedthose kinds of capabilities
also, and so it also helpedbusiness move forward.
So where we see the mostsuccess are what we're calling
these high demand careerinitiatives.
So computer science, dataanalytics, cybersecurity those
are the three that we currentlyhave that are reduced tuition
(06:46):
prices and that scale becausethey're in high demand.
So we were listening to ourstudents, but also our employers
in our state and far beyond, asto what were their needs, where
were they having challenges,finding talent and how might we
work together to find solutions?
Wendy Colby (07:04):
That's great.
I may come back to some ofthose points, but I'd like to go
a bit into just the landscapeof higher education, just a bit
here.
You know, often highereducation institutions have been
criticized for being slow tochange and at the same time
we're seeing pressures on ourinstitutions like never before.
You were talking there a littlebit about the workforce and
(07:26):
industry.
So the workforce of the future,it seems, will be dramatically
different right than it is today, and so I wonder how you're
thinking about this right?
Data science, computer science,cyber, ai we've talked about a
number of those topics.
You know, how do you preparethe next generation of learners
and how are you addressing this,maybe from more of a point of
(07:48):
differentiation at Georgia Tech?
You know, are there things weas institutions can be doing to
future-proof our offerings?
For example, Well.
Nelson Baker (07:57):
So I think it goes back to listening.
You know most of us will dosome type of course evaluation
or exit survey for our graduatesand whatnot, but what are we
doing with that information?
Are we really asking the rightquestions as we go through those
kinds of processes?
So that would be where I'dstart.
Is you know, does our currentstakeholders, like get value
(08:21):
from what we currently do?
And then what are those whoaren't in our program seeking
that perhaps we could look at todo better with?
So, as we're thinking aboutthose kinds of things, it's one
of the items that is newest inour strategy the creation of a
new college here at Georgia Tech, the College of Lifetime
Learning, because we believe weas a public institution need to
(08:45):
do so much more for our K-12youth and teachers to prepare
them for this world ahead thatlikely will look different.
There's certainly going to becareers that aren't even
invented yet that many of themwill enter into.
How do we build that foundation?
We think we have a role inhelping prepare that.
Likewise, as our graduates goout into the world, it continues
(09:08):
to change and so many have saidthat.
You know, the lifespan of acollege degree no longer equals
the lifespan of work.
So how do you re-educatesomebody and give them the new
tools of the future along theway?
And so that's where thisconcept of the College of
Lifetime Learning became.
So how are we instilling inthem the curiosity, the
(09:29):
motivation to keep learningdespite going through a two or
four year or even a doctoralprogram with us or with any
higher ed institution?
There's a lot of places thatyou can learn that aren't even
higher ed.
You know businesses doon-the-job training all the time
they have for years.
How might we find ways tocouple those kinds of things in?
(09:50):
So this new college will alsothink about those kinds of
endeavors too.
So it's really meeting ourstudents where they are, with
what they want.
Wendy Colby (09:57):
Yeah, that's awesome, and you talked a little
bit about K-12.
Who are you targeting as partof this College for Lifetime
Learning?
I'm very interested in thatconnection and that bridge you
just mentioned, relative to alsothe K-12 piece of this and
teachers, and so how are youbringing that all together?
Nelson Baker (10:17):
So Georgia Tech is a very STEM or STEAM-focused
university ecosystem, and soSTEM and STEAM is our connector.
So it's how can we take thedigital technologies, the
learning sciences, thehumanities and blend them
together to prepare a future fora digital world, both for the
(10:39):
K-12 youth as well as for adults?
I mean, it hasn't been thatlong ago that I can remember
going into a movie theater,because that was the only way I
could watch a movie, and thenBlockbuster and other entities
came along like that, and now westream.
Life keeps changing and we haveto prepare for those kinds of
(11:00):
changes ahead.
Wendy Colby (11:02):
And does this new college for lifetime learning?
Does it also bring in K-12students as well?
Are there opportunities at allspans of the whole life cycle of
learning?
Nelson Baker (11:21):
That's its intent.
So the college is being formedfrom three units at Georgia Tech
who already have existed for anumber of years.
One of them is Seismic, ourK-12 outreach arm that does
summer camps and programs forteachers in the K-12 space,
again around STEM andSTEAM-related topics, including
how to code.
(11:41):
We actually have a programthat's called the Rural CS
Initiative.
There's just not enough CScomputer science teachers in our
state, so how might we try tobring away in which existing
teachers have a digital and CSbackground that gives them the
capabilities to teach thosethings in a digital world to our
existing student populationwithout necessarily having to
(12:04):
retrain computer scientists tobe educators in the K-12 setting
?
And that's a big endeavor forus as we're thinking forward.
Wendy Colby (12:14):
It's great, nelson, and you know you've done a
creating the creation of acollege.
It's a pretty big deal right aswell.
And I'm curious, you know, forthose who might be listening
here how did you get leadershipand faculty on board with this?
How long had you been kind ofworking toward this goal?
Nelson Baker (12:31):
Well, I think we had an advantage in that we've
been doing this workcollectively across the
university for a number of years.
Remember I said, the nightschool or evening school started
in 1908, so working with theadult population isn't new.
Our K-12 outreach arm actuallystarted within the university in
1990.
(12:51):
So that's you know, 30 yearsago, evolution.
Wendy Colby (12:55):
Yeah, exactly.
Nelson Baker (12:56):
And so we're bringing those pieces together.
So professional education,which is that online adult and
non-credit space, with the K-12seismic piece, with C21U, the
Center for 21st CenturyUniversities, which is our
research think tank, whereshould higher education be going
?
Those three units are comingtogether to form the, the ecos
(13:22):
of the new college as we start abuilding of this enterprise.
So we've been doing work inthis for a while, and that work
has engaged faculty from acrossthe entire university forever.
So they've seen the richness,they've seen the quality,
they've been part of it.
So this extension to say a newcollege and tying it to research
, which, at a researchuniversity, is at our ethos,
(13:45):
wasn't a big leap, and so to seea faculty vote that was vastly
in the majority was certainlyhumbling, because creating a new
college at a university is nota simple task, nor happens every
day.
Wendy Colby (14:00):
So it shows in some ways you have the spirit of
innovation and ambition as auniversity to evolve.
I mean just those stories youtalked about about evolving over
the years.
This isn't new to you, butyou've advanced to sort of stay
current with the times.
Nelson Baker (14:16):
I would say that's true, and I'd say that spirit
goes through our students also.
So there's more than 100student startups every year out
of Georgia Tech, and so thisstartup innovation spirit is
something that's alive andcultivated very well across our
university.
Wendy Colby (14:36):
Talk a little bit about the Georgia Tech Atrium
Project.
You mentioned this to me in aprevious conversation, so talk a
little bit about what guidedthe creation.
What is it doing today topromote workforce readiness,
upskilling, career advancement?
Nelson Baker (14:51):
Yeah.
So the Georgia Atrium Projectcame from listening again to
those initial students in ouronline programs, we realized
there's a social component toeducation and that was something
the students were missing.
It's like, yeah, we can betogether, we can go to chat
rooms, but there was somethingabout the human spirit that they
(15:11):
would love to have.
So we started sending facultyout to locations where we had a
fair number of online studentsand when we did that, hundreds
of people would show up and itjust seemed to be such an event.
So we said, well, what if wetried to create a small
footprint location, so kind oflike an Apple store or a
(15:35):
bookstore?
So, you know, a small footprint.
It's not a campus but a placefor, rather than co-working, you
co-learn.
We could put a TA or somebodylike that.
Faculty can go and do TED Talksat that location.
We can work with local industryfor what are their
industry-specific needs fortheir workforce and then tailor
(15:58):
programs for those locations andwhatnot.
So it's largely been an idea tothis point, although next month
here in the spring of 2025,we'll actually open our first
atrium here in metro Atlanta.
So it's not in the downtownarea where our campus is, it's
in one of the suburbs so we cantry out the business model we
(16:19):
can try out.
Did we listen right?
Is it working?
But it's also a concentrationof where some of these
individuals are located.
There's business that wants usthere, but we have several other
, both domestically andinternationally, that would love
us there last week if we coulddo it.
We just want to make sure thatwe do it with the Georgia Tech
quality for the right reasons.
Wendy Colby (16:39):
So there are larger goals, depending on the success
and proving out the concepthere as you establish this first
atrium in Metro Atlanta.
Nelson Baker (16:48):
Absolutely, and I think those larger goals is
really something that highereducation has been seeking to do
for a while and we've allstruggled with, and that's the
connection with industry,connection with people across
their lives.
It's really bringing GeorgiaTech to the people, rather than
the people having to come toGeorgia Tech.
Wendy Colby (17:08):
And talk a little bit about just a moment.
On that one like how did youidentify, you know, the
workforce partnerships?
This is again long been aconversation in higher ed right
how to sort of marry the highereducation piece with the
workforce piece.
So I'm curious as to how youapproach those partnerships.
I know you talked aboutlistening and talking to the
students and faculty and nodoubt you had a lot of
(17:29):
partnerships in place locally.
But how have you brought thatforward?
Nelson Baker (17:34):
So not only do we listen to the students and to
industry, but all of ourprograms here at Georgia Tech,
like many universities, haveadvisory boards, and industry
sits on those advisory boards.
So we ask them very pointedquestions when they're with us
across all of our colleges, notjust this new college and
gathering that informationtogether gives us insights on
(17:56):
what are some of their needs.
It forms partnerships.
And we go to an industry andsay, hey, we heard you say last
time we were together.
X, what if we did somethingtogether?
What do you think about?
And they usually come back andsay, well, that's kind of right,
but we'd like to modify it thisway.
And that's how partnershipswork right.
It's give and take and it's theforming of a communal set of
(18:19):
goals and objectives that youwork on collectively together.
And that's how we've done it.
And with our alumni being allover the world, we've done it.
And with our alumni being allover the world, we found some
great relationships both withlarge and small size enterprises
, and we all help each other.
Wendy Colby (18:38):
You know what I love about what you're sharing
here, nelson, is there's asimplicity around knowing how to
listen and learn and thensynthesizing a lot of what
you're hearing to bring forward.
You know that's something everyuniversity can take forward.
It's perhaps not as easy as itsounds sometimes, but I think I
love the fundamentals of whatyou're sharing.
Let me pivot a little bit herenow and just we're all facing I
(19:00):
touched on this a little bitearlier just the growing
pressures right that we see inhigher education, whether that's
the perceived value of highereducation.
Enrollments are under pressure,changing demographics, the rate
of technological advancementslike AI, and so I'm wondering
how you think about this.
How do you think you know today?
(19:20):
You've been in this industry along time.
You collaborate with a lot ofother leaders across higher ed.
How can universities lead withdistinctiveness?
And how do you think whatyou've done at Georgia Tech the
advancements at Georgia Techhave impacted your current
students and will attract morestudents.
Let's start there.
Nelson Baker (19:37):
So I would say you have to stick to your core.
What's your fundamentalcapabilities and strengths as a
university?
Why do you exist?
And you begin with thosepremises?
Because you exist and you'recreating value around those
kinds of things.
I think when you create itemson the fringe, sometimes that
(19:59):
value proposition your alumnidon't understand, your external
constituents don't understand,perhaps even internally your own
faculty and staff don'tunderstand.
So start with the core.
Where are your strong suits andhow does it resonate with your
populace and what is that valueproposition?
Those are the areas that youcan really start to innovate.
(20:19):
And just because we did it lastyear, last month, last decade,
doesn't necessarily mean it'swhat people want next week, next
month, next year.
Go back to my story about thevideotapes and movie theater etc
.
The world's a changing place.
It always has been, always willbe.
It just seems to be changingfaster my opinion, but perhaps
(20:43):
that's an incorrect opinion.
But keeping up with the changesand truly listening to make a
better product, our educationalprocess and the outcomes therein
are what we're all about.
We want our students to succeedand do well.
All of us do in highereducation.
That is not unique.
And so how do we find ways todeliver better, in new ways that
(21:07):
perhaps are even higher quality.
So there's another analogy Ilike to use, again tied to that
theatrical rendition.
It used to be people they stilldo go to theaters and watch a
play, and somebody said well,the theater only holds so many
people and not everybody cancome.
What if we put a camera in theback of the theater and we
broadcast the play?
(21:28):
Well, you lose something inthat, but you can also see the
play.
Well, then play turned intomovies and we had special
effects.
There's some things you can dowith technology and cameras you
can't do on the stage.
You can take time frames andstretch them or shrink them.
You can do animation indifferent ways.
(21:49):
I think education is stilllooking for its special effects.
Wendy Colby (21:55):
That's a wonderful example.
Nelson Baker (21:57):
A lot of what we do is put a camera in the back
of a classroom, even if it's nota real classroom anymore, but
we still have that kind ofcentral camera, instructor on
the stage, that four walls kindof thing, even though there's
not the walls.
What is the breakthrough momentwhen we think about education
differently?
Is it around gaming technology?
(22:18):
Is it around AR, vr, xr?
Is it around something thatdoesn't even exist yet?
That's the moment that I thinkis going to change our world
tremendously and we're trying toprepare, as this new college,
what that might be and actuallyperhaps find it.
Wendy Colby (22:36):
You know just a couple of things you've shared
there.
First, I loved the what's, thewhy right for a university to be
thinking about, because it'snot always a one size fits all.
So what's your why?
And the breakthrough moments.
And I love your example of thetheater and how almost a new
experience can be created bythinking about a different way
in which to deliver thatexperience and leverage
(22:58):
innovation and technology to doit.
So I love those examples thatthinking boldly.
I'm wondering too, you know,again in our university
environments and it sounds likeyou've figured out some of the
recipe for this, nelson is howyou bring faculty administrators
along, particularly those thatjust might not have had that
same level of familiarity movinginto these new modalities.
Nelson Baker (23:19):
Well and I was going to say as a follow-up to
the last question too noteverybody can follow those
changes or want to follow.
So there's a human aspect tothis.
And it gets to your lastquestion.
What we try to do is let peopletry it out on their own, let
them dabble in it.
If you just throw something atthem, they're usually not going
(23:40):
to react well to it, no matterwhat happens, and so let them
try at their pace.
You're always going to have thefirst adopters.
Those first adopters will trysome things.
Oftentimes they may fail.
They may succeed.
But those first adopters willalso be your ambassadors to go
(24:03):
out and talk to other facultyand staff about what their
experiences were like and theystart to share what new
modalities, what new experiencesthat they've had.
And that's been our biggestsuccess factor is faculty
talking to other faculty staff,talking to other staff about the
exciting conversations they'rehaving in these new environments
(24:25):
that they weren't having intheir traditional environment.
It pushes them in good ways toup their game, and so even our
residential programs improvebecause of this new cadre of
individuals who we call studentsin these new programs.
Wendy Colby (24:42):
So true, I know I've had the same experience,
you know, as I think, about someof the online programs we have
launched here, and faculty havecome from the residential side
and are now teaching online andthey're bringing some of those
learnings back to theresidential side.
It's been really wonderful tokind of watch how that evolves
(25:07):
affordable online at scaleconferences which I loved, by
the way, and that you host andit must be, you know I was
reflecting on.
It must be really rewarding tosee the kinds of impacts that
you've had across our industryright, bringing many together
who are now doing a lot ofonline and innovation and in new
ways.
And so I'm wondering, you know,what inspires you across our
industry today?
Do you sort of feel that roleyou have played to kind of
(25:29):
catalyze some of the innovationsand evolution that we've seen?
And then what?
Nelson Baker (25:37):
might you see on the horizon?
So, yes, I'm certainly veryproud.
We, georgia Tech, are veryproud, but I also would be
remiss to say we have also notlearned from all of you who have
been attendees.
And that's the value, I think,of higher education is we're
willing to share, we're willingto fail together, learn together
, and that's the valueproposition of having events
(26:00):
like that.
In fact, this fall fall of 25,we're going to pivot again and
we won't have a degrees at scalesummit that we've had.
We're going to have a lifetimelearning summit because we
believe that this evolution ofwhat we've done with affordable
degrees at scale is pivotinginto.
How do we think about thesethings as lifetime pathways from
(26:22):
k to gray?
How might we do more as acollective across that K-12
space, preparing young youth fora future that would include
tertiary education and educationacross their lifetime?
And what could we collectivelydo post-graduation into that
adult space to help ourworkforce be competitive in a
(26:42):
global marketplace?
Wendy Colby (26:43):
That's wonderful and I look forward to that
conference.
I'm really excited about it.
Is there any advice you havefor, you know, other
universities or leaders whomight be coming into this space
and, you know, trying to learnfrom those who have been
successful in advancing some ofthe kinds of bold initiatives
that you've been successful indoing?
Nelson.
Nelson Baker (27:04):
So listen would certainly be the first one.
Listen to your stakeholders,because that's constantly
changing, but be willing to takesome calculated risks.
I've always said to myself thatif I don't fail someplace, I'm
not pushing myself enough, and Icertainly don't want the
spectacular failure that makesits way to the evening news kind
(27:26):
of thing every day.
But there's little failuresalong the way that we've all
experienced.
What do you learn from that andhow do you pick up the pieces
and keep going forward?
So being able to take risk andlearn, fail, keep going, I think
are some of those things that Iwould suggest to other
individuals.
Try some things out.
(27:46):
Just because we've done it thisway and I think all industries,
not just higher education, hasthis dilemma where, just because
we've done it this way, it'sthe way we're going to do it
tomorrow, because we thinkthat's what our customers want,
but our customers find otheravenues and then all of a sudden
they disappear.
Where'd they go?
(28:06):
What happened?
And we look around, we weren'tlistening.
And what's happening to ourlandscape?
So there's as many individualsthat are going through
educational journeys throughtheir employers perhaps more
than there are going through ourtraditional higher ed system.
Are we listening?
So I keep asking those whyquestions.
(28:27):
I keep asking the what if?
Questions, how do we adapt to achanging world?
And that's always the questionthat leads me.
Wendy Colby (28:35):
Are we listening?
I love that, hey.
One final question, nelson.
So I know you're an engineer bybackground and I'm wondering if
you look back at where youstarted in your early career to
where you are today, did youever imagine your early career
to where you are today?
Did you ever imagine that thiswould be where you are today,
leading these kinds ofinnovations, standing up a new
college online at scale degrees,given the focus on lifetime
(29:00):
learning here?
I'm just wondering how youreflect on that personally.
Nelson Baker (29:03):
Yeah, no, it's been an interesting journey and
as I tell my children, I tell mystudents put yourself in a
position where you have a broadenough background that luck can
happen.
You have enough experience thatyou can pivot and move into
different directions.
But I've been fortunate in mylife.
Not everybody has been.
I was able to go to really goodschools and universities.
(29:26):
I had artificial intelligenceas part of my PhD program.
In fact, my PhD thesis was anartificial intelligence design
agent for civil engineers systemand all of a sudden it dawned
(29:47):
on me that people were alwaysstruggling in the same part of
the course.
It was like well, could I usethese same techniques to help
people learn?
And poof along came a new idea.
It was fledgling at first andand here I am leading initiative
across the university with lotsof great people around me and
and and helping also lead thecharge, and that's just humbling
as an individual to see thosekinds of capabilities and the
(30:11):
impacts that we're making forall people.
Wendy Colby (30:13):
Well, nelson, I am so grateful for your time and I
think what you just said there.
You know the power ofcollaboration, community sharing
, trying to elevate what we'reall doing across our university
communities.
I am grateful personally forall you've done for our industry
at large and really appreciatethe conversation today.
Nelson Baker (30:33):
Wendy, thank you so much for having me and I look
forward to continuing learning,because it is a lifetime of
learning with us, our newcollege.
We're all on this journeytogether.
Wendy Colby (30:44):
Indeed, it is.
Thank you, nelson.
Nelson Baker (30:46):
Thank you.
Wendy Colby (30:53):
Thank you for joining us for this BU Virtual
Connects podcast.
Special thanks to my colleaguesat BU Virtual and to our media
team who produces this podcastunder the leadership of our
studio director, George Vago.
To keep up with our BU VirtualConnects series, be sure to
subscribe wherever you listen toyour favorite podcasts.
You can also learn more aboutour portfolio of online programs
at Boston University Virtual byvisiting bu.
edu/virtual.
This is Wendy Colby , vice President and Associate
Provost at Boston University andthe host of BU Virtual Connects
.
I am excited to welcome NelsonBaker, whom I've come to know as
a true pioneer, innovator,partner and collaborator in
higher education.
At a time when the highereducation landscape presents
unprecedented challenges andopportunities, nelson has
(00:34):
remained steadfastly focused onexpanding reach and impact for
learners.
Nelson serves as the interimdean of the College of Lifetime
Learning at the GeorgiaInstitute for Technology, which
was one of the first to launchaffordable online degrees at
scale.
Now he is steering a newcollege for lifetime education
which is reaching over 250,000teachers, students and working
(00:58):
professionals.
Today, nelson and I will probeon the topic of academic
innovation and the role it playsin helping our universities
become stronger and moreresilient in the face of
disruption.
As university leaders, ourgreatest opportunity may be in
opening the dialogue, learningfrom each other and working more
closely as a community toadvance knowledge and impact
(01:21):
across higher education.
Welcome, nelson.
Nelson Baker (01:25):
Wendy, thank you so much for having me today.
Look forward to theconversation.
Wendy Colby (01:29):
Absolutely Such a pleasure.
So let's get started.
You know Georgia Tech has sucha long history of innovation.
You were one of the firstuniversities to introduce online
at scale degrees at anaffordable price point.
Can you talk a little bit aboutwhat it means to be a pioneer
in that space and what you'velearned over the years?
Nelson Baker (01:49):
Happy to, and I think we're privileged to be
able to say that our faculty,our administration, our
university system have beenbehind us the whole way, because
we've allowed them to join inthis process.
And I'd say one of the thingsthat you have to be able to do
is listen, and listen intentlyto your stakeholders.
(02:12):
What are they seeking?
What are they trying to dodifferent?
Why are they trying to do it?
And then how might you map intothat so that you're actually
meeting their needs in differentways and different fashions?
And that's really what led toour degrees of scale activities.
We kept hearing that peoplecan't come to our campus.
Well, that's not a new thing.
(02:33):
We've had distance programs fora long time.
But they said could you makethem more interactive?
Could you make them moreengaging?
Could you make them shorter,perhaps, as opposed to a
50-minute lecture?
Could you make it so that I cancome at my time, not just your
time, so not synchronous, butasynchronous.
Could you reduce the price?
There's this whole long listthat we hear and you can't
(02:54):
necessarily meet all those needs, but intently listening has
been part of our DNA andcontinues to be part of our DNA
as we think forward.
The second component that Iwould say, though, is to be able
to take calculated risks and tomake those big bets on where
you think the future might be,but to have plan Bs and Cs in
(03:15):
case the plan A may notnecessarily work out the way you
had intended, because we're ina business that we want people
to learn and be educated, and wedon't want that to fail.
So how might we deliver in away that gives us the plan B and
that, for us, was falling backon the traditional methods of
distance learning?
Wendy Colby (03:35):
Absolutely, and, of course, you know, we're now at
a time where there are many moreonline at scale degrees, many
more universities have aportfolio of online programs,
and I wonder I'd love to getyour thoughts on how should we
be thinking about the onlineportfolio, if you will?
Is it as important as theresidential portfolio in our
(03:57):
higher education institutions?
Should every institution havean online strategy?
You know, curious as to howyour online strategy has changed
the student population you'reserving at Georgia Tech.
Nelson Baker (04:10):
Yeah.
So your last statement, thestudent population, I think, is
where this for Georgia Techanyway conversation began.
Who is our student?
And so to the first questionshould every university have an
online program?
What depends on who yourstudent is and what are their
needs?
And I think it's really tryingto figure out who is your
(04:31):
customer, what do they want, howdo they want education
delivered?
And then you get into what arethe modalities for delivery?
Could be residential, could beonline, could be a hybrid.
All those things becomepossible.
And so those are the questionswe ask, and, as a public
research university here inGeorgia, we want to consider our
(04:53):
student our constituent base ofall citizens, not just those
post-high school students.
Although they're a tradition ofour university, we have no
plans to jettison it or changeit, because that's a meaningful
part of who Georgia Tech is andour role in servicing the
industries and citizenship ofthe state of Georgia and far
beyond.
But we were hearing from othersthat wanted a Georgia Tech
(05:16):
education, who couldn't come toour campus, and we wanted them
to be our students.
This mission actually began in1908 with the Georgia Tech
Evening School, and we openedclassrooms available to working
professionals in the evening tocome and get degree programs.
It's evolved since then, andone of the things we heard back
(05:38):
to that intense listening iscould we make them more flexible
and less expensive?
Thus a degrees at scale idea.
Wendy Colby (05:46):
And what have you seen, nelson, as some of your
most popular online at scaledegree programs?
You know, when you talked aboutopening access and listening
and identifying, you know thekinds of students or the
learners who want to also takeadvantage of a program at
Georgia Tech.
Nelson Baker (06:04):
Well, our first one was in computer science, so
we're doing these at GeorgiaTech at the master's degree
level.
They're not quite as long aswhat an undergraduate degree
might be.
The student population of thoseindividuals is more varied in
terms of demographics, age,gender, et cetera, than what we
(06:24):
may see on campus, but we wantedthose kinds of capabilities
also, and so it also helpedbusiness move forward.
So where we see the mostsuccess are what we're calling
these high demand careerinitiatives.
So computer science, dataanalytics, cybersecurity those
are the three that we currentlyhave that are reduced tuition
(06:46):
prices and that scale becausethey're in high demand.
So we were listening to ourstudents, but also our employers
in our state and far beyond, asto what were their needs, where
were they having challenges,finding talent and how might we
work together to find solutions?
Wendy Colby (07:04):
That's great.
I may come back to some ofthose points, but I'd like to go
a bit into just the landscapeof higher education, just a bit
here.
You know, often highereducation institutions have been
criticized for being slow tochange and at the same time
we're seeing pressures on ourinstitutions like never before.
You were talking there a littlebit about the workforce and
(07:26):
industry.
So the workforce of the future,it seems, will be dramatically
different right than it is today, and so I wonder how you're
thinking about this right?
Data science, computer science,cyber, ai we've talked about a
number of those topics.
You know, how do you preparethe next generation of learners
and how are you addressing this,maybe from more of a point of
(07:48):
differentiation at Georgia Tech?
You know, are there things weas institutions can be doing to
future-proof our offerings?
For example, Well.
Nelson Baker (07:57):
So I think it goes back to listening.
You know most of us will dosome type of course evaluation
or exit survey for our graduatesand whatnot, but what are we
doing with that information?
Are we really asking the rightquestions as we go through those
kinds of processes?
So that would be where I'dstart.
Is you know, does our currentstakeholders, like get value
(08:21):
from what we currently do?
And then what are those whoaren't in our program seeking
that perhaps we could look at todo better with?
So, as we're thinking aboutthose kinds of things, it's one
of the items that is newest inour strategy the creation of a
new college here at Georgia Tech, the College of Lifetime
Learning, because we believe weas a public institution need to
(08:45):
do so much more for our K-12youth and teachers to prepare
them for this world ahead thatlikely will look different.
There's certainly going to becareers that aren't even
invented yet that many of themwill enter into.
How do we build that foundation?
We think we have a role inhelping prepare that.
Likewise, as our graduates goout into the world, it continues
(09:08):
to change and so many have saidthat.
You know, the lifespan of acollege degree no longer equals
the lifespan of work.
So how do you re-educatesomebody and give them the new
tools of the future along theway?
And so that's where thisconcept of the College of
Lifetime Learning became.
So how are we instilling inthem the curiosity, the
(09:29):
motivation to keep learningdespite going through a two or
four year or even a doctoralprogram with us or with any
higher ed institution?
There's a lot of places thatyou can learn that aren't even
higher ed.
You know businesses doon-the-job training all the time
they have for years.
How might we find ways tocouple those kinds of things in?
(09:50):
So this new college will alsothink about those kinds of
endeavors too.
So it's really meeting ourstudents where they are, with
what they want.
Wendy Colby (09:57):
Yeah, that's awesome, and you talked a little
bit about K-12.
Who are you targeting as partof this College for Lifetime
Learning?
I'm very interested in thatconnection and that bridge you
just mentioned, relative to alsothe K-12 piece of this and
teachers, and so how are youbringing that all together?
Nelson Baker (10:17):
So Georgia Tech is a very STEM or STEAM-focused
university ecosystem, and soSTEM and STEAM is our connector.
So it's how can we take thedigital technologies, the
learning sciences, thehumanities and blend them
together to prepare a future fora digital world, both for the
(10:39):
K-12 youth as well as for adults?
I mean, it hasn't been thatlong ago that I can remember
going into a movie theater,because that was the only way I
could watch a movie, and thenBlockbuster and other entities
came along like that, and now westream.
Life keeps changing and we haveto prepare for those kinds of
(11:00):
changes ahead.
Wendy Colby (11:02):
And does this new college for lifetime learning?
Does it also bring in K-12students as well?
Are there opportunities at allspans of the whole life cycle of
learning?
Nelson Baker (11:21):
That's its intent.
So the college is being formedfrom three units at Georgia Tech
who already have existed for anumber of years.
One of them is Seismic, ourK-12 outreach arm that does
summer camps and programs forteachers in the K-12 space,
again around STEM andSTEAM-related topics, including
how to code.
(11:41):
We actually have a programthat's called the Rural CS
Initiative.
There's just not enough CScomputer science teachers in our
state, so how might we try tobring away in which existing
teachers have a digital and CSbackground that gives them the
capabilities to teach thosethings in a digital world to our
existing student populationwithout necessarily having to
(12:04):
retrain computer scientists tobe educators in the K-12 setting
?
And that's a big endeavor forus as we're thinking forward.
Wendy Colby (12:14):
It's great, nelson, and you know you've done a
creating the creation of acollege.
It's a pretty big deal right aswell.
And I'm curious, you know, forthose who might be listening
here how did you get leadershipand faculty on board with this?
How long had you been kind ofworking toward this goal?
Nelson Baker (12:31):
Well, I think we had an advantage in that we've
been doing this workcollectively across the
university for a number of years.
Remember I said, the nightschool or evening school started
in 1908, so working with theadult population isn't new.
Our K-12 outreach arm actuallystarted within the university in
1990.
(12:51):
So that's you know, 30 yearsago, evolution.
Wendy Colby (12:55):
Yeah, exactly.
Nelson Baker (12:56):
And so we're bringing those pieces together.
So professional education,which is that online adult and
non-credit space, with the K-12seismic piece, with C21U, the
Center for 21st CenturyUniversities, which is our
research think tank, whereshould higher education be going
?
Those three units are comingtogether to form the, the ecos
(13:22):
of the new college as we start abuilding of this enterprise.
So we've been doing work inthis for a while, and that work
has engaged faculty from acrossthe entire university forever.
So they've seen the richness,they've seen the quality,
they've been part of it.
So this extension to say a newcollege and tying it to research
, which, at a researchuniversity, is at our ethos,
(13:45):
wasn't a big leap, and so to seea faculty vote that was vastly
in the majority was certainlyhumbling, because creating a new
college at a university is nota simple task, nor happens every
day.
Wendy Colby (14:00):
So it shows in some ways you have the spirit of
innovation and ambition as auniversity to evolve.
I mean just those stories youtalked about about evolving over
the years.
This isn't new to you, butyou've advanced to sort of stay
current with the times.
Nelson Baker (14:16):
I would say that's true, and I'd say that spirit
goes through our students also.
So there's more than 100student startups every year out
of Georgia Tech, and so thisstartup innovation spirit is
something that's alive andcultivated very well across our
university.
Wendy Colby (14:36):
Talk a little bit about the Georgia Tech Atrium
Project.
You mentioned this to me in aprevious conversation, so talk a
little bit about what guidedthe creation.
What is it doing today topromote workforce readiness,
upskilling, career advancement?
Nelson Baker (14:51):
Yeah.
So the Georgia Atrium Projectcame from listening again to
those initial students in ouronline programs, we realized
there's a social component toeducation and that was something
the students were missing.
It's like, yeah, we can betogether, we can go to chat
rooms, but there was somethingabout the human spirit that they
(15:11):
would love to have.
So we started sending facultyout to locations where we had a
fair number of online studentsand when we did that, hundreds
of people would show up and itjust seemed to be such an event.
So we said, well, what if wetried to create a small
footprint location, so kind oflike an Apple store or a
(15:35):
bookstore?
So, you know, a small footprint.
It's not a campus but a placefor, rather than co-working, you
co-learn.
We could put a TA or somebodylike that.
Faculty can go and do TED Talksat that location.
We can work with local industryfor what are their
industry-specific needs fortheir workforce and then tailor
(15:58):
programs for those locations andwhatnot.
So it's largely been an idea tothis point, although next month
here in the spring of 2025,we'll actually open our first
atrium here in metro Atlanta.
So it's not in the downtownarea where our campus is, it's
in one of the suburbs so we cantry out the business model we
(16:19):
can try out.
Did we listen right?
Is it working?
But it's also a concentrationof where some of these
individuals are located.
There's business that wants usthere, but we have several other
, both domestically andinternationally, that would love
us there last week if we coulddo it.
We just want to make sure thatwe do it with the Georgia Tech
quality for the right reasons.
Wendy Colby (16:39):
So there are larger goals, depending on the success
and proving out the concepthere as you establish this first
atrium in Metro Atlanta.
Nelson Baker (16:48):
Absolutely, and I think those larger goals is
really something that highereducation has been seeking to do
for a while and we've allstruggled with, and that's the
connection with industry,connection with people across
their lives.
It's really bringing GeorgiaTech to the people, rather than
the people having to come toGeorgia Tech.
Wendy Colby (17:08):
And talk a little bit about just a moment.
On that one like how did youidentify, you know, the
workforce partnerships?
This is again long been aconversation in higher ed right
how to sort of marry the highereducation piece with the
workforce piece.
So I'm curious as to how youapproach those partnerships.
I know you talked aboutlistening and talking to the
students and faculty and nodoubt you had a lot of
(17:29):
partnerships in place locally.
But how have you brought thatforward?
Nelson Baker (17:34):
So not only do we listen to the students and to
industry, but all of ourprograms here at Georgia Tech,
like many universities, haveadvisory boards, and industry
sits on those advisory boards.
So we ask them very pointedquestions when they're with us
across all of our colleges, notjust this new college and
gathering that informationtogether gives us insights on
(17:56):
what are some of their needs.
It forms partnerships.
And we go to an industry andsay, hey, we heard you say last
time we were together.
X, what if we did somethingtogether?
What do you think about?
And they usually come back andsay, well, that's kind of right,
but we'd like to modify it thisway.
And that's how partnershipswork right.
It's give and take and it's theforming of a communal set of
(18:19):
goals and objectives that youwork on collectively together.
And that's how we've done it.
And with our alumni being allover the world, we've done it.
And with our alumni being allover the world, we found some
great relationships both withlarge and small size enterprises
, and we all help each other.
Wendy Colby (18:38):
You know what I love about what you're sharing
here, nelson, is there's asimplicity around knowing how to
listen and learn and thensynthesizing a lot of what
you're hearing to bring forward.
You know that's something everyuniversity can take forward.
It's perhaps not as easy as itsounds sometimes, but I think I
love the fundamentals of whatyou're sharing.
Let me pivot a little bit herenow and just we're all facing I
(19:00):
touched on this a little bitearlier just the growing
pressures right that we see inhigher education, whether that's
the perceived value of highereducation.
Enrollments are under pressure,changing demographics, the rate
of technological advancementslike AI, and so I'm wondering
how you think about this.
How do you think you know today?
(19:20):
You've been in this industry along time.
You collaborate with a lot ofother leaders across higher ed.
How can universities lead withdistinctiveness?
And how do you think whatyou've done at Georgia Tech the
advancements at Georgia Techhave impacted your current
students and will attract morestudents.
Let's start there.
Nelson Baker (19:37):
So I would say you have to stick to your core.
What's your fundamentalcapabilities and strengths as a
university?
Why do you exist?
And you begin with thosepremises?
Because you exist and you'recreating value around those
kinds of things.
I think when you create itemson the fringe, sometimes that
(19:59):
value proposition your alumnidon't understand, your external
constituents don't understand,perhaps even internally your own
faculty and staff don'tunderstand.
So start with the core.
Where are your strong suits andhow does it resonate with your
populace and what is that valueproposition?
Those are the areas that youcan really start to innovate.
(20:19):
And just because we did it lastyear, last month, last decade,
doesn't necessarily mean it'swhat people want next week, next
month, next year.
Go back to my story about thevideotapes and movie theater etc
.
The world's a changing place.
It always has been, always willbe.
It just seems to be changingfaster my opinion, but perhaps
(20:43):
that's an incorrect opinion.
But keeping up with the changesand truly listening to make a
better product, our educationalprocess and the outcomes therein
are what we're all about.
We want our students to succeedand do well.
All of us do in highereducation.
That is not unique.
And so how do we find ways todeliver better, in new ways that
(21:07):
perhaps are even higher quality.
So there's another analogy Ilike to use, again tied to that
theatrical rendition.
It used to be people they stilldo go to theaters and watch a
play, and somebody said well,the theater only holds so many
people and not everybody cancome.
What if we put a camera in theback of the theater and we
broadcast the play?
(21:28):
Well, you lose something inthat, but you can also see the
play.
Well, then play turned intomovies and we had special
effects.
There's some things you can dowith technology and cameras you
can't do on the stage.
You can take time frames andstretch them or shrink them.
You can do animation indifferent ways.
(21:49):
I think education is stilllooking for its special effects.
Wendy Colby (21:55):
That's a wonderful example.
Nelson Baker (21:57):
A lot of what we do is put a camera in the back
of a classroom, even if it's nota real classroom anymore, but
we still have that kind ofcentral camera, instructor on
the stage, that four walls kindof thing, even though there's
not the walls.
What is the breakthrough momentwhen we think about education
differently?
Is it around gaming technology?
(22:18):
Is it around AR, vr, xr?
Is it around something thatdoesn't even exist yet?
That's the moment that I thinkis going to change our world
tremendously and we're trying toprepare, as this new college,
what that might be and actuallyperhaps find it.
Wendy Colby (22:36):
You know just a couple of things you've shared
there.
First, I loved the what's, thewhy right for a university to be
thinking about, because it'snot always a one size fits all.
So what's your why?
And the breakthrough moments.
And I love your example of thetheater and how almost a new
experience can be created bythinking about a different way
in which to deliver thatexperience and leverage
(22:58):
innovation and technology to doit.
So I love those examples thatthinking boldly.
I'm wondering too, you know,again in our university
environments and it sounds likeyou've figured out some of the
recipe for this, nelson is howyou bring faculty administrators
along, particularly those thatjust might not have had that
same level of familiarity movinginto these new modalities.
Nelson Baker (23:19):
Well and I was going to say as a follow-up to
the last question too noteverybody can follow those
changes or want to follow.
So there's a human aspect tothis.
And it gets to your lastquestion.
What we try to do is let peopletry it out on their own, let
them dabble in it.
If you just throw something atthem, they're usually not going
(23:40):
to react well to it, no matterwhat happens, and so let them
try at their pace.
You're always going to have thefirst adopters.
Those first adopters will trysome things.
Oftentimes they may fail.
They may succeed.
But those first adopters willalso be your ambassadors to go
(24:03):
out and talk to other facultyand staff about what their
experiences were like and theystart to share what new
modalities, what new experiencesthat they've had.
And that's been our biggestsuccess factor is faculty
talking to other faculty staff,talking to other staff about the
exciting conversations they'rehaving in these new environments
(24:25):
that they weren't having intheir traditional environment.
It pushes them in good ways toup their game, and so even our
residential programs improvebecause of this new cadre of
individuals who we call studentsin these new programs.
Wendy Colby (24:42):
So true, I know I've had the same experience,
you know, as I think, about someof the online programs we have
launched here, and faculty havecome from the residential side
and are now teaching online andthey're bringing some of those
learnings back to theresidential side.
It's been really wonderful tokind of watch how that evolves
(25:07):
affordable online at scaleconferences which I loved, by
the way, and that you host andit must be, you know I was
reflecting on.
It must be really rewarding tosee the kinds of impacts that
you've had across our industryright, bringing many together
who are now doing a lot ofonline and innovation and in new
ways.
And so I'm wondering, you know,what inspires you across our
industry today?
Do you sort of feel that roleyou have played to kind of
(25:29):
catalyze some of the innovationsand evolution that we've seen?
And then what?
Nelson Baker (25:37):
might you see on the horizon?
So, yes, I'm certainly veryproud.
We, georgia Tech, are veryproud, but I also would be
remiss to say we have also notlearned from all of you who have
been attendees.
And that's the value, I think,of higher education is we're
willing to share, we're willingto fail together, learn together
, and that's the valueproposition of having events
(26:00):
like that.
In fact, this fall fall of 25,we're going to pivot again and
we won't have a degrees at scalesummit that we've had.
We're going to have a lifetimelearning summit because we
believe that this evolution ofwhat we've done with affordable
degrees at scale is pivotinginto.
How do we think about thesethings as lifetime pathways from
(26:22):
k to gray?
How might we do more as acollective across that K-12
space, preparing young youth fora future that would include
tertiary education and educationacross their lifetime?
And what could we collectivelydo post-graduation into that
adult space to help ourworkforce be competitive in a
(26:42):
global marketplace?
Wendy Colby (26:43):
That's wonderful and I look forward to that
conference.
I'm really excited about it.
Is there any advice you havefor, you know, other
universities or leaders whomight be coming into this space
and, you know, trying to learnfrom those who have been
successful in advancing some ofthe kinds of bold initiatives
that you've been successful indoing?
Nelson.
Nelson Baker (27:04):
So listen would certainly be the first one.
Listen to your stakeholders,because that's constantly
changing, but be willing to takesome calculated risks.
I've always said to myself thatif I don't fail someplace, I'm
not pushing myself enough, and Icertainly don't want the
spectacular failure that makesits way to the evening news kind
(27:26):
of thing every day.
But there's little failuresalong the way that we've all
experienced.
What do you learn from that andhow do you pick up the pieces
and keep going forward?
So being able to take risk andlearn, fail, keep going, I think
are some of those things that Iwould suggest to other
individuals.
Try some things out.
(27:46):
Just because we've done it thisway and I think all industries,
not just higher education, hasthis dilemma where, just because
we've done it this way, it'sthe way we're going to do it
tomorrow, because we thinkthat's what our customers want,
but our customers find otheravenues and then all of a sudden
they disappear.
Where'd they go?
(28:06):
What happened?
And we look around, we weren'tlistening.
And what's happening to ourlandscape?
So there's as many individualsthat are going through
educational journeys throughtheir employers perhaps more
than there are going through ourtraditional higher ed system.
Are we listening?
So I keep asking those whyquestions.
(28:27):
I keep asking the what if?
Questions, how do we adapt to achanging world?
And that's always the questionthat leads me.
Wendy Colby (28:35):
Are we listening?
I love that, hey.
One final question, nelson.
So I know you're an engineer bybackground and I'm wondering if
you look back at where youstarted in your early career to
where you are today, did youever imagine your early career
to where you are today?
Did you ever imagine that thiswould be where you are today,
leading these kinds ofinnovations, standing up a new
college online at scale degrees,given the focus on lifetime
(29:00):
learning here?
I'm just wondering how youreflect on that personally.
Nelson Baker (29:03):
Yeah, no, it's been an interesting journey and
as I tell my children, I tell mystudents put yourself in a
position where you have a broadenough background that luck can
happen.
You have enough experience thatyou can pivot and move into
different directions.
But I've been fortunate in mylife.
Not everybody has been.
I was able to go to really goodschools and universities.
(29:26):
I had artificial intelligenceas part of my PhD program.
In fact, my PhD thesis was anartificial intelligence design
agent for civil engineers systemand all of a sudden it dawned
(29:47):
on me that people were alwaysstruggling in the same part of
the course.
It was like well, could I usethese same techniques to help
people learn?
And poof along came a new idea.
It was fledgling at first andand here I am leading initiative
across the university with lotsof great people around me and
and and helping also lead thecharge, and that's just humbling
as an individual to see thosekinds of capabilities and the
(30:11):
impacts that we're making forall people.
Wendy Colby (30:13):
Well, nelson, I am so grateful for your time and I
think what you just said there.
You know the power ofcollaboration, community sharing
, trying to elevate what we'reall doing across our university
communities.
I am grateful personally forall you've done for our industry
at large and really appreciatethe conversation today.
Nelson Baker (30:33):
Wendy, thank you so much for having me and I look
forward to continuing learning,because it is a lifetime of
learning with us, our newcollege.
We're all on this journeytogether.
Wendy Colby (30:44):
Indeed, it is.
Thank you, nelson.
Nelson Baker (30:46):
Thank you.
Wendy Colby (30:53):
Thank you for joining us for this BU Virtual
Connects podcast.
Special thanks to my colleaguesat BU Virtual and to our media
team who produces this podcastunder the leadership of our
studio director, George Vago.
To keep up with our BU VirtualConnects series, be sure to
subscribe wherever you listen toyour favorite podcasts.
You can also learn more aboutour portfolio of online programs
at Boston University Virtual byvisiting bu.
edu/virtual.
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