MindMaxing: Conversations on Higher Ed

What is the goal of higher education? 

According to Will Patch, a Senior Enrollment Insights Leader at Niche.com, colleges and universities should prepare students to step into jobs that fulfill them as individuals and benefit their communities. But it’s not such a straightforward path for all students. 

In the latest episode of our MindMaxing Podcast series, “Adolescence to Adulthood,” Will discusses the existing barriers to higher ...

The pandemic presented many barriers to higher education. But it also catalyzed demand for more accessible education. 

In the latest episode of our MindMaxing Podcast series, “Adolescence to Adulthood,” Lee Maxey speaks with Dr. Mariana Amatullo, Vice Provost for Global Executive Education and Online Strategic Initiatives at Parsons School of Design at The New School (https://execed.newschool.edu/).

The pandemic forced many educators...

What skills do graduates need to be able to go out into the world?

While some education leaders focus solely on getting students to graduate high school, Mike Flanagan, CEO of the Mastery Transcript Consortium, is focused on creating educational pathways that empower graduates even after they’ve collected their diplomas. 

In the latest episode of our MindMaxing Podcast series, “Adolescence to Adulthood,” Mike discusses how education—...

As Associate Vice Provost for the Division of Professional and Continuing Studies at the University of Delaware, George Irvine, PhD, is keenly aware that students today ask themselves, "Why do I need to go to college?"

Traditional pathways to higher education are expensive and time-consuming, and even employers are beginning to question the value of a four-year degree. 

In the latest episode of our MindMaxing Podcast series...

As Research Professor and Director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, Dr. Anthony Carnevale knows the journey adolescents take to adulthood has changed drastically over the last 40 years. 

Decades ago, a high school education was enough to help a young adult land a job with a living wage. Today, college—if not a secondary degree—is a requirement. 

In a new episode of our MindMaxing podcast series, “Ad...

Rick Dalton, CEO and President of CFES Brilliant Pathways, is committed to helping students overcome obstacles, access educational opportunities, and achieve success in their lives. 
 
While today’s higher education landscape is complex and changing rapidly, Rick notes that students can still take control of their academic destinies. 
 
In the second episode of our MindMaxing podcast series, Adolescence to Adulthood...

Andy Chan, VP of Innovation and Career Development at Wake Forest University, knows that being a student in 2022 is a uniquely complicated experience. There are more educational and professional options than ever before. There's also immense societal and cultural pressure to pick the perfect path and flawlessly transition from high school to college to a career. 

 In episode 19 of MindMaxing—the first in the podcast’s second se...

Harvard Kennedy School Senior Associate Dean for Executive Education Debra Iles believes that the pandemic has “created the opportunity for us to think differently, to embrace some things that we were perhaps postponing.” Debra and I met virtually for episode 18 of MindMaxing, the final episode in the podcast’s first season, where she reflected on the unique perspective she and her colleagues had throughout the pandemic. Listen to ...

Harvard University Dean of Division of Continuing Education and University Extension Nancy Coleman, Ed.D., believes creating space for reflection is important, especially in higher education. “If we're truly going to figure out ‘how do we create value for our students?’ … there needs to be some thinking in that. And I found one of the best ways to do that is through connection with my peers, whether it be through UPCEA, or oth...

Excelsior College Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs John Caron can see a difference in how colleges and universities are networking since the start of the pandemic. One of the things that Excelsior is doing that John finds interesting is exploring partnership opportunities with other schools, exploring pathways from their non-credit courses and certificates to an Excelsior degree program. “There's an openness may...

Southern Methodist University Managing Director of Global, Online, and Continuing Education Kim Rutigliano is hopeful that the positive shifts colleges and universities went through to make classes accessible due to the pandemic will continue to bring about positive change in the future. “I think, at its best, if we continue on this trajectory, the place that we're leading to is to address issues of access and equity to widen ...

Stony Brook University Associate Vice President for Professional Education and Assistant Provost for Engaged Learning Patricia Malone joined us for an episode of MindMaxing where she discussed the ways Stony Brook adjusted to COVID-19. From pulling together an army of experts who, virtually overnight, launched dozens of workshops for K-12 teachers to learn best practices in teaching remotely, to developing support systems for stude...

Before her retirement earlier this year, former Brown University Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and Dean of the School of Professional Studies Karen Sibley joined MindMax CEO Lee Maxey for episode 13 of MindMaxing. Karen dove into topics like the “crash course” that faculty had to go through to learn the pedagogy for teaching online courses, and her outlook for higher education in the future. She believes that in the next...

Unity College President Melik Peter Khoury, D.B.A., expects to see significant changes in higher education post-pandemic in the forms of more closures, more mergers, and more overall transformations. “We at Unity College are trying to transform our model to be one that does not talk about innovation, but one that innovates, to design pedagogy and curriculum and pricing specifically for each different type of student, instead of a o...

After examining the way Southern Methodist University adapted to the pandemic, Assistant Provost for Global, Online, and Continuing Education Michael Robertson believes a willingness to do two tough things will ensure continued growth in higher education in the long run.  “We have to be willing to fail and we have to be willing to be uncomfortable at times, that's just the nature of change,” Michael said during our conversatio...

In the new, post-COVID-19 world, Brandeis University Rabb School of Continuing Studies Vice President Lynne Rosansky, Ph.D., believes innovation will continue to take shape on and beyond Brandeis University’s campus in terms of its tools and its people. In episode 10 of MindMaxing, Lynne chats with MindMax CEO Lee Maxey and discusses how she envisions the faculty evolving to meet the needs of the students after the pandemic. “I thi...

For Excelsior College President David Schejbal, Ph.D., the COVID-19 pandemic reminded him just how important the academic experience is and helped him reflect on how it has changed over the years. “I think in many ways, higher education in this country has lost its way over the past couple of decades,” Schejbal said, “because we've gone from talking about the social value and the benefit of higher education and how we help imp...

Fisher College Vice President of Enrollment Management Robert “Bob” Melaragni and MindMax CEO Lee Maxey got together (on Zoom) to discuss how COVID-19 has impacted Fisher students, faculty, and staff. As a pioneer in the online learning space, Fisher was well poised to pivot to an online-only model during the pandemic. It also utilized social media platforms and other tools to effectively reach students and their families, and meet...

San José State University Associate Dean for the College of Professional and Global Education Namrata Shukla calls the past year in academia “transformational.” In episode seven of MindMaxing, MindMax CEO Lee Maxey and Namrata, who also goes by Nami, discuss how pivots at SJSU due to COVID-19 have paved the way for positive outcomes, such as the potential for resources to reach more community members, and that students are finding ...