The Opposite of Cheating Podcast (Season 2) Episode 39: Sonny Ramaswamy

"We've been loathed to change and evaluate ourselves, make sure that we're addressing these fundamental issues and we need to own it."

"These are wicked problems and we have the knowledge and the ability, but we are headbutting not willing to come together and come up with a path forward."

In this 39th episode of The Opposite of Cheating Podcast, Tricia speaks with Sonny Ramaswamy, former President of the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU), about the intersections of accreditation, academic integrity, and systemic reform in higher education. Drawing from his expansive career in science, public service, and accreditation, Sonny reflects on the evolution—and shortcomings—of U.S. quality assurance models, especially in light of new challenges posed by AI and persistent pressures around access, funding, and equity.

Together, they tackle the validity of the credit hour, the need to move toward competency-based education, and how accreditors like NWCCU must move to centering learning outcomes, professional ethics, and durable human skills in their evaluation processes.

You can learn more about Sonny on his Wikipedia page - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonny_Ramaswamy - and by following him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonnyramaswamy/

(Disclaimer: episode quotes and summary were created using Youtube's Transcript and ChatGPT and edited by a human. Any errors are the responsibility of the human).Episode ResourcesBeing There (Movie): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078841/?ref_=nm_flmg_job_1_accord_1_cdt_t_2Carnegie Credit Hour: https://nwccu.org/news/v6i4-letter-from-the-president/Math Education in Crisis: https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/wa-math-education-is-in-crisis-heres-what-could-help/

WASC's KIDS (Key Indicator Dashboard) - https://www.wscuc.org/resources/kid/