Future U Podcast - The Pulse of Higher Ed

Former Secretaries of Education Margaret Spellings and John King join Jeff and Michael to discuss their views about the new administration in Washington, DC and what they hope is on the horizon for higher ed policy. High on their list? A return to normalcy and support for the neediest students.The Future U Podcast is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and by Nelnet Campus Commerce. Follow Future U on Twitter • Facebook

With daily signs of momentum in the effort to vaccinate U.S. adults, college leaders are beginning to plan for a new normal in higher ed after the pandemic. The president of Georgia State University, which has been a leader in the student success movement, joins Future U to talk about what institutions need to do to improve the student experience in the decade ahead. Follow Future U on Twitter • Facebook

Colleges have received more than $36 billion from federal stimulus bills over the last year. Two former Hill staffers representing both sides of the aisle, Alison Griffin and Julie Peller, discuss how higher ed legislation really moves on Capitol Hill and what Congress should be tackling next.  

The pandemic has dramatically changed the outlook for new college graduates. Matt Sigelman, CEO of Burning Glass Technologies, a labor-market analytics firm, discusses what higher ed can do to help students prepare for life after college, including the academic programs to put in place.The Future U Podcast is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Follow Future U on Twitter • Facebook

Michelle Weise returns to Future U to talk about her new book, Long Life Learning: Preparing for Jobs that Don’t Even Exist Yet and why creating a new learning ecosystem for what’s ahead is so critical for all of us.The Future U Podcast is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Follow Future U on Twitter • Facebook

As part of an annual tradition on the podcast, Jeff and Michael sit down with higher ed reporters to talk about the biggest stories and trends. Melissa Korn from the Wall Street Journal and Kirk Carapezza from GBH radio in Boston.The Future U Podcast is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Follow Future U on Twitter • Facebook

The 23-campus California State University system was among the first to announce in the spring it would go mostly online for the fall (and eventually for the spring). As a complement to the previous episode where Jeff and Michael talked about what it took to welcome students back to campus, in this episode they talk with the president of Sonoma State University about why the Cal State system made the early call to go online.   Questions? Comments? Connect with us on Twitter or Facebook, or email FutureUpodcast at gmail dot com.

As colleges considered whether to open their campuses to students in-person for the fall, different institutions approached the question from different vantage points. In this episode, Michael and Jeff talk with the president of Boston University, which welcomed students back, to understand what went into that decision and the logistics behind pulling it off. Questions? Comments? Connect with us on Twitter or Facebook, or email FutureUpodcast at gmail dot com.

Emily Oster joins Michael and Jeff as the debate over reopening both K–12 schools and colleges has reached a fever pitch. Oster, a Brown University economist, has been at the forefront of the public conversation about schools and COVID-19. Jeff and Michael asked Oster about the dynamics of being a public intellectual on a university campus and how she deals with criticism. Questions? Comments? Connect with us on Twitter or Facebook, or email FutureUpodcast at gmail dot com.

Regional public universities are the workhorses of the higher ed systems of many states. Overall, the 400-plus regional public universities across the U.S. educate some 40% of all American undergraduates. But often they are stuck in the middle between better known public flagship universities and community colleges. After years of declining state revenues, and in some states declining enrollments, many have arrived at a crossroads. In this episode, Dan Greenstein, the chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, talks about his plan to remake the Pennsylvania system as well as why similar institutions elsewhere need to recapture their affordability edge. Questions? Comments? Connect with us on Twitter or Facebook, or email FutureUpodcast at gmail dot com.