Podcasts · Education · Business

Changing Higher Ed

Dr. Drumm McNaughton

300 episodes

Changing Higher Ed is dedicated to helping higher education leaders improve their institutions. We offer the latest in higher ed news and insights from top experts in higher education who share their perspectives on how you can grow your institution.

More about the show

Host Dr. Drumm McNaughton is a top higher education consultant, renowned leader, and pioneer in strategic management systems and leadership boards. He's one of a select group with executive leadership experience in academe, nonprofits, government, and business.

Episodes page 1 of 6

  1. Workforce U: How Vincennes University Built a Nationwide Apprenticeship Model With Amazon

    · 37 min · Episode 335

    When Amazon asked Vincennes University in 2019 to launch a four-year registered apprenticeship in a little over four months, the university, President Chuck Johnson says, had no apprentices, no equipment and no…

  2. From Military Friendly to Military Supportive: Lessons From ASU's Pat Tillman Veterans Center

    · 37 min · Episode 334

    Most universities, Shawn Banzhaf says, would be happy if 5% of their students were military-connected. At Arizona State University he puts the figure at about 13%, roughly 22,000 military-connected students. In his…

  3. Faculty-Led AI at Scale: From UC Santa Barbara to the California Community Colleges

    · 44 min · Episode 333

    At UC Santa Barbara, Kavitta Ghai recalls, students waited two days, on average, to get a question answered. For a student whose scholarship was just pulled or whose tuition is due tomorrow, that is too long, and at…

  4. AI Guardrails for Universities: Why an AI Policy Needs a Tech Stack to Enforce It

    · 34 min · Episode 332

    Most AI risk at a university does not start with a hacker. It starts with a student, a faculty member, or a researcher copying something out of the learning management system and pasting it into a personal AI account,…

  5. FIRE's 2027 College Free Speech Rankings: What Actually Moves a School's Score

    · 37 min · Episode 331

    Texas A&M holds a green light rating for its speech policies and still fell from 47th to 192nd in this year's College Free Speech Rankings. Harvard climbed from 245th to 71st without changing a single policy, a sign…

  6. Washington Update: Title IV Risk, Neg Reg, and the Midterms

    · 39 min · Episode 330

    Student loan default and repayment rates have continued to be calculated through years of dormant collections, and some institutions could soon face single-year default rates high enough to threaten their Title IV…

  7. How Gies Gives Every Junior a Live Client Project

    · 36 min · Episode 329

    Most institutions measure access at admission and affordability, then ration the experiences that actually change student outcomes to whoever finds them. The experiential learning that employers say they want gets…

  8. Workforce Readiness: Why Higher Ed Struggles to Use Employer Support

    · 41 min · Episode 328

    Workforce readiness is usually framed as a funding and program-design problem. In some states and at some institutions, the funding and the employer willingness already exist, and what is missing is a structure on the…

  9. Diversifying Revenue Without Diluting Mission: Inside Rollins College's Innovation Triangle

    · 32 min · Episode 327

    Private colleges under enrollment pressure get told to diversify revenue. The venture that follows usually either fails to earn or drags the institution away from the academic identity families were paying for. In…

  10. Adult Learners: Redesign, Don't Just Recruit

    · 36 min · Episode 326

    Institutions recruiting adult learners are inserting them into schedules, deadline policies, and course structures designed for 19-year-olds, then treating the resulting attrition as a student problem. The barriers…

  11. Reputation, Revenue, and the Cost of Silence in Higher Ed Communication

    · 39 min · Episode 325

    Most institutions in a crisis don't believe they're in one. The word calls up a scandal with a camera crew outside, and nothing on this week's agenda looks like that, so the answer is often no. In this episode of the…

  12. Why Is Enrollment Falling Short When Applications Are Up?

    · 33 min · Episode 324

    Applications keep climbing while the class comes up short. The gap sits in the phase most institutions treat as the finish line: what happens after the acceptance letter goes out. In this episode of the Changing…

  13. The Purpose of Liberal Arts Education in the Age of AI

    · 39 min · Episode 322

    The same students who say college costs too much are overwhelmingly saying it was worth it, and that contradiction is the key to the entire public confidence debate. In Gallup-Lumina polling cited in this episode, 93…

  14. Building Fairleigh Dickinson's Lifelong Learning Ecosystem Across Five Generations

    · 41 min · Episode 321

    Program discontinuation is usually the fight presidents avoid. Fairleigh Dickinson University put a significant slate of program discontinuations and consolidations to a faculty referendum, and roughly 88 percent of…

  15. Pairing Liberal Arts with Tech Readiness: Five Institutional Decisions from Manhattan University

    · 34 min · Episode 320

    At Manhattan University, the case for the liberal arts is being made with outcomes, not nostalgia. Its graduates rank in the top 2% nationally for mid-career salaries, and The Wall Street Journal ranked the university…

  16. Student Retention: Using AI to Spot Disengagement Before Dropout

    · 34 min · Episode 319

    Most retention systems flag struggling students through grades and attendance. By the time those indicators fire, many students are already halfway out the door. Elvee's survey of 1,050 U.S. college students shows why:…

  17. Higher Ed's Trust Problem Isn't a PR Problem: AAC&U's Trust Agenda

    · 46 min · Episode 318

    Half of college presidents worried about public trust are answering with a public relations campaign. According to the AAC&U report at the center of this episode, that is a reasonable instinct but the wrong one. Public…

  18. Why Research Funding Cuts Are a Strategic Risk, Not a Budget Problem

    · 40 min · Episode 317

    When the federal government freezes research funding, leaders tend to treat it as a budget problem: a number that was cut and might later be restored. The harder truth in this conversation is that much of the damage…

  19. When AI Finds the Administrative Friction Higher Ed Leaders Miss

    · 37 min · Episode 316

    Most AI conversations in higher education focus on the academic side. The administrative side gets less attention and is producing the bigger near-term financial wins for institutions willing to govern the rollout. In…

  20. Inside CSU's ChatGPT Edu Rollout Across 22 Universities

    · 32 min · Episode 315

    AI implementation in higher education is often framed as a technology question. California State University treated it as change management with technology as the catalyst, rolling out ChatGPT Edu to 22 universities in…

  21. AI in Higher Education: Bias, Procurement, and Human Oversight

    · 38 min · Episode 314

    At sixteen, with straight A's in math and science, Dr. Karen Panetta's school career assessment told her to sell makeup or be a cook. A male friend with lower scores got engineer or politician. No AI was involved. Just…

  22. AI-First Business Education: How Kogod Transformed Culture, Curriculum, and Faculty Adoption

    · 37 min · Episode 313

    Most business schools are still forming committees to figure out what to do about AI. Kogod School of Business at American University formed a committee, but far from the typical higher ed standards. Leadership gave it…

  23. Closing Higher Education's AI Readiness Gap with Human-First Transformation

    · 39 min · Episode 312

    AI adoption in higher education is moving faster than institutional change models were built to handle. Students are already using AI at high rates, while many institutions are still trying to decide where AI belongs,…

  24. Scaling Higher Education: An Entrepreneurial Approach to a Consolidating Market

    · 36 min · Episode 311

    Scaling higher education is no longer a theoretical strategy. As the sector moves deeper into consolidation, institutional leaders need to confront whether their operating models, credential structures, partnerships,…

  25. Why College Presidents Need a Coalition for Civic Preparedness

    · 38 min · Episode 310

    Civic preparedness in higher education can no longer be treated as an assumed byproduct of a college education. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Raj Vinnakota,…

  26. International Enrollment Strategy: Taking Higher Education to the World

    · 34 min · Episode 309

    International student enrollment in the United States reached record highs in 2024–2025, followed by a sharp and uneven decline heading into 2025–2026. While top-tier institutions continue to attract global talent,…

  27. Higher Ed Technology Change Management and Digital Transformation

    · 38 min · Episode 308

    Higher education's track record with technology change is uneven for a reason, and the reason is rarely the technology. It is whether leadership treats change management as a discipline that runs from planning through…

  28. Building Workforce Readiness Through Real Startup Experience

    · 31 min · Episode 307

    Most institutions offer experiential learning. Few deliver it. The gap between the claim and the outcome is structural, and closing it requires more than a better course design. In this episode of the Changing Higher…

  29. 2026 Title IV Changes and How Higher Education Can Adapt to the OBBBA

    · 37 min · Episode 306

    *]:pointer-events-auto scroll-mt-[calc(var(--header-height)+min(200px,max(70px,20svh)))]" dir="auto" data-turn-id= "request-WEB:10fa6b0c-40ea-4cf7-8ab6-3746009c82af-17" data-testid= "conversation-turn-36"…

  30. Inside Neg Reg and the 2026 Higher Ed Changes

    · 37 min · Episode 305

    Higher education has spent years hearing that affordability, student debt, and public skepticism are putting pressure on colleges and universities. What is different now is that those pressures are shaping federal…

  31. Aligning Education & Work: The 2026 Lumina-Gallup Employer Report

    · 37 min · Episode 304

    New data from Lumina Foundation and Gallup's Aligning Education and Work: What Employers Say Higher Education Must Deliver shows that employers still value college degrees — but have serious concerns about whether…

  32. AI Can Fill The Vessel. Can Colleges Still Light The Fire?

    · 37 min · Episode 303

    AI in higher education is no longer just a technology issue. The larger question is whether colleges and universities will redesign learning so students develop judgment, critical thinking, and decision-making skills…

  33. Students Are Acting Like Consumers. Higher Ed Needs to Catch Up

    · 38 min · Episode 302

    Jeff Dinski helped start Cold Pizza at ESPN, the morning show that eventually became First Take. On a daily show, ratings are everything. You either produce something people want to watch, or you do not last. He…

  34. SACSCOC Updates: Substantive Change, Standards, and Outcomes Transparency

    · 58 min · Episode 301

    Accreditation is often treated as a compliance cycle, but SACSCOC is signaling a faster-moving, more transparent operating posture that will affect how institutions plan change, document quality, and explain outcomes…

  35. How University Presidents Lead with Moral Courage Under Political Pressure

    · 44 min · Episode 300

    Higher education's public trust problem is not something presidents can fix with better messaging. In this conversation, AAC&U President Dr. Lynn Pasquerella describes a structural squeeze on institutional independence…

  36. FIRE on Campus Leadership and the Defense of Open Inquiry

    · 38 min · Episode 299

    Free speech on campus is not an abstract constitutional issue—it's a governance challenge for presidents and boards. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton is joined by Dr. Sean…

  37. Stop-Outs, Transfers, and ROI: The Data Already Exists and You're Not Using It

    · 37 min · Episode 298

    Higher education is under mounting pressure to prove its value. But the data institutions need to respond already exists — most are just not using it strategically. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast,…

  38. Agile Change Management for Today's Higher Education Leaders

    · 44 min · Episode 297

    Agile change management in higher education is no longer optional. Institutions are navigating continuous disruption from AI, shifting student expectations, workforce pressures, and internal cultural resistance. The…

  39. Using Entrepreneurship to Redesign the College Operating Model

    · 39 min · Episode 296

    In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Jeff Meade, Founding Director of the Every Quinnite is an Entrepreneur program at Paul Quinn College, about how the institution has…

  40. Reduce Student Debt Risk and Improve Employability with Distributed Practicum

    · 37 min · Episode 295

    Workforce readiness, hands-on learning, and flexible credentialing are no longer peripheral conversations in higher education. They are central to how institutions are being judged on value, relevance, and outcomes.…

  41. Empathy in Higher Education Leadership Without Losing Your Edge

    · 34 min · Episode 294

    Empathy is easy to talk about and harder to practice when the pressure is high. In higher education, leaders are often navigating conflict, fatigue, and urgency, which is exactly when empathy gets misread as weakness…

  42. The Case for a Chief Enrollment Management Officer in Higher Education

    · 38 min · Episode 293

    In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Dan Predoehl, assistant dean of Extended Learning and director of the Emeritus Institute at Saddleback College, one of the…

  43. How Stevens Tech Became One of the Strongest Transformation Stories in Higher Education

    · 42 min · Episode 292

    Institutional transformation in higher education is often described in broad terms. At Stevens Institute of Technology, Dr. Nariman Farvardin describes transformation in operational terms: disciplined strategic…

  44. Higher Education 2026 Planning and Lessons Learned from 2025 Predictions

    · 1 h 29 min · Episode 291

    Higher education enters 2026 under conditions that are no longer hypothetical. In this 8th annual end-of-year episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton is joined by Tom Netting of TEN Government…

  45. Strategic Insights from the 2025 AAC&U Employer Survey: What Employers Want From Higher Education

    · 45 min · Episode 290

    In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Ashley Finley, Vice President of Research and Senior Advisor to the President at the Association of American Colleges and…

  46. Higher Education Communication Strategy Under Political Pressure and Crisis Risk

    · 38 min · Episode 289

    Higher education communication is no longer a marketing function. It is a strategic discipline shaped by political pressure, governance risk, and real-time public scrutiny. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed®…

  47. How Higher Ed Leaders Can Take Back the Public Narrative

    · 42 min · Episode 287

    Higher education is facing a growing disconnect between public perception and the realities of campus life. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Peter Murphy Lewis, CNN…

  48. Innovation in Higher Education: How Leaders Build the Capacity to Adapt

    · 34 min · Episode 286

    Higher education leaders are being asked to innovate faster than their institutions are built to move. This episode of Changing Higher Ed explores how presidents and boards can change that. Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks…

  49. Accreditation Trends and WASC Priorities for Student Success

    · 44 min · Episode 285

    Accreditation trends and expectations are shifting under rising accountability pressures, financial constraints, and increased scrutiny of student outcomes. This episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast features…

  50. The Real Cost of Overlooking Teaching Quality in Higher Ed

    · 40 min · Episode 284

    Improving how teaching happens in the classroom is one of the most effective ways to increase student retention, stabilize tuition revenue, and strengthen institutional reputation—yet most universities don't manage it…

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