DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION

Doing DEI Without Affirmative Action

The landscape of college admissions is undergoing a transformative shift. Institutions are navigating the post-affirmative action world, seeking innovative ways to uphold diversity and inclusivity. A recent study highlights how schools can adapt their admissions strategies to maintain a rich tapestry of student backgrounds and experiences without affirmative action.

🦁 Leadership Lessons »

The changing admissions scene underscores a crucial leadership principle: adaptability. Education leaders must pivot, embracing new methodologies that evaluate a student’s potential beyond traditional metrics. This shift isn’t just about compliance; it’s about championing a broader vision of student capabilities and fostering an environment where diverse talents and backgrounds are recognized and valued. Leaders are tasked with integrating:

eCampus News Strategies for Diversity

• AI and Data Utilization: Employing AI and comprehensive data analytics can counteract biases and enhance fairness, offering a nuanced understanding of each candidate.
• Mission-Aligned Admissions: Aligning admissions criteria with the institution’s mission ensures student selection resonates with the school’s core values and objectives.
• Holistic Admissions Approach: This method evaluates students on various facets of their experience and potential, ensuring a diverse and robust student body.

🎯 Cabinet Conversation »

• How can your institution leverage AI and data analytics to enrich the fairness and inclusivity of the admissions process?
• How can your admissions criteria align more closely with your institution’s mission and values?
• How can your institution implement or enhance a holistic admissions strategy to ensure a comprehensive evaluation of prospective students?

In a landscape devoid of affirmative action, the challenge becomes an opportunity to innovate and redefine what inclusivity means in higher education. By embracing these strategies, institutions can continue championing diversity and providing opportunities for all students, ensuring a vibrant, multifaceted academic community.

LEADERSHIP & CULTURE

Boards In Need of Formal Training

The call for formally trained higher education professionals in governance boards is crucial. Their absence is notable, especially when their expertise could significantly influence policy, strategic planning, and institutional accountability. These professionals’ nuanced understanding is invaluable, offering perspectives that could bridge the gap between administrative decisions and academic impact.

Dr. Cantú-Wilson, a seasoned educator and trustee at San Jacinto College, highlights the disparity. She underscores the importance of leveraging the insights of those deeply rooted in the educational sector for governance, ensuring decisions resonate with the core academic mission and student success.

🦁 Leadership Lessons »

Leadership isn’t just about steering the ship; it’s about knowing the waters and how the tides change over time. So, while experience matters, training and lifelong learning matter more. This puts leaders in a pickle because training can take considerable time and resources.

But consider this…

CBO: What if we train them, and they leave?

…

President: What if we don’t train them… and they stay…

🎯 Cabinet Conversation »

1. Reflect on your institution’s board composition. Does it include members with a formal education background relevant to the institution’s core mission?
2. If so, how up-to-date are they on the issues, trends, and relevant strategies in higher education? 
3. How can your institution support and encourage “life-long” learning with training and professional development for your board?

P.S. – These same questions should be asked for all key leadership positions within the institution. 

Ed-TECH

AI In Higher Education News

🤖 Generative AI in Higher Education: A Call for Preparedness: 95% of higher education administrators, faculty, and trustees anticipate generative AI will impact their institutions within the next five years. Despite this expectation, a significant majority admit to being unprepared for AI-related shifts, with readiness levels low across the board: 77% of four-year administrators, 89% of two-year administrators, 77% of four-year faculty, 84% of two-year faculty, and 64% of two-year trustees feel their institutions are not ready.

📜 AI’s rise mirrors corporate dominance in U.S. history, challenging societal norms. Corporations have significantly influenced American society, often prioritizing shareholder profits over public welfare. This trend has escalated with the advent of Big Tech, leading to job offshoring, privacy invasions, and a widening wealth gap. As AI technology advances, it’s crucial to understand its potential impacts within this historical and economic framework, including labor displacement, bias, and privacy concerns.

📊 Higher education must evolve with AI to prepare students for a changing workforce. As AI reshapes job markets, the necessity for digital literacy and adaptability in graduates becomes paramount. Higher education institutions are challenged to integrate AI in accordance with labor trends and a commitment to preparing students for hybrid workplaces where human creativity and AI tools coexist.

🔎 The transformative potential of AI in higher education remains largely untapped.According to Ivy.ai’s whitepaper, a significant portion of higher education institutions have yet to fully embrace AI. AI’s proven benefits in enhancing administrative efficiency and student engagement, Ethical concerns, and a lack of full utilization in key areas such as mental health services and personalized learning highlight the gap between AI’s potential and its current application.

⚙️ The Comprehensive AI Policy Framework, provided by Anthology, empowers higher education institutions to ethically implement AI technologies. With the rapid adoption of generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Anthology’s new resource aims to assist colleges and universities in developing policies that address the control of AI use and explore its potential to enhance student success and operational efficiency. The framework emphasizes seven core principles: fairness, reliability, human oversight, transparency, privacy, value alignment, and accountability.

😥 AI advancements are rapidly outpacing higher education’s adaptability, signaling a transformative shift in teaching, learning, and administrative processes. As AI technologies like GPT-5 advance toward artificial general intelligence, higher education faces the challenge of keeping pace. The gap between AI’s capabilities and the sector’s readiness to integrate these advancements is widening, necessitating urgent upskilling and strategic adaptation in academia.