The Opportunity Architecture

  Higher Education at a Crossroads: Leadership, Strategy, and Stewardship Originally published by UPCEA on March 31, 2026 Leadership is rarely formed along a straight line. It develops through unexpected opportunities, difficult conversations, career pivots, and moments that ask us to step forward before we feel entirely ready. This reflection grew from a fireside conversation with American University President Jon Alger, my placement mentor during the ACE Fellows Program. Our discussion explored leadership trajectories, governance, institutional strategy, civic life, and the challenge of stewarding higher education through an unusually consequential period. Several ideas stayed with me. Governance depends as much on trust, communication, and relationships as it does on formal authority. Strategy matters only when it becomes visible in the experiences and outcomes of students. And at a time when higher education’s value can no longer be assumed, institutions must be prepared to des...

  The 41 Million SCNC: Why Higher Ed’s Greatest Failure Is the Refusal to Recognize Real Life Originally published by UPCEA on March 25, 2026 Co-authored with Julie Uranis, Melissa Peraino, and Stacy Chiaramonte, with contributions from UPCEA Council for Credential Innovation co-chairs Doris Savron, Sheila LeBlanc, and Melissa Jimenez. More than 41 million Americans have attended college without earning a credential. Too often, these learners are described by what they lack rather than recognized for what they already know: the college learning they completed, the skills they developed at work, and the expertise gained through military service, caregiving, and community life. This jointly authored piece argues that the continued growth of the some-college, no-credential population is not simply an enrollment problem. It reflects systems and policies that remain poorly designed for the realities of adult learners. Learning mobility offers a different architecture. It treats learning...

  Leading Change in a Time of Financial Pressure: Insights from UPCEA Senior Leaders Originally published by UPCEA on March 16, 2026 Financial pressure is forcing colleges and universities to make difficult choices—but it is also clarifying which capabilities will be essential to their future. This piece captures insights from UPCEA’s 2026 Senior Leader Virtual Annual Briefing, featuring Rovy Branon of the University of Washington, Nancy Coleman of Harvard University, Lisa Templeton of Oregon State University, and Robert G. Bruce of Rice University. Their conversation examined how online and professional continuing education leaders are responding to enrollment uncertainty, demographic change, declining public funding, evolving learner expectations, and heightened demands for demonstrable value. Across their varied institutional contexts, a common picture emerged. Online and professional education units are moving from the periphery of the university to the center of institutional ...