Talk about a road trip! Throughout October, NECHE staff is holding eight regional meetings to engage our members in conversation about the revision of our Standards of Accreditation, a process that takes place every ten years. This is the most important undertaking that I will lead during my tenure as NECHE President. Our Standards are used…Continue readingPit Stop #70: Community College of Rhode Island
Category: Public State Systems
Today, the best known Speaker of the House in Maine is Sarah Gideon, who was hoping (unsuccessfully) to unseat sitting Senator Susan Collins. Today I met the former Speaker Glenn Cummings, who is equally impressive and now five years into his presidency of the University of Southern Maine (USM). After serving as Speaker, Glenn worked…Continue readingPit Stop #23: University of Southern Maine
How’s this for a set of impressive careers? Lawyer, Mayor, Governor, and Chancellor. (I know I’m forgetting one, because I asked Chancellor Dan Malloy what he was planning for his sixth career.) When I asked which of his jobs had caused him to lose the most sleep, Malloy answered candidly, “Pretty much each one.” He…Continue readingPit Stop #20: University of Maine System
Joan Ferrini-Mundy is a little over two years into her leadership of Maine’s flagship campus, the University of Maine –as well as the University of Maine at Machias, University of Maine’s 240-acre regional campus on the coast. She brings an extraordinary background to her role, most recently as Chief Operating Officer of the National Science…Continue readingPit Stop #19: University of Maine
(Caveat: The day we visited University of Maine at Augusta was not the best for showing off the beautiful campus. It was overcast and most of the leaves had blown and gone home for the winter. So Betty decided to take photos of UMA’s great outdoor sculpture — with the campus in the background. Just…Continue readingPit Stop #18: University of Maine at Augusta
Our road trip began over a delightful dinner with Susan Huard, who serves as both a Commissioner of NECHE and Interim Chancellor of the Community College System of New Hampshire. CCSNH oversees seven institutions: Great Bay Community College, Lakes Region Community College, Manchester Community College, Nashua Community College, River Valley Community College, White Mountains Community…Continue readingPit Stop #16: Community College System of New Hampshire
I’m about halfway through my NECHE on the Road Trip — 25 stops at colleges and universities across New England, watching, observing, listening, and recording their leaders as they talk about their institutions specifically, and the state of higher education in general. It’s been quite a fascinating and beautiful trip so far. (And yes, observant…Continue readingThe View from 800 Miles
I was able to catch up with Chancellor (and NECHE Commissioner) Todd Leach over lunch at his office in Concord where we had a free-ranging conversation. Chancellor Leach has presided over the four public state universities in New Hampshire for seven years, after a term as President of one of those four, Granite State College.…Continue readingPit Stop #8: New Hampshire University System
My last stop of the second day took me to Durham, New Hampshire, home of the state’s flagship, The University of New Hampshire. By the time I arrived on campus, the cloudy day had turned sunny and beautiful, and as I walked the campus for about an hour, I was thrilled to encounter lots of…Continue readingPit Stop #6: University of New Hampshire