Podcast
Higher Ed Now
Hosted by American Council of Trustees a · EN
Higher Ed Now is a production of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni. It is a podcast concerning issues and policy in America's higher education system.
14episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
David Rohrbacher: Inside New College’s Curriculum Turnaround
1w ago00:37:00Tap to summarizeACTA’s Veronica Bryant welcomes David Rohrbacher, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs and Professor of Classics at the New College of Florida. NCF made headlines after they skyrocketed from an “F” grade to a “B+” rating in ACTA’s What Will They Learn? Project (WWTL), becoming this year's "most improved school." WWTL assigns letter grades based on the rigor of the core curriculum at over 1,100 American colleges and universities. This improvement was thanks to a total overhaul of their general education program in 2024. Professor Rohrbacher discusses how that change came about and the innovative academic reforms that engage NCF students in substantive, serious coursework.
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Lucas Morel: Frederick Douglass's Evolving View of Abraham Lincoln
4w ago00:50:10Tap to summarizeOn this episode of Higher Ed Now, ACTA’s Michael Poliakoff hosts Washington & Lee University’s John K. Boardman, Jr. Professor of Politics, Lucas Morel. Professor Morel currently serves on the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission and ACTA’s National Commission on American History and Civic Education. He has also co-edited the book "Measuring the Man: The Writings of Frederick Douglass on Abraham Lincoln,” a groundbreaking new volume on how abolitionist Frederick Douglass’s view of Abraham Lincoln evolved as America navigated its way through the Civil War and, eventually, to the Emancipation Proclamation. A very special video version of this episode is available on YouTube now!
Transcribe →Glenn Corn: A Former CIA Agent’s Case for Language Learning
Apr 1000:30:12Tap to summarizeACTA’s Academic Affairs Fellow Veronica Bryant welcomes Glenn Corn, who spent 35 years working in the national security and international affairs community. Mr. Corn served as CIA chief of station for four different Eurasian and Middle Eastern countries. He now teaches graduate-level courses in International Affairs and Security Studies at the Institute of World Politics. In addition to his teaching work, Mr. Corn provides strategic advising and consulting, acts as a visiting fellow at George Mason University's law school's National Security Institute, and serves as an expert contributor to the Cipher Brief. Mr. Corn compellingly argues that language learning is essential, both for an intelligence career and for national security.
Transcribe →Wagner, Colonialism, and K-Pop: How Language Learning Connects Us to Culture and History
Mar 300:47:50Tap to summarizeACTA’s Academic Affairs Fellow Veronica Bryant is joined by Doctor Marie Kawthar Daouda, lecturer in French at the University of Oxford’s Oriel College. Their conversation ranges from language’s role in shaping national and cultural identity, to how language learning changes one’s thinking and worldview, to the explosion in popularity of Korean in defiance of the sagging enrollment faced by other foreign language programs. Dr. Daouda was born and raised in Morocco and moved to France alone at 17 where she studied French, English, and Classics at Lycée Henri-IV and La Sorbonne. Her research focuses on the artistic representations of good and evil in periods of political and religious crisis. She is the author of Not Your Victim: How our Obsession with Race Entraps and Divides Us, where she argues against a simplistic worldview where all the evil in the world is downstream of racism and colonialism, in favor of a more nuanced and historically-literate understanding of how the past informs the present. Dr. Daouda is also a regular contributor to The Critic and The Daily Telegraph.
Transcribe →David Eubanks: How Is Accreditation Broken (And How Can We Fix It?)
Nov 1300:45:08Tap to summarizeACTA’s Kyle Beltramini welcomes David Eubanks, assistant vice president of the Office of Institutional Assessment and Research at Furman University. Professor Eubanks is an expert on the philosophy and practice of leadership in higher education, particularly learning outcomes assessments, strategic planning, and institutional effectiveness. His work emphasizes using data-driven processes to inform decision-making. He recently completed a term on the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI). Professor Eubanks and Mr. Beltramini discuss accreditation’s essential role in assuring academic quality, how the system has degraded over time, and how it can be effectively reformed.
Transcribe →Thad Westbrook: Leading Higher Education Reform at the University of South Carolina
Oct 900:45:52Tap to summarizeACTA’s Nick Down interviews Thad Westbrook, chairman of the University of South Carolina’s (USC) Board of Trustees. Mr. Westbrook earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from USC and his J.D. from the USC School of Law. A member of the USC Board since 2010, he spearheaded the creation of USC’s Center for American Civic Leadership and Public Discourse and has helped lead the movement to break up the higher education accreditation monopoly.
Transcribe →Lee Strang: Revitalizing Civics Education in the Buckeye State
Sep 800:40:59Tap to summarizeACTA president Michael Poliakoff speaks with Lee Strang, the inaugural director of the new Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture and Society at the Ohio State University. He is also a professor at OSU's Moritz College of Law, the author of numerous books on Constitutional law, and the founder of Northwest Ohio Classical Academy. Professor Strang has devoted his life to the study and teaching of America's civic tradition, and he goes in-depth about his experience leading the Chase Center, from designing curriculum to managing relations with the broader university. He and Michael also discuss how Ohio has emerged as the frontrunner state in the ongoing revival of American civic education.
Transcribe →Building Bridges for Higher Ed Accreditation Reform
Aug 1500:33:24Tap to summarizeDescription: In this episode of Higher Ed Now, ACTA Policy Research Fellow Kyle Beltramini and Third Way Education Policy Advisor Emily Rounds discuss how accreditation became a mainstream political issue overnight. They also examine the urgent need for modernization of the current system, as well as how both Democrats and Republicans can advance reform. For more, please see their recent white paper, “Five Bipartisan Principles for Accreditation Reform.”
Transcribe →Douglas Ginsburg & Deecy Gray: Teaching Civics Amid Academia’s Pushback
Jul 1600:47:35Tap to summarizeIn this episode, ACTA President Michael Poliakoff discusses solutions to our nation’s civic education crisis with distinguished jurist Douglas Ginsburg and his wife, Dorothy “Deecy” Gray. Judge Ginsburg previously served as chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and is currently a professor at George Mason University’s (GMU) Antonin Scalia Law School. A former member of the GMU Board of Visitors, Deecy Gray is a strong advocate for civic education. Together, they created Civics Fundamentals, a free online civics course for those studying to take the U.S. Citizenship Test and for the many students who have never been exposed to these basic, foundational lessons.
Transcribe →Richard Haass: Guarding Democracy by Teaching Civics
Jun 2400:38:56Tap to summarizeACTA president Michael Poliakoff speaks with Richard Haass, distinguished diplomat and president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations. Dr. Haass has served four U.S. Presidents over 25 years, including two years leading the Irish peace process as the U.S. Special Envoy for Northern Ireland. He is the author or editor of fourteen books on American foreign policy, one book on management, and one on American democracy. His most recent book, The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens, was published by Penguin Press in January 2023 and became a New York Times bestseller. Dr. Haass serves on ACTA's National Commission on American History and Civic Education, where he will work alongside dozens of distinguished historians, political scientists, and education leaders to help remedy the long-standing failure of American colleges and universities to require a foundational course in U.S. history and government. For more of Dr. Haass's work, read his analyses on his substack Home And Away.
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