Higher education is facing a moment where moving slowly is no longer an option.

In this episode of Start the Week with Wisdom, Bridget Burns and Sarah Custer sit down with Karen Stout, outgoing president and CEO of Achieving the Dream, to reflect on decades of leadership in community college student success, institutional transformation, data-driven decision-making, and what it really takes to leave an organization stronger than you found it.

Karen shares lessons from leading Montgomery County Community College, transforming Achieving the Dream into a national student success network, and helping hundreds of community colleges rethink completion, transfer, mobility, workforce alignment, and community impact. This conversation is for higher ed leaders, community college presidents, faculty leaders, student success professionals, nonprofit executives, and anyone trying to drive meaningful change in education. You’ll hear why colleges must stop fighting their data, why innovation needs intention, why faculty must be centered in reform, and why the future of student success depends on moving faster from knowing to doing.

Highlights:

→ You’ll learn why community colleges have a unique power to shape the future of their local communities and why Karen Stout calls “leveraging your localness” their secret sauce.

→ You’ll hear how Achieving the Dream used a transformative unrestricted gift from MacKenzie Scott to build capacity, strengthen reserves, and reinvest in under-resourced colleges.

→ Karen explains why higher ed leaders must own their data, especially around completion, transfer, bachelor’s degree attainment, mobility, and workforce outcomes.

→ She also shares why institutions need to stop chasing shiny objects and instead pursue innovation with intention, clear priorities, and a deeper focus on teaching, learning, faculty engagement, and shared governance.

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This week's episode is sponsored by Mainstay, a student retention and engagement tool where you can increase student and staff engagement with the only platform consistently proven to boost engagement, retention, and wellbeing. To learn more about Mainstay, click here.

Chapters

00:00 Intro00:14 Welcome to Start the Week with Wisdom01:13 Karen Stout’s Achieving the Dream legacy02:00 Leadership transition and stewardship03:26 What Karen is proudest of04:05 Leveraging the local power of community colleges05:45 Succession, transition, and leaving stronger06:00 The impact of MacKenzie Scott’s investment07:58 How ATD invested in long-term capacity10:44 Why colleges must move faster on reform12:00 Compressing the time between knowing and doing13:08 Bringing faculty into the center of transformation15:42 Advice for higher ed leaders today15:54 Why colleges must stop fighting their data16:45 Innovation with intention, not invention18:00 What it means to own your data20:06 The best career advice Karen received20:33 Closing reflections