NACUBO In Brief – Details, episodes & analysis

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• Discover Higher Education's Top 5 Business Issues of 2024

The demographic landscape is evolving, and in so doing, providing the richest opportunity that higher education has had in decades, according to futurist, researcher, and writer Bryan Alexander. These demographic trends, the aging of the student body, the demands of technology in and out of the classroom, all function to shake the worldview of those in a position to lead today's institutions.

This week, Alexander offers a rich landscape to tread as we navigate our own future as CBOs. The silver lining? Thanks to science fiction, social media, and a generation of students ready to get to work, there is real innovation taking place in many sectors of higher ed, as long as we're willing and able to embrace it!

Beginning with the heading, "The Key Attributes of an Effective Organization," Wendell Brase and his leadership team at University of California, Irvine, built a management and leadership model designed to provide the underlying foundation for operation across the institution. The result — measured and validated — is a set of 31 management and leadership variables that measure performance and guide effective management behavior. Over the last 15 years, UCI has collected a robust set of data and uncovered the correlational indicators behind behavioral attributes that can predict performance success over time. Join us this week as we talk to Brase, Vice Chancellor of Administration and Business Services at University of California Irvine, about his work in developing the UCI model, and the key lessons he and his teams have learned about their own performance.

Sustainability is a financial decision, according to Carleton College Vice President and Treasurer, Fred Rogers. The sustainability mindset has permeated the Carleton administration and academy, from daily activities to the college's development of a climate action plan, a part of the President's Climate Commitment and a blueprint for the College to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

This week on the show, Fred shares the institution's sustainability plan, from low-hanging fruit projects, feel-good projects, to their larger projects, infrastructure renovation or recommissioning. Carleton has proven that even a small college can take an actively progressive role in developing a sustainability program, with an eye on financial efficiency, too.

For over 40 years, NACUBO has conducted a study on institutional endowments designed to answer key questions in how these financial tools are used. Over the years, this has become the largest study of its kind, offering a comprehensive set of data for policy makers, parents, students, and the broader community in how their institutions are using endowed funds.

This week, NACUBO's Director of Research and Policy Analysis, Ken Redd, joins us to report findings in the most recent report. While the overall financial picture for endowment managers is about as rosy as the financial picture for our global economy — not that great — there is some good news in the numbers for parents and students in the way institutions are spending from their endowed funds in spite of the glum reports from the global markets.

Managing university infrastructure is a critical responsibility for those in the role of CBO, but one shared by many groups across the institution. But what happens when you realize that infrastructure begins to lag the demands of the academy?

This week, University of Washington Associate Vice President Ruth Johnston joins us to introduce TAP — Transforming Administration Program — a program designed to look inside and across the institution to identify and execute the projects designed to improve service delivery, enhance service to the campus, reduce waste, and reduce costs. The TAP team has worked hard to unify the institution's stakeholders and increase communication and transparency as a result. If you're looking for a model for improving service delivery across your campus, join us this week for a welcome blueprint for transformation!

Lawmakers are headed home for their holiday recess, but before they turned out the lights, they managed to pass the 2016 federal budget. This week on NACUBO In Brief, NACUBO Federal Affairs Director Liz Clark joins us to walk through the major changes that will directly impact business officers and institutions across the country. From federal student aid changes, funding for important programs and grants, and some surprising increases we didn't expect, Liz helps us make sense of the changes we'll all be addressing soon!

Dr. Audrey Bilger serves as professor of literature at Claremont McKenna College. This summer, she authored "It's Not Us versus Them," published in Business Officer magazine, in which she outlines the gap between faculty and administration in her attempt to answer a simple central question: How do faculty members think about the financial situation of our institutions?

It turns out, as Dr. Bilger discovered, faculty don't think much about institutional finance. This week on NACUBO In Brief, she makes the case for faculty to embrace institutional reality, to learn more about their place as educators beyond their departments, and get involved in discussions that will move their institutions forward sustainably.

This is a wide-ranging conversation about the economic models that serve higher education, about taking back the dialog in the media, and about our shared role as advocates of higher education as a public good. Listen in!