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Thank you for registering for Chronicle Festival 2024.
We look forward to having you join the conversation on September 10, 11, and 12. You will receive your Zoom links via Zoom in three separate emails to access the festival. See you there!
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DAY 01
The Students of
2035
A declining traditional-age student population. Rising mental-health concerns. A challenging classroom environment. Colleges face a variety of issues that will shape how they enroll, educate, and support students during the next decade. The first day of Chronicle Festival will explore ways to adapt, hearing from authors, professors, and college leaders.
Changing enrollment due to demographics Creating a student-centered faculty and staff Rising mental-health needs among students Improving campus inclusion
TOPICS
See Agenda
DAY 02
Higher Ed of
How should higher ed change to serve the America of 2035, to better help students support a fragile democracy and a society reshaped by emerging technologies? During Day 2 of the Festival, Chronicle journalists will talk with students, an interfaith leader, a former U.S. Secretary of Education, and others about these issues.
Institutional strategies to test ideas to education and operate differently
DAY 03
The Work Force of
What does it take for colleges to produce graduates for the work force of tomorrow? And how does it operate in a landscape with a growing number of viable and valuable postsecondary opportunities? Day 3 of Chronicle Festival will include a variety of voices weighing in on these questions.
A higher-ed system that mixes traditional colleges and new alternative pathways
A new “phygital” campus that supports various modes of education – and provides greater access to adult students and working students to enroll
New affiliations, partnerships, and networks that allow colleges to scale back comprehensive offerings and focus on programmatic niches
Reinvigorating vocational and career education The role of college in a skills-based economy
Impact of the AI revolution Building free-speech protections The role of colleges in maintaining American democracy Student views of higher ed’s social responsibilities
Overview Speakers AGENDA Register SPONSORS
Overview Speakers Agenda Register SPONSORS
Agenda
DAY02
DAY03
DAY01
In his new book, Class Dismissed: When Colleges Ignore Inequality and Students Pay the Price, Anthony Abraham Jack explores how the Covid-19 pandemic exposed and exacerbated inequalities among students and how colleges, including the wealthiest and elite, struggled to help them. In this session, he’ll discuss how higher ed can move forward and truly support disadvantaged students.
12:30 PM
Welcome
12:40 PM
Toward a More Equal Education
Inaugural Faculty Director of the Boston University Newbury Center; Associate Professor of Higher Education Leadership; author of The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students and Class Dismissed: When Colleges Ignore Inequality and Students Pay the Price
News Editor, The Chronicle of Higher Education
Speaker | Anthony Abraham Jack
Moderator | Sarah Brown
The demographic cliff looms. What can be done to better support recruitment and retention strategies? Nathan D. Grawe, author of The Agile College, will discuss the enrollment outlook for the next decade, and the best ways to navigate the uncertainty.
Professor of Economics, Carleton College; author of The Agile College and Demographics and the Demand for Higher Education
Senior Writer, The Chronicle of Higher Education
01:20 PM
Speaker | Nathan D. Grawe
Moderator | Eric Hoover
Facing an Enrollment Reality
02:00 PM
Beyond LLMs: Reimagining Higher Education in the Age of GenAI
By 2035, higher ed must adapt to a more diverse student population, a difficult enrollment landscape, and growing skepticism about the value of the college degree. How are different types of institutions rising to that challenge, and can they work more closely together? This panel, representing a cross section of colleges, will seek to answer those questions and more.
President, Bunker Hill Community College
Senior Reporter, The Chronicle of Higher Education
02:20 PM
Speaker | Pam Eddinger
Moderator | Eric Kelderman
Can Higher Ed Adapt?
President, Council of Independent Colleges
Speaker | Marjorie Hass
03:00 PM
Florida International University (FIU) Sponsored Segment: Making an Impact at Scale
Generative-AI disruptions. Pandemic-related learning loss. Student behavior problems. Today, colleges are experiencing a host of challenges in the classroom that affect how well their professors can teach. The Chronicle’s Beth McMurtrie, who co-authors the Teaching newsletter, will discuss the instructional issues that institutions face today – and that may become bigger concerns tomorrow.
Deputy Managing Editor, The Chronicle of Higher Education
03:20 PM
Speaker | Beth McMurtrie
Moderator | Ian Wilhelm
The Classroom: Divided and Disrupted
The U.S. Surgeon General has declared that the nation is in the midst of a loneliness epidemic, and students are especially vulnerable. What can colleges do to help students forge meaningful social connections? Panelists will discuss why the issue is particularly acute on campuses, how it relates to other mental-health concerns, and various strategies to improve the situation.
Founder and President, Foundation for Art & Healing; author, Project UnLonely: Healing Our Crisis of Disconnection
Senior Writer, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and author of “Overcoming Student Loneliness: Strategies for Connection," a Chronicle special report
3:40 PM
Speaker | Jeremy Nobel
President, Lewis & Clark College
Speaker | Robin Holmes-Sullivan
Moderator | Alexander C. Kafka
Overcoming a Loneliness Epidemic: On Campus and Beyond
04:10 PM
Closing Remarks
President, Nevada State University
Speaker | DeRionne P. Pollard
all the times are East Coast (ET)
The debut of generative AI has ushered in a new era of transformation for higher education. Moving beyond traditional chatbots or learning management systems (LMS), learn how your university can harness AI to create a more personalized, accessible, and secure educational environment.
Field CTO for Research and Education, Google Public Sector
Speaker | Charles Elliott
Excellence and Impact at Scale: How FIU has focused on student success – especially increasing graduation rates, while growing its research base and done so at scale. This conversation will focus on how all student populations have benefited from these outcomes.
Speaker | Elizabeth Béjar
Provost, Executive Vice President and COO, Florida International University
Speaker | Ian Wilhelm
Provost, Executive Vice President and COO, Florida International University Moderator | Ian Wilhelm
The Higher Ed of
Colleges struggle to help students talk constructively about their disagreements. In a divisive presidential election year – and with political and religious polarization potentially metastasizing in the future – how can campuses bridge divides and help maintain a fragile democracy?
Founder and President, Interfaith America; author of We Need to Build: Field Notes for Diverse Democracy
Senior Writer, The Chronicle of Higher Education; author of The Edge, a newsletter about innovation in and around higher ed.
Speaker | Eboo Patel
Moderator | Goldie Blumenstyk
Dialogue Across Difference
College leaders are under scrutiny from federal and state lawmakers like never before. How can presidents navigate the politically fraught environment and help build a stronger higher-ed system that earns bipartisan support?
President, Bipartisan Policy Center; former U.S. Secretary of Education and President of the University of North Carolina System
Speaker | Margaret Spellings
Moderator | Jack Stripling
Higher Ed as Political Player
The Political Futures of Higher Ed
This year higher ed made headlines when students nationwide called on their institutions to take steps to deter the war in Gaza. Those protests raise questions about what students consider the social responsibilities of colleges. At a time when Harvard University and other colleges are enacting policies that limit statements on public issues, what are students’ expectations of the role colleges play in political and social matters?
Staff Reporter, The Chronicle of Higher Education
02:15 PM
Speaker | Landon Richie
Moderator | Kate Hidalgo Bellows
The Social Responsibility of Colleges: the Student View
University of South Florida Sponsor Segment: Humanizing Data for Student Success
Generative artificial-intelligence tools and other emerging tech present higher ed an opportunity and a threat. What will it really take for colleges to lead on AI research, build applications to support students and faculty members, and innovate in a space where technology corporations dominate?
03:15 PM
Speaker | George Siemens
Moderator | Taylor Swaak
Disruption and Innovation
Chief Scientist and Architect of Southern New Hampshire University’s Human Systems
04:20 PM
Closing remarks
Recent graduate, University of Houston, Policy Coordinator with the Transgender Education Network of Texas
Third-year JD student, College of Law at Florida State University, president of OUTlaw
Speaker | Tazara Weilhammer
Rising senior at Columbia University and Editor-in-Chief & President of the Columbia Daily Spectator
Speaker | Isabella Ramírez
Ravi Ravishanker, CIO & Associate Provost, Wellesley College will join Ellen Harter Wall, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Workday to discuss how technology innovations at Wellesley are supporting the whole campus community—students, faculty, and staff.
Senior Product Marketing Manager, Workday
CIO & Associate Provost, Wellesley College
03:45 PM
Speaker | Ravi Ravishanker
Moderator | Ellen Harter Wall
Workday Sponsor Case Study: Technology Innovation at Wellesley College
How could today's politics change higher ed by 2035? A futurist will paint several scenarios.
Futurist; author, Peak Higher Ed: How to Survive the Emerging Academic Crisis
Speaker | Bryan Alexander
How could AI and other emerging technologies transform colleges by 2035? A futurist will outline the possibilities.
04:00 PM
The Innovative Futures of Higher Ed
Learn how the University of South Florida's decade-long Student Success transformation resulted in a model that pairs a proprietary predictive analytics platform with a team of professionals dedicated to timely one-on-one care—leading to a 20% increase in four-year graduation rate and improved retention.
Associate Director for Student Success Analytics and Institutional Research, USF
Office of Academic Advocacy, USF
Speaker | Leslie Tod
Speaker | Glendalis Gonzalez
Associate Director, Student Success Research & Analytics and Institutional Research, USF
According to Mike Rowe, America overemphasizes the four-year degree and devalues community colleges, trade schools, and apprenticeship programs. As foundation leader, TV host, author, and podcaster, Rowe wants to raise up skilled labor and make sure higher education isn’t seen as the only way to become part of the American Dream.
Emmy award-winning TV host and CEO of the mikeroweWORKS Foundation
Speaker | Mike Rowe
Moderator | Scott Carlson
Rebuilding the American Dream
Is higher ed prepared for a skills-based economy? What radical ideas are needed for colleges to evolve to provide pathways that blend education and work? What do employers really want? And which learners don’t need college anymore? Join social entrepreneur Kathleen deLaski as she discusses her work to revamp higher ed and the research she explores in her forthcoming book.
Founder and Board Chair, Education Design Lab; author, Who Needs College, Anymore?
Speaker | Kathleen deLaski
Moderator | Rick Seltzer
Revamping Educational Pathways
Strada Sponsor Segment: Opportunity in 2035—Bridging Education and Work
Students in the future are more likely to cycle between college and work as they advance their careers and improve their skills over a lifetime. How can the college campus and its digital components support a different kind of student experience?
Executive Vice President and University Provost, Arizona State University
Professor, School of Architecture, College of Design, University of Minnesota; Director, Minnesota Design Center
Speaker | Nancy Gonzales
Speaker | Thomas Fisher
Reenergizing the Campus and Digital Experience
Moderator | Katherine Mangan
New Jersey Institute of Technology Sponsor Segment: AI as Catalyst for Digital Transformation
Too many Americans are shut out of opportunities for climbing the economic ladder. What does it take to make higher ed a better engine of mobility to help fuel an economy built on inclusion?
Vice President, Center for Racial Economic Equity, Jobs for the Future
Speaker | Michael Collins
Moderator | Adrienne Lu
Remaking the Economy for Inclusion
03:50 PM
Some experts say the emergence of artificial intelligence tools requires higher education to rethink how it educates and operates. Hear how one institution with a tradition of embracing technology to fuel the work force is approaching AI as an opportunity.
Vice President for Digital Strategy & Chief Information Officer New Jersey Institute of Technology
Speaker | Ed Wozencroft
Most students are workers, but too often, the worlds of education and work are not connected, which creates walls rather than doors for students. Join a conversation with Dr. Ruth Watkins, a respected higher education leader and advocate, who will share her perspective on the need — and opportunity — to better integrate college and career, which will be essential for regaining public trust and confidence in education after high school.
President, Postsecondary Education
Speaker | Dr. Ruth Watkins
Most students are workers, but too often, the worlds of education and work are not connected, which creates walls rather than doors for students. Join a conversation with Dr. Ruth Watkins, a respected higher education leader and advocate, who will share her perspective on the need -- and opportunity -- to better integrate college and career, which will be essential for regaining public trust and confidence in education after high school.
