What I've Been Reading
I had the opportunity over break to make some headway on the ever-growing pile of books to read. One in particular, about sustained excellence in higher education, really got me thinking about our challenges and opportunities. The book is Becoming Great Universities - Small Steps for Sustained Excellence by Richard J. Light and Allison Jegla (Princeton University Press, 2022). Light and Jegla's study focuses on what they describe as ten core challenges that most colleges and universities face. They admit, there are clearly many more than ten challenges faced by colleges and universities today. These are common challenges as identified by Light through a series of several hundred interviews. In discussing each, they offer examples of institutions that have successfully addressed them, as well as some cautionary tales of failure. While I think in one way or another Christopher Newport faces all ten of the challenges that Light and Jegla focus on in their book, as I consider our nea...