Greg Pillar

Teaching to Ghosts: How Higher Ed’s Past Haunts Us—and What It Takes to Move On

Articles, College Viability, Higher Education, Leadership, Modern Learner, Student Success / By

Title Image: OpenAI. (2025). Vibrant campus scene with a haunted building and a diverse mix of students, faculty, and staff interacting. DALL·E. https://openai.com/dall-e Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Print The Ghosts in the Classroom A professor sits down to design a syllabus. He—or she—imagines a student who is 18-19 years old, lives on campus, attends class […]

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The Future of College Majors: Reinvention or Extinction? —— Part 3: Let It Go – Why Some Majors Need to be Cut for Higher Ed to Thrive

Case Study, College Viability, Faculty Development, Higher Education, Leadership, Modern Learner / By

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Print We Are the Problem—And the Solution Higher education has reached an inflection point. Questions about cost, relevance, and long-term sustainability are no longer confined to think tank reports or state budget hearings—they’re now playing out in real time, on campuses across the country. Students and families are reconsidering the value

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Rethinking ROI: Why the Ultimate Return Depends on More Than Just a Major?

Career Development, Current Topics, Economic Mobility, Higher Education, Modern Learner, Skill Development, Student Success / By

Demystifying the value of a college degree—and what students and institutions can do to maximize it. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Print The College Cost Crisis After more than 18 years working in higher education—and managing multi-million dollar budgets along the way—I confidently have a good understanding of how university finances operate (though there’s still a

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Rewiring the Academy: Leading with Hope in an Age of Chaos

Change Management, Higher Education, Leadership, Modern Learner, Strategic Planning / By

Leading Higher Education Forward with Radical Hope, Trauma-Informed Practices, and a Commitment to the Modern Learner Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Hope Is a Strategy: Why I Wrote This White Paper This white paper was born from both personal reflection and professional urgency. Over the past year, I’ve been trying to make sense of the increasing chaos

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The Future of College Majors: Reinvention or Extinction? —— Part 2: Beyond Declining Enrollments: Creating Adaptive, Interdisciplinary Programs for the Modern Student

College Viability, Higher Education, Leadership, Modern Learner, Skill Development, Strategic Planning / By

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn The challenge facing higher education is not merely about deciding which programs to add or cut—it is about reimagining how academic offerings should evolve to better serve students, institutions, and the workforce. Traditional majors, particularly those in the humanities and some social sciences, are experiencing significant declines in enrollment, leading institutions to

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The Future of College Majors: Reinvention or Extinction? —— Part 1: Stop Resuscitating Dead Programs – Why Some Majors Need to Die for Higher Ed to Thrive

Higher Education, Leadership, Modern Learner, Strategic Planning / By

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn About This Series: The Future of College Majors – Reinvention or Extinction? This article is Part 1 of a three-part series exploring how higher education must confront declining enrollments, financial instability, and outdated academic programs by making bold decisions about which majors to eliminate, reinvent, or realign for the future. Part 1:

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Beyond the Tenure Track: How Generative Mentoring of Adjunct Faculty and Department Chairs Enhances Institutional Quality and Student Success

Adjunct Faculty, Career Development, Faculty Development, Higher Education, Leadership, Leading from the middle, Uncategorized / By

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn In higher education, mentorship is often regarded as a fundamental component of faculty development. However, traditional mentorship models tend to prioritize tenure-track faculty while neglecting adjunct instructors and department chairs. These two groups play crucial roles in institutional success but often lack the structural support necessary for professional growth. Furthermore, traditional mentor-mentee

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The Unsung Leaders: Navigating Department Chair Responsibilities at Smaller Private Institutions

Faculty Development, Higher Education, Leadership, Leading from the middle / By

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn I always appreciate reading pieces in The Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Ed about leadership and administration in higher education. However, one must always consider the institutional context of the author. Is the author writing from a large public research institution, a for-profit online university, a small private religious college,

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Degrees, Jobs, and Realities: Bridging the Gap for Recent Graduates

Career Development, Higher Education, Skill Development, Student Success, University Programs / By

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Finding a job after graduation is no easy task. As highlighted in the CNN article, “Degree in Hand, Jobs Out of Reach” (Jaramillo-Plata, 2025), many recent graduates struggle to secure employment despite their degrees, internships, and seemingly strong resumes. While this is a valid concern, attributing the problem primarily to the growing

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Celebrating Resilience in Scholarship at Smaller Institutions

Faculty Development, Faculty Scholarship, Student Success, Undergraduate Research / By

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn After nearly two decades in higher education and in day 4 of my first career change in 18 ½ years, I find myself reflecting this week on the unique challenges and extraordinary rewards of working in this field. My journey has taken me from the classroom as a faculty member to various

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