The Rant Podcast

Send us Fan Mail The SAT is back in the Regents’ conversation at the University of California, and I’m not convinced we’re asking the right question. When a small group of faculty points to “math preparedness” and reaches for a high-stakes standardized test as the solution, it can sound reasonable on the surface. But UC is a public research university funded by Californians, built to create talent and knowledge for the state. That public mission changes what “merit” should mean and how UC adm...

Send us Fan Mail Most people feel federal higher education rules as a surprise email from financial aid or a sudden compliance deadline. We wanted to show you the machinery behind those moments and why negotiated rulemaking is where so many high-stakes decisions actually take shape. I sit down with Kristen Holtquist, founder of HCM Strategists, and Dr. Andy Vaughn, president and CEO of Alliant University, fresh off their work inside recent negotiated rulemaking committees. We break dow...

Send us Fan Mail Negotiated rulemaking is where higher education policy turns into the rules that hit your campus, your budget, and your students. We sit down with higher ed policy expert Kristin Hultquist of HCM Strategists and Dr. Andy Vaughn, president and CEO of Alliant University, to explain how the U.S. Department of Education writes federal regulations after Congress passes a major bill and why the people in the room can shape outcomes that last for years. We get specific about ...

Send us Fan Mail College was never meant to be the center of a working adult’s life and pretending otherwise is one reason so many learners stall out. We talk with Dr. John Wood, chief academic officer and provost of the University of Phoenix, as the university marks 50 years of building higher education around working learners who juggle full-time jobs, caregiving, and everything else life throws at them. We get specific about what learner-centered design actually means: mobile-friendly cou...

Send us Fan Mail University of Phoenix has been a lightning rod in higher education for decades, but its 50-year milestone raises a more useful question than reputations: what does it look like to design a university around working adults who are balancing jobs, caregiving, and everything else life throws at them? I sit down with Dr. John Wood, Chief Academic Officer and Provost, to talk about what “working-learner first” means in day-to-day practice and why that mindset matters for every col...