Instead of canceling class sessions, professors with conflicts at Old Dominion University may now schedule guest lectures on substance use, stress management, nutrition, safe sex and sleep.
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“Hello faculty! Are you attending a conference, going on vacation, taking a sick day or want to take a break from your usual lecture? Consider having staff from the Recreation and Wellness Health Promotion team come in and lead an engaging and educational presentation during your class time!”
So reads a circulating announcement from Old Dominion University’s Rec Well staff, inviting professors to consider their guest-lecturer services when conflicts with teaching schedules arise.
What it is: Health educator Steven Gunzelman says that the new service—called “Don’t Cancel That Class!”—is also available to conflict-free professors who simply see value in connecting their students with key health information they might not otherwise get.
“One of our strategic cornerstones is health and well-being, so we really wanted to develop something that would go into the classrooms and meet with students in that kind of setting, where we can talk about these kinds of things that they might not learn other ways, like feeling stress or sleep issues,” he explains. “Students are here to, of course, get their academics. But in order to be able to graduate and get those life skills, they need health and well-being. It’s a big component of [student success], as well.”
ODU follows the collective impact approach to well-being, meaning that no single department or office on campus owns this responsibility, or—to put it another way—that everyone owns this responsibility. Rec Well, for its part, offers programs throughout campus on a wide variety of topics. But the “Don’t Cancel That Class!” initiative allows professors to pick a guest talk from the following list of five, starting with one concerning the use of alcohol and other drugs:
AOD & Me: Safety With Substances
Burn Bright, Not Out: Strategies for Managing Stress
Food for Thought: Nutrition 101
Play It Safe: The Lowdown on Safe Sex
Zzz’s for a Better You: A Sleep Hygiene Journey
The why and how: Gunzelman says the list is informed, in part, by the top four health campus health concerns, based on internal data gleaned from the American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment: stress, anxiety, depression and sleep.
This tracks with Inside Higher Ed’s own Student Voice survey series, which in 2024 found that nearly all students said stress was impacting their ability to focus, learn and perform well academically, either a great deal (43 percent) or some (42 percent), and fewer than half (42 percent) rated their mental health as excellent or good. And in another 2023 Student Voice survey that asked about sleep, 60 percent of respondents said getting more of it was a top health goal.
ODU professors interested in scheduling a guest lecture can fill out this form. Gunzelman says the first to schedule a guest lecture was a professor of engineering, who wanted students to learn more about managing stress. He expects this to be a particularly popular topic.
While the current “Don’t Cancel That Class” staff is small, Gunzelman’s hope is that it will be able to accommodate as many requests as possible and possibly expand topic options with time. As for measuring impact, Gunzelman initially plans to solicit feedback from students about the usefulness of the information shared and how likely it is to influence their behavior going forward.
The student feedback will also help staff members refine their approach.
“Can we add in more engagement, or can we add in more topics that are more geared toward students?” he says, for example. Gunzelman also suggests that professors encourage student participation, “whether it be surprise, whether it be a plan, whether it’s built into the syllabus for credit, or if they want to be part of it and are still in the room with us.”
Don’t cancel that class: ODU is one of a growing number of institutions to offer a Don’t Cancel That Class–style initiative. The University of Minnesota at Morris, for example, offers one that includes workshops on professional development and academic skills such as time management, financial literacy and résumé building.
Programs of that nature highlight the connection between academics and other pillars of student success, such as health and wellness. But the general practice of finding alternatives to canceling course sessions, especially multiple course sessions, is also considered a best practice in faculty work. The English department at the University of Louisville, for example, suggests rescheduling sessions (including via synchronous online sessions), asking a faculty colleague to fill in or assigning students an independent learning exercise or asynchronous lesson.
Does your institution have a different kind of don’t-cancel-that-class initiative? Tell us about it.
Data privacy and compliance in educational cloud solutions is no more a choice, but a mantra. Colleges and universities can get a lot out of moving to the cloud, but picking the right cloud partner is very important. An effective partner can help organizations improve their processes, improve student experience, and work more efficiently. When your institution decides on a cloud partner, you may have to consider these 7 factors that are discussed in the blog:
Data Privacy and Compliance in Educational Cloud Solutions. Why?
Safeguarding sensitive student and institutional data is an absolute necessity in the field of higher education. It has become a mandate that higher education institutions establish robust privacy and compliance standards, as data breaches have increased by 75% between 2021 and 2023.
To protect data across international boundaries, a trustworthy cloud partner must comply with regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and ISO 27001. To give just one example, research has shown that 63 percent of students give higher priority to educational institutions that exhibit robust data protection measures. By selecting a cloud service that offers encryption, access control, and frequent audits, you are not only meeting a technical necessity; you are also taking a step toward developing trust in a world that is driven by data.
Benefits of Cloud Computing in Higher Education Institutions
How to Choose the Right Cloud Provider for Universities? 7 Factors You Can’t Ignore
1. Solutions Tailored for Higher Education
As said earlier, data privacy and compliance in educational cloud solutions is no longer an option but a necessity. Hence, as a first step, verify that your cloud partner provides solutions that are 100 % tailored to higher education institutions. A standard cloud provider may need to adequately meet the specific requirements of academic settings. Solutions created expressly for higher education to understand the complexity of student information systems, academic administration, and compliance regulations, which help avoid inefficiencies and missed opportunities.
2. Several Deployment choices
To maintain data privacy and compliance in educational cloud solutions, the next important thing to consider is to be open to several deployment choices. Flexibility depends on the capacity to choose among several deployment choices. A cloud partner should provide SaaS deployment methods, and hybrid, managed, and cloud-based solutions so your university may move on its terms. This flexibility guarantees that you can pick the right deployment method that is most suited for you, for your long-term and present requirements of your university.
3. Proven History of Smooth Migrations
It can be hard to move to the cloud, so it’s important to work with a partner who has a history of getting cloud transfers done on time and on budget. Before working with educational institutions, a reliable vendor should have shown that they can handle large-scale migrations with little trouble and no loss of data protection for educational institutions.
4. Expertise in Security and Compliance
Cybersecurity is a significant issue for higher education organizations managing sensitive information. Your cloud partner must implement stringent security protocols, with tight-kint encryption, multi-factor authentication, and routine security assessments. Furthermore, verify their adherence to industry standards and regulations, including GDPR and FERPA, to safeguard your institution’s data and uphold legal compliance.
5. Scalability and Flexibility for Growth
Higher education institutions are continually developing. Your cloud partner must provide scalable solutions that can adapt to your institution’s requirements. Your cloud infrastructure must possess the flexibility to scale up or down seamlessly in response to increased student enrollment, new academic programs, or expanded research efforts, without significant disruptions.
6. Continuous Assistance and Enhancement
Considering data privacy and compliance in educational cloud solutions, selecting a cloud partner that offers ongoing assistance after the initial deployment is a must. Continuous advisory services, system enhancements, and routine performance evaluations are a strict must-have. Note that an effective partner actively optimizes processes and identifies areas for improvement.
7. Dedication to Research and Innovation
Your cloud partner ought to be dedicated to ongoing innovation and development. Seek for suppliers who actively support research and development to improve their products depending on client comments. Constant evolution of a partner will allow your university stay at the forefront of educational technology and enable it to move with the times and meet new problems.
Winding Thoughts Creatrix Campus Advantage
With over a decade of experience, Creatrix Campus provides customized cloud solutions to higher education. We are built with data privacy and compliance in educational cloud solutions. You can streamline operations, improve the student experience, and future-proof your technical infrastructure with our focus on security + scalability + educational institution needs. For continuous support or flexible deployment, Creatrix Campus will help your institution succeed in the cloud!
Ready to transform your institution’s cloud journey? Please contact us today.
By Ian Blenkharn, Director of Education and Student Services at the University of Bath.
Like most institutions across the sector, the University of Bath is carefully considering the potential opportunities, implications and challenges posed by the new Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE).
Bath is somewhat unusual in having both a high proportion of integrated master’s courses and a high proportion of students studying programmes with a placement year (nearly two-thirds of Bath students undertake a placement during their time with us). This means we have a large number of students studying five-year, integrated masters programmes with a year on placement.
This raises important questions for us, as it will for others across the sector. The information so far published about the LLE seems to suggest that we will be able to charge students for the full, five-year integrated-masters-with-placement programme, which has a total of 600 credits under the CATS credit accumulation framework. However, it isn’t yet clear whether students, who are automatically entitled to a ‘digital wallet’ to cover up to 480 credits of higher education study, will be able to pay for the entirety of their programme without access to private funding.
For those programmes offered at Bath, the shortfall would be the cost of the placement year – either 15% or 20% of the maximum regulated fee. Perhaps not a deal-breaker for those with access to the Bank of Mum and Dad. However, it could deter some students for whom the chance to work for a year in industry provides unparalleled opportunities to build social capital, experience and confidence to compete in the graduate jobs market. We know that such opportunities are transformative for our students. The prospect of this becoming the preserve of students who can privately fund their tuition risks not only the viability of the programmes we offer but also the social mobility benefits they afford students from widening participation backgrounds.
The decision by the Labour government to defer the implementation of the LLE to January 2027 means there is some time to clarify the situation for both universities and students. However, we will have students applying in September 2025 for deferred entry in 2027, so the time to clarify the situation is shorter than it first appears.
It is imperative that everyone has clarity on this issue (and many others associated with the LLE) before we enter the 2025/2026 recruitment cycle. This is so universities can appropriately advise students on how much their course will cost and whether their Lifelong Learning Entitlement will be sufficient to cover those costs. At the moment, far too many unanswered questions are swirling around the LLE, as evidenced by the 400+ sector participants who logged on to the Higher Education Strategic Planners Association (HESPA)-organised seminar on the LLE with representatives from the Student Loans Company. The sector, and most importantly the students who will be pioneers of the new LLE system, need these questions answered as soon as possible.
Academics are obsessed with impact. We want our research to be read, to be cited by other academics – and particularly in the social sciences and humanities, to have an impact on government policy.
Partly this is because internationally over the last forty years, governments have increasingly imposed an impact agenda on universities, using financial and other levers to encourage them to focus on the real-world impact of what goes on in the ivory tower. But it’s not just that. Most academics are really passionate about the work they do, see it as important, and want it to make a difference to the public and society.
Yet it seems that a lot of the time, that desire to have impact is much more of an aspiration than a reality. When I had just started in academia (at another institution), after working in the IT industry and then as a school teacher, I remember going to a meeting about the department’s research strategy. There were lots of speeches from academics about all the amazing work they were doing (or thought they were doing) – and then one brave colleague spoke up and said that research was a waste of time, as it just meant spending lots of energy on something that maybe ten people around the world would read. He was much more interested in teaching, and the real direct impact he could have on his students right there and then. Quite.
Tracing impact
Of course research does have impact, although often it’s much easier to see it in the hard sciences and medicine. The revolutionary impact of the work of Samuel Broder at the National Cancer Institute in the US, and his collaborators, in the 1990s that led to the introduction of retroviral treatments for HIV, comes to mind as one example. I worked as a technical analyst on an HIV/AIDS unit in London in the 1990s and I saw the miraculous impact of this on people’s lives.
But in the social sciences tracing the path of impact is often much less clear. However, often this is not because the potential for impact is not there, but due to other factors, particularly a lack of understanding between government and academia about how research can usefully intercalate with policy development. Because I was interested in the relationship between research and policy, I undertook a secondment in the insights and research team of the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted), for 15 months up to October 2023.
Since then, I have been involved in an ongoing series of conversations, initiated by Ofsted, involving academic and government colleagues on the topic of how to facilitate better communications between government and academia about the role and impact of research. Most recently we held a very well attended symposium at the British Educational Research Association conference in Manchester in September 2024, and are planning other publications and events.
What’s getting misunderstood
So far, based on these discussions, we have identified a number of factors that tend not be given enough weight in the relationship between government and academia.
First – and this is something I saw first-hand at Ofsted – it is important to realise that government does value evidence arising from academic research. Although many academics are unaware of this, each government department has members of what is known as the Government Social Research Profession, whose role is to champion social research evidence and support implementation and evaluation of government policy.
Another thing I came to understand at Ofsted is that the culture is quite different to academia. The role of research in the civil service is to support the aims of democratically elected ministers. Research evidence is valued in government – but it is one factor among others when decisions are made.
Linked to this, such evidence has to be provided at the right time and in the right way so that it can have an influence on those decisions. This is something that academics often lack awareness of. Typical academic research projects often focus on making sure that their findings are high quality and robust, and only then think about pathways to dissemination, hoping that someone in government will take notice of it. All too often that can mean, as my old colleague said, that it ends up being read only by other academics. Academics need to be scanning the horizon to find pathways to engagement from really much earlier on in their research, for example in the context of public consultations, or political debates.
Other areas we have identified also include, on occasion, misconceptions and mistrust between academia and government, which is there on both sides. Civil servants often handle competing priorities and demands, which can hinder opening up lines of communication to the research community about how they use research and to engage in honest conversations about political priorities.
Although things are changing for the better in England in this regard, as evidenced by our collaboration between Ofsted and academic colleagues, there is much more to do. We have adopted the concept of a “third space”, opportunities for engagement where we can find new ways of working across sectors that promote mutual understanding, in the case of Ofsted, to better promote outcomes for children and young people. This is of course the shared aim of both the academic research community and government.
However, this is something that is needed not just at Ofsted, but across government and across academia. The impact agenda is not going anywhere anytime soon, and perhaps we would be foolish to want it to, but making it work better has got to be a priority.
High winds intersecting with historic drought levels are contributing to the dangerous conditions that sparked the multiple fires raging in the Los Angeles area. Dr. Helen Holmlund, an assistant professor of biology at Pepperdine University, joins CBS News with more on the extreme conditions.
OPPORTUNITY FOR STUDENTS TO EARN FREE COLLEGE CREDIT
A new, high-quality path to free college credit was launched in 2017.
The goal of the program, dubbed “Freshman Year for Free,” is to make
college more accessible and affordable for high school students, college
students and adult learners, including active duty military personnel,
their families, and veterans.
WHO IS MAKING THIS POSSIBLE?
Modern States, the New York-based charitable organization behind the
effort, has funded production of online courses taught by college
professors. The courses prepare students for introductory College Level
Examination Program (CLEP) exams in Economics, Sociology, Algebra, and
other areas.
HOW DOES THIS LEAD TO COLLEGE CREDIT?
The CLEP exams, administered by the College Board, are accepted for
credit by more than 2,900 colleges and universities. Modern States is
partnering with high schools and colleges that are making students aware
of the opportunity.
WHY PARTICIPATE?
This is the first time there have been courses (see list below)
taught by top quality college professors for CLEP subjects. Also, Modern
States is paying the CLEP exam fee and scheduling fee for students who
enroll in the courses and take the exams. The benefit for participating
institutions is that this creates a free on-ramp to college that
facilitates learning and earning credits.
WHAT ELSE DO I NEED TO KNOW?
Modern States will pay for you to take the CLEP exam. After you complete the coursework and practice questions, request a CLEP voucher
code from the Modern States website. There are no prerequisites for the
32 courses that are available, and all of them are self-paced. Some of
the courses stem from a partnership between Modern States and edX, the
online education platform created by Harvard and MIT.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Modern States Education Alliance™ offers free, high-quality online
courses taught by college professors that prepare you for the CLEP
exams, which are well-established and widely-accepted. Solid performance
on the exams (each participating college decides what scores you need
for credit) can earn you college credits and enable you to save tuition
dollars. You can take one course or many; if you do well on eight exams,
you can potentially earn Freshman Year for Free™.
Brittany Trinh returns to The Social Academic featured interview series. We talk about how her thinking on websites for professors, scientists, and researchers has changed. We also talk about how her life has changed now that she’s back in grad school (and what that means for her online presence). Plus, hear about our Team VIP Day service for research lab websites. Read Brittany’s bio.
In this interview
Meet Brittany
Jennifer: Hi everyone. It is Jennifer van Alstyne. Welcome to The Social Academic. I’m here today with my friend and one of my business partners, Brittany Trinh. We’re talking about personal academic websites, research lab websites, websites for academics. Brittany, would you say hi and introduce yourself? Or, reintroduce yourself since you’ve already been a guest on our show?
Brittany: Hi everyone. My name is Brittany Trinh. Yeah, I feel like the last time I was on your show was maybe in like 2020 or something like that. It was a while ago.
Jennifer: Oh my goodness. It’s been that long and we’ve been friends ever since. I mean, Brittany, you were at my wedding this summer. I can’t believe how time has flown by and your life has changed. You’re back in grad school. Tell me about that.
Brittany: Yeah, so I was working and running my side business as a website designer at the time when we’ve met. Since then, I had started grad school in 2021. I am now a PhD candidate in Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin Madison.
Jennifer: Amazing. I really like how you reached out and introduced yourself to me in the very beginning. I felt like there wasn’t a need to be in competition with each other. It was so nice to be able to have someone to talk with about something that we both care about, which is having an online presence when you’re a scientist or someone who’s in academia. And also, we’ve been able to work together and partner together on some fun projects.
Brittany: When I first started getting in the online space and I heard about you. When I saw you at first, I was kind of thinking like, “Oh, we are kind of competitors in a sense that we have similar services” and things like that. But after I thought about it and kind of learned more about the space, I figured at that time we had slightly different audiences. You were still more targeting professors and people who were further along, whereas I was trying to target with graduate students and earlier career. But obviously since starting grad school, a lot of my side business web design stuff has kind of been put on the back burner. I’m still kind of working on it here and there, and I love collaborating with you as of late. So that has been a really good kind of easing back into the web design business.
Jennifer: That’s really fun. And I love hearing about your grad school experiences on social media. What was it like to start sharing that part of your new lifestyle in your online space that was kind of different from how you were showing up before?
Brittany: When I was showing up before, I was mostly just sharing a lot of tips and information on Twitter at the time. That worked for some time. But once I got to grad school, I thought, first of all, I don’t want to just be known for websites anymore. But I also had to take a break because I wasn’t really sure about my scientific identity yet because I just started grad school, and even though I had worked in industry for some time, starting grad school made me feel like a beginner again. And actually it took me probably the last three-ish years or so to finally feel a little bit more confident about posting things on social media regarding grad school.
Because for me personally, I just didn’t really want to be just a PhD influencer. There’s a lot of PhD influencers. I follow them too because I like their contents motivating and things like that, of course. But there’s just certain aspects of it that I didn’t really align with. And, I didn’t want to create that type of content. It took me a really long time up until maybe last year to finally figure out, “Oh, actually I still do want to talk about some things about grad school and about being a scientist, being in STEM and all that. But it just looks a little bit different than how a lot of people are currently doing it.” That’s because a lot of people are also science communicators, so they’re communicating their research, which is great. But for me personally, that wasn’t exactly something that I wanted to do.
Jennifer: Oh, that’s so interesting because the way that I see websites is part of science communication. At least for scientists, it’s a way to communicate who they are and what they’re doing. And that’s something you’re so great at. It’s totally okay that it’s not an interest of yours when it comes to the other areas of your life. That’s so interesting to me. I’m curious if you’re open to it, would you share with me what aspect of influencer life maybe didn’t appeal to you? Because there may be people who are listening to this who are considering the same thing and hearing your thoughts might be really helpful for them.
Brittany: Yeah, I guess for me, a lot of it was just hearing the over romanticizing the lifestyle was one thing that I wasn’t really a fan of, especially without context. I love the aesthetic. When I was in high school, I was obsessed with study aesthetic and everything. So, I get it. It’s very appealing to see that type of content. But I think that when you create that type of content and you share that without sharing the context in which a PhD program happens. I guess what goes on in a PhD program, it can be a bit deceiving to say the least, or just a little bit. I don’t know what the right word is, but I just didn’t feel like that’s something I wanted to do. I think that it’s a good thing that they’re inspiring younger people or anybody who wants to pursue a PhD. I think that’s good to be a source of inspiration. But I think that for me, I didn’t want it to just be an aesthetic look like a lifestyle.
Jennifer: Yeah, I absolutely understand that. And what’s interesting to me is that if I came across your channel and didn’t know that you didn’t want to be an influencer, I would think that you’re quite realist in what you share about your PhD life. And, you even have a podcast about what it’s like to be in grad school. I think that there’s a difference between influencer in terms of the intention of creating partnerships and brand deals and maybe even gaining a certain type of following for being an influencer in that space. And then also just having influence over a space because you are more open about sharing your story. And I think that your openness is really refreshing because you do share maybe some of the negative experiences too, some of the struggles and some of the highlights. It feels very real every time I check out your social media stories. Yeah, I don’t know. That’s so refreshing for me. What was that like for you to decide to actually start posting about these things?
Brittany: That was kind of hard, actually. For the first two years, I think the way I described it to people was that I felt like I was kind of ‘in a shell.’ I was very withdrawn because a lot of my PhD struggles took up a lot of my mental capacity. I just really didn’t have the desire at all to show up and to be seen, and honestly, to be that vulnerable to so many people online and to show them I’m struggling. Because a lot of people, again, like I mentioned, were set up the aesthetic. Everyone looks like, “Oh, they’re having such a good time in their PhD, they’re accomplishing so much. Why don’t I feel that way? Why am I not doing X, Y, Z?”
What I realized recently was that I guess I could go through those times, but I didn’t have to share it in real time. I can still share it now, which is what I’m learning to do right now, which is part of this project I’m working on for my podcast. I’m trying to write a series or make it episode, whatever series of episodes of all the different struggles I’ve kind of gone through. And sharing my thought process through that and what I did, what I wish I did differently, so that hopefully people who listen to the podcast or future people who encounter the podcast can learn from it. And can see, I wouldn’t say the bad side of things, but just these are things that people don’t want to openly talk about. And I think that it does take time to get over it so that you have fully processed it in a way that you can talk about it in a more meaningful way than just, I guess venting about it. Because I never really want to come off that way, even though in real life in the moment, I’m just like, “Oh my God, this was so stressful. Why are things like this?”
But when I talk to other people, younger students and things like that, I have to actively reframe it in my mind. How do I make this useful or helpful to them? Or what can I take away from it? How can I improve through this experience? Which has been happening a lot recently.
Jennifer: You’ve been doing more mentoring yourself, haven’t you?
Brittany: Yeah, a lot of mentoring in terms of in the lab. I’ve had four undergrads so far, and I have two right now. And then I also do some mentoring for first year students. So when they come in, they have a lot of questions about how do I join a group? How do I talk to a professor? Which group should I join and what are things I should look out for and stuff like that. Whenever I give advice, I always preface it with, this was my experience, because I never want to come off as I know everything. I’m just being like, I’m just sharing my experience, and you can take away what you want to take away from it. Honestly, I feel like that’s the same approach I have for my podcast as well.
Beyond Your Science, a podcast for grad students and early career scientists
Jennifer: So who should subscribe to your podcast? What’s it called, and where can people find it?
Brittany: My podcast is called Beyond Your Science. It’s available on Apple Podcast and Spotify. It’s really for any graduate student or early career scientist who wants to explore the intersection between science, creativity, and entrepreneurship. And so those are some of the core pillars I talk about on my podcast. Grad school is just a part of it for now just because I’m in it, but that’s not giving advice on how to get into grad school or anything. One thing I really would love to focus on more in the future is kind of small businesses in STEM, just because I think that’s a really niche area that we don’t really hear a lot about when we’re in grad school. In grad school, we hear about becoming a professor or going to industry, and we also actually hear a lot about people going into startups and entrepreneurship and stuff.
But at least on the grad school level, I haven’t really heard a lot about people choosing a small business route after grad school. But because of getting to know so many academics on online over the years and seeing where they’ve gone, a lot of them have started their own businesses and things like that because of the flexibility, the freedom to do what they would like to pursue their own ideas. I think those are all things that we as graduate students, we really value. And so I kind of want to show more people that this is a possibility for you if you could consider it. Yeah.
How Brittany’s thinking about academic websites has changed
Jennifer: Oh, that’s so cool. That’s really exciting for me to hear. And that’s kind of the first time I’m hearing about this too. So I love that you shared that. Now, I’m curious, how has your thinking about websites changed since our last interview? It’s been a while. I know we’ve worked on websites together. Overall, how has maybe your thinking changed over time?
Brittany: Oh my God, that’s such a good question because let me tell you, when I first started, I had just gotten out of undergrad and I was starting my job. I was trying to convince grad students to create websites for their work. And at the time when I started four years ago before coming to grad school, I was just really baffled. I was like, why don’t you want to create websites for your work? Why aren’t you proud of your work? Because you’re doing cool stuff and you’re super qualified. But no amount of me encouraging them could really get them to change anything. So I would just be like, “Oh, well, whenever you’re ready, this information is here for you.” But now that I became a grad student, I understand why.
Jennifer: Oh, wait, wait. Tell me a couple of reasons why. Because there’s definitely grad students listening to this that are like, ‘I think that might be me.’
Brittany: Yeah. Okay. Because I have my website and my website has all my website design stuff, my podcast stuff. But for the longest time, I didn’t really want to talk about my research at all. I didn’t want to share it with people.
Jennifer: What’s your research on?
Brittany: My research is focused on polymer chemistry specifically. Right now, I’m learning or developing a method to make more make up this polymerization more environmentally friendly. Before that, I was learning about how polymers can be made stronger and tougher for high impact materials, aerospace equipment, military equipment, things like that. So I’m just really interested in polymers and how their mechanical properties are useful. But now, right now I’m mostly focusing on how to synthesize polymers in a more eco-friendly way.
Jennifer: I love that! And I love the environment, so that’s my favorite. What about that felt like you wanted to hold it back or hold that part of yourself back from sharing on your website, and have you shared it?
Brittany: I think it was because I just didn’t really have the tangible result to show: because I didn’t have a paper. I still don’t have a paper. I’m a fourth year student PhD candidate. I have no papers. It just reminded me of that Pride and Prejudice quote, “I’m 27 years old and I have no prospects.”
Jennifer: I love it. We’re both readers. We both love classical music. Brittany and I are good friends, and there’s so many reasons why.
Brittany: But seriously, that’s the reason why I feel so, I don’t want to say ashamed, but just a little bit hesitant to be like, ‘This is my research.” I haven’t published anywhere. I maybe presented at a conference, but that work is unpublished and I don’t know if that will be published anytime soon. All those reasons combined. Plus, just the way that just by the nature of the PhD experience. I just naturally feel more inadequate than before. Imposter syndrome, right? All those reasons combined makes me not want to own up to it. I guess at least professionally, it’s easy for me to just say, “I’m a Graduate Research Assistant, because that’s what I am on paper. But to be like, “I’m a scientist.” I don’t really know about that.
Jennifer: It feels like a stretch, even though that’s not true. You’re mentoring future scientists already [laughing].
Brittany: I’m doing science, more science than a normal person does. Even if I don’t feel that that way, I am already doing it. That’s kind of what I had to tell myself. Yeah.
Jennifer: So did you put it on your website?
Brittany: I finally did put it on my website.
Jennifer: Oh my goodness.
Brittany: Yeah, because I was like, oh, my bio has nothing about chemistry. So it’s just in my bio, it’s like a little blurb. It says, Brittany is a PhD candidate in chemistry. Her research focuses on synthesizing high impact polymers in a more eco-friendly way and leveraging their tough mechanical properties into industrial applications.
It was really hard to condense what I do into a couple of words that are easy to understand. On one hand, it felt like I was oversimplifying, but on the other hand, I was like, I’m not going to go into the details. If someone was really interested, they could ask. But that was also really hard because I was like, it makes it sound like what I do sounds really, I don’t know, noble and great? But I don’t feel that way on the day to day. You know what I mean? At least I assume a lot of graduate students probably feel some type of way about their research.
Jennifer: Oh my goodness. Professors feel that kind of way about their research. Let me tell you, that feeling of being unsure about how you’re talking about your research and the things you care about most? That doesn’t go away when you become a mid-career researcher or a senior researcher, and you might even struggle to talk about it the way that you feel when you’re retired. So I think that it’s something many people struggle with it. And I love that you shared what you wrote with us because it sounded great.
Brittany: Yeah. I used your tips from a previous podcast interview, I think with Dr. Echo Rivera.
Jennifer: Ooh. For anyone who is listening, we do talk about how to write an amazing conference speaker bio. That’s great for academics writing any kind of bio. So I hope you’ll check that out.
Updating her personal website
Jennifer: Now, your online presence has changed as your new life experiences and goals have popped up. One of the things that you did was redoing your website, and you just talked about adding in that bio. What prompted you to want to redo your website? I know as a website designer myself, that’s a project I’ve been putting off for so long. I need to do it. So what prompted you to do it?
Brittany: Yeah. For the longest time, I had started with all my services about website design or workshops about website design. And then as I was realizing I don’t really have the capacity to do this anymore, I started making those pages hidden. I didn’t want to highlight that anymore. And then just throughout grad school, I realized I don’t really know if I want to just leave it open for website design right now. So I kind of want to just make it very clear that I’m trying to build my personal brand instead. That my personal brand still includes website design tips, but that I’m not actively soliciting new clients.
And I think that has really helped because now on my website, it’s just me featuring my podcast, which is my main mode of sharing and building my personal brand through the podcast and also LinkedIn newsletter. Then also kind of just repackaging some of the things I already had, some of the resources I had so that it’s still useful to people, but it’s more organized. I finally did that a couple months ago. And I also did a podcast episode where I talked about the process of me deciding to do that. But again, it was also something that I had put off for the longest time too. Because school, life, all the other things that come first.
Jennifer: Exactly. Sometimes we have to prioritize all the other things, and it’s okay to put off the thing with your online presence as long as you need to. I love that Brittany made that list because what she was ready, she knew what she wanted to do.
Best Personal Academic Websites Contest returns in 2025
Jennifer: Now we have done, since we last did our interview, two annual Best Personal Academic Website Contests. It was so fun to be able to share some amazing websites from grad students, postdocs, early career researchers, people who were in research labs. Oh my goodness. There were just so many people who were curious to submit to this contest. Would you be open to doing another one with me next year? What do you think?
Brittany: Yeah, I love doing it. I love seeing how people show their research, show themselves through their websites. It’s very interesting to see how people interpret also website tips and then implement it on their website too. And I think also because we do it with Owlstown. Owlstown is [a website builder] made for academics. I think it’s really fun to see how people still are able to customize it to their own needs.
Jennifer: Brittany and I are both designers, and so we’re thinking about every little detail, but for so many people, all you need is a website. And it is totally amazing that Dr. Ian Li has created Owlstown, a free academic website builder that you can easily make your website in. What is it? Like 15 minutes? I mean, it’s really fast. We did it on that call.
Brittany: Yeah, it’s very fill in the blank type of [website design]. That’s what I told this to the grad students in my department too. I was like, if you guys need a website, just use this. It’s so fast and easy. You don’t need to think about the design.
Jennifer: Even if you do eventually want that fully designed website in the future, if you know it’s not on your list this year or next, I mean make an Owlstown website, it will create a stronger online presence for you like today.
Brittany: Yeah. And I also met Ian, around the same time I met you or reached out to him around the same time. I also had to test it out for myself before I recommended it to people. When I tested it out, it was in its early stages, and even in its early stages, I was like, wow, this is really good. And then over time, he started developing more features and things and I was like, sold. This is so good now.
Jennifer: Right? I love how responsive he is. If you have a question about it or a suggestion, some kind of feature that you want to see, if he thinks it’ll help people, he’ll try and make that feature happen. It’s so cool.
Jennifer: Now, research lab and group websites, that is something we’ve been teaming up on for VIP days where professors get a done-for-you website in one day. I mean, seriously, we gather the materials in advance. We have a Planning Meeting. We talk about things like website aesthetics and colors and stuff and what you want. But then Brittany and I, and my husband, Matthew, we team up, we create the website for you in just one day. Oh my goodness. Brittany teaming up with you on this has been amazing. It’s been so transformative. I’m honestly shocked by how much we’ve been able to get done in one day.
Brittany: Yeah, me too. I think it’s really nice to work in a team like this because before I had just been working on my own. I think the workflow of gathering all the content beforehand helps so much. Because then you know what needs to go on the page, and it just makes everything go by so much faster.
Jennifer: Exactly. Now we can totally work together. If you’re looking for that bigger done-for-you research lab website [Strategic Website Design service]. Brittany, and I may still be able to help with that, but Team Website VIP days is what I recommend for most research labs, especially if this is going to be your first website. It’s not like a redesign. So we only have a couple days left in 2024, but please reach out about the new year. We would love to work with you and help your research lab or group. Brittany, what should people know about their research lab website or group website? Do they need one? Who should consider this kind of service?
Brittany: If you are a professor who’s actively recruiting students, you definitely need a website. I remember even when I was looking for groups and such, or even students now when they’re coming in and they’re looking at professors, they check the website. They go and see when was it last updated? Are students graduating? Is your group still active? Because the student is trying to prepare as much as they can to know about the professor so that when they meet the professor, they can talk about the research or ask about active projects and how they can get involved. Or, talk about what skills they bring to the table and things like that. But it’s going to be kind of hard for them to do that if there’s no website. Or, if you just have a very broad research statement on your faculty page or something.
The other thing is that students may be interested in the general area of research, but they may not know exactly what the research work entails. Maybe some people will be like, “Oh, just read the papers.” But in all honesty, a lot of students when they’re coming in, they’re very overwhelmed with enrolling in classes, teaching classes, looking for a group, acclimating to their new city. Trying to also parse out which papers are relevant to current projects at the moment is also very difficult. I really advocate for professors to have this on their website: a very clear or recently updated Projects page with publications that are most relevant or recent so that the student can easily pick out. “Okay, let me read the update on this and see where, what they’re doing right now, where could I fit in,” and things like that. So definitely professors of any age that wants to get students interested in their work. And, especially younger professors. I think now a lot of younger professors are, they’re trying to build a personal brand and everything in addition to the research.
Jennifer: This is a great use of startup funds. You can pay with your university monies. So please don’t hesitate to reach out if you are interested in having a VIP Day website for your research group or lab.
Jennifer: Brittany has been so much fun to have you back on The Social Academic podcast. Is there anything you’d like to chat about or add before we wrap up?
Brittany: No, thanks for having me. I really enjoyed working on the VIP days with you because it lets me still be a part of the helping academics with their websites, but kind of more on the back end of things. That just helps me as a graduate student right now because I’m just not able to do the front facing stuff at the moment.
Jennifer: Yeah, we’re perfect partners on this. And Dr. Makella Coudray, whose research lab website we did recently. We just had a workshop with her research group and she said that she now feels like her online presence is a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10. It’s a 10, and her website is a huge part of that. It makes her feel really good about her research and it makes her lab really excited to help share it. So I’m just so proud of the work that we’ve been able to do together so far, and excited for all the work to come.
Brittany: Yeah, me too.
Jennifer: Brittany, thank you so much for coming on today’s show.
Brittany Trinh is a Vietnamese-American website designer and chemist. She helps enterprising scientists, science communicators, and academic entrepreneurs create a website that integrates your creativity and expertise. Brittany knows when your website reflects the awesome things you do within and beyond STEM, it helps you forge your own path.
She hosts the Beyond Your Science Podcast, where she talks about integrating science, entrepreneurship, and creativity within and beyond STEM, from her own experiences and interviews with other scientists and small-business owners. Listen to the Beyond Your Science Podcast.
Brittany is a PhD candidate in Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research focuses on synthesizing high-impact polymers in a more eco-friendly way and leveraging their tough mechanical properties into industrial applications. She received her BS in Chemistry with a minor in Psychology from the University of Houston. Follow her research on Google Scholar.
When she’s not in the lab, she’s probably playing piano or violin, watching slice-of-life anime, or cooking some kind of noodle.
2025 Higher Education Trends: What to Watch and How You Can Plan
Higher education is experiencing transformative shifts as institutions respond to societal, economic, and technological changes. This year is set to bring new opportunities and challenges. We’re always keeping a pulse on the industry and where it’s headed so we can stay proactive and prepared –– ready to support our partners through whatever conditions they’re facing.
10 most impactful higher ed trends for 2025
1. Increased mergers and consolidations
The pace of mergers and consolidations among smaller colleges is expected to accelerate in 2025, according to Collegis Education CEO Kim Fahey. With financial pressures and declining enrollment, many institutions will view mergers as a strategic alternative to closure. But these transitions are anything but simple.
“Mergers involve unique technology requirements and complex data management challenges,” Fahey explains. Successfully integrating applications, systems, and hardware requires expert guidance. Higher ed leaders will look to partner with experienced organizations to help navigate these intricacies.
2. Heightened focus on data privacy and security
The information security landscape is becoming increasingly intricate. With 21 comprehensive state privacy laws, alongside European Union (EU) regulations, federal rules, and Title IV requirements, compliance challenges are mounting.
“Smaller schools often lack the experience and qualifications to manage these threats,” notes Dr. Jason Nairn, CISSP, Collegis VP of Information Technology. Cyberattacks, like phishing and social engineering, are relentless. In 2025, institutions must prioritize more robust cybersecurity measures, leveraging external partnerships and security tools to protect sensitive data.
3. Acceleration of digital transformation
Cloud migration will take center stage as institutions transition away from outdated, on-campus systems. While many schools still rely on highly customized platforms, which limits their ability to adopt or migrate to more modern technology, the adaptability and scalability of cloud platforms are simply too compelling to ignore.
Furthermore, technology infrastructures must be sufficiently modernized in order to capitalize on emerging tech innovations in AI and predictive analysis. This process can’t happen overnight –– it’s an evolution, according to Fahey.
“Cloud migrations take 18+ months, so schools need to act now,” she emphasizes. An institution-wide commitment to digital transformation will not only modernize operations but also position institutions to stay competitive in an increasingly tech-driven environment.
4. Adoption of shared services models
Financial constraints will push smaller schools toward shared services and consortium models to access the technology and expertise they need at a manageable scale. These models allow institutions to pool resources and reduce costs but require significant change management, according to Jeff Certain, VP of Solution Development at Collegis.
“This will require schools to standardize and make some concessions,” Certain explains. “This could pose a challenge, but they may not have an option.” Institutions must embrace these shifts to remain sustainable while navigating limited budgets.
5. Growth in career-focused and flexible education
Programs aligning with workforce needs will gain momentum in 2025. Alternative credentials like microcredentials and certificates will become more prominent, offering shorter, career-oriented pathways for learners.
“Institutions will increasingly recognize and credit learning outside the classroom, exploring more direct pathways into the workforce,” predicts Dr. Tracy Chapman, Chief Academic Officer for Collegis. This reflects growing demand for flexible, career-focused education that meets student and employer expectations.
6. Ed tech consolidation and market impact
It is not just colleges and universities facing consolidation. Ed tech companies and services providers are also reshaping the landscape with their own mergers and acquisitions. While these changes may offer schools more comprehensive solutions, they may not necessarily align with institutional objectives.
“Some recent acquisitions have led to poorer customer experiences,” Fahey observes. Institutions must carefully evaluate new partnerships to ensure they will deliver meaningful improvements.
7. Higher Focus on Retention
With the “enrollment cliff” looming, institutions must double down on maintaining their existing student base as a key to sustainability. Purposeful and cost-effective retention strategies will play a pivotal role in maintaining financial health, as retaining current students is often more cost-effective than recruiting new ones.
“Retention strategies build stronger, more loyal communities,” says Patrick Green, VP of Enrollment Strategy. Forward-looking schools have perceived the importance of fostering a sense of belonging across the student lifecycle and are providing robust support networks that improve student persistence and satisfaction.
8. Rise of value-focused marketing
Students and families are increasingly demanding clear ROI from their education. As a result, institutions will need to demonstrate how their programs lead directly to employment and career advancement.
“Building relationships with regional industries and showcasing job placement rates will be essential,” advises Tanya Pankratz, AVP of Marketing at Collegis. Marketing efforts will need to start highlighting tangible outcomes (e.g., alumni success stories, job placement rates, and employer partnerships) to win over prospective students.
9. Expanded role of AI and emerging technologies
AI and other emerging technologies will revolutionize higher education operations. From enrollment management and personalized marketing to virtual campus tours using augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), technology has the means to dramatically enhance the student experience –– or wreak technical havoc if data, platforms and tools are misaligned.
“AI-driven tools make personalization more accessible, but the strategy remains critical,” notes Dan Antonson, AVP of Data and Analytics. Institutions must invest in data infrastructure to fully harness these advancements in order to build and maintain a competitive edge.
10.Proliferation of strategic partnerships
Higher ed institutions are increasingly recognizing that they don’t need to own the entire value chain. In 2025, strategic partnerships will play a more prominent role.
“Institutions will double down on their core mission of education and seek out partners to support other critical functions,” Dr. Chapman explains. These partnerships provide access to technology, expertise, and resources, allowing schools to focus on what they do best — educating students.
Opportunities on the horizon for higher ed
As evident in this compilation of higher ed trends, the landscape is set for significant change in 2025 and beyond. Institutions that proactively address these trends will be well-positioned to navigate challenges and seize opportunities. By embracing digital transformation, fostering strategic partnerships, and adopting value-driven approaches, schools can ensure long-term success in an evolving marketplace.
Excited about the opportunities that lie ahead? Collegis Education has the experience and expertise to guide you through any twists and turns you may face. We’ll help you stay on the leading edge instead of chasing trends. Connect with us and let’s start creating solutions together.
As the 2025 legislative calendar begins, FIRE is preparing for lawmakers at both the state and federal levels to introduce a deluge of bills targeting artificial intelligence.
The First Amendment applies to artificial intelligence just as it does to other expressive technologies. Like the printing press, the camera, and the internet, AI can be used as an expressive tool — a technological advance that helps us communicate with one another and generate knowledge. As FIRE Executive Vice President Nico Perrino argued in The Los Angeles Times last month: “The Constitution shouldn’t be rewritten for every new communications technology.”
We again remind legislators that existing laws — cabined by the narrow, well-defined exceptions to the First Amendment’s broad protection — already address the vast majority of harms legislatures may seek to counter in the coming year. Laws prohibiting fraud, forgery, discrimination, and defamation, for example, apply regardless of how the unlawful activity is ultimately carried out. Liability for unlawful acts properly falls on the perpetrator of those acts, not the informational or communicative tools they use.
Some legislative initiatives seeking to govern the use of AI raise familiar First Amendment problems. For example, regulatory proposals that would require “watermarks” on artwork created by AI or mandate disclaimers on content generated by AI violate the First Amendment by compelling speech. FIRE has argued against these kinds of efforts to regulate the use of AI, and we will continue to do so — just as we have fought against government attempts to compel speech in school, on campus, or online.
Rather than compelling disclaimers or imposing content-based restrictions on AI-generated expression, legislators should remember the law already protects against defamation, fraud, and other illegal conduct.
Lawmakers have also sought to regulate or even criminalize the use of AI-generated content in election-related communications. But courts have been wary of legislative attempts to control AI’s output when political speech is implicated. Following a First Amendment challenge from a satirist who uses AI to generate parodies of political figures, for example, a federal district court recently enjoined a California statute aimed at “deepfakes” that regulated “materially deceptive” election-related content.
Content-based restrictions like California’s law require strict judicial scrutiny, no matter how the expression is created. As the federal court noted, the constitutional protections “safeguarding the people’s right to criticize government and government officials apply even in the new technological age when media may be digitally altered.” So while lawmakers might harbor “a well-founded fear of a digitally manipulated media landscape,” the court explained, “this fear does not give legislators unbridled license to bulldoze over the longstanding tradition of critique, parody, and satire protected by the First Amendment.”
Artificial intelligence, free speech, and the First Amendment
Issue Pages
FIRE offers an analysis of frequently asked questions about artificial intelligence and its possible implications for free speech and the First Amendment.
Other legislative proposals threaten the First Amendment by imposing burdens directly on the developers of AI models. In the coming months, for example, Texas lawmakers will consider the Texas Responsible Artificial Intelligence Governance Act, or TRAIGA, a sweeping bill that would impose liability on developers, distributors, and deployers of AI systems that may introduce a risk of “algorithmic discrimination,” including by private actors. The bill vests broad regulatory authority in a newly created state “Artificial Intelligence Council” and imposes steep compliance costs. TRAIGA compels developers to publish regular risk reports, a requirement that will raise First Amendment concerns when applied to an AI model’s expressive output or the use of AI as a tool to facilitate protected expression. Last year, a federal court held a similar reporting requirement imposed on social media platforms was likely unconstitutional.
TRAIGA’s provisions incentivize AI developers to handicap their models to avoid any possibility of offering recommendations that some might deem discriminatory or simply offensive — even if doing so curtails the models’ usefulness or capabilities. Addressing unlawful discrimination is an important legislative aim, and lawmakers are obligated to ensure we all benefit from the equal protection of the law. At the same time, our decades of work defending student and faculty rights has left FIRE all too familiar with the chilling effect on speech that results from expansive or arbitrary interpretations of anti-discrimination law on campus. We will oppose poorly crafted legislative efforts that would functionally build the same chill into artificial intelligence systems.
The sprawling reach of legislative proposals like TRAIGA run headlong into the expressive rights of the people building and using AI models. Rather than compelling disclaimers or imposing content-based restrictions on AI-generated expression, legislators should remember the law already protects against defamation, fraud, and other illegal conduct. And rather than preemptively saddling developers with broad liability for an AI model’s possible output, lawmakers must instead examine the recourse existing laws already provide victims of discrimination against those who would use AI — or any other communicative tool — to unlawful ends.
FIRE will have more to say on the First Amendment threats presented by legislative proposals regarding AI in the weeks and months to come.
