Greetings from Stevens Strategy! We are pleased to announce that we will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary in 2013!

In this newsletter we invite you to join us at our 10-year anniversary celebration in Palm Harbor, Florida, refer you to Chronicle coverage of one of our ongoing client engagements, provide links to three new Stevens Strategy consultant blogs and relevant articles on the higher education landscape, and share other exciting news! Finally, please see our newly upgraded web site to learn more about the firm.

Stevens Strategy is proud to have served more than 100 clients over the past ten years and we are excited to continue helping colleges and universities tackle the many challenges facing higher education in the years to come. We will host a celebratory and educational dinner Saturday, January 5th, 2013 in Palm Harbor, FL in conjunction with the 2013 CIC Presidents Institute. This dinner event will be an opportunity for us to thank you for your loyalty and support and allow you to engage in a learning experience and discussion about the future of higher education. Guest speakers will include Michael Townsley (Senior Consultant, Stevens Strategy), Paul LeBlanc (President, Southern New Hampshire University), and Michele Perkins (President, New England College). Please click here if you would like to attend this event. We look forward to seeing you there!

Stevens Strategy has been working with Wilson College to identify the best strategies to ensure its future viability and success. The Chronicle of Higher Education has been covering the collaborative work of the College community under the leadership of the Commission on Shaping the Future of Wilson College. Please see the Chronicle articles, below, for coverage of this challenging and important work:

• A Struggling College for Women Puts ‘Everything on the Table’, Chronicle of Higher Education (no subscription required), 9/23/12
• Seeking a Sound Future, Wilson College Debates Admitting Men, Chronicle of Higher Education (may require subscription), 10/17/12

Michael Townsley, Stevens Strategy Senior Consultant, provides two new blogs: the first addresses the need for leaders to carefully manage their scarce resources during challenging times and the second looks at why and how to delegate to ensure that the time and energy of institutional leaders is well spent. Mark Schulman, Stevens Strategy Senior Consultant and President of Saybrook University, provides his take on the crisis in American education. Please click the links below to read each blog:

• Scarce Resources – Time, Energy, Staff & Money, by Michael Townsley
• Rules for Delegating Project Management, by Michael Townsley
• The Real Crisis in American Education: The Hardest One to Talk About, by Mark Schulman

We are pleased to report that Stevens Strategy Senior Consultant Ellen Hurwitz has been appointed Interim President at Pine Manor College in Boston. Ellen served as president of three institutions during her career and brings to Pine Manor her tremendous experience and wisdom. Please help us to wish Ellen congratulations and good luck in her new position!

Below, we provide a few of the more useful articles we’ve seen recently related to addressing the many challenges we face in higher education today:

• One-Third of Colleges Are on Financially ‘Unsustainable’ Path, Bain Study Finds, Chronicle of Higher Education (may require subscription), 7/23/12
• No More Easy Money, Inside Higher Ed, 10/9/12
• Regardless of the Cost, College Still Matters, The Hamilton Project (Online), October 2012
• Making Sense of Disruptive Technologies and Higher Education, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy, 8/2/12
• The Fiscal Cliff for Higher Education, Chronicle of Higher Education (may require subscription), 8/12/12
• Financial Stress: An Everyday Reality for College Students, Inceptia, July 2012
• Bad Student Debt Stubbornly High as Collection Efforts Surge, New York Times, 9/8/12
• For-Profit Colleges Get Schooled, Wall Street Journal, 10/24/12
• Enrollment Slide and Cost Cutting May Signal Strategy Shift at U. of Phoenix, Chronicle of Higher Education (may require subscription), 10/17/12
• State Authorization Survey, State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO), June 2012

Finally, we look forward to seeing you at one or more of the upcoming conferences in November, December and the New Year. In the coming months, we will be attending the annual meetings of:

• Council of Independent Colleges (Presidents Institute), Palm Harbor, FL
• Council of Independent Colleges (CAO Institute), San Antonia, TX
• National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, Washington, DC
• Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, Washington, DC
• Middle States Commission, Philadelphia, PA
• Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Dallas, TX
• Western Association of Schools and Colleges, San Diego, CA
• Association of Governing Boards, San Francisco, CA
• American Council on Education, Washington, DC

As always, we welcome your referrals.

– John
Cell: 617-694-0550

E-mail: [email protected]