The request was simple enough. But the response became sufficiently difficult, that a new course needed to take place. It started on a recent Friday afternoon, when I received an email that said, in part: Dear Dr. Mullin,   I am reading “Higher education administration for social justice and equity: Critical perspectives for leadership,” and I am reading your chapter. You refer to a conference presentation from 2018 entitled "Understanding impact: A holistic return on investment framework for developmental education." I have managed to track down the program for the conference, but I cannot seem to find any more information on your presentation. I was wondering if you might be willing to share it with me. I am particularly interested in your equity-infused return on investment framework. I remembered that presentation.  Soon after, it was published as a paper.  As with any work, there was a story behind it; and lots of thought.   This wasn't the first time I receiv...

Yesterday’s siloed and archaic structures that fail to reflect the lived experiences of today’s students on a path to earning tomorrow’s credentials. These structures force institutions and individuals to conform to a single, idealized path experienced in isolation as a lock-step sequence - from K-12 to college to the workforce - when we know that for many this is just not the case. 50% of students nationally worked while enrolled, 20% earned more than full-time minimum wage for the 30 week school year ($9,600). And, as the potential for more students to re-enroll in college after debt forgiveness is on the horizon, its an open question if they will stop the jobs they currently have. Surely, many of them are a part of the 39 million adults with some college but no credential  who often face financial barriers to return  that have been lessened. Yet while we know that time can be the enemy, for adults it is more rigid in terms of the particular points in the day they can ...

  Living in Florida, I am used to keeping my head on a swivel. Hurricane season brings with it a heightened awareness of potential threats to the way life currently functions. Hurricane Ian serves as a strong reminder that the fall brings with it a heightened awareness of potential threats to the way life currently functions. Looking at the landscape of education at the moment, the same may be said. There are three educational shifts I am seeing that are complementary and have the potential to substantially alter the landscape. Oddly enough, they are making K-12 and higher education more similar. First, K-12 is shifting to operate more as a private market than as a fundamental public responsibility articulated in educational clauses of state constitutions . In practice this takes the shape of more schools in a community supported by taxpayers and scholarships to students who may use them at public and non-public schools – much like grants and loans in higher educ...