Higher education leaders rarely get to make important decisions with perfect information. So how do institutions move forward when technology, student expectations, finances, enrollment, and the workforce are all changing at once?

In this episode of the Engaged By Design podcast, Vernon Smith sits down with Dr. Eric Klein, Assistant Provost of Doctoral Research and Student Success at American College of Education and author of the forthcoming book The Future of Higher Education: Strategic Leadership for Academic Transformation.

Eric argues that effective leadership often requires willingness before certainty—developing the judgment to move when the evidence is sufficient, while remaining flexible enough to adjust as new information emerges.

The conversation explores strategic prioritization, institutional complexity, AI and academic integrity, authentic assessment, student support, and why colleges should use technology to create more capacity for meaningful human interaction rather than simply automate existing processes.

They also examine an increasingly important challenge for higher education: how do we preserve what matters while redesigning what no longer works?

In This Episode

• How community college experience shapes Eric’s approach to institutional strategy
• The pressures converging on higher education
• Eric’s forthcoming book on strategic leadership and academic transformation
• Why leaders have to choose what not to do
• Trust as a scarce institutional resource
• Professional development and growing as a higher education leader
• What Eric means by “willingness before certainty”
• The organizational risk of waiting too long to make decisions
• Digital boundaries, leadership, and self-care
• Using external services to provide students with on-demand support
• AI, academic integrity, and why Eric does not want to become the “AI police”
• Moving from detection toward conversation and coaching
• Appropriate uses of AI by faculty and students
• Rethinking authentic assessment in the AI era
• Whether the traditional online discussion board has outlived its usefulness
• Leaders as both stewards and architects
• Why “bespoke doesn’t scale”
• Simplifying institutional systems without sacrificing personalization
• Using technology to make more room for meaningful human interaction
• Designing education around the learners institutions actually serve today
• Why compassion and engagement still scale

About Dr. Eric Klein

Eric Klein, Ph.D., is Assistant Provost of Doctoral Research and Student Success at American College of Education, where his work includes doctoral research, student success initiatives, academic support services, and emerging issues affecting higher education.

His career spans nearly two decades in higher education across public and private institutions, including previous service as Associate Vice Chancellor of Educational Support Services for the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District.

Eric earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Fairleigh Dickinson University. He has also completed executive leadership development through Harvard University and Cornell University.

Beyond his institutional leadership, Eric writes and speaks about strategy, leadership, artificial intelligence, student success, organizational transformation, and the future of colleges and universities.

Eric Klein’s Forthcoming Book

The Future of Higher Education: Strategic Leadership for Academic Transformation

Eric’s forthcoming book examines the forces reshaping colleges and universities and the strategic choices leaders will need to make as they respond to changing student needs, financial pressures, artificial intelligence, new educational models, and other forms of disruption.

Published by Koehler Books, the book is scheduled for release December 1, 2026 and is currently available for preorder.

Official book page

Preorder on Amazon

Join us at www.engagedbydesign.com to learn more about

• The Course Design Accelerator
• Faculty-in-the-Loop AI in Higher Education

Dr. Toshua Cornwell-Clark never set out to earn a doctorate. Her original goal was to become a cosmetologist.

But when a teaching opportunity at San Diego City College required a degree, one step led to another: an associate degree, a discovery of sociology, bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and eventually an Ed.D. in Organizational Innovation and Leadership from National University.

In this episode of the Engaged By Design podcast, Vernon Smith talks with Dr. Tosh about that journey—and about what colleges and universities can learn from students whose education has to fit alongside careers, businesses, families, and the rest of life.

They discuss the importance of faculty mentorship, designing education around the whole student, connecting sociology with cosmetology and beauty standards, and Dr. Tosh’s research on texturism and Eurocentric beauty standards. She also shares the story behind her book Eternal Black Eye, her work as a children’s author, and the remarkable experience of earning a doctorate alongside her sister.

At the center of the conversation is a simple principle for educators: students may not care how much you know until they know how much you care.

In This Episode

• Dr. Tosh’s journey from beauty school to college professor and doctoral graduate
• How one sociology course changed the direction of her education
• Balancing education with business, teaching, and family responsibilities
• Why flexible programs matter for working adult learners
• The importance of responsive faculty mentorship
• Her 2026 Distinguished Golden Apple recognition from San Diego City College
• The story behind Eternal Black Eye
• The connection between sociology, cosmetology, beauty, and identity
• Her research on texturism and Eurocentric beauty standards
• What higher education leaders should understand about the whole student
• Two sisters earning their doctorates together
• Why caring for students has to become visible through action
• Hearing learners rather than merely listening to them

About Dr. Toshua Cornwell-Clark

Dr. Toshua Cornwell-Clark, Ed.D., is an adjunct professor, sociologist, public speaker, published author, and licensed beauty professional. Her scholarship brings sociology and cosmetology together to explore identity, internalized racism, texturism, and Eurocentric beauty standards.

She teaches at San Diego City College and is the recipient of the college’s 2026 Distinguished Golden Apple Award, an honor selected by students.

Her published works include Eternal Black Eye, The Adventures of Camp Pallo, The King and the Corn, Christmas, Kwanzaa, & the Snow Globe, and Jot & Journal: Affirmations.

https://toshuacornwellclark.com/books

Join us at www.engagedbydesign.com to learn more about

• The Course Design Accelerator
• Faculty-in-the-Loop AI in Higher Education

How do you lead meaningful change in higher education without letting turf wars, tradition, or institutional complexity stop the work?

In Part 2 of our conversation with Dr. Lori Carrell, Chancellor of the University of Minnesota Rochester, we move from the origins of College-in-3 to the leadership and organizational practices required to make innovation happen.

Lori explains why three-year degrees are not intended to replace the traditional four-year bachelor’s degree. Instead, they are one tool for asking a much bigger question: How can higher education become more student-centered, research-based, affordable, and effective?

We explore the University of Minnesota Rochester’s approach to evidence-based learning, its Get Forward Faster pathways, its partnership with Mayo Clinic, and the challenge of preserving an innovative culture as a young campus grows.

Lori also offers an important warning for innovators: yesterday’s innovators can become tomorrow’s barriers.

A true learning organization has to keep listening, studying, adapting, and redesigning around the students it serves today.

In This Episode

• Leading change without getting trapped in academic turf wars
• Why belief in the value of learning matters to leadership
• Working through conflict without personalizing it
• Why three-year degrees are an option, not a replacement for four-year degrees
• Using skepticism constructively
• Questioning assumptions embedded in the 120-credit model
• Designing from a blank canvas
• UMR’s three guiding principles
• Building research-based practices into every student’s experience
• UMR’s Get Forward Faster approach
• Work-based learning and the Mayo Clinic partnership
• Why curiosity may matter more than narrow technical skills
• Putting student learning and development first
• The University of Minnesota’s next phase of learning innovation
• How UMR operationalizes collaboration and transparency
• Scaling innovation without losing culture
• Why original innovators sometimes become institutional barriers
• Becoming a learning organization
• Listening directly to the learners institutions exist to serve

About Lori Carrell

Lori J. Carrell, Ph.D., is Chancellor of the University of Minnesota Rochester and co-founder of the College-in-3 Exchange.

Her leadership at UMR centers on transformative communication, learning innovation, student success, and wellbeing. The university’s work is guided by three principles: students are at the center, research informs practice, and partners make it possible.

Lori is also co-author with Robert Zemsky of Communicate for a Change: Revitalizing Conversations for Higher Education.

Resources Mentioned

University of Minnesota Rochester — Get Forward Faster
UMR’s current accelerated and early-assurance pathways connect undergraduate education with professional certificates and graduate programs.
Explore Get Forward Faster

University of Minnesota Rochester
Visit UMR

College-in-3 Exchange
Learn about College-in-3

College-in-3 Research and Resources
College-in-3 research and resources

Communicate for a Change
Lori Carrell and Robert Zemsky’s earlier book on the conversations higher education must have to change from within.
Johns Hopkins University Press

Join us at www.engagedbydesign.com to learn more about

• The Course Design Accelerator
• Faculty-in-the-Loop AI in Higher Education