Higher education is navigating a period of profound change. Enrollment patterns are shifting, financial models are under pressure, technology is reshaping how we work and learn, and the expectations of learners continue to evolve. Across the Mid-Atlantic, every institution has a story about this moment. And within those stories are experiences, evidence, challenges, and ideas that can help us navigate what comes next.
Stories That Shape What’s Next: The Human, the Data, and the Why invites us to tell those stories, listen to one another, and consider what they reveal about the future of our work.
Through three 10-minute Spark Talks, we will explore three chapters of that larger story:
The Human: The Stories We Experience
Change is ultimately experienced by people. What does this moment look and feel like for the faculty, staff, leaders, and learners navigating it? What stories of challenge, adaptation, creativity, and resilience can help us learn from one another?
The Data: The Stories the Numbers Tell
Behind every enrollment trend, financial model, learner outcome, and workforce projection is a story. What is our data telling us? What might we be overlooking? And how can evidence help us challenge assumptions, make better decisions, and identify new possibilities?
The Why: The Story We Want to Write
Beyond responding to today's pressures lies a larger question: Why do we do this work? Who are we here to serve? As higher education changes, what should we preserve, what might we rethink, and what role can professional, continuing, and online education play in shaping what comes next?
After each Spark Talk, participants will join facilitated conversations to share their own stories, compare experiences, explore what is working, and learn from colleagues across the Mid-Atlantic.
The Salon concludes by bringing those stories together and asking: What are we learning from one another, and what story about the future of higher education do we want to write next? Come ready to listen, contribute, and share. Because the story of what comes next will not be written by any one institution. We will write it together.
UPCEA Regional Salons are not recorded, save your spot for this live event.
Registration will open shortly
Fee: Free for UPCEA Members; $50 for non-Members
Regional Salons are half-day, virtual, curated opportunities for UPCEA members to engage in accessible, no-cost professional development and networking, offering a balance of formal presentations and facilitated, two-way, informal conversation. These lively gatherings are designed for members by members, around a theme or topic of critical importance, and tap subject matter experts in and outside of UPCEA, as well as spotlight the important work of our members. Regional Salons provide members a chance to grow their professional networks, to showcase their accomplishments, and to solve unique and shared challenges with peers. Please note, Regional Salons are unrecorded.