Last year, I had the misfortune of twice being a candidate for dean of my college. (I say misfortune but the blame for this silly choice is mine alone.) On the 2nd occasion, I gave a townhall where I said that our job in higher ed was to prepare students for a world in crisis...

Apparently my “tone” shocked some department chairs (they’re easily startled) and I’ve been sorely tempted lately to say “I told you so” - but in reality I had no idea how quickly crisis would be at our doorsteps...

There’s lots of talk ab whether campuses should reopen in the fall. But the real question is how are we going to change how we teach to prepare our students to grapple not only with our current crisis, but with the ones that must follow as our planet warms...

How are we going to help the next generation make sense of a new and more difficult world? How do we provide them with the skills they will need to confront its challenges and bring better possible futures into being?

Whether we’re teaching online or in person in the fall, these are the pressing questions for universities. Indeed, I think they are existential questions - because while higher ed as we know it might survive this crisis, if we can’t answer them, odds are we won’t last much longer