Notes:
1) This interview in the Weekly Wisdom Series originally aired on March 15, 2021 as part of the University Innovation Alliance’s Innovating Together podcast, appearing live on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
2) This transcript is intended to serve primarily as a guide to the full conversation. We apologize for any inaccuracies and encourage you to listen to the podcast.
Click here to access our summary, along with helpful links and audio from this episode.
Walter Kimbrough:
But it was – I mean you had people commenting on social media, people I didn’t know. They were just like, “Uh, this is horrible.” They kept talking about Tuskegee and half of the time they got Tuskegee wrong because they kept saying they injected them with syphilis, which did not happen. I mean we just got beat up. And I kept telling people, “You know, I am not a scientist, even though I went to a math and science magnet high school in Atlanta and my undergrad degree is in biology. But Dr. Verret at Xavier is a real immunologist with degrees from MIT at Colombia and studied at Yale.
Bridget Burns:
Welcome to Innovating Together, podcast produced by the University Innovation Alliance. This is the podcast for busy people in higher education who are looking for the best ideas, inspiration, and leaders to help you improve student success. I'm your host, Bridget Burns.
You’re about to watch another episode of Start the Week with Wisdom, which for those of you at home, if you have not seen this before, these are weekly episodes where we conduct an interview with a sitting college president or chancellor, and we want to talk to them about how they’re navigating the challenge of this moment. We’re in a really unique time, and we want to focus on their leadership and unpack how they are making decisions, how they are navigating, and hopefully it will leave you with a sense of optimism, a bit inspired, and give you a bit of hope.
Doug Lederman:
I'm Doug Lederman, editor of Inside Higher Ed. This week we’re really excited to bring you a conversation with the president of Dillard University, Walter M. Kimbrough. He’s been recognized for his research and writings on historically black colleges and African-American men in college. He’s also emerged as one of the leaders discussing free speech on college campuses, pretty straightforwardly, which is how he does everything. He’s also got one of the most vibrant and thoughtful presences of any college leader and highlighted in his book, #FollowTheLeader: Lessons in Social Media Success From #Higher Education CEOs. Walter, welcome.
Bridget Burns:
Welcome.
Walter Kimbrough:
Thank you, thank you.
Bridget Burns:
It’s such an honor to have you. I feel like I’ve been a fan following for years. I’ve seen you back in the world, when we used to be in person. I saw you at events from afar, but just so delighted to have you on here and know that obviously social media is a very comfortable space for you. For our audience at home, we are taking questions like and comments. Thanks for being here.
Walter Kimbrough:
Thank you.
Bridget Burns:
The first thing we want to do is just get a sense of, you know, how are you holding up right now? Can you give us a sense of your perspective in this moment? Are you in person, are you remote? What’s going on for you so that we can dive into the conversation?
Walter Kimbrough:
Right. We have been in a hybrid form all throughout the year – more classes in person this semester than last. And part of that was just based on feedback from the students. Even in the beginning, when we decided that we would be hybrid in the fall, we participated in a broader study that was done by U.N.C.F. We found that 85 percent of our students said they wanted some kind of in-person experience. So I did my own focus groups with some staff, with faculty, with students, and with some parents. And even parents, some who had comorbidities, said, “I saw how my child progressed being there in person. They need that experience.” Even though it wasn’t optimal with the distancing and everybody had their own single – even though I think people probably still like that – wearing a mask and your class would meet maybe one day a week instead of two days a week.
We got through that, and then we opened up a little bit more to have more classes that are in person. So we’ve tried to make the best out of the situation as possible. I mean, it hasn’t been optimal, but – at this point in time, now, I really do see that proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, when you keep watching the data. I'm checking the [New Orleans] Health Department stats every week to say, “What’s it looking like? What’s the virus rate transmission and how many people are being vaccinated?” So you see those things that are happening, and you sort of get excited to say, “I think we’re about to get out of this.” I'm hopeful.
Doug Lederman:
What’s your sense of the students’ perception of their experience being on the campus? Since we know it’s constricted and different, what are the primary things you believe they’re getting out of it that made them want it, you know, making them appreciate it?
Walter Kimbrough:
For some of our students, as we did our survey last summer, particularly with our population, it really brought home the fact to me that – you know, people laugh at me when I call this. The famous singer, Luther Vandross, had a song called “A House is Not a Home.” And so I call it the house is not a home theory, where some places where students live and they’re just like – I’d rather be at Dillard, in New Orleans, with the pandemic than to be at home. That really wasn’t their home. It was just a house that they lived in, and so this became their home. They really wanted to be here, so that drove a lot of what I was hearing from students to say, “This is still better than what I would be experiencing.” Like I said, it’s not optimal. There’s just going to be students who didn’t have the traditional college experience. They’ve tried.
I mean, we did some things with our coronation for our queen and our king. We did that a little differently. Our theater department did their play a little different. We’re creating some things as we go along. We did a virtual commencement last spring that I thought went well. Those things, but I think for me the virus is even more hideous for – an H.B.C.U. in the South, in a place like New Orleans, where you’re talking about social distancing. People in New Orleans, not only do they go up and hug each other, they kiss, too. So it’s like you take away all spritz of people who like to hug each other and do all of that. Even on our campus, people went up and hug on each other. I think that made it for a lot of people even more challenging because it sort of stripped us of our humanity and what I think we do best.
Doug Lederman:
It’s interesting. We ran a story last – I guess it would’ve been last fall, about the fact that H.B.C.U.s in general seem to be doing kind of better at controlling the pandemic than certain other groups of institutions. It’s partly – it may be what you were talking about before. Students really buying into the idea that being on campus was important in part, maybe to get to not be where they would’ve been otherwise. It was just fascinating to me, and it made a certain amount of sense, but it still kind of surprised me.
Walter Kimbrough:
We had a lot of leadership from our seniors who wanted to have the hold that they would be able to have an in-person commencement. We had a student who is from Nashville – was out last summer, hanging out at the club, got sick, got her dad sick. So she became this poster child – she did a podcast for us, she was on a taskforce with the mayor of Nashville. So we had a press conference about it, and she’s – the college student is saying, “This is my experience. Don't do that.” We had a lot of people where you didn’t have to have the mask police – and on our campus it wasn’t a political statement whether or not you wore a mask, because when you’re 95 percent African American, you know somebody who has been sick and probably even died, so you realize this is a real thing. It’s nothing to play with. I think that helped us too, all of those factors that we had a lot of buy-in and people tried to do their best.
Bridget Burns:
I totally say that. It would be such a privilege to be on campus and at H.B.C.U.s in particular, where the culture in person, interaction, the community is such a huge value point that that totally makes sense. I wanted to see, I'm hearing some rumblings from college leaders about their concerns about fall of ’21. We’re starting to see numbers coming out, but it does seem like the concern level and how people are looking at this really varies by institution, by type, all that. So I'm just wondering, can you give us a sense of your headspace about fall of '21, anything that you’re seeing at Dillard so we could have a sense of that?
Walter Kimbrough:
Right. Right now, in terms of our total number of applications – and we used to get a ton of applications. Those are down I would say significantly. The main reason is that, once again, the personality of the people who are at Dillard are recruiters – they go to the traditional fairs where there are lots of students that are there, so they get lots of applications. And so the conversation we’re having now is that even though we had lots and lots of applications, our deposits are right where they were last year. Having fewer applications has not meant anything in terms of students who are already committed to be here for next year. So we’re still on track in terms of making our class, which I think is really good. And so we’re really trying to figure out now in terms of, “Are we deploying our people resources in the right places, with the right students and families who want to be here?”
So that’s a part of it. The thing that I’ve been predicting that we’re starting to see now is that – I think the cycle is going to be just delayed this year, and you’re going to have more people really starting to apply now and all throughout the summer because they realize things are opening back up. And I just don't know how many 17-18-year-old – and we really have a very traditional student age population – are going to want to be at home when they have a chance to go to school. We saw that this fall where – I was just surprised the number of students and parents during the height of the pandemic that packed up their car and drove across the country to come to experience college. They still wanted that. So, you know, if you’re in a situation where the virus rate is really low and 60 percent of the country is vaccinated, I don't see why people wouldn’t come to college.
They’re not going to want to be at home, and I don't think the job prospects are going to be great at home, either. I think those numbers are going to – I think it’s just going to be a different work cycle for everybody on campus. I think this summer will be busier as people realize things are opening up, I'm not going to be at home anymore, let me get out of here. And I think as parents say, “Get out of the house,” too, I think that all those things working together, but we’ll have to see. I think I'm probably more concerned that still there will be families that have not recovered financially and are unable to come to school because of that and not because of the virus. So we’ll have to see – last fall, we didn’t know what to really expect. Our freshman class was –overall enrollment was one percent less than the previous year. That was a win for us. I don't know what this fall is going to look like. We’ll just sort of see and evaluate as we go along.
Doug Lederman:
Actually one last question on the pandemic maybe before we – and the situation we’re in now. What’s your sense been from your student body, your prospective students, their families, your staff about the – we’ve read some about the reluctance of African Americans to get vaccinated. We had one of your colleagues on a few weeks ago talking about his very prominent vaccination getting to try and encourage members of his community that it’s safe, et cetera. How are you viewing that and what are you doing about it?
Walter Kimbrough:
Well, I still have scars on my body from last fall. Last September, September 2nd, the president of Xavier, of Louisiana [Nas], sent letters to our campuses saying, “We’re in the vaccine trial.” Of course, this is a 50 percent chance that you would get the vaccine or you’d get the placebo. As it turned out, he got the vaccine, I got the placebo. So we sent it out saying, “Look, the research says that African Americans are underrepresented in these studies and we need to be a part of this, so this is something we hope you all will consider.” We didn’t discriminate against anybody – students, faculty, staff, alums. There was a lot of blowback and people were saying, “Uh, you’re forcing the students. You must be getting paid to do –” And I'm like, “I just sent out one letter and that was it. I didn’t say anything else to anybody unless they asked me about it.”
I mean, you had people commenting on social media, people I didn’t know. They were just like “Uh, this is horrible.” They kept talking about Tuskegee, and half of the time they got Tuskegee wrong because they kept saying they injected them with syphilis, which did not happen. I mean we just got beat up. And I kept telling people, “You know, I am not a scientist, even though I went to a math and science magnet high school in Atlanta and my undergrad degree is in biology. But Dr. Verret at Xavier is a real immunologist with degrees from M.I.T. at Colombia and studied at Yale. He knows what he’s talking about. I talked to a ton of doctors before we were involved in this. To me it’s funny now because I see some of my colleagues, and they’re rolling up the sleeves and people are just like, “Uh, such bravery.”
I'm just like, “Where the hell were all y’all back when I was getting beat up? I got dragged for months over this. I'm on all these shows trying to defend why I'm participating in a vaccine trial.” I'm like, “There are vaccines that are developed all the time.” I told people, when I was a kid, I got chicken pox. I remember that. My kids will never get chicken pox because between those times a vaccine was developed. And your kids get the vaccine for chicken pox and you don't say a word about it, so stop. I'm just at a point where I'm sick of this, I don't want to be a part – it’s like, “Go on and get the vaccine. You need the vaccine. Your kids will have a dozen vaccines before they go to school and you won't say a word about it because the school is going to say either you homeschool them or they get vaccines, and nobody pushes back. So stop pushing back now. Let’s get the vaccine and let’s move on.” I'm just sick of people now just heroes, they’re just clapping like, “Uh, they’re something.” And I'm just like, “I can't believe this. This is crazy.”
Bridget Burns:
You really did get dirty on that one. It’s not fair. Yeah. I am curious – I actually had signed up, but didn’t get picked to be part of going at the trials. You’re the first person I’ve met who has. Are you actually getting it as a result, like are you moving ahead because you’re willing to kind of put yourself out there?
Walter Kimbrough:
Yeah, what happened – here, in the state of Louisiana, they partnered schools with Tulane and L.S.U. Dillard was partnered with L.S.U. first to get vaccines for our nursing faculty and our nursing students. Then they offered opportunities for faculty and staff. I mean, I did meet the criteria, but they had a way to vaccinate more of us. So as soon as that happened, I could go back to [unintelligible 00:14:27] Health Services. I was a part of the Pfizer trial to say, “Okay, you could un-blind me now because I have an opportunity to get the vaccine.” Because I was in the trial, they had vaccines reserved for me. I think I got my second injection maybe two or three weeks ago. I'm fully vaccinated now. It’s probably three weeks –
Doug Lederman:
Congrats.
Bridget Burns:
Yeah, that's awesome. Congratulations. I actually want to take from that and head in the direction of social media because – I know that people always want to talk to you about – how do you dare to be so different on social media? How do you dare to show up as a real human being instead of a cardboard cutout of a college president? I'm more interested – what’s that been like in terms of you actually trying to help nudge the sector to be more conversational? We’ve wanted to better connect with students and the broader community. I think that the way that you have modeled how to show up as a real person who is – for folks who are watching, President Kimbrough has been the most laid back and coolest guest as far as prep. He was like, “Yeah, I don't even need to know anything happening in advance. I’ll just roll with it.”
That kind of comfort level I think comes because you have spent so much time being yourself on social media, and so you’re not flappable. I'm just wondering if you could share with us – I assume there’s a lot of good things that have come out of it, but what is your most favorite and what has been the downside? It sounds like the vaccine gave you a sense of that, but I hope you haven’t been trolled too much. We just want to get a sense of that.
Walter Kimbrough:
Yeah. Social media is a very public place and anybody can comment – folks that you know, folks you don't know. I mean, you can do something great and you get lots of likes and retweets, that’s good. And if somebody doesn’t like anything – you know, five years ago we hosted a senate debate. And some kind of way David Duke made the debate and they wanted me to cancel it. And I was like, “We just rented out the space. I am not trying to break a contract because I don't – that contract doesn’t allow us just to say, ‘I don't like this guy and you can't have this event.’ We contracted –” and they selected – we had nothing to do with that. Then you get dragged – those are the times you’re just like, “I'm not going to look at my mentions because there’s just a lot of foolishness out there and I'm not going to take it personally. And if it’s somebody who really knows me who has an issue with me, then they can talk to me face to face. I'm not afraid.”
So if you’ve got an issue with me, you need to come see me directly. But if you just do it on social media, then I'm just like, "You scared. That didn’t bother me. If we’re going to have a confrontation, I'm old school. Let’s have a confrontation and let’s go face-to-face, but you’re just sending something on Twitter." And I mean, that goes for anybody, too. Sometimes students will get upset about something, they want you to do x, y and z. That’s why you guys have so much access to me, and I always tell our students, “If you send me an e-mail and I don't respond in 24 hours – it’s usually much less than that.” But if I don't respond in 24 hours, it means I'm dead or you need to call Liam Neeson because I have been taken. That’s all I’ve been saying.
So if you got an issue, send me a note to say, “Hey, I got an issue with this. Can you explain it?” That's fine. I’ve been reading some things because social media can be a mean place, which is why it is interesting now, because I grew up a United Methodist. My father’s a United Methodist minister so we’re in Lent. Every year during Lent, I give up social media. I post on Sundays, I don't read anything. So anybody who’s commenting on this – I won't see it at all. I give it up because for me it’s sort of like I need that cleansing, because there’s a lot of good and a lot of ways to connect. That’s the thing I like about it, that I’ve been able to use social media to connect, to bring people together, to open up opportunities for our students, to share – I try to use it very positively. When I hear good news, I like to brag on people. I think that’s a part of my job.
So I used it for that to say, “How can we inject more positivity? How can we share important information on that as well?” That’s the way I like to use it. And so on Sundays I just post a lot of things – I mean yesterday, you know, things that were happening on campus, and then my son was in a basketball tournament so I posted pictures from that. So you get the full range of things, but it’s a good – I think for me, I’ve had ease with it because when I became a president in 2004, that’s when Facebook began. So my entire presidency, I’ve sort of grown as a president as social media evolved. So you go from there to Twitter, to Instagram – all these different platforms, so I had a chance to sort of experiment with them along the way as they were developing. For me, that’s a part of my comfort level.
But anybody who’s become a president in the last 16-17 years now should have some level of comfort because they have entered a presidency that has always had social media. When I first started, I could see more reticence from presidents because this is something completely new, and I did presentations at C.I.C. [Council of Independent Colleges] to talk about it. But now somebody coming in and sort of being reticent, it’s like – but it’s been around a long time now so you need to sort of get over that. As I tell presidents, too, even if you’re not on social media you’re on social media. That means people are talking about you. They just use your name. They can tag you [unintelligible 00:19:40] social media. Don't act like you’re not there. You’re there.
Bridget Burns:
I'm glad that you actually have spoken about this. I was like, “Yeah, I hope A.C. has tapped you to be the one leading any modules for new presidents or Harvard on social media engagement, just because you are kind of like the one who’s the most experienced with it.”
Doug Lederman:
We’ve seen in the enrollment data that we’ve seen sort of in the pandemic era. We’ve seen Black students generally sort of among those affected the most in terms of having their academic plans waylaid, and that’s obviously concerning because it seemed pre-pandemic that higher education was starting to make some headway on equity issues, I would say, a little more than had been the case previously. I'm curious whether sort of how you feel, again, if there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, how that looks over the next year, whether the momentum would be restored. I'm also particularly interested in your sense of what predominantly white institutions can be doing to better serve that population. I don't know what happened, what you do when you get asked by colleagues of predominantly white institutions, but interested in your thoughts about what institutions that don't serve that population primarily or heavily can do to do better.
Walter Kimbrough:
Yeah. There are two ways I think about it – particularly from the H.B.C.U. space, there have been people who have said, “Uh, enrollment is dropping, enrollment is dropping, enrollment is dropping." It just sort of raises red flag. And so I went deeper into the numbers and realized that that was the tip of the iceberg. The real drop has been in the number of African American students going to college. I think I read something maybe within the last year that talked about that. That’s pretty significant. People weren’t talking about that. Actually, H.B.C.U.s were faring better than African American students overall. So there is a bigger picture going on here that Black students are not going to college.
And I'm not hearing enough of the bells being wrong to say, “What is happening with that?” You have fewer that are going, I'm worried that that’s going to be exacerbating when you start hearing these horror stories about kids and some of these urban and even rural school districts that are sort of done online, but it really hasn’t been good and they’re not logging in. I mean there have been a ton of those stories. That’s the crisis that’s coming on top of the one that we already have. So now institutions have to figure out how then do we create these communities that are responsive to all students and particularly for African American students? There’s going to have to be some intentional conversations about what are we doing as an institution? Does our institution reflect our student body? Because I think a lot of people aren’t even dealing with that issue. It’s sort of like what – the people in leadership who are giving the same kinds of arguments don't look like the students, and so you’re having this conflict that they aren’t teaching the students in the classroom, they aren’t the administrators.
I think there are some things that can be learned from H.B.C.U.s. I think part of the concern that I have – because people are worried about the competition for students – that there probably really should be a competition for faculty, staff, and administrators to really say, “We’re going to have an institution that looks like our student body.” They’re going to have to really start trying to tap some of those people in those roles to service some of these other institutions. I think that’s got to be part of it because it’s different when you have somebody, you know, like Old Dominion just got their first African American president. Bryan, I’ve known him for years. I used to work at Old Dominion. Bryan’s worldview – he’s a H.B.C.U. graduate. He’s able then to have conversations that Old Dominion has a habit for. It’s not to say anything bad about their previous presidents.
The current president, John, was there when I was there, I know Dr. Cooke when he was there before. So they’ve had good people, but based on your experiences, there are certain things that come to mind that are more of an issue for you that you pay attention to. And so I think that they’ll be able to benefit as a diverse institution to have someone with his background. I think we have to see more of those kinds of things that are happening to really address some of the issues because if it’s not part of your lived experience sometime – you can be a special person that really dives in, but those persons I believe have been few and far between.
Bridget Burns:
That’s really helpful. I will definitely be following up with you because as trying to – coaching guide, predominantly white institutions, this has definitely been a struggle in terms of – we’re very comfortable focusing on our quantitative data and the quantitative, retention graduate, all these things, but the real shift has to be qualitative in terms of, really, how do we take in input and feedback from students and how do you weight it against some of that quantitative data so that you can actually figure out what kind of cultural changes need to happen on your campus. I just think P.W.I.s [predominantly white institutions] are really struggling with that right now, and I hope they continue to focus on this rather than just giving up because it’s hard.
Walter Kimbrough:
Right. I was thinking, I saw recently the new president of Ohio State made a commitment that says that they feel like their retention efforts with African American students are being harmed because they don't have enough African American faculty. So she’s identified to say, “We’re going after – I can't remember the number – x number of African-American faculty.” They saw that as a reason for a retention issue. It’s got to be those kinds of things that people are doing to say, “We feel like this too is a retention issue. The students don't have the right mentors and those kinds of things. We’re going to go after people.” I think that’s part of the strategy.
Bridget Burns:
I think that's great, yeah. President Johnson, I’ve been really impressed with her rhetoric and a lot of the initiatives that are coming out, and I think we need to see more models of what white leaders of institutions do and not just assuming that a lot of the work needs to be done by any other community. We need to model that this is how you be a great ally, you can be a leader ally. Obviously, we are in violent agreement. I did want to shift to just you as a leader. I know that you have been president for quite some time and you’ve been a mentor to many. I'm just wondering if you can share with us what advice you most frequently give when – say I'm a new president, I just went out to get the gig and I call you. What is the advice that you most frequently offer?
Walter Kimbrough:
For new presidents, one of the things I do is I suggest that people come in and become a student of the institution, and you spend time really learning about the history, the traditions and the people there. I was at Philander Smith seven and a half years before I came to Dillard. I’ve been here almost nine. And when I got here, I was like, “Look, I know how to be a president. I’ve been a president of a church-related H.B.C.U. in an urban setting for seven and a half years. I don't know Dillard well.” So like I did at Philander, I spent time in the archives. To me it’s always interesting just to sort of get a sense of the history from the old pictures and stories that were written. That’s always a part of my preparation. Then I offered 30-minute meetings to anybody on campus who wanted them just to sort of – I had a few basic questions, but to hear about those people and their stories, who they were, who are your people, how long have you been here, if you were me what would you advise me to do first and those kinds of things.
And when I got here, I talked to 200 people. I mean, so I spent a lot of time in my first six months just talking to people, trying to figure out as an institution. So, you know, those things I think help you have better sense and for people to connect with you, to find out about who you are and that kind of thing. Once you’ve done that, I think that you have a firm foundation in to say, “All right. Based on what I'm hearing and the kinds of things, these are some things I think we should look at." I think also, too, I think Ron Heifetz at Harvard talks about this idea of leadership being able to interrogate reality. That’s the tough part because you can come into a new place and people say, “Uh, this is great, this is great, this is great.” And you got to come and answer questions like, “Well, how do you know it’s great?" I mean, everybody says something is great.
I always tell folks here, “What are the external validators? It’s great for you to say that you’re great, but does your major national association for whatever this is, have they given you any kind of recognition that you’re great? Because I just can't go on your saying. It’s good that you have high self-esteem, but what kind of external validations do you have?” So we start talking about those kinds of things so we can have a realistic understanding of, “This is where we are. We think it’s solid, but how do we get it to another level?” So let’s push that way. I think that’s a big part of it, too. I think it starts with coming in and saying, “I don't know this place. Let me come in. Let me learn about the history. Let me learn about the people. Let me learn about the community. Let me be a part of the community and get engaged.” I think that’s a part of how you should start.
Bridget Burns:
That is perfect advice, and I hope folks listen to it. President Kimbrough, this has been a real pleasure for us. Thank you so much for being so – just being the coolest president on the Internet and also just being so accessible. For folks at home, if you want to connect, as you heard, it’s (at)hiphoppres. Is there anything else you would direct folks to if they wanted to connect with you, President Kimbrough?
Walter Kimbrough:
No. All of my social media I'm active – Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram. And it’s either (at)hiphoppres or just my name. You can find me there, but I mean, once again I really won't be active until after Easter, so I got three more weeks.
Bridget Burns:
All right. And only positive shout outs and high fives on the Internet. If you want to talk trash, at somebody else. Thanks so much, and Doug, as always, for being an excellent co-host, and we will see you all next week. Have a great day.
Bios of Guest and Co-Hosts
Guest: Walter M. Kimbrough, President, Dillard University
Dr. Walter M. Kimbrough has served as Dillard University's seventh president since 2012. He previously led Philander Smith College, was Vice President for Student Affairs at Albany State University, and has also worked in student affairs at Emory University, Georgia State University, and Old Dominion University. He has been recognized for his research and writings on H.B.C.U.s and African American men in college, recently emerging as a leading voice in the discussion of free speech on college campuses. An active user of social media as a leadership platform, Dr. Kimbrough is the author of #Follow The Leader: Lessons in Social Media Success from #Higher Ed CEOs. Among his many awards and citations, in 2015 he was named by TheBestSchools.org as one of the 20 most interesting college presidents. He is a nationally recognized expert on fraternities and sororities, and the author of Black Greek 101: The Culture, Customs and Challenges of Black Fraternities and Sororities. He earned his doctorate in higher education from Georgia State, and holds degrees from University of Georgia and Miami University in Ohio. Dr. Kimbrough and his wife Adria Nobles Kimbrough, an attorney, are the proud parents of two children, Lydia Nicole and Benjamin Barack.
Co-Host: Bridget Burns, Executive Director, University Innovation Alliance
Dr. Bridget Burns is the founding Executive Director of the University Innovation Alliance (UIA). For the past decade, she has advised university presidents, system chancellors, and state and federal policy leaders on strategies to expand access to higher education, address costs, and promote completion for students of all backgrounds. The UIA was developed during Bridget’s tenure as an American Council on Education (ACE) Fellowship at Arizona State University. She held multiple roles within the Oregon University System, including serving as Chief of Staff and Senior Policy Advisor, where she won the national award for innovation in higher education government relations. She was a National Associate for the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, and has served on several statewide governing boards including ones governing higher education institutions, financial aid policy, and policy areas impacting children and families.
Co-Host: Doug Lederman, Editor and Co-Founder, Inside Higher Ed
Doug Lederman is editor and co-founder of Inside Higher Ed. With Scott Jaschik, he leads the site's editorial operations, overseeing news content, opinion pieces, career advice, blogs and other features. Doug speaks widely about higher education, including on C-Span and National Public Radio and at meetings and on campuses around the country. His work has appeared in The New York Times and USA Today, among other publications. Doug was managing editor of The Chronicle of Higher Education from 1999 to 2003, after working at The Chronicle since 1986 in a variety of roles. He has won three National Awards for Education Reporting from the Education Writers Association, including one for a 2009 series of Inside Higher Ed articles on college rankings. He began his career as a news clerk at The New York Times. He grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and graduated in 1984 from Princeton University. Doug and his wife, Kate Scharff, live in Bethesda, MD.
About Weekly Wisdom
Weekly Wisdom is an event series that happens live on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. It also becomes a podcast episode. Every week, we join forces with Inside Higher Ed and talk with a sitting college president or chancellor about how they're specifically navigating the challenges of this moment. These conversations will be filled with practicable things you can do right now by unpacking how and why college leaders are making decisions within higher education. Hopefully, these episodes will also leave you with a sense of optimism and a bit of inspiration.
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