bodner089

The annual Regional and Branch Campus Administrators Conference (RBCA) just concluded today.  For a number of years the conference has been held in June, meeting at the Longboat Key Club resort, which is a stunning venue.  RBCA limits attendance to about 60 participants and typically has just one program track for everyone, which has worked well for this group. As usual, organizers did a fine job.  Jim Smith, campus dean at Ohio University Lancaster was the conference chair, and the program committee clearly worked hard to create a strong set of sessions.  I have attended RBCA most years since 1995, and I always have a great time.  Indeed, I believe that the annual NABCA and RBCA conferences are highly complementary, and I encourage branch leaders to consider attending one or both, whenever possible. This year, I provided the opening keynote, discussing my new book, as well as offering some thoughts on future opportunities and risks for branch campuses.  On...

Continuing to share from my personal experiences, I’ve been fortunate to visit a wide range of branch campuses both across the United States and internationally (Hong Kong, Russia, Mexico and Canada).   Some of the domestic visits tied to meetings of NABCA or RBCA, whereas others were consulting jobs, mostly over the last five years. The consulting work shaped my understanding and opinions more than I expected.   In the absence of a substantial literature or research that identifies best practices, institutions developed branches for their own reasons at varying times in their history.   Every institution I visited had a unique story to tell.   There were common themes, of course, such as struggling to bring programs from the main campus, wrestling with interference from certain main campus offices that think they know more about the branch audience than the people who work there, and making sure that courses and class schedules actually meet stude...

Perhaps the most interesting career transition for me came with my promotion to vice president at Ohio University.   In that position, I was responsible for five campuses, with a combined enrollment (at the time) of approximately 9000 students.   Each campus had a dean, as well as local faculty and support staff.   In addition, I was responsible for the Division of Lifelong Learning, which supported a variety of programs, including paper-based correspondence courses, summer programs, conferences and workshops, and other activities.   In fact, we had a center in Hong Kong that reported to the dean of Lifelong Learning, so in a sense, we even had a branch on the other side of the world.   Later, we also provided administrative support for online courses and programs, which drew my work in new directions. Although having a vice president specifically focused on branch campuses and other outreach programs may not be unique, I do believe it is rela...

I consider myself to be an advocate for branch campuses.   At their best, branches create access and opportunity for individuals and contribute to the economic development of the communities they serve.   In Out on a Limb:   A Branch Campus Life I go into much more detail about why branches matter, but for present purposes the key point is that branches serve an audience that is different than the audiences served by a traditional main campus or by a fully online program.   There are excellent opportunities for campuses and programs to partner in multiple ways, but it is a mistake to overlook the differences. Institutional leaders certainly recognize that the world of higher education is much more complicated and more competitive than it was just a few years ago.   Count me among those who believe that the financial/business models are broken, and the impact of technology has forever changed delivery options in ways that are exciting but also...

I attended the annual conference of the National Association of Branch Campus Administrators (NABCA) last week, and it was a great time.   The program was strong, but as usual a lot of the value in attending was the opportunity to network with people committed to the branch mission of providing access to higher education. I presented a session, titled “Get Strategic to Compete:   New Directions for Branch Campuses” which turned out to be a lot of fun.   The audience was engaged and participated enthusiastically, which in turn gave me all the more energy for my topic.   In a later post I’ll share more about some of the new directions I’ve observed. My book, Out on a Limb:   A Branch Campus Life was available for purchase at the conference, and I was pleased to have 34 copies picked up.   I also noticed an uptick in purchases of both print and Kindle versions on Amazon, so maybe word is getting around.   I’m not aware of any comparabl...

Early feedback on my book, Out on a Limb:   A Branch Campus Life , has been gratifying.   I’m pleased that people find it an interesting read, but even happier when they find helpful information or ideas.   There are so few resources for people working on branches that I hope my contribution might provide some support or encouragement. A few friends have asked about my intended audience, and that’s a good question.   Although I’d like to think that lots of people might find Out on a Limb interesting, the specific reader I kept in mind as I wrote was a campus chief administrator (dean, director, or whatever the title).   In particular, I was thinking about an individual who recently landed on a branch campus without having an extensive branch background.   I know from meeting people at NABCA and RBCA meetings that one can feel a little lost and alone out on that limb, and so I wanted to extend a helping hand. Secondarily, I also was thinki...

I’m pleased to announce publication of my new book, Out on a Limb:   A Branch Campus Life .   It has been a long time coming, but it is now available on Amazon, in both a print (paperback) version and a Kindle e-book version.   You can find it at http://www.amazon.com/Out-Limb-Branch-Campus-Life-ebook/dp/B00J274TLS/ref=sr_1_15?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395098891&sr=1-15&keywords=Charles+Bird (Kindle version) or http://www.amazon.com/Out-Limb-Branch-Campus-Life/dp/0991498208/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395099416&sr=1-11&keywords=Charles+Bird (Print version). Chapter topics are: 1.      A Partial Memoir 2.      Characteristics of a Branch Campus 3.      Politics, Purpose, and Practice 4.      Students 5.      Branch Campus Faculty Members 6.      Branch Campus Support Staff 7.      Ag...