Defending Higher Education with Kevin McClure

Share your thoughts about this episode as a text message. On two recent episodes of this podcast, we talked about an essay titled "Higher Ed Is Adrift" by Kevin McClure. In the essay, Kevin outlines some of the many attacks the current U.S. presidential administration is leveraging against higher ed, and he notes that many faculty and staff are finding their institutional leaders' responses lacking. Today on the show, I talk with Kevin McClure, who is a professor of higher education and chair of educational leadership at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, about his essay and the responses it has generated. Kevin comes to this conversation as a faculty member and as a former student affairs staffer and as someone who studies higher education. He’s the author of a new book, The Caring University: Reimagining the Higher Education Workplace After the Great Resignation, published this year by Johns Hopkins University Press. In our conversation, we talk about individual and collective action in the current moment, higher ed’s “communication battle,” and his advice for academic leaders.Episode ResourcesKevin McClure’s websiteThe Caring University: Reimagining the Higher Education Workplace After the Great Resignation, Kevin McClure, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2025“Higher Ed Is Adrift,” Kevin McClure, Chronicle of Higher Education, April 25, 2025“Five Steps to Defend Higher Ed,” Kevin McClure, Chronicle of Higher Education, June 3, 2025Support the showPodcast Links:Order The Norton Guide to AI-Aware Teaching by Annette Vee, Marc Watkins, and Derek Bruff.Intentional Teaching is sponsored by UPCEA, the online and professional education association.Subscribe to the Intentional Teaching newsletter: https://derekbruff.ck.page/subscribeSupport Intentional Teaching on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/intentionalteachingFind me on LinkedIn and Bluesky.See my website for my "Agile Learning" blog and information about having me speak at your campus or conference.