"Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It is the transition that is troublesome." - Isaac Asimov

As higher education peers over the post-COVID horizon, the next tasks in the new normal are distribution, contact tracing, tracking and compliance.

Here's how higher ed institutions across the nation can help students navigate the next wave of the COVID pandemic, according to leaders at William James College in Massachusetts, which has its roots in psychology.

The pandemic's economic impact has threatened small, private, liberal arts, tuition and discount-dependent colleges. But it may also provide an opportunity to reinvent and transform institutions into more sustainable higher learning enterprises.

As the fall semester gets closer, higher education leaders are finalizing complex plans about reopening campuses safely, plans that must be able to change at a moment's notice as the pandemic continues.

College and university leaders must be nimble and open to disruptive, outside-the-box systems thinking—now and in a post-pandemic world, says UB Future Shock columnist James E. Samels.

The best relationships grow out of collaborative planning and programming, and require a shared philosophy and practice of transparency about future development options, says James E. Samels, UB Future Shock columnist.

UB Future Shock columnist James E. Samels addresses how JCC President Daniel DeMarte's vision is boosting enrollment and the local workforce in western New York.