“Honestly, the faculty role is probably changing far more dramatically than the administrator’s,” Ebersole said. “Not any more quickly, but more dramatically.”
Administrators in 2023 will also have to be aware of how much the student body has changed. Administrators will be dealing with a more equal share of “traditional” and “post-traditional” students, and not all kinds of technology will be a right fit for the differing demographics.
While a large number of students and faculty will be interacting online, physical universities will still exist in order to create, discover, and research the knowledge being shared through the internet.
“The things that are going to be different for me and my university are not of the same importance to the research university, and I think we have to draw that distinction,” Ebersole said.
Across the board, dwindling state funds will force many public college leaders to act more as fundraisers and marketers for their universities. They’ll have a larger online presence, reaching out to current and prospective students on social media and to alumni through fundraising platforms like EverTrue.
“People in my shoes are going to have to be entrepreneurial for sure,” Ebersole said. “They are going to have to be much more risk tolerant than many academic administrators are today.”
Follow Jake New on Twitter at @eCN_Jake, and join the conversation with #eCN2023.
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