Happy Holidays from The EDU Ledger! May this holiday season bring you joy, inspiration, and success.

🎧 Our 6th Most Popular Podcast of 2025 | Episode 157: Navigating Access and Opportunity in #STEMM with Dr. Stephanie Rodriguez #EDULedger2025 bit.ly/4pTor1P

19th Most Popular Article of 2025 | Coming Home: @ibramxk.bsky.social returns to #HBCU roots to build a new institute for Advanced Study at Howard University #EDULedger2025

Our 20th Most Popular Article of 2025 | Coppin State University: A Renaissance of Purpose and Progress #EDULedger2025

21st Most Popular Article of 2025 | USC Professor Defends DEI Programs in Congressional Testimony #EDULedger2025

22nd Most Popular Article of 2025 | Trump Signs Executive Order Establishing White House Initiative on HBCUs #EDULedger2025

Our 7th Most Popular Podcast of 2025 | Episode 152: A Remarkable Journey in Community College Leadership, with Dr. Walter G. Bumphus #EDULedger2025

23rd Most Popular Article | Oakwood University Names First Female President in 129-Year History #EDULedger2025

24th Most Popular Article | Trump Executive Order Targets Federal DEI Initiatives, Drawing Swift Backlash #EDULedger2025

#25 | Morehouse's Black Men's Research Institute Explores Nuances of Black Fatherhood #EDULedger2025

We’re counting down our top 25 articles and top seven podcasts from 2025 as we look ahead to 2026! 🗞️🎧 Follow along using #EDULedger2025!

From The Magazine | One certainty emerged from 2025’s chaos: the American higher education system that emerges from this crucible will look dramatically different from the one that entered it.

ICYMI, our Year In Review/Top 100 Associate Degree Producers edition with stories on the Maricopa Leadership Institute, University of Denver, supporting international students, and more, is now available! → Link to Access: bit.ly/3ZMAfq5 → Subscribe to The EDU Ledger: bit.ly/3ZMxZPy

On The Move | Lisa Nashua has been named executive director of the Friends of Fullerton College Foundation.

A state study released recently reveals that New Jersey's Community College Opportunity Grant has significantly improved student success, with recipients 32% more likely to graduate within three years compared to their peers.

Southern Illinois University Carbondale has announced plans to honor Dr. Melvin Cleveland Terrell, a distinguished alumnus and trailblazing vice president for student affairs, through two interconnected initiatives.

On The Move | Angela Wilson has been named vice president for research at Texas A&M University.

Views | Expanding equitable access to higher education is both a moral and financial necessity, despite ongoing legal and political resistance rooted in a long history of exclusion.

Dr. Michael Joseph Brown, an internationally recognized biblical scholar, minister, and public intellectual who served as president of Payne Theological Seminary, has died.

On The Move | Airea “Dee” Matthews has been appointed provost of Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. https://bit.ly/48YxsPV

The multi-day manhunt that gripped New England last week ended when authorities found the suspect in the Brown University mass shooting dead in a New Hampshire storage unit.

Dr. Kyle Reyes, VP of Institutional Advancement at Utah Valley University, joined us on #InTheMargins to discuss student success, cultural understanding, and how campuses can continue to support students when identity-based programs are dismantled. Watch + listen to the full episode: bit.ly/48MkpST

Community Colleges' Vital Role in Humanities Scholarship Highlighted in New Report

The University of Maryland Eastern Shore finds itself at the center of a contentious legal battle that highlights ongoing tensions around race, academic integrity, and diversity in higher education. bit.ly/3LcJPA1

In Memoriam | 2025 brought losses to the higher ed community, as several prominent scholars passed away. Their legacies endure through the countless lives they touched, the institutions they transformed, and the knowledge they produced.

On The Move | Laura Abrams has been named the next dean of the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work.

Views | What has been until now a largely unmet moral obligation, namely, expanding access to higher education to students from all backgrounds, is now also a financial imperative.

Nearly one-third of Massachusetts school districts have not reported using high-quality math curricula in any grade.

Dr. Ernest McNealey has been forced out as president of Allen University. bit.ly/4oXDtCB

A new study released by the AccessLex Institute reveals that law schools traditionally viewed as underperforming often exceed expectations when student backgrounds and contextual factors are properly accounted for.

A new Joint Center brief addresses growing concerns that Black workers could be excluded from emerging opportunities in advanced manufacturing, energy, and technology despite historic federal funding flowing into these sectors.

University System of Maryland Clears President Dr. Darryll Pines of Plagiarism Allegations

First-year college applications rose 9% through the first major 2025–26 deadline, fueled by sharp gains among low-income, first-generation, rural, and underrepresented students, even as international applications fell 9%.

The Reverend Dr. Serene Jones reflects on 18 years at the helm of Union Theological Seminary. bit.ly/4aSogiy

On The Move | Britt Hudson has been appointed Dean of Students at Purdue University Northwest.

Views | Elizabeth Catlett’s art is inseparable from her education at Howard University. It demonstrates how HBCUs cultivate artists whose work advances Black dignity, justice, and liberation.

High-Cost Loans Trapping Colorado Borrowers in Debt, New Research Finds

For some Brown University students, the trauma was compounded by previous exposure to gun violence from high school shootings.

A new AACSB report documented a 6 percent decline in #MBA enrollment over five years, while master's specialist programs grew 11 percent and master's generalist programs expanded 17 percent.

From The Magazine | From unprecedented federal interventions to accelerating college closures, the sector faced challenges on multiple fronts that left administrators scrambling, faculty demoralized, and students caught in the crossfire.

Two of Oregon's oldest private nonprofit universities have signed a letter of intent to merge, a move that would create the state's largest independent institution with more than 6,000 students across four campuses.

On The Move | Tashika Griffith has been named president of Germanna Community College. https://bit.ly/4iWmHCp

A new national survey by @aacu.org reveals that employers maintain robust confidence in higher education's ability to prepare students for the workforce, even as broader public trust in colleges and universities has declined to historic lows.

From The Magazine | How federal crackdowns, financial crisis, and demographic shifts converged to transform higher ed in 2025.

On The Move | Terrance “Terry” Tumey has been named director of Athletics, Recreation and Instruction at @caltech.edu https://bit.ly/4oYelvs

20% of federal student loan borrowers currently in repayment are either delinquent or in default. Nearly half of all borrowers report making tradeoffs between loan payments and covering basic needs like rent and food.

From The Magazine | It’s time for higher education institutions to move beyond symbolic diversity and build the structures that allow international students to succeed, not just academically, but in every aspect of their university experience.

From The Magazine | Leaders in higher education are navigating an increasingly complex and rapidly shifting environment. Institutions need leaders who can meet these challenges head-on, guide their campuses through uncertainty, and inspire and stabilize their organizations.

Great model here Lots of states seeking to reconnect w #TheAdultStudent Looks like @NJ sees the long term value of investing in these efforts.

🎧 Our podcast series, In The Margins, looks at issues surrounding student and faculty success, equity, skyrocketing college costs and more. Catch up on the latest episodes of In The Margins via The EDU Ledger YouTube Channel: youtube.com/@TheEDULedger