Me and Dr. G after class! What a pleasure and honor to spend time with the students in Michelle Giannakopoulos, Ed.D.’s public speaking class, part of The Wesleyan Center for Prison Education. The students were so sharp, engaged, thoughtful, honest, analytical, and ultimately just a pleasure to share that classroom with. This is an incredible program, one that gives people the greatest opportunity to change and elevate their lives. I am grateful to Tess Wheelwright and the te

In July 2025, as Special Advisor to the Board of Regents, I was asked to provide “strategic guidance and research-driven insight to inform Board deliberations and long-term planning.” It was meant to be a year-long project focusing on four areas: 1) workforce development, 2) public higher education funding models, 3) early college models, and 4) system office structure, function and alignment. I delivered the final analysis in late June 2026, and I am proud to say that the ye

This came up in my LinkedIn feed. https://walterwendler.com/2026/03/ideas-not-ideology-a-line-universities-cannot-afford-to-blur/ I wanted to respond on LI, but it was way too long. So here it is. To start, the author is clearly a long-time academic leader, and only those who have sat in the seat understand how hard it is. He has clear and firm convictions, and nothing I say here is meant to offend the author or attack his positions and values in an ad hominem manner. Also, t