Special Report: Higher Ed and the Economy

That's a good title for a good article from University Business magazine. Current SCUP president Sal Rinella is quoted extensively in it, from the Virtual Conversation we transmitted on February 4 about the federal stimulus package. [More Virtual Conversations are coming soon.

Rinella is among a dozen SCUP presidents who will be lending their presence to one or more of a new series starting March 20 and focusing on campus budget crises.] “We’ve been through recessions before, but I think this one is deeper and probably has more consequences than any one prior to this, and universities are feeling the brunt of it. It’s almost a ‘perfect storm,’ with state appropriations being cut back while people are losing their jobs and investment portfolios are dwindling,” says Sal Rinella, vice president of the STRATUS division of Atlanta-based Heery International. STRATUS, comprised of former senior university officers, helps institutions create competitive advantages by leveraging assets. Rinella, previously president of Austin Peay State University (Tenn.), also is president of the Society for College and University Planning. But he and others who work in or with the higher ed community see actions colleges and universities can take—and many are taking them—to mitigate the problems they’re experiencing while waiting for the economy to improve.