My 100th post (Big Deal!)

zzzzzz, oh sorry, just fell asleep watching a slow HP flash ad, while waiting to make my comment. But since it's St. Patrick's Day, how about a little ditty to wake up: "One hundred posts by Devise on the wall, one hundred posts by Devise, if one of the posts should happen to fall. . .99 posts by Devise on the wall."
Anyway, I think you are off to a rollicking two-month start. While I really like the local focus, I think you should use the local stories to make broader national points. Not sure if you envision "Coffee with. . ." as a regular feature, but it should be. Also, maybe this is self-interest, but try to write a bit more stories of interest to parents. I am one, and my group is College Parents of America. Check us out, dear blog readers, at www.collegparents.org. Erin Go Blog and Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, Dan. You're doing a terrific job. I also appreciate the (generous) links to other higher ed outlets and reporters, and I enjoy the conversations with presidents. I have another, slightly self-serving comment. As you know, the Association of American Universities, where I work, is made up of 62 leading public and private research universities. So I look for stories on research-related issues. How do we ensure that America remains a magnet for the best minds from around the world? How can our schools produce more scientists and engineers? How might we improve the process of turning university research into useful products and services? How can we sustain these economic engines so that they continue to contribute to long-term prosperity as they have since World War II. (OK, that was more than a little self-serving.) We also have a very strong interest in issues of importance to higher education in general. But we have particular responsibilities in these areas. I don't see such stories here. I would argue that this is a very important element of our diverse system of higher education, both locally (Johns Hopkins, the College Park campus of the University of Maryland, and the University of Virginia are all AAU members -- and our area is home to other important research universities)and nationally. So I hope we'll see more coverage of these issues. Barry Toiv

Dan,

I enjoy the blog. I think the frequency is great and no need to work on the weekends. I like the conversations with college presidents because it provides a national perspective. Local readers also need to know what's going on in national higher ed, so they are able to put our problems/concerns in national context. How about more from Capitol Hill -- the Post, is located in our nation's seat of government.

Keep up the good work. -- Jeff

Daniel--

Congrats on your first 100. Looking forward to many more.

We like your blog for three reasons. First, it's topical. The articles represent a good cross-section of what's happening on the business side of higher education today. Second, it's relevant. The articles are interesting and timely. Finally, it's economical. The prose is restrained, pithy, and easy to scan.

We're not so arrogant as to suggest content and methods to a Washington Post reporter. But we're delighted to say what we like so far: the coffee conversations with presidents, the focus on technology and innovation, the questions of institutional accountability, and the presentation of the larger macro-economic problems facing higher learning. We hope to see more of this in the future (even if it comes at the expense of more general press releases).

We can tell you the four key issues we are focused on with our clients:

1) The funding crisis in many academic fields across higher ed, especially the social sciences and humanities

2) The concentration of declining federal and state funding into a handful of research areas (especially the life sciences), resulting in dramatic reductions of support for the great majority of academic disciplines

3) The rise of competition (and potential partners) abroad, especially Asia

4) Opportunities and challenges brought by technology

Selfishly we look forward to any articles that touch on these four themes.

But regardless of where your typing takes you, keep up the great work!

Best,

Grant Rice
Academy Partners LLC

Dan,

The blog has been a great supplement to your print articles. I'm a big fan of blogs that focus mostly on original content; provide value-added content the few times they do report on stories from other sources; blend campus items with posts that touch on national issue; and publish on a regular basis without overwhelming us with non-stop posting. College Inc. does all of this very well. The frequency of your posts is near perfect.

One thought is to look at integrating, when appropriate, video or audio (for instance, short clips from your interviews) or the occasional chart or graph into your posts. Anyhow, the blog has been great and is a must-read for us. Tony Pals, NAICU