The Class of 2019 Commencement speakers included celebrities like Glenn Close at the College of William & Mary, Fareed Zakaria at The Ohio State University, Laverne Cox at Pitzer College and Apple CEO, Tim Cook at Tulane University, to name only a few. While the style and wisdom shared by the myriad of commencement speakers around the world varied, the common denominator indicated that the Class of 2019 is the succession...

As some of you may know, I’ve been studiously writing a multi-part essay on “Capturing and Captivating a Mostly Distance-Learning Audience.” The platforms are webinar and teleconferencing and the unprecedented program success (in terms of “spin-off gigs”) has been surprising. I've been trying to understand how the setting and structure of these two recent programs has affected my presentati...

One of the best ways to learn is to get first-hand accounts from the individuals who have recently lived through the exact scenario you're currently in. With that, Tim Muma is joined by Sarah Kikkert, the communications and social media coordinator for the Wisconsin State Fair. Sarah hasn't been out of college for long, but she took every opportunity to work, learn and network while she was in school. Sarah describes the ke...

Each year, publications such as U.S. News & World Reports publish lists of the “best” colleges and universities in the U.S. Families are looking at significant investment in higher education, so it makes sense that they would want their children to have the best possible educational experience. As news of rising college costs continues to dominate the media, many so-called experts are offering incoming studen...

As college graduates enter to world of work, employers will be watching them and evaluating their job performance. New employees are expected to accept the culture, fit in and prove that they belong. Employers want new employees to hit the ground running, perform at a high level and impress everyone they work with or encounter. In other words, recent grads must earn their way into the company by making solid contributio...

Alex would like to establish his own business, but he's afraid he won't succeed. Marcia would like to return to school, but she's afraid she might fail. Abraham Lincoln failed in business, and was defeated for Congress, the Senate and Vice President. Thomas Edison had 10,000 trials before inventing the light bulb. Did you learn to walk or ride a bike without falling? What's your attitude toward career...

Recent College Graduates: Develop a Job Search Strategy How can you launch your job search after getting your degree? It’s hard when you continue to hear reports of how tough a new grad job search can be. Despite stagnant wage growth in the United States, there’s actually some good news for the class of 2017. Entry-level jobs are paying more on average for new grads than they ever have, 3 percent more tha...

There’s no sugarcoating the staggering facts: student loan debt has reached record levels, totaling over $1 trillion. Student debt in our country is now more than car loans or credit card debt. Under current law, student loans are one of the very few types of debt that can’t be discharged, even in bankruptcy court. On the other side of these cold, hard facts is the psychological toll debt can take. The gre...

Many pundits, scholars, academics and lawmakers believe that the current education system is fraught with challenges that have to be addressed and resolved for our country and future generations to thrive. Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, for one, recently unveiled a new tuition-free pilot program in New York State that attempts to forge a new way. To most, it’s become clear that our current system is no longer affordable...

We’ve all heard the many pundits and researchers claim that our country’s current educational model is simply not sustainable for the vast majority of students and families who want to engage in it, now and in the future. Costs are soaring and student debt is escalating, with the national student loan debt at $1.41 trillion, leaving us to wonder exactly why are higher education prices so exorbitant and will...