Category: Crisis Management

In this episode of Changing Higher Ed, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Evan Nierman, founder and CEO of Red Banyan, a strategic communications firm built around high-stakes rapid response. The discussion centers on why the word “crisis” is the reason so many institutions are in one without realizing it, why the instinct to stay quiet now works against you, and why most of the work that determines the outcome happens long before anything goes wrong.

What you’ll gain from listening to this podcast:

✓ The Definition Problem: Why institutions facing serious exposure tell a crisis firm they aren’t in a crisis, and why they’re wrong.

✓ The Silence Calculation: Why the conventional wisdom about not giving oxygen to a fire has to be turned on its head.

✓ Predictable Crises:

In this episode of Changing Higher Ed, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Jeremy Young, senior advisor for strategic initiatives at the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) and lead author of The Trust Agenda, the framework report published through AAC&U’s Advancing Public Trust in Higher Education initiative. The discussion examines why public confidence in colleges and universities has eroded, why a public relations campaign cannot fix it, and how the report’s five recommendations translate into work campus leaders can begin now.

What you’ll gain from listening to this podcast:

✓ The PR Trap: Why half of presidents treat trust as a messaging problem, why that instinct backfires, and what a clearer story tied to shared values actually requires.

✓ The Trust Paradox: Why the most prestigious institutions are

In this episode of Changing Higher Ed, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Nick Dirks, President and CEO of the New York Academy of Sciences and former chancellor of UC Berkeley. The discussion reframes the research funding cuts as a strategic risk rather than a budget problem, examining why much of the damage cannot be reversed once the money returns, what the cuts are doing to the research talent pipeline, and how presidents and boards should respond.

What you’ll gain from listening to this podcast:

✓ Strategic Risk Framing: Why frozen research funding is not a line item that can be switched back on, and what that means for long-term studies, drug trials, and labs.

✓ Pipeline Exposure: How the cuts hit early-career researchers hardest, and why that loss threatens

In this episode of Changing Higher Ed, Dr. Drumm McNaughton welcomes Stephanie Craig, President of Kith crisis preparation, response, and recovery firm, to discuss essential strategies for crisis management and communication in higher education.

Podcast Overview:

• Insights into the unique challenges facing higher education institutions in crisis management, including complex stakeholder environments and rapid information spread.

• Strategies for building crisis management muscle using the PIP2 approach: Plan, Invest, Practice, and Prioritize.

• Practical advice on implementing the Clarity + Trust = Speed formula for effective crisis response.

• Vision for integrating risk management and crisis communication to create comprehensive response strategies.

• Guidance for university leaders on fostering a culture of resilience and adaptability in the face of crises.

This episode provides valuable ideas for presidents, board members,