Machines are evaluated based on the output of the entire unit, not the impressiveness of their individual parts. Extraordinary teams, like great machines, require certain components that hold their pieces together. While most organizations focus exclusively on building the skills of their individual members, elite organizations invest in the “stuff” that transforms a collection of talented individuals into extraordinary, machine-like teams.

Before we can begin collaborating with colleagues at TAC or on our campuses, Lee will lay the foundation by focusing on the elements for building team chemistry and help attendees understand what it means to make sacrifices to achieve the team's common goal, how open and honest communication is the foundation for trust, and how daily, focused discipline is the key to consistency.

During TAC, campus stakeholders will work together on collaborative efforts to drive affordability and student success—and with energy, enthusiasm, and engagement, Lee Rubin will deliver an insightful message to equip these campus teams and contribute to a championship culture!

Lee Rubin is an emerging voice. His unique ability to understand and articulate winning principles with tremendous clarity and practical application makes him a highly sought after speaker and teacher. Lee is a frequent speaker and panelist at corporations and professional association conferences throughout the country.

Professionally, Lee has been a Human Resources professional with Fortune 500 companies across a variety of industries for nearly 15 years.

He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Speech Communications, with a minor in Business from Penn State University. Rubin received a full athletic scholarship to play football for the Nittany Lions under the leadership of legendary coach, Joe Paterno.

Lee not only emerged as a three-year starting free safety, he also became a captain of the team. His academic and athletic success has provided a tremendous opportunity to understand and communicate winning strategies and principles.

Lee was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and raised in Central New Jersey. Lee and his lovely wife, Carmen, have been blessed with two beautiful daughters.

Hear from an academic researcher in higher education with twelve years of experience in the college bookstore industry. Mike’s groundbreaking research is concentrated on course materials initiatives and how they impact student outcomes.

Mike is an academic researcher focused on understanding how innovative course materials interventions contribute to higher education beyond the models’ impact on potential cost savings for students. His research is concentrated on course materials initiatives and how they impact student outcomes. Mike has completed two quantitative studies on the use of inclusive access and student success rates and the first ever study on the use of an equitable access course materials model and its impact on course completion rates.

Before moving into academia, Mike spent 12 years in the college bookstore industry. His work on the front lines of course materials provide him a unique perspective while conducting his research. This personal and professional connection to the research has provided him a foundation to understand the impact course materials interventions have beyond the data. Mike recently said, “the more we learn about how these programs impact student outcomes the more we are able to recognize their value in higher education beyond potential cost savings”.

Mike is a graduate of the Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) program at the Northeastern University College of Professional Studies. Mike also holds a master’s degree in Organizational Leadership from Southern New Hampshire University.

As a higher education futurist, Dr. Bryan Alexander uses available indicators to forecast the likely changes to higher education in response to environmental factors like growing inequality, changing demographics, political instability, and climate change. We have already seen massive changes in higher education and especially in course materials—changes which were accelerated by the global pandemic—and this session will help the campus community look ahead and prepare for the most likely future. Relating insights from TAC and other recent sessions to his analysis, Bryan will share his fascinating perspective of coming trends, threats, and opportunities for higher education, and focus in on how college stores can weather these changes and continue to support student success. 

Bryan Alexander is an award–winning, internationally known futurist, researcher, writer, speaker, consultant, and teacher, working in the field of higher education’s future.

He completed his English language and literature PhD at the University of Michigan in 1997, with a dissertation on doppelgangers in Romantic-era fiction and poetry.

teaching at Centenary CollegeThen Bryan taught literature, writing, multimedia, and information technology studies at Centenary College of Louisiana.  There he also pioneered multi-campus interdisciplinary classes, while organizing an information literacy initiative.

From 2002 to 2014 Bryan worked with the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education (NITLE), a non-profit working to help small colleges and universities best integrate digital technologies.  With NITLE he held several roles, including co-director of a regional education and technology center, director of emerging technologies, and senior fellow.  Over those years Bryan helped develop and support the nonprofit, grew peer networks, consulted, and conducted a sustained research agenda.  In 2013 Bryan launched a business, Bryan Alexander Consulting, LLC.  Through BAC he consults throughout higher education in the United States and abroad.

Bryan speaks widely and publishes frequently, with articles appearing in venues including The Atlantic Monthly, Inside Higher Ed.  He has been interviewed by and featured in the Washington Post, MSNBC, The Wall Street Journal, US News and World Report, National Public Radio (2017, 2020, 2020, 2020, 2020), the Chronicle of Higher Education (2016, 2020), the Atlantic Monthly, Reuters, Times Higher Education, the National Association of College and University Business Officers, Pew Research, Campus Technology, The Hustle, Minnesota Public Radio, USA Today, and the Connected Learning Alliance.

He recently published Academia Next: The Futures of Higher Education for Johns Hopkins University Press (January 2020), which won an Association of Professional Futurists award.  He next book, Universities on Fire: Higher Education in the Age of Climate Crisis, is forthcoming from Johns Hopkins.  His two other recent books are Gearing Up For Learning Beyond K-12 and The New Digital Storytelling (second edition).

Bryan is currently a senior scholar at Georgetown University and teaches graduate seminars in their Learning, Design, and Technology program.