How Higher Ed Changed a Community with Real-World Sustainability with Christine Welcher

Throw out any traditional notions of what Higher Ed used to be. Students are now made up of all ages, backgrounds, geographic locations, and more. Further, our blended world of virtual and physical create challenges and opportunities for both students and faculty alike.

The current generation is now taking the knowledge and skills they’ve learned and applying it truly astounding and practical ways – ways that creating a future of sustainability for future generations.

In this episode, I’m joined by Christine Welcher who is a Director with QuestionPro and focuses on Academics and Nonprofits, specifically, Universities and other higher education institutions.

She shares her real-world experiences with students reimagining ancestral knowledge and bringing it into a new era.

00:33 – Christine shares her background and how QuestionPro is impacting universities for market research by surfacing detailed insights into higher education.

01:29 – The pandemic forced many higher ed institutions to reevaluate their technology and experience of faculty using the technology. This created a huge need for cloud solutions for learning and teaching and opened up new ways to engage.

04:09 – Faculty have now had to pivot their time to be available as students want to learn at all hours based on their needs. Universities have had to engage students where they are to learning can happen anywhere at any time.

06:17 – COVID disrupted so many levels of society which meant that this was the time that many people decided to go back to school. Further, they felt the need to shift careers in a totally new direction.

09:24 – Christine shared her experiences of visiting Vietnam with a program she used to run. This program allowed here to engage with students that are bringing life back to rural and farming communities. These areas had been decimated by the war and two and three generations of ancestral knowledge was lost.

13:55 – People are reclaiming the land that was hit hard by the war – even turning craters creating by bombs into beautiful landscapes with ponds and bridges.

17:21 – Christine shared a quick takeaway challenge: Don’t take the STEM courses for granted. Infuse the learning with passion to create something priceless.