Office of the President Blog

By President David Harpool, JD, PhD

There is, appropriately, a robust amount of discussion about cost of higher education as well as the value of a college education. Occasionally, that conversation will extend into the difference between “cost” and “affordability.” What is surprisingly lacking from much of this conversation is a discussion on the concept of “value” and measuring a student’s overall return on their educational investment. 

David Harpool, JD, PhD
President, NCU

I have the privilege to lead Northcentral University, an accredited, nonprofit institution of higher education, serving primarily graduate students through a robust online learning platform.

“The Leader’s Guide to Corporate Culture,” an article in the Harvard Business Review, states that “strategy and culture are among the primary levers at top leaders’ disposal in their never-ending quest to maintain organizational viability and effectiveness.” At Northcentral University, we view culture as answering “why” and “how,” which sets strategy. The why at NCU is always our students. The how is where our culture becomes especially important. Our culture, our “how,” is based on eight principles.

By David Harpool, President, Northcentral University 

Northcentral University is a private, nonprofit online university focused on delivering primarily graduate education to working professionals.

As colleges and universities decide how to handle the upcoming fall semester, some are moving more courses online. Unfortunately, “online” is becoming synonymous to “technology-supported courses,” not true remote learning

By Edward Maggio, JD, M.Sc., Adjunct Professor, School of Business

At NCU, I serve as an adjunct professor in the School of Business. In that role, I currently teach Introduction to Legal Studies, Constitutional Law, Civil Actions I-II, Contract Law and Strategic Planning and Implementation in Criminal Justice.

David Harpool, JD, PhD
President, Northcentral University

I applaud the quick actions of higher education in response to the threat of the Coronavirus (COVID-19). Recent data from Italy, France, and Vietnam suggest younger, seemingly healthy students can be carriers. The health threat to older adults is clear and maybe understated to traditional college-aged students. During the last few weeks, on-ground higher education institutions have made the correct, although painful, decision to move online. 

A challenge with online learning is ensuring you build a community for student-to-student and student-to-faculty engagement. By design, our 1-to-1 “Teaching Through Engagement (TTE)” model promotes faculty-to-student community. To build student-to-student and student-to-alumni community among all constituencies requires additional approaches.

In 1978 I was a page for President Jimmy Carter, at an event associated with the Southern Baptist Convention, in Atlanta, Georgia. Since then, we both left the Southern Baptist Denomination—or more accurately, with a large number of Southern Baptists making an intolerant move to ultra-conservativism and political activism, the denomination left us. I was 17 years old, had just taken my first flight, and was attending this convention in the largest city I had ever visited. I was receiving a National Service Award from the denomination, and President Carter was the Keynote Speaker.

At Northcentral University, we reject the “sage on stage” model of teaching – where a professor stands in the front of the room and lectures. It was never very effective in the traditional classroom, and is disastrous in an online course. Instead, we use a model, unique to NCU, called Teaching Through Engagement (TTE), ^© where the goal is for our students, faculty, and team members to be actively “engaged” in the University community. It is the model of faculty-student interaction that NCU uses to foster learning in our online environment.

Historically, colleges and universities, regardless of their mission, were private or public. Later, for-profit higher education emerged as an alternative model.  Although institutions invested in new formats and modalities – such as extended-campuses, weekend and night formats and mini-courses – colleges and universities were largely private, public or for-profit.