Higher Education and Corporate Partnerships: More to come

My top two higher education/corporate partnerships (plus one honorable mention)

In 2013, after 21 years of working in what many people might call the fast-moving, high-flying corporate side of high technology, I decided to boldly go where none of my colleagues had gone before me — higher education.?

While things do move more slowly in higher education, it has proven to be the most rewarding phase of my career. Now eight years into higher education, I can with full confidence say that any notion of a line existing between the corporate world and higher education is just that, a notion.

As higher education continues to try to keep pace with the demands of today's student, we will need to partner with leading companies to innovate and provide value added offerings to students. Likewise, as companies continue to vie for top talent and a pipeline to the next generation of high-earning consumers they’d be smart to build a relationship with them now.

"...any notion of a line existing between the corporate world and higher education is just that, a notion."

Partnering with companies isn’t new for colleges and universities. But there are typically only a handful of pioneers in higher education — most are fast followers or laggards. As I look forward to working on more of these partnerships as we take Morehouse College beyond its traditional campus borders in the coming months and years, I thought I’d spotlight the top two corporate partnerships I’ve worked on over the last several years.

FOX Sports + SCAD = Amazing Super Bow XLVIII animation and graphics

Most people take for granted the animation, graphics, and special effects that make televised sports more exciting and immersive today. It’s everywhere and as consumers we typically only miss great design when it’s taken away, but hardly notice it when it’s added. If you don’t believe me, check out this 1983 USFL promotion from the Tampa Bay Bandits and tell me if you got through the whole clip.?

Thank goodness for entertainment and media designers.

While at SCAD (the Savannah College of Art and Design) we got to work with Fox Sports and a team of student designers who created the opening animation for Super Bowl XLVIII in 2014.

Fox Sports approached the university wanting to unlock the imagination and skills of an interdisciplinary group of designers to bring a special feel to one of the biggest Super Bowl games in history with New York City as the backdrop.

What the 167 million global viewers saw was a stunning next-level opening that made you want to stay tuned.?But the real story was that it was designed by?students. It showed the entertainment industry that its future is bright. And, it showed me that media design is the most important aspect in marketing today.

Why it was so great:?The SCAD student team leader was able to appear live on set with the Fox Sports team during pre-game to tell the behind the scenes story to tens of millions of viewers around the world. LinkedIn is great and all but nothing says “hire me” faster than pointing at your work in front of a live global audience.

Microsoft + UPS + Morehouse = Closing the Digital Divide

As I was planning our virtual admitted students day in April 2020 for the incoming Fall semester, it donned on me that these first-year and incoming students would face the same access to technology challenges that our current students faced when we evacuated campus due to the pandemic.

Access to technology that so many people take for granted is more important now that most of education is technology based. Black and brown students have been at an economic disadvantage for decades and COVID made that abundantly clear.

Enter Microsoft.?

A few phone calls and a couple days later, we were on path to partner with Microsoft to provide each first-year and incoming student for the Fall 2020 class with a new Microsoft Surface Go 2 tablet/laptop computer.?

Enter UPS Foundation.

UPS stepped in and up to deliver 550 devices to the homes of each member of the incoming class.

Why it was so great: The digital divide that has kept Black students at arm’s length from information technology that could help close the socioeconomic divide has gone on for far too long. This was a great partnership because it immediately impacted the lives of an entire class of students who otherwise may not have been able to participate in remote learning.?

Honorable Mention: Morehouse + 2U

If it weren't for the fact that we only just announced creating an online degree completion program for non-traditional students to complete their journey to become a Morehouse Man, I might've made this my top three list. But in just two weeks since announcing this program with education technology company 2U, we've received more than 4,000 inquiries from prospective students.

COVID schmovid. Higher education is partnering up to future proof itself.