The impact of different generations on American society has been well documented. Such books as Generation X, by Douglas Coupland, Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation, by Neil Howe, William Strauss and R. J. Matson, and The World According to Y: Inside the New Adult Generation, by Rebecca Huntley have established how these different groups affect our nation. The TIAA-CREF Institute 2007 National Higher Education Leadership Conference addressed how these groups are affecting the country’s colleges and universities.
The conference drew over 100 college presidents, faculty, and administrators to New York City on November 1 and 2, 2007 to hear a variety of speakers discuss these issues. The dialogue revolved around the impact of three generations currently populating campuses: baby boomers, Generation X, and millennials. Baby boomers make up much of the faculty and leadership of the institutions, and a key issue for this group and their employers is their impending transition from the workforce into retirement. Representatives of Generation X are entrenched in the younger cohorts of faculty members, and millennials comprise the majority
of students currently enrolled in colleges and niversities.
Much of the discussion over the ensuing day and a half compared and contrasted these three generations, noting their similarities and differences, and what postsecondary institutions needed to do to meet their various needs and desires. While some may feel that the differences among the groups are so stark as to leave little common ground, the speakers and audience members – who engaged the presenters in spirited question-and-answer dialogues after each session– did find some shared interests and goals that cut across the generations.
There is no question that the challenges in addressing these generational differences facing the nation’s colleges and universities, and the people who run them, are quite great. But the speakers and audience members identified a number of opportunities to meet these challenges. There are roles for all parts of campus communities – students, faculty, administrators, and alumni – in helping to meet the challenges.
