UPCEA Updates

Recently, I had the privilege of keynoting UPCEA member Misericordia University’s 2026 Workforce Symposium—an event that brought together institutional leaders, employers, and regional partners to wrestle with one of the most urgent questions facing higher education today:

What does it mean to truly align with the workforce—not just in programs, but in purpose?

First, deep thanks to the incredible Paul Nardone for curating a space that was not only thoughtfully designed, but deeply needed. The conversations throughout the day—alongside Misericordia President David Myers, Jill Avery-Stoss of The Institute, and expert moderators and past chairs of UPCEA Mid-Atlantic Region Jeanne Eschbach and Chris Sax—were grounded, candid, and forward-looking in all the right ways.

This Is Not a Moment—It’s a Shift

In my keynote, I shared a framing that continues to resonate:

Workforce development in higher education has evolved—from a unit, to a strategy, to an institutional imperative.

And what we are experiencing now is not temporary disruption. It is a structural reset.

Across the country, institutions are being asked:

• Are degrees delivering ROI?
• Are graduates truly career-ready?
• Are we aligned with employers in a rapidly changing world of work?

At the same time, we’re navigating demographic decline, longer working lives, and nonlinear learner journeys. Today’s learners stop out, return, pivot—and expect education to move with them.

Three Shifts Reshaping the Landscape

The conversations at Misericordia reinforced three structural shifts shaping this moment:

• Credentials are disaggregating into shorter, more flexible options
• Skills are becoming the currency—what you can do matters more than what you studied
• Learners are nonlinear, moving across education and work in new ways

These shifts are not abstract. In regions like Northeastern Pennsylvania—where healthcare, manufacturing, and logistics drive the economy—they directly shape how talent moves, and how institutions must respond.

From Programs to Ecosystems

Many institutions are already innovating:

• Stackable credentials
• Embedded microcredentials
• Credit for prior learning
• Workforce Pell readiness

But here’s the tension I keep seeing:

Most innovation is happening within existing structures.

And that’s where friction lives.

Because the real challenge isn’t creativity—it’s alignment.

Employer engagement is often decentralized. Academic and workforce units operate in parallel. Policies lag behind new credential models. Faculty ownership can be unclear.

The institutions making real progress aren’t just adding programs.

They’re redesigning how their systems work—internally and externally.

They’re building what I call a “coalition of the willing”—bringing together provosts, registrars, workforce leaders, faculty, and employer partners to move from ideas to execution.

The Real Opportunity: Ecosystem Design

The shift we discussed throughout the symposium is this:

From designing programs… to designing ecosystems.

In an ecosystem:

• Employers are co-creators, not just advisors
• Workforce boards are strategic partners
• Economic development aligns with credential design
• Learners move fluidly across credentials and careers

This is the difference between a maze and a pathway.

And it’s where regional collaboration becomes essential.

One of the most powerful moments of the day was recognizing that every institution in the region plays a distinct role—but too often, those roles operate in parallel rather than in partnership.

The opportunity is to move from parallel efforts to coordinated ecosystems.

Five Actions Institutions Can Take Now

We closed with a practical call to action—because this work doesn’t require a five-year plan, but it does require coordination:

1. Conduct a workforce portfolio audit
2. Map credentials to regional industry clusters
3. Formalize employer co-design
4. Align registrar and workforce policies
5. Prepare now for Workforce Pell

None of these are theoretical. All are actionable.

The Question That Stayed With Me

As I left the symposium, one question lingered:

Will we shape our region’s workforce ecosystem—or react to it?

What was clear in that room is that the capacity already exists.

The leadership is there.
The partnerships are possible.
The urgency is shared.

The next step is alignment.

Because the institutions that lead this work won’t just serve their regions—they will help shape them.

Thank you again to Paul Nardone, President Myers, Jill Avery-Stoss, Jeanne Eschbach, and Chris Sax—and to everyone who contributed to such a thoughtful and energizing day.

This is the work. And it’s already underway.

 

Amy Heitzman, Ph.D., is Chief Learning Officer and Deputy CEO of UPCEA and an ACE Fellow, leading work at the intersection of research, policy, and innovation in professional, continuing, and online education.

 

Content was refined with assistance from ChatGPT.