How are schools in the region developing new curricula to keep up with new trends, technology, and the changing economy?

Peter Ricchiuti
Senior Professor of Practice
Tulane University Freeman School of Business
We have been recognized as having the top teaching method of any experiential learning program in the world. Here, courses include a real-world component. For instance, our courses in hedge fund management and distressed debt end the semester with students presenting their ideas to judges in those fields. Our Darwin Fenner portfolio management course took a few million dollars from Tulane’s endowment fund and these dollars are managed by students in a class.

Tina Tinney
Chancellor
Nunez Community CollegeOur world of work has significantly changed regarding operations and sustainability. We have an obligation to prepare people with relevant skills for today’s workplace, so they are solution-oriented and innovative in addition to learning the skills and competencies needed for success. We actively listen to our business and industry partners in terms of their needs. Engaging our faculty and staff directly with our partners so they are kept abreast and current of evolving industry demands allows us to keep our programs and training aligned with today and tomorrow’s workplace.

“The pandemic forced schools to rethink the way they implement technology in classrooms. Virtual instruction and hybrid learning had to be used to reach all students, and the importance of family as a key factor in a child’s educational success became strikingly evident. Many schools came to realize, also, that they cannot do everything alone and need community partners. At the onset of the pandemic, STEM NOLA began increasing our level of collaboration with schools to offer standards-based, exciting STEM experiences that are financially sound ways to supplement the curriculum already in place.”

Dr. Calvin Mackie, President, STEM Nola

Stanton McNeely
President
University of Holy Cross
Our mission is to meet the needs of an ever-changing world. Our strengths include nursing and health sciences, business, mental health counseling, and education. UHC is growing its nationally ranked nursing program, as well as pre-med, radiologic technology, and neurodiagnostic technology programs. We are also a strategic partner of the GNO, Inc. Neuroscience Center of Excellence, promoting the region as a healthcare destination, especially for neurodegenerative diseases.

Larissa Littleton-Steib
Chancellor
Delgado Community College
Delgado offers more than 100 programs supporting 21st century careers, and each has an advisory board of business and industry partners who review our curriculum regularly to ensure we are meeting workforce needs. We also stay abreast of statewide employment data, forecasts and trends. All of this helps us know when our curriculum should be created or amended, and if new technology is needed to ensure student success.

Kyle Wedberg
President and CEO
NOCCA
Educators and schools curate learning so that students can make and be the future. This is true in all aspects of education, but maybe no more radically appropriate than in the arts. What does the display and performance of art look like going forward? What is an audience? How do individuals get their work out into the world? All of these questions need to be interrogated in the age of COVID, social media, and radical social change. Working with students to reimagine our collective future is essential work.