Innovative university startup Polymath University adds higher ed veteran and former college president Dr. Brian Rosenberg as Senior Advisor.

CHICAGO, May 14, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Polymath University, an innovative startup university building an apprenticeship-based and debt-free model for college, today announced the addition of Dr. Brian Rosenberg as Senior Advisor.

Dr. Rosenberg currently serves as Visiting Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. From 2003 until 2020, he served as the 16th President of Macalester College. He is the author of Whatever It Is, I'm Against It: Resistance to Change in Higher Education, published in 2023. He also serves as senior advisor and director at the African Leadership University and as a member of the board of the Teagle Foundation.

"Dr. Rosenberg has a depth of experience that will help us execute on the core of our mission: educating young adults for the workplace and the world," said Dan Futrell, founder of Polymath University. "Even more, he has leveraged his experience to give voice to this critical moment for higher education, laying out a blueprint for how long-standing structures must change and adapt to truly serve the next generation of students."

Polymath University counts a team of five full and part time employees. With a target launch of 2028 for its undergraduate program, a Polymath U. degree will require students to develop as polymaths through three non-adjacent majors. Courses will be delivered in a hybrid in-person and remote model to same-city cohorts, and students will concurrently serve as apprentices with employer partners in the 2nd and 3rd years of a 3-year, year-round degree program.

"What Dan and his team are building is truly unique in higher ed today, and seeks to address a financial accessibility problem baked into the traditional model," said Dr. Rosenberg. "Once they've proven their unique pedagogical and operational approach in Chicago, I believe theirs is a scalable solution that can serve the one million young adults who don't enroll in college because of the high cost. I'm proud to join and support them on this journey."

A 2024 State of Higher Education report from Gallup and Lumina Foundation surveyed over 14,000 U.S. adults aged 18-59 who do not have a college degree. Of those surveyed, 85% reported that the cost of a degree was moderately (29 percent) or very important (56 percent) in their decision not to enroll.

While college enrollment has declined over the past 10 years, the report also revealed that adults' interest in pursuing some form of higher education is at the highest level Lumina and Gallup have recorded. More than half of currently unenrolled adults are likely (26 percent) or very likely (25 percent) to enroll in higher education in the next five years, citing career outcomes as their primary motivator.

Polymath University – a startup nonprofit university that prepares students for a complex and interconnected world by developing polymaths - leaders and problem solvers with breadth, depth, and the ability to integrate knowledge across disciplines. Polymath U. students pursue three non-adjacent majors alongside concurrent apprenticeships in a same-city, hybrid and debt-free model. Led by a group of Tillman Scholars and building on 20 years of scientific research on the outsized impact of modern polymaths, Polymath University represents a more human and future-proof approach to higher education. Find out more about the future of higher education at PolymathU.org.

Media Contact

Morgan Carrero, Polymath University, 1 3033596241, morgan@polymathu.org, www.PolymathU.org 

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SOURCE Polymath University