Participants will meet online over five sessions during Fall 2026 to discuss key ideas from Hacking College, share institutional challenges, and develop practical action plans.

This learning community brings together educators, administrators, employers, and leaders from across the country to explore new ways of connecting higher education to meaningful careers, lifelong learning, and student purpose. 

Register for the Fall 2026 Session

Overview

In the years since the Covid-19 pandemic, academic administrators have faced growing pressures to transform their institutions— community colleges, big public universities, or small private colleges — to address the pervasive public questions about the value of a college education and its connection to meaningful, marketable careers after graduation.  The current political climate has dramatically exacerbated these critical questions.

A 2023 Harvard study of teenagers and young adults reported that nearly 60 percent of respondents felt a lack of purpose and meaning. Students who feel that they are not heading toward degrees that reflect their interest and aspirations may drop out or graduate with regrets, further eroding the value of college.  

Hacking College: Why the Major Doesn’t Matter — and What Really Does (Laff & Carlson, 2025) provides deep insights into how educators can help students better realize their hidden intellectualism, develop lifelong capabilities, and achieve their life goals. The book shows how the pervasive narrative about “lucrative” or “useless” majors confuses students on the way into college — and how the silos and structures within institutions can exacerbate the problem, leading students to create “empty college degrees.”

Last spring, the University of Minnesota’s Design Center hosted a learning community aimed to create a network of local, regional, and national leaders focused on operationalizing the frameworks presented in Hacking College, inspiring transformative change in how we address career readiness and academic success. Based on overwhelming interest, we are happy to launch another book club this Fall. 

College and university professionals will gather online, consider thought-provoking questions, and create plans for implementing in practice, with authors Ned Laff and Scott Carlson joining the conversation.  Over the course of two months — from late May to July — advisors, administrators, faculty and staff across multiple sectors will be provided an opportunity to co-create transformative ideas in their areas of expertise.  Members of the Hacking College Learning Community will be provided a set of thought-provoking questions to consider as they explore chapters in the book, have an opportunity to hear perspectives from national experts, and gather to imagine next steps.
 

Dates for the One Hour On-Line Hacking College Learning Community Discussions

Questions?

• Minnesota Design Center at [email protected]
• Teresa Spaeth, Director of Strategic Initiatives at [email protected]
  or 218-207-9584