--- title: A Q&A with Chief Academic Officer, Dr. Jeff Borden (by Dr. Jeff Borden!) description: Dr. Jeff D. Borden joins the Campus team as Chief Academic Officers and hosts a quick Q&A (with himself) to explain why he is helping University and Colleges improve connectedness amongst students. image: https://content.pathify.com/hubfs/air-broadcast-audio-blur-1054713.jpg --- [![Campus logo](https://content.pathify.com/hubfs/Campus_September2018/Images/campus-logo.png) ![Campus logo white](https://content.pathify.com/hubfs/Campus_September2018/Images/campus-logo-white.png)](https://campus.app/) [Solutions](https://campus.app/solutions) Solutions [Solutions Overview](https://campus.app/solutions) - [Information Technology](https://campus.app/solutions/information-technology) - [Presidents & Provosts](https://campus.app/solutions/presidents-provosts) - [Communications](https://campus.app/solutions/communications) [Features](https://campus.app/features) Features [Features Overview](https://campus.app/features) - [Tools](https://campus.app/features/tools) - [Groups](https://campus.app/features/groups) - [Pages](https://campus.app/features/pages) - [Notifications](https://campus.app/features/notifications) - [Social](https://campus.app/features/social) - [Mobile](https://campus.app/features/mobile) - [Admin](https://campus.app/features/admin) - [Apps](https://campus.app/features/apps) - [Data](https://campus.app/features/data) [Resources](https://blog.campus.app/) Resources - [Blog](https://blog.campus.app/) - [Case Study](https://campus.app/case-study) - [White Paper](https://content.campus.app/campus-whitepaper) - [News](https://campus.app/news) [Schedule Demo](https://campus.app/demo) # Pathify Blog # A Q&A with Chief Academic Officer, Dr. Jeff Borden (by Dr. Jeff Borden!) [Q&A](https://content.pathify.com/tag/qa) | 3 min - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) ![Q&A - microphone](https://content.pathify.com/hs-fs/hubfs/air-broadcast-audio-blur-1054713.jpg?width=5472&name=air-broadcast-audio-blur-1054713.jpg) My first Campus blog.  Wow.  Perhaps the beginning of an era?  Ok, ok…I won’t get ahead of myself. But I should introduce myself. In the sea of bloggers out there, who am I and why do I deserve a few (precious) minutes of your day?  Let me answer that by asking questions on your behalf, which you likely aren’t actually asking… **What is a “Chief Academic Officer” really?  What does that mean?** Typically, a CAO or even CLO (Learning) is responsible for two things: training and/or upskilling the internal organization and training / educating external stakeholders specific to a vision or mission.   At a University, where I was the Chief Innovation Officer until just recently, I helped set that vision with regard to academics, technology, and design, thereby acting as an educator about education.  (Very meta, I know…)  But here at Campus, I intend to help the market understand the need for connection.  What kind of connection?  Social connection, paradigm connection, meaning connection, people connection, outcomes connection, and on and on… **Ah, so you’re a buzzword guy?** My ‘home’ discipline is communication.  As such, I have taught (literally) hundreds of comm courses over time.  I’ve facilitated face-to-face and online students in public speaking, interpersonal, intercultural, small group, organizational, and other areas of communication.  At the same time, I apply all of this in a real way.   Over 25 years, I have likely spoken in front of audiences ranging from 10 to 10,000 people at least once per week in the contexts of keynotes, workshops, training, and even stand-up comedy.  So the words I choose are almost always done with intention.  Yet I understand the importance of perception around the words chosen, as well as the context, as well as the audience.  In other words, I know that words are usually more important to the sender than to the receiver.  Yet, some words can create a barrier.  So when that happens, a savvy communicator will overcome those barriers.  I will tell you now that I plan to speak to many “buzz-words” and phrases over time.  But I will always try to treat them as concepts that may (or may not) deserve some demystification. **Ok, so you have some credibility, but so what?  Every academic I know believes themselves to be the smartest person in the room!** I’ll try really hard to channel my stand-up comedy days when I was an equal opportunity offender.  One of the things which has both helped me and hurt me over time is that I don’t believe professors are the end-all, be-all of thought.   While I admire and even follow some brilliant, academic minds out there, I believe there is an equal number of education administrators, professors, and staff that are on the other end of the spectrum.  I hope not to channel ‘the academy’ too much by just blasting away at everyone and everything.   As my Dad who was a college Dean and President used to say, ‘Academics put the critic in critical thinking.’ But I won’t shy away from calling out a person or a process if I believe I can make a reasonable argument detailing my criticisms. **That’s all good, but my time is valuable.  I need something short, pithy, and controversial to keep my attention. ** First, I completely put those words in your mouth based on research we know about how to make a good educational video. If the video isn’t short, funny, and creates disequilibrium, it’s likely bad.  Unfortunately, I just described approximately 1% of education videos out there.  Sigh.  But I’ll try really hard to accomplish that task in my writing.  Can I be funny?  My mom thinks so.  That’s why she tells me to “be funny” every freaking time I’m around her friends.  But you’ll have to judge for yourself.  Can I be controversial?  There is likely already an edu-blogger somewhere writing up a scathing indictment of why education videos should not include humor.  Can I be short and to the point? Until next time.  Good luck and good learning. ![Dr. Jeff D. Borden](https://content.pathify.com/hubfs/Jeff.png) Posted by  [Dr. Jeff D. Borden](https://content.pathify.com/author/dr-jeff-d-borden) on Oct 16, 2018 11:02:36 AM ## Subscribe Enter your email address to receive our blogs directly to your inbox! ### Recent Posts ### Beyond a portal [Schedule Demo](https://campus.app/demo) [![Linkedin](https://content.pathify.com/hubfs/Campus_September2018/Images/icon-linkedin-911ae35e.png "Linkedin")](https://www.linkedin.com/company/ucroo/) [![Twitter](https://content.pathify.com/hubfs/Campus_September2018/Images/icon-twitter-a2f8a903.png "Twitter")](https://twitter.com/CampusByUcroo) [![Facebook](https://content.pathify.com/hubfs/Campus_September2018/Images/icon-facebook-c012355b.png "Facebook")](https://www.facebook.com/campusbyucroo/) [![News](https://content.pathify.com/hubfs/icon-news.png)](https://campus.app/news) © 2018 Campus. All rights reserved