Ivory tower meets Wall St

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, March 1, 1998 by Rolf Maurer

Today's College and university administrators face the major economic challenges of running a multi-billion dollar industry, according to Jeffrey Kittay, chief editor of University Business, a new magazine from New York City-based Lingua Franca, Inc.

While Lingua Franca covers the world of higher education from an academic point of view, University Business focuses on the business side of academia: Its mission is to help administrators and academics gain an entrepreneurial sophistication to better understand the issues of managing the business end of higher education. Editorial provides news, analysis of trends, technological developments, case histories of successful (and unsuccessful) innovations, useful Web sites and proven solutions to guide those who control the purse. To date, says the former Yale University professor, "there's been no Fortune, Business Week or Inc. that specifically serves the needs of higher education."

The February/March premier issue touches on other facets of the title's focus: the pros and cons of commercial inroads on the college campus, with stories on Penn State's granting of exclusive "pouring rights" to Pepsi-Cola and the University of Phoenix's leading role as a publicly traded, for-profit institution; and the difficulties relating to preserving the academic past while budding for the future. "Return on investment is hard enough to quantify in the business world," asserts Kittay, "but it's harder still for a cultural institution where we're dealing more with intangible, cultural [commodities]." This ivory tower/real world duality has resulted in an increased reliance on outsourcing, with schools hiring outside operational services in such areas as campus security, bookstore and dormitory operation -- even providing resident assistants.

Showing administrators how to adapt to changes in the commercial sector while fulfilling the social mission of higher education is the underlying mandate of the bimonthly, adds Mark Edmiston, member of the board of directors for University Business, L.L.C., a subdivision of Lingua Franca, Inc. "You have to be ready to respond when your institution starts losing students to other schools." Familiar with parent publication Lingua Franca, Edmiston, the chairman of The Jordan Edmiston Group, Inc. (a New York City-based media investment banking firm), came to Kittay with the idea for the new academic magazine, gleaned from 12 years' experience as a university board member. "Marketing techniques need to be applied judiciously across the board in higher education to serve as a forum for chancellors, provosts and CFOs to exchange ideas, and secondly, to introduce them to [profitable] ideas from the fast-paced outside world."

Another magazine concerned with the specific needs of higher education is Washington, D.C.-based Trusteeship. Says Dan Levin, editor of that publication for the Association of Governing Boards, "University Business will try to coordinate various specialties, like fundraising and public affairs, which I think is a good idea. But this also poses a challenge in that the field is already inundated with numerous specialized journals that people have strong loyalties to."

Scott Jaschik, deputy managing editor, Chronicle of higher Education, an academic tabloid also based in D.C., is not too concerned with the competition because, he says, "We also cover business, computers and finance for administration and faculty, but on a weekly basis, which is our strength."

The new title fits in with the needs of advertisers, according to Laurie Pascal, vice president of prospective advertiser, Bank-Boston, which has handled the banking needs of New England educational institutions. "University Business targets precisely those at schools who oversee the banking and financial needs for the institution, including open lines of credit, construction loans and other services," she says. "From time to time we've run in the Chronicle of Higher Education, which is a good publication, but not as highly targeted to CFOs and others as University Business."

Ellen Minter, executive director of higher education at Oracle Corporation, a software manufacturer, is enthusiastic about University Business because "its readership is such an exact fit with the people Oracle is trying to reach -- the business officers at universities and colleges who actually run the business of education and decide on equipment purchases."

Mailed to top personnel at colleges and universities, including presidents, provosts, CFOs and CIOs, University Business has a controlled circulation of 30,000; the non-qualified subscription rate is $45. A full-page black-and-white ad costs $4,420. Anne Kinard is the publisher. Address: 22 West 38th St., 4th Floor, New York, NY 10018. 212-302-0336.