They are digital natives who don't know life without the Internet. A group with a passion for authenticity and a keen eye for what falls short. Having grown up during the 2008 recession, they know the impact of a bad economy. They see the need for constant skill development — but don't want to accumulate a lot of debt along the way. Social media have sparked their political activism. To solve a problem, they welcome face-to-face conversation. And they just may save the world.

The push to understand Generation Z — individuals born between 1995 and 2010 — is underway in many quarters. Not least of all at the colleges and universities charged with preparing them for a largely unknowable future. We caught up with Bentley faculty, staff and alumni who are embracing the challenge. 

Associate Professor David Szymanski, for one. He chairs a task force, focused on reforming the core curriculum, which is working with faculty and staff to create new learning opportunities that provide the knowledge and skills students need. 

Developing a transformative learning experience for undergraduates is part of the university's strategic plan, whose architects include faculty, staff, students and alumni. 

“The new core curriculum will be more flexible, more integrated and more experiential,” explains Szymanski, a geologist who has led student field work in Iceland and on Cape Cod. “A major goal is to better align the curriculum with the entire college journey, including extracurricular activities and internships, to establish students as lifelong learners.” 

The changes, he adds, will prompt faculty to shift their thinking “even beyond today’s students, so the curriculum is adaptable to future generations.”

Judgment Calls  
One change is the sheer volume of information. “Gen Z has Google in their back pocket,” says Andy Aylesworth, associate professor and Marketing Department chair. “They have limitless information at their fingertips; they can search experts and read business cases all the time. That means our job, as educators, is not to fill them with technical knowledge, but to teach them how to judge what’s important and how to make connections so they can be creative and collaborative.”

Judy K. (Jacques) Beckman ’81, an accounting professor and director of the MS in Accounting program at the University of Rhode Island, agrees. “My students still need to learn basic accounting skills. But since technology is such a big part of what they need to know, they must learn to think analytically about that data and how they can use it.”

Competency-based skills such as critical thinking stand the best chance of translating across disciplines and staying relevant for students well beyond college or their first job, according to Szymanski. He explains Bentley’s “backward design” model for adapting the curriculum.    

“We start with high-level goals that answer the question, What kind of students do we want to graduate? The answer doesn’t come in the form of job titles like accountant or chief marketing officer. Instead, think creator, problem-solver and innovator.” 

Engaging Delivery
Aside from what to teach Gen Z, there is the matter of how. Faculty face an audience that has an eight-second attention span and a smartphone always in hand. Beckman is among many teachers who have chosen to leverage technology rather than work against the tide.

“A lot of large accounting firms are making cases available to students, so I will integrate that into a lecture by adding a few extra steps to my lesson plan,” she explains. “Or, I'll propose a question, about financial data or an accounting case for example, that students can research on their phone or laptop, then follow up with a discussion that requires class participation.”

Suzanne Dove, founding executive director of the university’s Badavas Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning, agrees. She recommends that faculty mix things up throughout the class period to help expand students’ thinking. Students learn more deeply when they practice finding credible information and applying it toward a real-world issue.

“Ask how a particular assignment or activity connects to their interests,” she advises. “What are their own questions? Research shows that people are more likely to stay engaged when they're curious about something.”  

Dove also points to the generation's keen desire for experiential learning. “Faculty are now asked to create classroom and field experiences where students can connect with real-world problems, collect real-time data and even co-create knowledge with each other or their professors.”

Regarding such collaboration, research by McKinsey finds a strong preference for face-to-face dialogue among Gen Z. Beckman reports that students whom she advises arrive at her door with more than academics on their mind; they also share personal stories, successes and challenges. 

“One hallmark of Gen Z is more openness than past generations, particularly when it comes to solving a problem,” she says. “I enjoy being able to interact with students that way.”  

Beckman’s words ring true for Derek Zuckerman, MBA ’98. As class dean and director of advising at Union College, he serves as a “one-stop resource” for students from sophomore year through graduation. 

“Creating individual connections allows me to make sure students know they are valued and appreciated,” Zuckerman says. “I ask about everything from their hometown to life before college to their passions. It really helps inform where they want to be, going forward.”

Students expect similar transparency from him. “It used to be that education professionals stayed away from social media in order to keep personal and professional lives separate. But Gen Z has been sharing their lives online and expects us to do likewise.” 

Zuckerman started a public Instagram account to post about personal experiences or photos taken with students around campus. 

“It helps me create a connection with students in their world,” he explains. “In several instances, I’ve seen students doing things — study abroad, athletics and campus events, for example — that gave us a chance for a shared conversation."

Truth and Authenticity 
Research by McKinsey identifies truth and authenticity as key values of Gen Z. Accordingly, they express themselves to a greater degree than their predecessors, the millennials. The window into their life, including battles with anxiety and depression, poses a challenge for higher education. 

“Colleges are looking for ways to intervene as early as possible and make sure they have appropriate services such as counseling centers and mentoring relationships,” says Zuckerman. “It’s so important.”

Peter Forkner, director of Bentley's Counseling Center, calls for institutions “to do more work on counteracting the perception that everyone around us never struggles and is always perfect — a message reinforced by social media. If you are lonely, you see pictures of everyone with friends. If you are feeling bad about academics, you hear about people getting into the colleges you wanted. 

“In these moments it can feel like, ‘I am the only person who experiences struggles. How could anyone possibly understand me?’ This causes people to retreat from their support systems.”

To help counteract this narrative, the Counseling Center runs group sessions that promote authenticity and vulnerability as the key to healthy relationships.

“We consistently get feedback about how great it is to sit in a room with other students who, on the surface, appear to have everything figured out. Learning otherwise can be quite a relief.”

Georgianna Meléndez ’94, assistant chancellor of diversity, equity and inclusion at University of Massachusetts Boston, sees students supporting each other in “healthy, good ways.” 

“Gen Z is very open to interaction and integration across groups, but a lot of work remains,” she explains. Studies by Pew Research Center show that nearly half of “post-millennials” are racial or ethnic minorities, which makes Gen Z the most diverse ever. 

“Students may be open to a different race, but not open to political differences,” continues Meléndez. “It’s our job as college administrators to get them to have conversations across belief systems. Preparing graduates for a global workforce is not a matter of getting everyone on the same side. It’s a matter of helping them figure out how to find broader similarities and work together.” 

Advocacy and Action 
According to McKinsey, Gen Z’s support for causes related to identity makes them more interested than previous generations in all forms of social justice. This includes human rights; matters related to race and ethnicity; lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues; and feminism. And thanks to the Internet, they have platforms such as GoFundMe and Change.org to quickly rally widespread support and funding. Sixteen-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg is a case in point: On September 23, 2019, a video of Thunberg speaking at the United Nations — passionately challenging world leaders — went viral.

“In a matter of seconds, students today can connect with people all around the world to become empowered to take on a cause they believe in,” says Zuckerman. 

“Gen Z is an activist group and they aren't afraid to bring social justice issues that are happening in the campus community to the table,” adds Meléndez. “Institutions need to listen to what they’re saying about these issues, before they become problematic.”

Job Security 
Gen Z takes its sense of social responsibility into the workplace. 

“Finding a meaningful career was important to past generations, but it took a while for people to realize what was important to them,” says Bentley’s Josh Brand, whose new role as vice president for external relations includes overseeing career services. “Gen Z comes out of the gate focused on finding a job where they can make an impact. They're ready to fix the world.”

He cites research showing the average college graduate will have at least a dozen jobs and five careers in their lifetime. “Though Gen Z is still early in their college career, we’re finding they want to explore different career options versus coming in with one job title in mind.” 

Many career services operations are continually broadening the universe of employers who recruit on campus. “Our students may want to try internships in different industries and locations, for example. We want to provide opportunities to do that, and also the tools to build their skills and confidence to be successful.”

Forbes reports that Gen Z is 55% more likely than millennials to want to start a business. Their entrepreneurial mindset, according to data analytics firm Vision Critical, springs in part from peer-to-peer websites and apps that make it easier to monetize skills and knowledge, along with the rise of social media to create and promote content. 

Mark Longo ’89 sees the trend at California Institute of Technology, where he serves as director of strategic initiatives. 

“Caltech has its fair share of alumni entrepreneurs,” he says. “There's a very active Entrepreneurship Club, run by students, that meets regularly with alumni to learn how they got their businesses off the ground. Students recognize alumni as valuable career resources.”

Gen Z is also a “pragmatic generation” that is “motivated by security” in the workplace, according to the Forbes report. And Brand agrees. “Gen Z is a product of the Great Recession; whether their families or the people around them were impacted, it had a very profound effect. Part of the reason they want to be more adaptable in their career is because they know something like that could happen again.”

The same pragmatism colors their perspective on college debt. “Price and affordability of education is important to Gen Z,” says Mike Lynch ’09, senior director of communication and content strategy for the Division of Undergraduate Student Affairs at Regis College. He points to the school’s new program that enables undergraduates to earn a bachelor's degree in three years.     

“In addition to potentially saving thousands of dollars in tuition, graduates get into the workforce sooner. Gen Z is going to expect these kinds of opportunities moving forward.” 

The times present an opportunity for colleges and universities, observes Dove of Bentley's Badavas Center. “As educators, we may need to step away from having to be experts with all the answers and instead become comfortable teaching students how to formulate their own burning questions. Let’s give them the space to generate these questions and equip them with the tools to go out and find the answers.”  

The Badavas Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning is a catalyst for out-of-the-box thinking on higher education. It builds on Bentley's longstanding strength in delivering a high-quality business education integrated with the arts and sciences, while keeping the university focused on the future. In particular: exploring the academic experiences and approaches that best prepare Gen Z — and its successors — to thrive in life and career. 

The center's founding donors are Robert P. Badavas ’74 and his wife, Kally (pictured below with President Alison Davis-Blake). Their support came as he retired from the Board of Trustees, having served most recently as board chair. 

“As a 14-year trustee and proud alumnus, Bob knows firsthand the value of a Bentley education, says President Alison Davis-Blake. "His time studying at the university helped him succeed and lead in top executive roles for four decades. This new center bearing the Badavas name will ensure that future generations of students leave with that same opportunity."
    
The couple was inducted in 2017, with 36 other alumni and friends, to the Great Benefactors. The group recognizes donors whose lifetime giving to Bentley is $1 million or more.
    
Suzanne Dove, PhD, joined the Badavas Center in May as executive director. “Our mission is to advance academic excellence at Bentley and the value we provide students, while helping our institution evolve in response to rapidly changing conditions. We’re grateful to Bob and Kally, who understand the need for business education to stay innovative and adaptable.”