Since the beginning of the year, what has often seemed like a firehose of information, proposed, enacted, litigated, disputed, and forthcoming has been shared across the internet, through podcasts and news airwaves, federal agency communications, and White House executive orders and administrative announcements. It’s been a wild ride to try and decipher what is happening, what changes and impacts will take place, and what we must simply monitor while waiting to see what ultimately happens.
Virginia Western has had a group of individuals connecting, sharing information, and seeking to evaluate the impact on the college based on what we know and what we may need to anticipate. This group was cognizant of the need to share with the larger college community what resources could help us all understand what most have landed on calling “The Changing Federal Landscape“. Thus, the creation of the Federal Guidelines & Resources page on VWCC’s SharePoint that was mentioned during our Fall In-Service. More on those resources in a bit, but let’s talk about this concept of “The Changing Federal Landscape“.
If you search up “the changing landscape phrase meaning” here is the immediate response which AI provides:
The phrase “the changing landscape” refers to the evolving nature of a situation or environment, indicating a shift, development, or transformation that occurs within a specific context.
Sounds fairly accurate when you look back at the description in my opening paragraph, but to have a little fun, let me share some of the many headlines that come along with the “changing federal landscape” internet search that provides over 329,000 initial results:
Higher Education and the Shifting Federal Landscape
Higher Education’s Changing Landscape
The Shifting 2025 Higher Ed Policy Landscape
Potential Higher Education Impacts Amidst a Changing Federal Landscape
As Federal Funding Landscape Shifts, States Brace for Fiscal Impact
Navigating the Federal Funding Landscape
Navigating the Shifting Landscape of Federal Grants
The Current Federal Funding Landscape
How to pivot your funding strategy in a changing federal landscape
Demystifying the Federal Funding Landscape
How to Thrive in a Shifting Funding Landscape
So, we are “shifting”, “changing”, “shifting policy”, anticipating “impacts amidst change”, “bracing for fiscal impact”, “navigating the shift”, assessing the “current landscape”, seeking to “pivot”, “demystify” and “thrive”. No joke, this is a lot to absorb, consider and seek to understand. This clip below illustrates a bit of how it has felt over these 2025 months:
So, what to do now? How do we stay informed, yet balanced? We have work to do.
Technology can be both a tool and a rabbit hole. So, let’s see if we can find a way to use the tool and jump over the rabbit hole. Using the tool for a quick bit of advice on the question, “how do we stay informed, yet balanced”, here is what the internet tells me: To effectively manage information overload, prioritize your information intake, organize your data, and implement filtering strategies to focus on what truly matters. Pretty sound advice, so let’s break it down for a VWCC campus focus:
Prioritize Your Information Intake – I am currently repeating this one out loud to myself multiple times. I have found over the last few months, that this step is so important. It is tempting to scan for news, which can lead to what ultimately can feel like doom scrolling, and just might send you directly into the proverbial rabbit hole. I have to monitor my own attempts to stay up to date, with my ability to walk away and have a strategy to do both. I have sources I look at daily, to scan for updates or new information. Many of these resources are included in the aforementioned Federal Guidance & Resources SharePoint page and are also how I am trying to Organize My Data. To share a few, I have noted the links below:
The Federal Register: published daily – you can receive email notifications with updates from individual Federal Agencies with grant opportunities or guidance updates, requests for comment, presidential documents or public meeting notices required by Federal Law. https://www.federalregister.gov/
U.S. Department of Education: watching for press releases can give you information on upcoming changes, guidance that will be anticipated, or news on upcoming grant opportunities. Home | U.S. Department of Education
National Science Foundation: watching for FAQ and updates on changing priorities can assist us in making certain we have the most up to date information regarding our current NSF grants as well as upcoming requests we would like to make. Updates on NSF Priorities | NSF – National Science Foundation
American Association of Community Colleges: The link for this site goes directly to updates from AACC’s Office of Government Relations on key community college issues. Community College Advocacy Update – AACC
American Council on Education: The link for this site also goes directly to recent Higher Education news across the country, a summary of Executive Orders and Actions impacting Higher Ed, and a tracker that allows you to search EO’s by impacted sector and to understand the status of pending litigation. Higher Education & The Trump Administration
This brings us to the next step, Implement Filtering Strategies to Focus on What Truly Matters Ultimately, when actual decisions are made the federal government and specific federal agencies we work with are required to provide notice and guidance on the implementation of changes in process, procedure and expectations. So, once again, saying this as much to myself as anyone else, provide yourself the latitude to check in on news periodically, but understand that ultimate decisions and change will be directly communicated to the college and to your area if required. This balanced curiosity could serve as a filtering strategy to focus on what truly matters and what is known at the moment.
Focus on What Truly Matters – For some of us what truly matters is being in the classroom, tutoring, advising, engaging, sharing resources, offering social engagement, or providing professional skill development. But for all of us here on campus, it’s about assisting students in the path forward, whichever path they may choose. Allow your focus to remain steady despite the landscape you are currently traversing. Collectively we will discover the path ahead, for the benefit of our students while meeting the expectations and obligations that are required of our work.
A few last words: I have spent a lot of time following the news lately, and while one piece of advice originally came across as trivial or even silly, I now see its value…. That advice was to “log off, turn off, touch grass”. It is important for us to stay informed, to meet expectations, but not to get so lost in the twists and turns that we lose sight of what is most important. Give you brain a break, walk around campus, engage with your fellow colleagues, see what students are achieving, maybe touch a little grass. The joy in the work is still here, if we allow ourselves to focus on it, no matter the changing landscape.
Shelley Lyons
Administrative Officer for Grants Administration
Fishburn Hall, F204
540-857-6084
slyons@virigniawestern.edu
Shelley Lyons is glad to be back on campus as she is a Virginia Western alum, and has served as the Administrative Officer for Grants Administration at Virginia Western since early 2022. Prior to VWCC, her career focus was within the Human Services and Arts fields. She wrote her first grant in 1996 on a whim and has continued to plan and learn since that time. She most enjoys seeing a well-planned project come to fruition, where funder, project manager and beneficiaries can all feel success and see impact.