Houston, TX – October 2, 2026 – Dr. Sarah Leedberg announces the release of UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Higher Education, Artificial Intelligence, and the Decisions That Cannot Wait, a new book examining how artificial intelligence, a projected decline in high school graduates, and other emerging forces are driving structural transformation across American higher education. The book examines the strategic decisions colleges and universities may face as they navigate a period of significant technological, economic, and demographic change.
A systems strategist whose career has spanned real estate, finance, energy, entrepreneurship, and education, Leedberg draws on professional experience across multiple industries to examine institutional change. During the 2008 financial crisis, she worked in mortgage lending, title services, property and casualty insurance, and residential real estate. Later, as a geologist with Shell, she experienced firsthand how global market forces can reshape entire industries. Today, she designs innovation and experiential learning programs that connect students with startups, emerging technologies, and entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Drawing on her Master of Science in Foresight from the University of Houston, Leedberg applies its Framework Foresight methodology to examine the trends, drivers, and weak signals reshaping higher education and to explore the alternative futures that may emerge. Rather than attempting to predict a single outcome, the book explores how converging forces may transform the sector and identifies strategic choices institutions face during a period of unprecedented uncertainty.
The book organizes its analysis across eight domains: institutional strategy, pedagogy, equity, credentials, faculty labor, economics, governance, and research.
The book arrives at a moment when higher education and the workforce are undergoing significant change. Nearly seven in ten faculty members now work in contingent positions, while students and employers must navigate a credentialing landscape that has grown to more than 1.8 million credentials offered by over 134,000 providers. At the same time, the shift toward skills-based hiring has exposed a new challenge: finding reliable ways to verify, translate, and compare what people actually know and can do.
Leedberg documents that a single college closure results in an average loss of 265 jobs and $32 million in regional economic output. She also examines policy developments such as Ohio’s Senate Bill 1, which mandates the elimination of low-enrollment academic programs based on graduation volume, arguing that such measures increase pressure on institutions to rethink long-standing assumptions about mission, structure, and value.
The book reframes university viability as both an educational and regional economic issue and introduces the “Hemingway Problem,” a term describing institutions that decline gradually before experiencing sudden disruption. While identifying the current decade as a pivotal period for adaptation, Leedberg argues that higher education must move beyond incremental change and confront deeper structural questions about its future.
About the Author
Dr. Sarah Leedberg is a systems strategist, foresight practitioner, and innovation leader whose career has spanned real estate, finance, energy, entrepreneurship, and higher education. She holds a Doctor of Education in Transformative Learning in the Global Community from Webster University, alongside three master’s degrees: a Master of Science in Foresight from the University of Houston, a Master of Science in Geology from the University of Texas at El Paso, and a Master of Arts in Education and Innovation, also from Webster University. Drawing on expertise across multiple disciplines and industries, her work focuses on how institutions adapt to technological, economic, and social disruption.
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