Many aspects of the context for higher education today are changing rapidly, along with the workplaces that our learners will encounter across their careers. With these changes come new challenges and opportunities for the transformation and adaptation of higher education. Does the educational research have a place in that transformation and adaptation? My answer is an optimistic yes, though I believe it would require some transformation and adaptation of the educational research enterprise in the process. Based on my own foundations in mathematics education research, drawing on examples from my experiences in higher education and at the National Science Foundation, and considering my role now as president of a public research university in a rural state, I will discuss the ways in which educational research could be central in today’s rapidly changing landscapes, and how we might all work together to make that happen.