Author: Kenneth Soldink

Student Affairs: Trends to Watch in 2017-19

What will student affairs look like, 3 years from now? Looking ahead, what concerns you most? What do we most need to do this year? Recently, we held vigorous discussions of the future of student affairs with a panel of experts that included two vice presidents of student affairs (Les Cook and Paul Marthers), a career services expert (Jeremy Podany), and a sitting president (Karen Whitney, Clarion University) whose background is in student affairs. All four are forward-thinkers and bring unique perspectives to student affairs. Paul Marthers heads up both student affairs and enrollment management at SUNY’s central office, and Les Cook, as vice president for student affairs and advancement at Michigan Tech, oversees the entire student-alumni lifecycle from pre-college outreach to planned giving. Karen Whitney’s approach to leading Clarion University is deeply informed by her work in student affairs, and Jeremy Podany, as executive director of Ascend and The Career Center at Colorado State University and the founder of the Career Leadership Collective, is pursuing the integration of career and co-curricular at every step of the student experience. Our conversations with this panel of experts left us enthused, and we want to share some of the highlights from these interviews […]

One President’s Advice: Focus on Student Affairs

Recently, we had the chance to chat with Karen Whitney, president of Clarion University, about the future of student affairs – you can read the full interview in our article “Student Affairs: Trends to Watch in 2017-19.” As a past student affairs administrator, Karen Whitney brings a unique perspective both to the presidency (you can read more of her thinking in our paper Presidential Dialogues: Making the Difficult Decisions) and to working with student affairs leaders. “Student affairs is core to any university operation – especially now,” Whitney suggests, but also notes that college and university presidents aren’t always cognizant of the role student affairs leaders can play in helping the institution drive its strategic priorities: “It depends on their own professional backgrounds and their previous experiences with students and with student affairs professionals. Presidents who had distant or disconnected experiences with students and presidents who did not see an urgent reason to work with student affairs professionals might be inclined to undervalue or even dismiss the field and the people in it. “In contrast, if prior to being a president you were an engaging teacher, active in the life of the college, and/or experienced an urgent incident in which […]

10 Articles Every Leader in Higher Ed Should Read

by Patrick Sanaghan, Amit Mrig

Over the past 7-8 years, Academic Impressions has designed and delivered leadership programs for over a thousand leaders across the higher education landscape. We have had the opportunity to work with academic and administrative leaders as well as presidents and provosts. The learning experiences have been outstanding because almost every participant was curious and interested in learning about leadership, not pontificating about it. One of the protocols we use in every leadership program is the creation of a “learning agenda” that is produced by participants and is a list of highly relevant articles, books, and papers on leadership. The criteria for inclusion on the learning agenda list is that the suggested reading must be something that influenced a participant, made them think differently about how they view leadership, or had a positive and meaningful impact on how they actually lead. Participants populate the list over the course of the 2 or 3-day program. They also provide a 1-minute snapshot about the suggested book or article, with a brief rationale about why their suggestion is worth reading. This article provides an annotated list of some of the strong recommendations from past participants. There is a lot of blather and clutter out there […]

3 Videos: Critical Skills for Admissions Officers

by W. Kent Barnds

Training of new admissions counselors is often, out of necessity, much too hurried and perfunctory. The training that new counselors receive has historically been focused on the everyday duties of the job (travel, reading and processing applications, CRM systems, etc.), accompanied by lots of “just in time” training where other key competencies are concerned. But in today’s intensely competitive environment, it is no longer sufficient to let your admissions counselors go out and begin recruiting for you without having adequate training on key, all-important soft skills. Recently, W. Kent Barnds, Augustana College’s vice president of enrollment, communications, and planning, presented a three-part webinar series on providing critical training for admissions counselors. We wanted to share some of his key thoughts in a quick series of ninety-second complimentary videos, as well; taken together, these three videos offer a different framework for thinking about the critical skill set needed for admissions counselors in the twenty-first century. You can watch the short videos or read their transcripts below (we recommend sharing them with your admissions team), and you can get a full recording of W. Kent Barnds’ online trainings here. 1. Communicating Value in the Admissions Process Transcript: “Communicating value to students, parents, […]

Preventing Presidential Derailment

by Patrick Sanaghan

Do you know the 10 early warning signs? Patrick Sanaghan, Kathleen Gaval, Steve Riccio, and Steve Titus review the early signs of a derailing president in this paper informed by decades of experience from university presidents and professionals who work closely with them. Presidential derailments (defined by Stephen Trachtenberg as an exit in less than three years) are occurring with greater frequency—and the early signs that a presidency is off the rails are remarkably similar across dozens of cases. This paper will review those signs, as well as advice for new presidents and four steps to take if the early warning signs appear. Preventing Presidential Derailment: 10 Early Warning Signs: Read the paper. Related Resource: Check Out The Presidential Transition Guide

Alternative Facts In Higher Education

by Marcel J. Dumestre, Ed.D.

In higher ed, do we often offer “alternative facts” too, operative myths that don’t accurately reflect the realities of higher education? The term “alternative facts” used by President Trump’s counselor in an interview about the inauguration crowd size has become a media meme. The idea of an alternative fact being something other than a falsehood has proven amusing to some but quite disturbing to others. Importantly, the need to judge ethically what facts to report and how to interpret them is not confined to the media. It is part of organizational life, perhaps even more so in higher education. Universities are unique social institutions with the mission to educate, to disseminate knowledge, and to contribute to the common good. The “search for truth” is an embedded core principle of this enterprise, and that search for truth depends on verifiable facts, not on falsehoods or obscurities. Yet university communities are not immune to embracing alternative facts. It is less likely to occur in academic disciplines because of ongoing scholarship and the crucible of continuous debate. But, as social institutions, universities exist in the public commons, which is much more susceptible to the vagaries of alternative facts. 4 “Alternative Facts” Embraced by Universities […]

Designing for Student Recreation and Wellness: A Look Inside the U of Utah

by Michelle Sponholz, Mary Bohlig

As institutions strive for new enrollment and increased retention, it is no surprise that many institutions are focusing on recreational facilities in their immediate capital plans. If designed well, a new recreation and wellness facility will serve as more than an immediate invitation for prospective students and families. The physical, social, and communal aspects of the facility can help to boost student enrollment and improve the overall engagement across the campus community. Recreation facilities have transformed from just places to work out to facilities that cater to the whole student. Institutions across the country are adding in wellness aspects, such as health services, counseling services, and demonstration kitchens. As institutions look at the design and construction of these facilities, some key considerations come to mind: The University of Utah’s new Recreation and Wellness building is an excellent example of this kind of inclusive design and comprehensive thinking. To get an inside look at the facility and its design process, we reached out to Mary Bohlig, the university’s director of campus recreation services, for an interview. Interview with Mary Bohlig Michelle Sponholz. Mary, thanks for joining me. Can you talk a little about how to move beyond just a “space is at […]

Responding to a Crisis: Lessons for College Leaders

by Sarah Seigle Peatman

What can college and university leaders learn from military leaders about crisis preparedness? Find out from this panel of experts. Colleges and universities all too often face a series of challenges in responding actively and speedily to a crisis or emergency on or affecting the campus, but they needn’t reinvent the wheel: there are proven models developed in the government and military sectors that can be applied to the higher ed context. To help senior leaders in higher education improve their crisis preparedness, we’ve assembled and interviewed a panel of experts, including Dr. Connie Book, provost and dean at The Citadel; Major General Jim Boozer, US Army (Ret.); and Colonel Cardon Crawford, US Army (Ret.) and Director of Government and Community Affairs at The Citadel. Collectively, this panel of experts has 35 years of experience in higher education and 59 years of experience in the US Military. In the interview below, we wanted to ask for their perspective on what critical lessons college and university leaders can learn from the military’s approach to crisis action planning. These instructors will also provide an intensive training for presidents and other senior leaders this March in Charleston, SC. Interview: Lessons for College Leaders Sarah […]

Shifting from a Scarcity Mindset to an Opportunity Mindset

by Amit Mrig

Series: Costs Down, Quality Up Historically, initiatives to improve quality have also meant added cost—smaller class sizes, more faculty who conduct research, etc.—but this is no longer a sustainable model for all institutions. What are the innovations that can actually drive the cost to educate a student lower while driving critical outcomes like student success and completion higher? This series offers provocative questions that challenge the cost-quality paradigm and the old ways of managing institutional strategy and growth. Also in this series:Why Good is Still the Enemy of Great at Most Colleges and UniversitiesRethinking General Education: Too Many Options?3 Ways to Address the Cost/Quality Challenge Facing Higher Ed: Lessons from the Healthcare SectorOvercoming the Heavy Weight of Tradition: A Practical Approach The Danger in a Scarcity Mindset Many institutions have responded unproductively to economic scarcity in recent years—often by freezing in place. Institutions have reduced spending, streamlined inefficient practices and shelved futuristic plans, in effect trying to do the same work with fewer people and fewer dollars. We don’t mean to sugar coat or deny problems. The lack of investment capital or any number of other critical resources presents real and difficult challenges, leaving institutions with hard choices to make. But this way of […]