Category: Blog

What Establishing Alumni X-Teams Can Achieve

by Joe L. McGonegal

We need to reshape a 19th-century alumni office to meet the demands of a 21st-century audience. “Alumni associations were rendered obsolete by Facebook and have since been dying a slow death.” “Why get off my couch on a weeknight to connect with fellow alumni from college, one of a dozen institutions to which I have some faint sense of allegiance? “Given the amount of virtual networking to be done, why connect IRL (in real life) at all?” The answer to these loaded questions is the reason my job in alumni relations still exists. We still crave a live networking event, seminar, or raucous public debate. Alumni associations, for hundreds of years the conveners of such events, aren’t going anywhere. But I don’t rest easy, nor should my peers in alumni associations the world round, even those of us at the most elite institutions of higher learning. To meet these demands, we must form “x-teams” – cross-functional teams from various verticals in an organization who share a common goal. X-teams in advancement shops must be students of the marketplace, audience, and the whimsical trends among students, alumni, faculty, and the public. Taking a page from the best tech companies out there, […]

Reimagining the Academic Library: A Peek Inside Payson Library

by Daniel Fusch

Among the more fascinating library revitalization projects we have seen recently, one that stands out is Payson Library at Pepperdine University. As we took a closer look, we realized that much of the thinking that informs the Payson Library renovation is replicable and scalable for other institutions, even institutions with quite small library facilities. To learn more about this fascinating project, I interviewed Mark Roosa, Dean of Libraries at Pepperdine. Here is what Mark shared with us. (And you can see the Payson Library yourself—with both a tour and learning activities—during a site visit at our upcoming conference.) The Genesis Lab makerspace at Payson Library. Image property of Pepperdine University. An Interview with Mark Roosa Daniel Fusch, Academic Impressions: Mark, thanks for joining me. First, what was the guiding philosophy behind this renovation? Mark Roosa, Pepperdine University: There were three drivers for the renovation: Daniel Fusch. In light of that, could you tell me about the study spaces and “living” rooms throughout the library? What is unique about their design and placement, and what drove the decision to approach them in this way? Mark Roosa. We made a tactical decision early on to remove some of the stacks to permit […]

Alumni Affinity Groups: How One University Formed a Highly Successful Organization

by Kathy Edersheim, President of Impactrics How does an alumni affinity group get started and, perhaps more importantly, what makes it sustainable beyond the initial excitement? There are many right answers and many challenges along the way. The key is to develop some guidelines and learn from other institutions’ successes as well as from their failures. The Yale Alumni Non-profit Alliance (YANA) is one example of a resounding success that can be a model for the formation of other affinity groups. Before you begin the hard work of forming the group, consider: In 2010, these fundamentals seemed to be in place for YANA. Here is the story. Getting Started YANA started with a casual remark to me at a cocktail reception in 2010: “Hello, my name is Ken. We met once before – Do you have a few minutes to talk?” Actually, Ken had been thinking about the idea for a new shared interest (affinity) group for a while. That evening at the reception, Ken described his idea to create a platform to share best practices and provide support for anyone interested in the non-profit sector whether as a professional, a funder, or a board member. He had questions – […]

How Some Colleges are Building Student Resilience and Grit

by Paul Marthers

Managing the student life cycle requires cross-divisional initiatives and the willingness to innovate. Applying a student success lens to the student life cycle has led institutions to examine the relative roles played by traditional measures of academic achievement (grades, credits completed, major requirements met) and less traditional, non-cognitive indicators such as student grit and resilience. This shifting approach is leading to intentional campus initiatives designed to foster attitudes and behaviors that will promote student success—as measured by higher retention, graduation, and student satisfaction rates. For example, consider the programming offered by the Office of Undergraduate Retention at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Recognizing that today’s college students live their daily lives on their devices, the UNC-CH retention office website is stocked with descriptions of workshops on, and suggestions for further exploration of, topics such as developing a growth mindset, thinking positively amidst change, and becoming resilient. Similarly, the Student Success Advocates program at the University of Utah provides video resources for students, with titles that include: Growth Mindset;” “Change Your Mindset, Change the Game;” and “Ability, Effort, or Mindset?” There is increasing evidence that such factors matter. A recent Rice University study, for example, found clear evidence […]

How to Think More Strategically About Alumni Participation

by Daniel Fusch

This article is an excerpt from Jim Langley’s book Comprehensive Fundraising Campaigns: A Guide for Presidents and Boards (Academic Impressions, 2016). Over-reliance on marketing academic distinction and under-reliance on building alumni affiliation is one of the reasons that annual alumni giving has been declining for 20 straight years and why, today, fewer than one in 10 alumni are giving back annually to their alma mater. The percentage of alumni giving back to their alma mater is such a key baseline measure in assessing an institution’s ability to stage a successful campaign. Yet institutional leaders often assume that academic distinction is the key driver of this affiliation. The data does not support this. According to U.S. News & World Report, the colleges and universities with the highest percentages of annual alumni giving as of October 2015 were as follows: Princeton University (NJ) 62.9% Thomas Aquinas College (CA) 58.3% Williams College (MA) 56.9% Florida College 54.4% Bowdoin College (ME) 54.2% Middlebury College (VT) 53% Davidson College (NC) 52.9% Wellesley College (MA) 51.4% Carleton College (MN) 50.6% Amherst College (MA) 49.2% These levels of annual alumni participation certainly suggest deep appreciation and affiliation. However, note that academic distinction, as measured by where an institution stands […]

5 Fairy Tales People Believe About Mentoring in Higher Ed

by Ginnifer Cié Gee

Once upon a time, I lived in a magical fairy tale world where higher education professionals, educated and insightful individuals, knew exactly how to navigate a mentor program and the results were nothing less than charming. Then I woke up. Sadly, the real world presents many obstacles to this “happily ever after,” and a belief in the fairy tale mentorship creates unsuccessful and unsustainable mentor programs. The five fairy tales below highlight five major lessons learned from designing and growing a university-wide mentor program. Before I begin, a caveat: Everyone’s story is different. Yet perhaps you can find relevance to your own institution and inspiration to begin or improve your mentor program. For almost ten years, I have worked with a university leadership development program that cultivates faculty and staff from every area of the university in a series of day-long sessions. Part of this development includes an embedded mentor program. The leadership program was created in 2008 through a cooperation of Student Affairs and Academic Affairs to cultivate leaders within the university. The goal is for participants to use these new skills in their current position and to hopefully grow into executive leadership positions. The mentor portion was designed […]

Practical Strategies for Women in Leadership in Higher Ed

by Daniel Fusch

In November of 2016, Academic Impressions held its first Women’s Leadership Success in Higher Education conference. (You can see information about the upcoming Women’s Leadership Success conference here.)  For me personally, this was one of the highlights of my year and a culmination of months of work that sprung from an idea that had formed in the summer of 2015. As it happened, the conference took place the week after the election. I found myself wondering how or if the election would impact the synergy in the room. What we experienced was an incredibly positive, high-energy, joyful three days of learning! Key messages standout from that experience: As we prepare for the 2018 conference, coming up in just a few short weeks, we asked a few of our speakers for their thoughts on what holds women back from their leadership potential and what tactics they use in challenging situations to handle them with confidence. Their answers were varied, but demonstrate how each taps into her unique strengths to lead effectively. We spoke below with Jeanne Hey, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, University of New England, and with Arlethia Perry-Johnson, (Retired) Vice President of Marketing, Kennesaw State University. An Interview with 2 […]

Courses with No Syllabi: A Unique Instructional Model at LDS Business College

by Bridget Dattilo

In this interview, learn about a unique approachto designing a more immersive learning experience. In this short clip, you’ll hear my conversation with Bruce Kusch, the current president of LDS Business College. Formerly the chief academic officer at LDS, Bruce spearheaded an instructional framework there called the i4 model of design. i4 means campus instruction that is: To pilot this model, Bruce worked with an LDS faculty member to pilot a semester-long leadership course with no syllabus. He is going to tell us why he decided to do this and what it looked like along the way. Bruce Kusch, LDS College. What our mission here is … is to really prepare our students for the world of work that they will encounter when they graduate. The jobs that are waiting for our students when they finish don’t come with a textbook or a syllabus, and they’ve got to be ready to go to work and produce. The best way that we can help them do that is to put them in a learning environment that in the greatest way possible simulates work. Bridget Dattilo, Academic Impressions. So your intent here is to focus on building the mindset in students for […]

How One College Used the Business Model Canvas to Boost Enrollment and Develop New Academic Programs Quickly

by Daniel Fusch

While working to design our conference Budgeting for Innovation in San Antonio, TX, we became fascinated by the Business Model Canvas, an open-source tool developed by Alex Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, and others, which helps organizations swiftly explore alternatives, challenge assumptions, compare and set new strategies, and build shared vision and language. This tool helps institutions document their existing business model visually (including key partners, key activities, value proposition, customer segment, costs and revenues, etc.), rendering the invisible visible, and can be used to quickly identify opportunities to refine the cost structure or generate new revenues. It is the “how” in budgeting for innovation. During our research, we had the opportunity to speak with a number of institutions that have used a Business Model Canvas to identify opportunities for innovation and to help budget for innovation. One of those institutions is Ocean County College, and we would like to share this interview we conducted with Sara Winchester, the institution’s executive vice president of finance and administration, which describes what OCC achieved and what advice they might have for other institutions. You can also see the Business Model Canvas in action at the post-conference workshop at the Budgeting for Innovation conference. An Interview with […]

Preparing Students to Lose Their Jobs (And Faculty To Keep Theirs)

by Heather E. McGowan

also by Alan Ritacco (Learn more in the recorded webcast: The Future of Work and the Academy) Abstract: A recent study reveals that young people today could have as many as 16-17 different jobs in 5 industries. As the rate of technological change becomes exponential, the future of work requires adapting to change, recognizing job failure as a norm, and (since we are living longer) a longer career arc in which to experience many different and uniquely distinct careers. Are most institutions of higher education preparing students for this reality? According to the recent report by the Foundation for Young Australians, The New Work Mindset (a study built upon the Future of Work research studies of both the McKinsey Global Institute and the World Economic Forum), young people today could have as many as 16-17 different jobs in 5 industries: And considering that the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that there are more than 1.5 million involuntary and 3 million voluntary separations per month, the fact is: job loss and job change are a norm. Job change, whether voluntary or involuntary, is part of having a professional career. As higher education professionals, we prepare students for their first professional jobs. We, […]