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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 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 […]
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 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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
