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Special Edition: The College or University President in Crisis Response and Recovery

How ready are you to communicate with key constituents and with the public during and after a crisis at your institution? Drawing on interviews conducted in 2010-2014 with crisis communications expert Cindy Lawson, Academic Impressions offers you this bundle of complimentary articles unpacking some of the thornier issues in crisis communications. We hope these resources will be useful to you. Cindy Lawson handled public relations in the wake of the tragic 1999 bonfire collapse that killed 12 students at Texas A&M University. Today, Lawson is one of the key thinkers in crisis communications for higher education, presenting frequently on the topic and offering recommendations to media relations professionals from institutions across North America. She currently serves as the vice president for public relations and communications at DePaul University. Here is some of her advice for institutional leaders and their media relations staff. Preparing the President to Serve as a Spokesperson During a Crisis “Crises are defining moments,” Lawson remarks, “and therefore, the choice of chief spokesperson is crucial. There are times when the president/chancellor is the best spokesperson.  There also are times when the chief communications is the best choice, and, to be sure, there are still other times when […]

Students at Risk of Suicide and Risk Management: Advice from Allan Shackelford

Student suicide has received renewed attention both in the US and Canada, not only because of the increased number of suicides by college students (with research studies indicating that as many as 1.5% of college students may actually attempt suicide, while many others will give suicide serious consideration at some point during their years on campus) but also because of increased legal scrutiny and the legal liabilities incurred by failing to address a risk of student suicide proactively and speedily. In an interview this week, we asked Allan Shackelford to offer his reflections on the issue. As an attorney and consultant, Allan Shackelford has advised institutions of higher education for more than 30 years. He is the co-author (with Anne Lundquist) of The Student Affairs Handbook: Translating Legal Principles into Effective Policies, as well as Responding to and Supporting Students with Disabilities: Risk Management Considerations. You can find his recommendations below. Legal Ambiguities: Forseeability and Liability Citing Robert Bickel and Peter Lake’s study The Rights and Responsibilities of the Modern University (1999), Shackelford notes that institutions of higher education owe a legal duty to students to protect them in every reasonable manner from forseeable risks: “At the heart of our […]

Measuring Brand ROI: An Interview with Bob Sevier

As the higher ed marketplace becomes increasingly competitive, it has become more critical than ever to be able to measure the impact of your marketing efforts on brand perception — critical, but not always easy. In a recent interview with Academic Impressions, Bob Sevier, senior vice president of strategy for Stamats Inc., shared with us his guiding philosophy for measuring the return on investment for branding efforts. Here is the interview, with links to additional resources — we hope you will find it useful for opening discussion within your office. Knowing What Works and What Doesn’t Academic Impressions (AI): Bob, why is it especially important to care about measuring brand perception now? Bob Sevier: From the vantage point of the marketing professional, there are two reasons. First, it helps to find out whether your brand campaign is actually working. A lot of marketers are slowly transitioning from measuring output (Are we busy?) to measuring outcomes (Is it working?). Second, measuring the ROI on your brand campaign tells your supervisor that you’re serious. Professionals show results, and when you can show results, you earn the opportunity for an increased budget. That’s why this is more important now than even four years […]

Video: Trust and the High-Performing Team in Higher Education

Drawing on current research on high-performing leadership teams both within and outside of higher education, Pat Sanaghan, president of The Sanaghan Group and author of Collaborative Leadership in Action (2011) and the forthcoming book, How to Actually Build an Exceptional Team (2013), has identified 10 differentiators of exceptional teams, 10 qualities that enable teams to rise to and perform at high levels consistently. Of the 10, Sanaghan points to trust as the most important quality that differentiates high-performing teams in higher education. “In a high-trust environment,” Sanaghan remarked in an interview with Academic Impressions, “you can do many things even with limited resources. But if you have low trust, even with high resources you can’t get much done. To build trust, you need transparency with information — especially around financial realities, decision-making roles, and process.” Higher education is by its nature a collaborative and people-driven enterprise — yet often, too little investment is made to improve the professionals within the institution work together. As the speed of change accelerates and higher-ed’s operating environment grows more complex, those institutions that will remain competitive and thrive will be those characterized by high-performing teams across all parts and levels of the organization. The High-Trust Environment […]

Customer Service in Higher Education: More than Just Demeanor

In a survey of professionals of higher education a few months ago, Academic Impressions found that: If asked to give their institution a letter grade for customer service, most professionals would assign a “C” or lower. There is a growing awareness among managers in higher education that customer service entails more than presenting students or internal clients with a “friendly face,” that it involves responsiveness and collaborative problem-solving. Yet most cite similar challenges to improving customer service in their office: lack of time and uncertainty on how to effectively train it. Two Resources on Training Customer Service Interviewing an array of experts who have made strides in providing customer service training in higher education or in transitioning enrollment or academic support services to a one-stop approach, Academic Impressions offers two complimentary resources: A Complimentary Publication Our recent Monthly Diagnostic, “Improving Customer Service in Higher Education,” we take a close look at the barriers to customer service and interview past and current presidents, vice presidents, and department heads in student services and enrollment management for practical advice in meeting those barriers. A Complimentary Webcast In our January 22, 2013 webcast, “Raising the Bar on Customer Service in Higher Education,” panelists Susan […]

Taking the Campaign Beyond Campus Events: A Case Study

The University of the Virgin Islands (an HBCU with campuses on St. Thomas and St. Croix US Virgin Islands) saw their alumni giving rate increase from 13% to 42% in the past year during the institution’s “50 for 50 Campaign” celebrating UVI’s 50th anniversary. What is especially noteworthy about this jump in giving rate is how UVI did it: rather than relying heavily on reunion, other on-campus events, or even alumni events in other locations to boost giving rate, UVI reached out to alumni at 30 local community events and festivals throughout the year. Rather than just bring alumni back to UVI, their annual giving and alumni affairs staff and volunteers went out into the community to find their alumni — where their alumni were already gathering. Intrigued by UVI’s ambitious (and effective) alumni outreach, we interviewed Linda Smith, UVI’s director of annual giving and alumni affairs, and Nanyamka Farrelly, UVI’s public relations officer, to learn more about UVI’s approach in the past year. Here is what they shared with us. Academic Impressions (AI): Linda, Nanyamka, thank you for joining me for this conversation. I am fascinated by your approach. What did your participation at these community events look like? […]

Identifying the Untapped Potential of Mobile Devices on Campus

January 18, 2013. “Missed Opportunities” Interviewing a range of experts in the use of mobile technologies in enrollment, teaching and learning, and alumni relations during the closing months of 2012, we found consensus on several points: Many institutions still limit their use of mobile technologies to replicate what they already do or provide through other, more traditional technologies. (For example, an institution might simply provide a course schedule that can be read on a mobile device, or a campus map — without having thought through the unique capabilities of the new technology and how those might add value to the schedule or the map.) In terms of adoption, most institutions lag behind student and alumni demand for the use of mobile technologies in their interactions with the campus. For a review of the current research on the rate of student/alumni adoption versus university adoption of mobile technology, read this recent article. Also, polling the institutions who attended our December 4, 2012 complimentary webcast, we found that 74% of those attending believed their office at the institution did lag significantly behind student or alumni demand for mobile interaction with the campus. 3 Unique Capabilities of Mobile Devices For our December 4, […]

Predicting Student Success: Beyond the Traditional Approach

Given increasing competition, shifts in student enrollment, and reduced resource levels, it’s critical that colleges and universities recruit and retain the students who are most likely to succeed at their institutions. By transitioning from a risk-based model for predicting student enrollment and retention to a success-based model, you can look across the student life cycle to identify not only the factors that impede desired outcomes such as yield and student retention, but also the positive factors that contribute to those outcomes. What are the shared characteristics of students who enroll and persist? What were the shared characteristics and behaviors of your most engaged alumni when they were students? Success leaves clues. Identifying these indicators of success can help inform smarter investments in recruitment and intervention, and can inform cross-campus efforts to maximize yield, student success, and alumni engagement. Exploring this approach further, Rob Durkle, the University of Dayton’s assistant vice president of enrollment management, and Bernadette Jungblut, West Virginia University’s director of assessment and retention, recently joined Academic Impressions for a complimentary webcast offering examples of how specific indicators of success might drive specific decisions on campus. Here is One Example: “Grit” During the webcast, Bernadette Jungblut directed attention to […]

A Diagnosis for Academic Advising: 3 Missed Opportunities

by Sue Ohrablo, Ed.D. (opens in new tab)

Through a series of surveys and interviews with advising directors across North America, Academic Impressions has identified a number of frequently missed opportunities that prevent institutions from maximizing the effectiveness of academic advising to improve student retention and academic success. The following are among the most significant: Developmental Advising: Empowering the Student In developmental advising, the student is given the resources to self-audit progress toward the degree, or is sent a degree audit by the advisor prior to meeting. Then, the student’s time with the advisor is spent defining academic and career goals and problem-solving to address obstacles that are likely to arise on the way to meet those goals — rather than going over the course catalog. The strength of developmental advising is that it empowers the student to take ownership of their own goals and progress, and partners them with a professional who can help them plan ahead proactively. EMPOWERING STUDENTS TO SELF-AUDIT THEIR PROGRESSRead our member exclusive report on early alert programs to review recommendations for empowering your students to self-audit their progress and, if appropriate, self-identify when they are academically at risk. For this article, we interviewed two of the architects of Arkansas State University’s forward-thinking approach […]

How will MOOCs Affect Fair Use and Copyright Compliance?

As more institutions consider offering Massive Open Online Courses (or MOOCs), we wanted to investigate what impact these open-enrollment online courses might have on copyright compliance issues for faculty in higher education. To learn more, we turned to copyright and fair use policy experts Steven McDonald, general counsel for the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), and Kevin Smith, director of scholarly communications for Duke University’s Perkins Library. Here are the insights that McDonald and Smith shared with us, related to issues of both copyright compliance and ownership. A Closer Look at Compliance and Fair Use Kevin Smith. We are seeing two things: People are more cautious about relying on fair use when anticipating sharing content with 170,000 people in the (online) classroom than we are when anticipating sharing content with 170 students on campus. We also have a huge opportunity to establish new partnerships with copyright holders (publishers and various clearinghouses), developing agreements to use their materials in the MOOCs, because of the significant opportunity for the MOOC to raise the visibility of their materials. I’ll tell you a story. We had a situation where a faculty member wanted to use materials from a textbook. In her regular class, […]

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