Category: Uncategorized

When Student Behavior Becomes a Media Crisis: Mitigation and Recovery

As one news source put it, Duke University “keeps getting in the news for all the wrong reasons.” The barrage of negative media attention to what are in all probability isolated and exceptional incidents at the university (a recent alumnus detailing her intimate encounters with Duke athletes; an email from a Duke fraternity inviting female students to a Halloween party in crass terms; the shutting down of an outdoor student party) offers a cautionary tale about the “snowball effect” that an incident involving perceived student misconduct can have on media relations for an institution. Journalists and experts on media relations alike have suggested that since a rape allegation in 2006 against three Duke lacrosse players, the local media have been quick to perpetuate negative stereotypes of the Duke student (even though the lacrosse players were found not guilty). What this case demonstrates is the importance of ongoing image management and reputation recovery after a media crisis related to student behavior. If an institution does not take prompt action after a crisis — and indeed, proactive action prior to a crisis — to build a more positive image, the negative image can persist for years, as the case of Duke illustrates. This week, […]

The College Store: Encouraging Customer Loyalty

As college bookstores face increased competition from chains such as Barnes & Noble, peer-to-peer sites, and popular online retailers such as Amazon and eBay, many stores are seeing fewer students come through their doors, meaning not only declines in revenue from textbook sales but also from sales of other items — apparel, electronics, and campus memorabilia. A feature in The Chronicle of Higher Education emphasized that bookstores at many colleges are responding to their changing industry with new services they hope will keep students coming: performance spaces for in-store concerts, multimedia stations for printing digital photos, and even dry cleaning. However, diversification of services can be an expensive investment, and many stores are neglecting their best opportunities for increasing customer loyalty around their core services. This week, we turned to Mark Mulder, past auxiliary services director at Pacific Lutheran University and a key planner for the Garfield Book Company, and Dennis Mekelburg, associate director of Arizona State University Bookstores, to learn some practical tips for encouraging customer loyalty for the college store. Positioning Your Campus Store in a Changing Industry Before leaping into adding new programs to strengthen your customer base, Mulder suggests beginning with key strategic questions: At the end of […]

Returning Adults: Four Keys to Academic Success and Retention

According to a recent report by the Workforce Strategy Center, by 2018, two-thirds of the jobs in the US economy will require a postsecondary credential, yet 80 million to 90 million adult workers have low basic skills and are not qualified for those jobs. These data suggest that over the next decade, colleges and universities will see steadily increasing demand for both certificate and degree programs from adult learners. The Workforce Strategy Center report shares recommendations for a review of policy at the federal, state, and local levels. To learn what practices at the institutional level have an impact on the academic success and persistence of adult learners, Academic Impressions interviewed Denise Hart, director of adult education and creator of the Success Program at Fairleigh Dickinson University, and Kenneth Vehrkens, dean of the Petrocelli College of Continuing Studies and associate vice president for lifelong learning at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Hart and Vehrkens recommend four primary areas in which to focus investment: Rigorous prior learning assessment Adult-friendly advising Preparing adult-friendly faculty Establishing one point of contact for connecting adult learners with enrollment and support services Prior Learning Assessment “Providing credit for experiential learning often makes the bridge to the next degree […]

Student Philanthropy: The Academic Impressions Model

In 2007, Academic Impressions researched the top student philanthropy programs in the United States and identified a student philanthropy model that highlights three core components shared by the most effective student philanthropy programs:     The Academic Impressions Student Philanthropy Model This model provides a conceptual framework for examining the components of an effective approach to inviting students into your long-term donor pipeline: Creating awareness: Do your students know how their education is funded? Do they understand the importance of private giving to their school? Developing gratitude: Do your students express gratitude for the support they have received? Do your students feel grateful for the role of private support in their educational opportunities? Cultivating giving: Have your students acted on their awareness and gratitude with a philanthropic gesture? “To successfully cultivate committed, lifetime donors, student philanthropy cannot be a series of ad hoc initiatives — it has to be a thoughtfully crafted strategy that spans the student life cycle and has leadership support.” Naomi Nishi, Director of Program Design and Customization, Academic Impressions Awareness Lay out expectations for students regarding their relationship with and responsibility to their alma mater, do so unapologetically, and do so starting at the beginning of freshman […]

Future Support Starts with the Student Experience

Amid the decline of state support for public institutions and a less forgiving fundraising climate (a recent Chronicle of Philanthropy study showed a 12% decline in giving for 2009, the sharpest drop in 50 years), ensuring the future financial health of your institution will require more intentional footwork in establishing a reliable pipeline of invested donors. To develop a stronger donor pipeline, the key is to start earlier. However, institutions attempting to raise giving rates for young alumni are often rebuffed. In a study of the attitudes of young alumni conducted this summer, the Engagement Strategies Group confirmed that the majority of young alumni are reluctant to give due to high tuition costs and a lack of understanding of how institutions of higher education are funded and how institutions do (and don’t) draw on endowment spending to finance their needs. Colleges and universities need to solicit more support from their former students, but what such reports demonstrate is that the best opportunity to create an ambassador for your institution is to cultivate them while they are still students on campus. It is more expensive and much more difficult, if not impossible, for the development office to repair relationships after commencement. […]

Translating a Positive Student Experience into Lifetime Support for your Institution

November 2010. Institutions’ strategic initiatives and plans are increasingly reliant on financial support from alumni and donors, yet most institutions aren’t particularly strategic in their approach to cultivating and sustaining support. Relying solely on your development office to garner this support is both more expensive and less effective than leveraging the efforts of each department that interacts with students during their time on campus. Students will build the capacity to give over time. The more strategic question is, “How do you build propensity to give?” Defining a comprehensive student life cycle and being intentional about every touchpoint a student has before, during, and after their on-campus or online experience puts your institution in the best position for success when you ultimately make the ask. That’s why we’ve taken a whole-campus approach to addressing the issue of building lifetime support for your institution. We’ve asked college presidents and professionals across admissions, student affairs, and advancement for advice on cultivating students as campus stakeholders—at every point in the student life cycle. We hope their advice will be useful to you. Chapter in This Report Read the report

Between Convocation and Commencement: Developing Undergraduates as Stakeholders

Truly laying the groundwork for long-term private support requires rethinking how your institution manages its relationship with students. From the moment of their transition to your campus, it is critical to treat students as stakeholders, not merely consumers or “kids.” This mindset has implications for how offices across your campus interact with students. Each office — academic advising, admissions, financial aid, residence life, campus safety — has a responsibility to ensure a successful and positive student experience that can lead later to an engaged and positive alumni experience. Inviting students to see themselves as stakeholders also entails informing them (in an open and transparent manner) about key issues the institution is facing and inviting their input and help. We interviewed Raj Bellani, associate provost and dean of students at the Rhode Island School of Design, and Jim Langley, president of Langley Innovations, to learn how institutions can develop students as both short-term and long-term stakeholders in your institution’s success. Bellani and Langley suggest: Audit the services you offer students — solicit student feedback, correct inefficiencies that may drive “wedges” between student and institution Invite students to participate in open dialogue with administrative and academic leaders about the financial challenges faced […]

Encouraging a Higher Giving Rate from Young Alumni

Now, more than ever, institutions need to ensure the long-term health of the annual fund by moving donors into the pipeline early, and young alumni are often an insufficiently tapped resource. Yet this year sees not only a continuing trend of volunteerism but also growing numbers of recent graduates seeking to reconnect with their alma mater for assistance with networking and career advancement opportunities in this economy. It is critical that alumni relations and annual fund professionals take advantage of a surge in interest from young alumni through proactive and deliberate outreach. We asked Elise M. Betz, executive director of alumni relations at the University of Pennsylvania; Linda Williams Favero,  assistant director of the University of Oregon Career Center; and Ben Jarrett, assistant director of advancement at Georgetown University, for tips on cultivating young alumni engagement and fostering a higher giving rate without expending too many of your limited resources. Their advice is to: Engage young alumni through the services you offer them Adopt a peer-to-peer model for soliciting gifts Leverage social media and electronic communications to keep your outreach resource-efficient Focus on Services for Young Alumni First, Linda Williams Favero stresses the importance of starting with what alumni need, […]

Student Philanthropy between Convocation and Commencement

Once you have invited students to take responsibility for the success of their alma mater and have adopted a campus-wide relationship management strategy to remove any “wedges” and facilitate a seamless and positive student experience, a third key step is to involve your undergraduates in student philanthropy. However, the majority of institutions leave career services, alumni networking, and messaging about the importance of philanthropy until the senior year and the senior gift drive. This approach misses three years of opportunities. You can begin making an impact on student awareness by crafting compelling events prior to the senior year that emphasize their engagement in a lifetime community. Georgetown University, for example, has students file through the main administrative building to light candles with alumni on major declaration day, and also holds a “Careertoberfest” at which students have their resumes reviewed and learn about the career and networking resources they will have as alumni, while sipping cider and enjoying bratwurst and Halloween candy. However, if you only organize a few events to raise awareness, you are missing your greatest opportunities. We interviewed Ben Jarrett, assistant director of advancement at Georgetown University, and Raj Bellani, associate provost and dean of students at the […]

Starting with Admission: Planting the Seed for Lifetime Affinity

Beginnings are a critical time — you can plant important seeds for future constituency with some deliberate planning around how you will convey messages regarding awareness, gratitude, and giving to students during their transition into the institution. In this article, a university president, three enrollment managers, and a thought leader in institutional advancement offer their advice on steps that universities can take during the admissions process to invite new students to see themselves as active members of the university community and lifetime stakeholders in the university — to take pride in their future alma mater from day one. Prior to Admission In fact, you can start engaging potential students in the community and culture of your institution even before day one. MIT offers a case study on how to do this effectively, having recently seen success in engaging prospects and applicants in the culture of the institution even prior to admittance by rethinking the admissions website. Now a “Web Portal and Community,” the site features student, staff, and alumni bloggers. What has worked well for MIT is the openness of the blog. “Invite student, staff, and alumni bloggers to post not only advice for the admissions process but also let them talk […]