Category: Uncategorized

Positioning IT as a Strategic Partner on Campus

Though institutions of higher education are increasingly looking for technological solutions to strategic challenges, downgrades in the rank of the chief information officer at institutions such as MIT and the University of Chicago raise questions about the CIO’s role in university leadership. While there isn’t any conclusive data to suggest that the CIO role is shrinking, concerns voiced over that possibility do serve to direct increased attention to one of IT’s pressing challenges: that is, how to position the CIO, and the broader IT organization, as a strategic partner within the institution. We turned to Gene Spencer, principal of Gene Spencer Consulting and a lead thinker on IT management, for practical advice on how chief information officers can grow, rather than shrink, their role. Missed Opportunities “Running an IT organization is about relationships first, then technology.”Gene Spencer, Gene Spencer Consulting Spencer suggests that CIOs who see their role shrinking may need to first look at their own approach to key interactions with partners across the institution. Common mistakes that a CIO can make which actually reduce his or her ability to engage with key decision-makers (and be seen as a strategic partner) include: The most critical thing is to shift your focus […]

Avoiding a Media Relations Crisis: Lessons Learned from Laramie County Community College

After some initial controversy over FERPA and student privacy, a set of documents from Laramie County Community College were made public, prompting a media flurry and providing a cautionary case of how one college may have mishandled a response to the suicidal behaviors of a student while leading a 2008 class trip to Costa Rica. The incident raises several questions for institutions of higher education, including: We asked leading crisis communications expert Cindy Lawson (with the University of North Carolina Wilmington) to address that second question, and to identify what lessons other institutions can learn from these recent events. Lessons Learned: Cindy Lawson’s Analysis Cindy Lawson: “Students are colleges’ and universities’ top priority, and as such, these institutions always are concerned about (1) the safety of their students; and (2) the privacy of those students as guarded under FERPA. To be sure, names of students and other individuals always can be redacted for ‘privacy’ reasons from any document, just as they were in this case, but redaction doesn’t guarantee privacy. Indeed, colleges and universities get concerned, and rightfully so, that even with the names redacted, persistent reporters may be able to (and often do) connect the dots and figure out the names of one […]

Academic Advising for Adult Learners

The Chronicle of Higher Education recently highlighted the diverse needs of adult learners, noting the importance of developing course rotations, a broader approach to remediation, and advising strategies that make sense for returning adults and are tailored to their diverse sets of needs. We turned to Denise Hart, director of adult education and creator of the Success Program at Fairleigh Dickinson University, to learn more, asking for specific advice on removing barriers to adult learner success. While course rotation and flexible scheduling are essential, the single most critical step, Hart suggests, is to take a “high-touch approach” to academic advising for adult learners. Recruit the Right Advisors “It takes a certain type of individual with certain skills to be an academic advisor for adult students.” Denise Hart, Fairleigh Dickinson U Hart recommends identifying potential advisors who, at a minimum: Know the academic program very well Are intuitive thinkers Are strong interviewers “Advising adult students is not a matter of memorizing curricula,” Hart warns. “Your advisors need to have people skills, and they need to be able to open an in-depth conversation with adult learners about their goals, their life situation, and their needs.” Hart recommends that your advisors identify themselves […]

Business Intelligence: Making Data Reporting More Effective

Attention to analytics for higher education is growing. Campus Technology recently published an intriguing interview with Florida State University, highlighting the success of FSU’s initiative to build end user ownership of data reporting, and Tech Therapy this week podcasted an interview with the president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County on making the transition from reliance on anecdotal evidence to reliance on ready and available data. While the Campus Technology article focused on the technological solution employed, Brian Parish, president of IData Incorporated, suggests that for institutions that are revisiting their data reporting, process and communication may be more critical to sharing knowledge across your institution than the tools and technology that will provide the vehicles for that sharing. Here are Parish’s tips for making data reporting more effective. Shift the Focus from Data to Information “Reporting is not a technology problem. The barrier is knowledge; you need to create reports that help end clients solve problems, and this means you need to help the end user frame the question. You need to understand the purpose of the report, why they need this. You need to share information, not just data.” Brian Parish, IData Incorporated Parish suggests the need to encourage […]

Recruiting Chinese Students

We have seen enrollment commitments, aspirational statements, and recruiting plans focused on Chinese students at institutions across the US. However, few colleges and universities in the US have developed a strong tradition of marketing to Chinese students. In a recent conversation with Academic Impressions, Tom Melcher, chairman of Zinch China (an entity that offers services to assist Chinese families with college choice and helps admissions officers in the US identify their best-fit Chinese candidates), offered practical advice for how institutions new to recruiting in the Chinese market can: Target a Specific Chinese Market Melcher suggests that these three questions are critical to targeting your recruiting effort: First, Melcher warns that Chinese is not a single language, and you need to be very clear whether you are recruiting students from Hong Kong or Taiwan, or from the mainland. “Hong Kong and Taiwan read and speak a different language from the mainland,” Melcher advises, “with more complex characters. The two languages are more different than the Spanish spoken in Spain and the Spanish spoken in Mexico, which at least are the same written language.” It is critical to make sure your marketing materials are in the right language for the right audience. It […]

3 Questions to Answer Before a Wide-Scale Adoption of the iPad

In a Campus Technology article this week entitled “CIO Predicament: What To Do About the iPad,” Tim Chester, CIO and vice provost for academic administration at Pepperdine University, recommended a middle ground between the opposing camps of those hurrying toward wide-scale adoption of the iPad and those refusing to support the new mobile device. While Pepperdine has not moved to adopt the device across campus, the school has taken 3 initial steps: At Academic Impressions, we interviewed Tim Chester to learn more about his approach and his thinking around iPad adoption. Chester suggests that there are 3 threshold questions a campus needs to be able to answer prior to adopting the iPad on any wide scale: Sustainable Market Share “Is this a fad? Sustainable market share over time is the sign of impact. Does the market share continue to grow, or is this device replaced by something else? Individuals eventually stop buying devices they don’t find useful.”Tim Chester, Pepperdine U Citing the need to make investments wisely given limited resources, Chester proposes a two-year timeline (while noting that “2 years” is neither fixed nor exact) for watching the mobile device market prior to investing in campus-wide or even college-wide iPad […]

Admitting Transfer Students

This week, the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) released a report detailing how institutions of different types and sizes are weighting different admissions factors when reviewing transfer student applications. Among other findings, the report confirms that most (though not all) institutions have begun weighting postsecondary grades and achievements over secondary grades. Responding to the NACAC survey, Kurt Thiede, vice president for enrollment management at Bucknell University and a leader in recruiting and engaging transfer students, offers tips for reviewing transfer student applications and for better integrating transfer students into your enrollment strategy. Admissions Factors When reviewing transfer student applications, Thiede advises, “look at their academic achievements in totality”: Regarding pace, Thiede cites the case of a 30-year-old student who has earned a 2-year degree with a 4.0 GPA but who did so by taking 1-2 courses per term over the past 10 years. This student may have a high GPA and an excellent schedule, but might not be ready for the pace of education at your institution. One factor Thiede advises not weighting for transfer admissions is standardized test scores. These test scores may be several years dated for many applicants, and their post-secondary record is both more recent and likely […]

Taking Marketing Materials From Print to Online: A Few Tips

More colleges are trimming back print viewbooks and related materials and moving to more digital approaches; most recently, the University of Colorado at Boulder hopes to save more than $250,000 a year by scaling back its recruiting brochures. We turned to Elizabeth Scarborough, CEO of SimpsonScarborough, and Jason Simon, director of marketing and communication services for the University of California, for their tips on making the print-to-online transition most effectively. First, Don’t Rule Out Print Entirely Scarborough cites the case of one institution that has decided to eliminate the print run of its alumni magazine, transitioning the entire distribution to an online version. However, data collected on the preferences of the readers indicates that 30% of the institution’s alumni want to receive only a print magazine. By canceling all the print distribution, this university is risking losing up to one third of their readership. “That’s a real mistake,” Scarborough warns. “While I am 100% a supporter of a greater mix of print and electronic, I firmly believe that print is not yet dead. Some members of your target audience may still have a very strong preference for print, and that is to be respected.” “You don’t have to eliminate an […]

Succession Planning for IT

Amid a wave of CIO retirements, it is critical for information technology leaders in higher education to engage in proactive succession planning and talent development throughout their IT organizations. We asked Tim Chester, chief information officer at Pepperdine University, for his advice on developing leadership competencies within IT. Invest in Developing More Than Just Technical Skills Developing a successful IT organization and successful candidates for future leadership, Chester notes, involves prioritizing a set of competencies that are above and beyond technical skills. When hiring and promoting staff, most IT organizations can rely on a set of expectations around minimums having to do with years of experience and skill sets. However, it is also critical to set expectations around the mastery of competencies having to do with the delivery of service and engagement with users in improving your institution’s use of technology. For example, Pepperdine University’s IT organization has two tiers of core competencies. The first tier consists of those skills necessary to provide good and consistent service: A second set identifies those skills that enable staff to “go the extra mile” in providing excellent service and engaging users in meaningful ways: These skills, Chester suggests, are critical to the advancement […]

Improving the Academic Success of Latino Students

While many colleges are making investments in recruiting Latino students, Western Oregon University, a public institution primarily serving first-generation students, has made significant investments in supporting and retaining Latino students. Oregon Live reported that WOU raised its completion rate for Latino students 16% between 2002 and 2007 (the 2007 rate was 49%, actually several points higher than white students at WOU). We asked David McDonald, associate provost at WOU, for advice he would offer his peers on where to start in improving graduation rates for Latino students. Start with Your Data “Start collecting the data now. What are the characteristics of successful versus not successful students?”David McDonald, Western Oregon U Among your Latino students, look for which cohorts are achieving success and which are not. This tells you both where you can reinvest funding for current efforts in order to capitalize on current successes, and where your greatest needs are. Factor in: Conduct an Advising Audit “Start with advising. Is your college really doing what it needs to do?”David McDonald, Western Oregon U Because many Latino students are first-generation and lack the support network that may be available to traditional students, advising is especially critical. In auditing academic advising, look […]