News

How Do Universities Need to Approach Student Data Differently?

by Linda Baer (opens in new tab)

Are we looking at student data in ways that help us improve our efforts? What holds us back from measuring and improving student success? What holds us back from measuring student success and implementing measures to improve it? How should every institution be looking at its student data differently? These are pressing questions to answer. Let me share a few of the things I’ll be talking about at our upcoming conference Building Your Data Strategy to Improve Student Success Programs and Interventions. I want to share four steps all institutions need to take—and three examples of who is already doing this. 4 Things to Do We need to have institution-wide strategies to improve student success programs and interventions. And for these strategies to work, we have to define the strategic needs and priorities that you we expect from analytics and align investments in financial and human resources to build the analytics required to improve student success. (For more on what that might look like, see Ronald Yanowski’s article “The Analytics Landscape in Higher Education.” Here are four things every institution needs to do: 1. Focus on the right questions and adopt a comprehensive analytics strategy to address them. Often in […]

What Every Higher Ed Leader Needs to Know About Supporting Women in Leadership

by Daniel Fusch (opens in new tab)

How can higher ed leaders support women’s leadership within their institutions? What do leaders need to know? Academic Impressions staff and leaders in the academy offer their advice and perspective. Several times a year at our Women’s Leadership Success in Higher Education conference, we bring together 200 women in leadership positions (or aspiring to leadership positions) in higher education to network, connect with mentors and success coaches, and share perspectives on the challenges of the academy. As we approach our next iteration of the event, we wanted to ask members of our previous faculty panel (as well as our internal team who designed the conference) what advice they most want to give this year to leaders in higher education who are committed to doing more to support women’s leadership growth and success. Here’s what they would like to share with you: 1. What’s one piece of advice you would offer those working in higher ed to support women in leadership roles? Karen Whitney. “If you really want to see more women in leadership, and in particular at the highest levels of leadership, then be prepared to be both honest and clear. “First, if a leader has asked for your support either as […]

What Are Title IX Reasonable Accommodations for Pregnant and Parent Students?

When working with pregnant or parenting students, what are Title IX reasonable accommodations? What constitutes “reasonable,” and what accommodations need to be included in your institution’s policies and procedures? Here are some scenarios. The following is an excerpt from the Academic Impressions recorded webcast “Title IX: Key Considerations for Working with Pregnant and Parenting Students,” which you can purchase here, presented by Jeanine Bias, Director, Office of Equity and Inclusion/Title IX Coordinator, Sam Houston State University. 4 Scenarios: Is it a “Reasonable Accommodation”: Yes or No? “Accommodations are always a case-by-case basis, but when the accommodation is being issued by an administrative office and not by one particular faculty member, you want to be careful not to create situations where an accommodation granted in one case needs to then be granted in all similar situations, outside of that case-by-case. You want to make sure that you’re giving accommodations that are reasonable but that also don’t get you into a corner later on. “So, in general, are the following accommodations reasonable? 1. Childcare – No. “We need to talk a little about where childcare comes into the equation as it relates to both our guidance and our responsibility, but in general, […]

What Do We Mean By a Trauma-Informed Title IX Investigation?

by Daniel Fusch (opens in new tab)

What does a trauma-informed Title IX investigation look like? How do you investigate cases of alleged sexual misconduct on your campus in ways that are sensitive to the fact that the student issuing the complaint may be experiencing trauma? The following is an excerpt from the Academic Impressions recorded webcast “Conducting Trauma-Informed Investigations for Sexual Misconduct Cases,” , presented by Cheryl Wayne, M.Ed., JD, Title IX Investigator, DePaul University. This webcast is free to our members. Keys to a Trauma-Informed Investigation Check your biases “…When you do a trauma-informed investigation, you are looking first to check your biases. Now, if I could see all of you, I would ask, “How many people have biases?” And I am sure everyone in the room would raise their hand, because we all have them. What’s important is that we check the biases we have and make sure they don’t come into play when we are interviewing. It is natural to do that. Avoid appearing impatient “One of the things you will find when dealing with a complainant who has an experience of sexual misconduct is that they may not always get their story out as quickly as you would normally think. You don’t […]

5 Steps to Boost Your Alumni Volunteer Engagement

by Courtney Yuen (opens in new tab)

The University at Buffalo’s alumni volunteer teams have seen a big increase in participation and engagement. Here’s what they’re doing differently. When Clayton Connor looks at his volunteer management calendar he channels his inner Hollywood mogul. “We always liken it to a movie studio that comes out with a big blockbuster every three or four months,” he said. As the Assistant Director for Constituent and Alumni Engagement at the University at Buffalo, keeping his “audience” interested is crucial. In his eyes, big volunteer opportunities are feature films primed to make an impact. “They’re the tent-pole movies. There’s a big summer movie and then when the holidays come around there’s another big movie to keep their viewers engaged,” said Connor. “We try to do the same thing with our volunteers.” He spaces out the big opportunities or “blockbusters” every three months and then sprinkles in smaller opportunities throughout the year. This way the University of Buffalo is always top of mind for their alumni. A More Planful Approach to Volunteer Management When he started in this role two years ago, he saw there was a need to have a better developed plan for volunteer management. Connor, like anyone else managing volunteers, was […]

Checklist: Preparing Adjunct Faculty to Teach Online

Department chairs and program directors are busy people, and orienting adjunct faculty may not be top of mind. But adjuncts who are teaching online for the first time need support and information to hit the ground running. Here is a quick checklist of items to cover with first-time online instructors. by Teresa Focarile, Boise State University(who also wrote: “Adjunct Faculty: A Department Chair’s Guide to Orienting New Instructors“) Many institutions are expanding their online course offerings, and using adjunct faculty to do so. While these faculty members are often teaching from a master course and therefore are not responsible for developing the class, there is still important information about teaching online that needs to be shared with these new instructors in order for them to be effective online teachers, and to ensure they understand the expectations for teaching in your program (Larcara, 2011). Checklist Some items on this checklist might already be in place. For example, most institutions have a team that can get adjunct faculty up to speed on the functionality of the Learning Management System (LMS). In addition, many institutions have developed trainings (sometimes mandatory) for faculty who teach online. But if your institution does not have those kinds […]

Challenging Androcentrism in the Academy: Creating Environments that Empower Risk Taking and Confidence in Women Leaders

In a culture of androcentrism, women are likely to be stymied by a reluctance to take risks. Moreover, women who have a well-developed sense of confidence often present it differently from men. How do we shift the culture within our institutions? by Rosalind Spigel, Organizational Development Consultant and Leadership Coach, Spigel Consulting  In this fifth article in our series on Challenging Androcentrism in the Academy, we’ll look at a set of leadership traits and behaviors we identified earlier in the series: confidence, achievement drive, and tempering assertiveness. Confidence “Confidence isn’t optimism or pessimism, and it’s not a character attribute. It’s the expectation of a positive outcome.” ― Rosabeth Moss Kanter In an androcentric, male-dominated setting, women are likely to be stymied by a reluctance to take risks. When someone fears she will be judged differently, she is less likely to go out on a limb, step up, or raise her hand. For this reason, going for an assignment without knowing in advance exactly how to accomplish it generally takes more courage for a woman. Research shows that this confidence gap between men and women plays a role in different levels of academic success, occupation choices, and career progression, and is a […]

How Strategic Planning Can Bridge the Divide Between Athletics and Academics

by Ken Halpin (opens in new tab)

Every college and university that sponsors intercollegiate athletics, at any level, must come to grips with how that division fits into the overall mission of the institution. And, at the same time, athletics must work to integrate itself into the university’s culture. One way to achieve that is to embark on a highly collaborative strategic planning process. Part of the Institution, Yet a World Apart The academic community often perceives the intercollegiate athletics division as a separate world: Athletics has “admissions criteria” distinct from the institution’s.  Students will not be recruited to become student-athletes without demonstrating some athletic ability in addition to their academic accomplishments. In many cases, the athletic facilities, which often take up a fair amount of real estate, tend to be grouped together in a remote part of campus creating the impression of an athletics “fiefdom.” While anyone can walk into the library or the student center, it is perceived that not everyone can walk into the athletics department. Although this is a perception and not a reality, it does foster an “us vs. them” mentality. At institutions with higher profile athletic departments, additional challenges like larger marketing and advertising budgets or the continual purchase of big-ticket […]

Managing the Donor and Alumni Database: The 3 Biggest Challenges

by Sasha Wedekind (opens in new tab)

Managing the donor database and tracking your alumni data is complex. Here is a quick look at the three most common challenges with alumni data–and what is keeping our advancement operations from doing better. Recently I spoke with two dozen advancement services professionals to get a more defined sense of what is most challenging in managing the alumni database–and why. I’ve summarized what I learned in the following graphic: Problem #1: The Wrong Data What are people doing now?Everyone I spoke with mentioned the same key challenge: having wrong information on alumni, particularly addresses, emails, and employment history. This is a major problem; without accurate contact information, advancement shops cannot communicate with their constituents. This challenge is particularly applicable to young alumni data, since many young alums do not update their addresses through the Postal Service (US universities can verify alumni addresses through the Postal Service Change of and have multiple email accounts, many of which they don’t check. What stops people from doing better?The root of the problem is that alumni do not inform their institutions about changes to their contact information. Secondarily, universities do not currently have an efficient way of finding correct information and monitoring all of their […]

Share This Advice with Your First Generation College Students

The first generation college student often feels alone in navigating the processes and procedures of higher education. Here is some advice from staff at Academic Impressions who were first generation themselves. Share this with the students on your campus! by the Staff at Academic Impressions “My interest in higher education is a deeply personal one,” our president at Academic Impressions, Amit Mrig, relates. “My family is here in this country because my father had an opportunity many years ago to come to this country and be afforded a scholarship. He didn’t have any money, any resources to warrant that opportunity other than his intelligence and his hard work. In my mind, that is what the American dream is. Anyone who has the determination, the drive, and the intelligence should have an opportunity to move up the social ladder. The engine that drives that is higher education.” Today, November 8, is #CelebrateFirstGen Day. One of the amazing things about higher education in the U.S. is the doors it opens for families who have never been to college; our hope is that higher education will remain the engine of social mobility in this country. In that spirit, our team shares the following stories […]

Loading survey...