News

The Naming Opportunities Plan and Donor Stewardship

Even as more institutions look to launch new campaigns — often increasingly ambitious ones in terms of their dollar goals — donors are increasingly interested in attaching their names to philanthropic projects representative of their values. In fact, Vincent Duckworth, Partner at ViTrēo, advises that recognizing major gifts with naming opportunities has become so prevalent not only in higher education but across other nonprofit sectors, that it has become an expectation for many donors. To capitalize on this trend, institutions must develop proactive procedures and policies for establishing, managing, and marketing naming opportunities. We asked Vincent Duckworth, who will also be exploring the topic further in a webcast on “Developing Institutional Naming Plans and Policies,” to offer his suggestions for approaching a naming opportunities plan responsibly and effectively. Here’s what he shared with us. Watch a Recorded Webcast from Vincent

What’s Next for Data-Informed SEM?

by Sarah Seigle Peatman

More institutions are using small and big data sources across the prospective and current student lifecycle to inform key decisions related to enrollment and retention. To take a look at how Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) is changing and to get ideas for how institutions can better leverage their data, we reached out to a panel of three prominent experts: These three, joined by Laura Jensen (associate provost for planning and effectiveness at Colorado State University), will also be discussing this topic in more depth at our upcoming conference Effectively Leveraging Data in Enrollment Management. Here is what they shared with us today. What Advances are We Making? What are the Opportunities? Sarah Seigle. Real-time data and analytics have become more important across all stages of the student lifecycle. Looking at three of the biggest functions of a strategic enrollment management plan—student recruitment, financial aid, and retention—where have you seen many institutions make recent advances in incorporating data into their decision-making? John Dysart. I have seen more colleges bring analytics into financial aid. In recent years, financial aid leveraging has become nearly commonplace. It seems that the majority of colleges and universities are now using some type of leveraging formula, awarding grid or preferential […]

SEM for Community Colleges: Practical Steps

by Sarah Seigle Peatman

Recently, I had the chance to speak with Dr. Monique Perry, dean of enrollment services at York Technical College, who will also be facilitating our two-part, recorded webcast series Strategic Enrollment Management for Community Colleges, where she will help participants learn how to make the case for, plan, and implement a strategic enrollment management model at their community colleges. We wanted to ask Perry, an expert on the topic, how shifting enrollment trends are changing recruitment practices for two-year institutions, and how their enrollment managers can be more strategic and data-informed as they move forward. Here is a transcript of our interview. Shifting Trends, Shifts in Focus Sarah Seigle.  How have community college enrollment trends affected recruitment practices at the community college level? Monique Perry. Shifting funding sources for public institutions, demographic changes, and more entities competing in the 2-year space all influence enrollment management. Of these, the decrease in funding for community and technical colleges has been the most impactful trend, as that sets the context for much of our work. And while funding can be out of the average enrollment officer’s circle of control, a college’s ability to transform and adopt EM principles in theory and execution is within our control, and is an […]

FERPA Checklist: What Can Never Be Shared

In Academic Impressions’ online FERPA training (you can order this online training here), FERPA expert Helen Garrett, the university registrar and chief officer of enrollment information services at the University of Washington, and recent president of PACRAO (the Pacific Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers), gave a thorough review of the fundamentals of FERPA regulations and how they apply to scenarios faculty and staff face daily on campus. During the webcast, Garrett also shared a short list of examples of student information that can never be released to a person other than the student. This is a useful checklist to share with faculty and staff across your institution, and to foreground in any FERPA training you offer. Here’s what Garrett had to say: “What information cannot be given out, ever? “What do I mean by this? These are things that cannot be part of your directory information and that you cannot give out. You cannot make it something that you say that you will give out. It’s really important that your staff are trained on this. “You need to make sure your staff are clear on all of these.” We encourage you to share this quick checklist with your faculty […]

Missed Opportunities: Why Private Universities Need to Partner with 2-Year Colleges to Create Better Transfer Pathways

by Sarah Seigle Peatman

For many private institutions, community college transfer students represent a viable and untapped opportunity for increased enrollment and tuition revenue. While developing a webcast to share practical strategies for partnering with community colleges to improve student recruitment and student success, I had the opportunity to talk with Mary Hinton, president of the College of Saint Benedict. Hinton, who also authored our recent article “Game On for the Liberal Arts” and participated in the Presidential Dialogues, has a forward-thinking approach and makes an eloquent and compelling case for partnering with two-year institutions – not only to boost enrollment objectives, but to address a growing need in society. Partnering for Better Transfer Pathways: An Interview with Mary Hinton Sarah Seigle. As private colleges look to recruit more transfer students, how would you describe the opportunity you see for four-year private institutions when it comes to partnering more strategically with community colleges? Mary Hinton. As we think about student demographics, and the desire for our institutions to be more inclusive, we know part of that equation will demand thinking beyond our current constituents. Partnering with two-year institutions provides viable opportunities to reach more students; to genuinely exhibit inclusion; and to recognize that for some, access […]

STEM: How Can Effective Facilities Best Enrich STEM Learning?

Recently, we gathered representatives from community colleges, undergraduate institutions, and Tier 1 research institutions in Orlando, FL for a groundbreaking dialogue on how to design and deliver modern STEM facilities on their campus. One of the highlights of our annual Designing STEM Facilities for 21st Century Learners workshop was a series of collaborative visioning exercises in which our participants were tasked with describing how the most effective facilities might enrich their STEM disciplines. The results were invigorating, and we want to share them with you. This is the vision for STEM facilities that our participants created: While final projects will certainly vary in size and scope, institutions with diverse academic missions and student populations were in agreement that these core principles must be accounted for in facility design. We hope that you can use this map of our participants’ vision for STEM facilities to start some vigorous conversations on your campus. See Other Topics in Institutional & Academic Planning

Enrolling and Supporting Women in STEM: Practical Steps to Take

by Daniel Fusch

During a tour early this summer of the Colorado School of Mines, I had the opportunity to hear from a number of women enrolled in the geophysics and engineering programs there, and to speak with Stephanie Berry, the former director of CSM’s innovative WISEM (Women in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics) program. WISEM is certainly a program worth a close look, as it has achieved some remarkable outcomes: I wanted to find out more about how they have achieved this, and what lessons their successes might offer for other institutions. The keys to WISEM’s success? Let’s take a closer look. 1. Marketing STEM Programs to Women “Traditional wisdom is that women are attracted to careers that help people,” Berry explains, “so Mines’s marketing campaigns have focused on shifting how engineering is talked about. We’ve focused on what STEM is for, how engineering helps people. So we say, ‘Engineers don’t find the problems, they solve the problems.’ Or we say, ‘Make the world better: Be an engineer.’” The campus’s section of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) also provides conferences for elementary, middle, and high school girls in the region. One of the goals of these events is to raise awareness of the many different […]

The 5 Biggest Mistakes Team Leaders Make

by Patrick Sanaghan

Over the years, I have had the opportunity to work with over 100 senior teams and cabinets in higher education. Overall, the experience has been quite positive due to the intelligence, dedication, aspirations, and integrity of those veteran leaders. Unfortunately, about 10% of teams I have worked with just never performed well, despite great effort and talent. This article is an attempt to conduct a “post mortem” on the teams that just didn’t make it. These mistakes go beyond some of the essential elements of stellar team performance, such as having a shared purpose, holding each other accountable, open and trusted communication, and high levels of trust. All these are very important, but the absence of these was not responsible for these talented teams’ failures. The following five “mistakes” may sound like common sense, but they are often overlooked when leaders at colleges and universities are building their teams. For a limited time only: We have opened up our leadership content to registered users. Please login or create a free account to read the full paper. 1. The team leader falls prey to the “comfortable cloning” syndrome. “Comfortable cloning” describes our natural tendency to seek out other team members who are similar to us or who […]

Faculty Checklist: Steps to Respond to Classroom Incivility

by Lisa Cook, Daniel Fusch

Finding a balance between protecting free speech and keeping classroom discussions professional is often easier said than done in an election season when anything from climate change to history lessons might quickly become a hot topic. For practical, useful advice on classroom civility, we talked with Barbara Lee, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Rutgers University, and Kathleen Rinehart, General Counsel and Secretary of the Corporation at Saint Xavier University. With their help, we’ve developed the following quick sheet for faculty. (You can click the image below to see a larger and printer-friendly version, or click here.)  (You can view and print a larger, PDF version of this checklist here.)  We hope you will forward or print this checklist and share it with your colleagues! If you found the checklist helpful, we also recommend our popular recorded webcast “Faculty Civility and Academic Freedom: Protecting the Workplace while Preserving Academic Culture.” In this 90-minute training, learn how to address faculty incivility without violating academic freedom. You can view an excerpt from this recorded online training and purchase the training for your department. Watch Our Recorded Webcast on Faculty Civility

Presidential Dialogues: Making Difficult Decisions

How do you make important decisions when you don’t have perfect information? When you know there will be resistance? Recently, we convened six leaders from very different institutions to discuss how they have approached making difficult decisions. In this quick, practical paper (a 15-minute read) hear advice from these six presidents on making the difficult decisions: What this paper presents is a departure from the traditional model for presidential leadership. Culturally, we acclaim decisive decision makers or heroic, charismatic personalities. But these six presidents were diverse in leadership style, approach, and personality, and all of them were skeptical of the value of decisive action unaccompanied by deep understanding of the institution’s culture and deep efforts to build trust and collaboration. We hope their insights and experiences will be useful to you! Read the paper. Related Resource: Check Out The Presidential Transition Guide