News

Fundraising Planning: Taking a Longer-Term Approach

Experienced chief development officers know that budgeting and staff planning must take into consideration agreed-upon fundraising priorities and goals. We also know that fundraising plays a role in achieving the campus leader’s overall strategic vision. Since most campaigns or projects require more than one year to complete, budgeting and planning beyond a year at a […]

Infographic: Reaching 4 Generations of Alumni

by Luanne M. Lawrence, Senior Consultant, LML Marketing & Communications It is a complex task to reach alumni today: they fall into four generational categories, each with its own expectations around communication. Alumni staff are working hard – but often using the techniques that resonate most with Traditionals: print magazines; reunions; e-newsletters; direct mail. The […]

Donor Relations: What You “Should” Do and What You “Must” Do

In donor relations, it’s easy to split ourselves too many ways, pursuing too many initiatives at once. Often, we begin our work brainstorming about what we must do in order to build your program? To prioritize your efforts wisely, refer to the Four Pillars of Donor Relations (covered in full in my book): In this updated […]

“George”: How RIT is Encouraging Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Institutions seeking to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration in research and teaching are pursuing an array of approaches: hiring faculty into multiple departments based on shared interdisciplinary interests, launching research initiatives that provide additional funding to get interdisciplinary projects off the ground, and providing shared research spaces. One of the challenges that often remains is that faculty often […]

Advising: 3 Ways to Take the Conversation Beyond Registration

This article is an excerpt from Sue Ohrablo’s acclaimed book High-Impact Advising: A Guide for Academic Advisors, which you can find here. After an academic year begins, advisors can start to breathe a little easier once most of the fires have been put out, questions have been answered, schedule adjustments have been made, and students are […]

Spotlight on Innovation: Colleges and Universities that are Making a Difference

Emerging Trends: How Colleges Can Operate as Learning Organizations In late 2014, the US Department of Education awarded $75 million in “First in the World” grants to twenty-four colleges and universities, to fund initiatives to improve college access and completion, particularly for lower-income or first-generation students. Since then, we’ve interviewed those leading the First in the World […]

From Student Affairs Professional to Student Affairs Scholar: Taking Charge of the Change You Want to See

FOR THE STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONAL:THE CHANGE YOU NEED TO SEE AT YOUR INSTITUTIONS We’re excited to share this article with you because at Academic Impressions, we believe that the change you need to see at your institution is often within your own control, and that your professional development is key to building the skills and […]

Best Practices in Student Housing Design

READ THE FULL SERIES 1. Executive Summary: The Changing Shape of Student Life Facilities 2. Financing and Planning Student Life Facilities 3. Best Practices in Student Housing Design (this article) by Patrick Cain and Daniel Fusch (Academic Impressions) This summer, we released an executive summary of the findings from a survey of institutions looking to add new […]

10 Tips to Improve Your Meetings

Most meetings simply don’t work and are a waste of precious time. Unfortunately, many higher education leaders spend much of their professional lives in these unproductive meetings. Higher education runs on thousands of daily meetings including committees, task forces, departmental meetings, and so on. When was the last time you participated in an engaging, productive meeting […]

Financing and Planning Student Life Facilities

READ THE FULL SERIES This summer, we released an executive summary of the findings from a survey of institutions looking to add new student life facilities in the next year. You can read our executive summary here. Now, we are following up with lead architects and consultants who work with student life facilities in higher […]