Through skill matching, creativity, feedback, and a bit of calculated risk, Audra has devised strategies that result in higher productivity, longer tenures, and employees who are grateful and engaged. We all know that fundraising is a relationship business, and the longer good employees stay, the more money they raise. Audra has worked professionally in higher education fundraising for the last 18 years. From managing phonathons, to frontline development work in billion dollar campaigns, Audra has led teams to meet and exceed fundraising goals. Driven by a passion to empower philanthropists to make the most meaningful impact, she has raised more than $60M for education. Led by the belief that philanthropy done right is a whole lot of fun, she currently serves as Vice President of Advancement at Semester at Sea. During her career, she has been a vocal advocate for women in Advancement, with a focus on strategies to retain women in the workforce and achieve gender parity. She has also contributed to articles on sexual harassment in fundraising in CASE Currents, spoken at regional CASE conferences on dealing with inappropriate donors, and held workshops for teams about sexual harassment. Her management approaches encourage collaboration and performance. As a mother […]
Through a series of surveys and interviews with advising directors across North America, Academic Impressions has identified a number of frequently missed opportunities that prevent institutions from maximizing the effectiveness of academic advising to improve student retention and academic success. The following are among the most significant: Developmental Advising: Empowering the Student In developmental advising, the student is given the resources to self-audit progress toward the degree, or is sent a degree audit by the advisor prior to meeting. Then, the student’s time with the advisor is spent defining academic and career goals and problem-solving to address obstacles that are likely to arise on the way to meet those goals — rather than going over the course catalog. The strength of developmental advising is that it empowers the student to take ownership of their own goals and progress, and partners them with a professional who can help them plan ahead proactively. EMPOWERING STUDENTS TO SELF-AUDIT THEIR PROGRESSRead our member exclusive report on early alert programs to review recommendations for empowering your students to self-audit their progress and, if appropriate, self-identify when they are academically at risk. For this article, we interviewed two of the architects of Arkansas State University’s forward-thinking approach […]
June 9, 2011. During a series of interviews with leaders in alumni relations earlier this year, Academic Impressions found that many alumni relations offices are struggling with their alumni boards or alumni association boards. While a working board can offer institutional leaders partners to aid in achieving institutional goals for engagement and giving, most boards are not filling this role. Among the common problems: Many boards remain too focused on specific tactics — such as reunion and homecoming Other boards have grown too large and unwieldy, preventing them from “getting down to business” Boards struggle to ensure that 100 percent of their members give to the institution and that their members model supportive relationships with administration To learn more about the characteristics of an effective “working board,” we turned to Gary Olsen, associate vice president of alumni relations and executive director of the alumni association at Villanova University, and Christine Tempesta, director of strategic initiatives with the MIT Alumni Association. Olsen and Tempesta shared their advice on the qualities to look for in board members and managing the board’s scope of responsibilities. Who’s on the Working Board? Olsen and Tempesta suggest these criteria for selecting board members who will be well-positioned to […]
FREE WEBCAST The Dual Role of Faculty Advising in Faculty Leadership and Student Success: A Time for Discussion Webcast Recording Create an infrastructure of faculty advising to ensure faculty and student success. Overview As Carol Moore notes in her article, “Advising: Meeting Student Needs?”, “only 22% of colleges have the advising function staffed by professional advisors.” At schools with professional advisors, students often encounter a well-oiled machine of advising that transitions them from their first years of college with a general advisor to more focused work with a major-specific faculty member or advisor. Students at institutions without professional advisors need that same kind of support and guidance in navigating their academic careers, and if they do not receive it, they may struggle to retain at the institution. At the majority of institutions, meanwhile, undergraduate students are too often left with faculty advisors who are neither trained nor given the time to provide appropriate advising. Join us for a one-hour facilitated discussion on the challenges of faculty advising and how to equip faculty with the skills to be successful advisors. You’ll have the opportunity to discuss how your institution prepares faculty for advising, as well as what changes you’d need to […]
The news is filled with accounts of extended pay freezes and tightened departmental budgets. More than ever, it is crucial to identify creative, meaningful, and low-cost ways to reward and retain high-performing faculty. Mary Coussons-Read, professor of psychology and acting chair of the department of physics at the University of Colorado Denver, reviews low-cost practices that can make a difference. Rethink Performance Rewards “Don’t get so caught up in the trees that you don’t see the forest,” Coussons-Read warns. “The forest is the need to help your faculty feel good about the work they do. There are many trees you can shake besides the salary adjustment tree.” While rewarding performance will rarely be free of cost, you can consider a variety of low-cost and one-time expenses that allow you to appreciate faculty. The difficulty of a salary increase is that it is a permanent addition to the ongoing budget. There are many options for rewarding performance for which that is not the case. Look for one-time expenses. Beyond salary increases, you can recognize faculty achievements and, at the same time, use those achievements to encourage a high-performing faculty culture by: Making the most of your faculty awards competition Inviting high-performing […]
How do you lead when there is no map? When the territory is unknown? The swift pace of change and the complexity of the challenges facing our colleges and universities is immense, and is testing the abilities of our institutions’ leaders. The playbook of the past does not offer a sustainable path forward for all institutions. Continually finding new revenue sources, discounting tuition to increase enrollment or improve the academic profile of the student body, investing in new facilities to attract faculty and students, etc.—these will not be enough. Given the prevalence of adaptive challenges facing our institutions, we need a different kind of leader in higher education—leaders who can build bridges from the past to the future, taking the best of our industry and making it more relevant, competitive, and sustainable. The past and current leadership model that prizes vision, academic reputation and track record, communication and charisma, and fundraising expertise is no longer enough to meet our current and future challenges. In the “permanent whitewater” of higher education, we will need leaders who are: Drawing on extensive research and conversations with leaders across higher-ed, this 30-page paper is meant to open the conversation. We invite you to read […]
While higher ed is facing waning enrollments and funding paired with increasing expenses and demands, deans must lead the charge in making their colleges, schools, or units more financially viable while remaining relevant in a rapidly evolving landscape. Deans who are best prepared to meet these demands are creating a culture of creative problem-solving, efficiency, and innovation, and we have partnered with three of them to provide a collaborative space where deans can come together and strategize around their toughest challenges. Join your peers in this four-hour summit to: Think creatively about sources of funding Align programs to market demand and workforce changes Better leverage your existing resources and stakeholders Find innovative opportunities for growth Create the conditions for a more sustainable future You will hear from leading experts and explore new approaches to the crises your school or unit is facing. Infused with small group sessions and solutions-focused brainstorming throughout, you will leave this virtual training with short term strategies to survive and long-term strategies to thrive.
Dr. Olena Zhadko is an enthusiastic educator devoted to advancing teaching and learning with technology. Olena has had experience with online learning as a student, instructor, designer and an administrator and she brings nearly 15 years of experience in Higher Education. She currently serves as the Director of Online Education at Lehman College, City University of New York, acting as the College’s senior administrator charged with the oversight of all facets of online instruction, from web-enhanced learning experiences to hybrid course development and fully online programming. Olena has worked at three innovative academic centers, providing leadership and assistance in articulating and implementing effective teaching, and infusing best practices into curriculum development, delivery, and assessment through the effective use of technology. Her work has focused on innovative approaches in faculty development and meeting faculty where they are in the fast-changing academic environment. She received a Ph.D. in Education with a specialization in Teaching and Learning and Educational Technology from the University of Missouri-Saint Louis. She is an alumna of the Institute for the Emerging Leadership in Online Learning (IELOL), and the International Institute for Faculty Developers. She also serves on the advisory board of the Distance Teaching and Learning Conference.
Dr. Sumanth G. Reddy received his B.S. from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, an M.S. from the University of North Texas, and a Ph.D. from Kansas State University, all in Geography. His research interests are in medical, cultural, population, and tourism geography, with regional application in Africa and Asia. Dr. Reddy has traveled globally for research, conferences, and leisure to over 45 countries. He is passionate about study abroad and providing students with the opportunity to experience the world beyond the classroom. As an undergraduate, he studied abroad in a semester-long program in Scotland, and he again studied abroad in Ghana as a graduate student. In 2016, he took 10 students to China on a 2-week Study Abroad trip, and in 2017, he took 10 students to Ghana and London on a 3-week Study Abroad trip (Travel Blog). For summer 2022, Dr. Reddy was awarded a $14,000 grant from the American Association of Geographers to conduct a camping and hiking trip with his students to explore several national parks in the Southwest. He was also the recipient of the University Presidential Teaching Award for 2021-2022. Besides the classroom, he enjoys hiking, cycling, gardening, cooking, and meeting people. He is a native of Bangalore, India.
In my previous article with AI (“4 Things Academic Deans Can Do to Help Students Succeed After Graduation,” in August 2015), I offered advice on how academic deans and career professionals can collaborate to improve student career mentoring. In this follow-up article, I would like to offer four curricular strategies that can immediately improve student career prospects, by connecting more clearly what a student studies and what they aspire to do after college. Four strategies to make this happen: 1. Work directly with admissions to break the myth that specific majors lead to specific jobs. I have often found myself speaking to groups of prospective students and their parents immediately after an admissions director has literally drawn lines between specific majors and particular jobs. “If you want to be an A you should consider majoring in X,” s/he would exclaim, much to my chagrin. Parents especially like this equation, while students who are often not sure of what ‘they want to be’ usually find it uncomfortable. My subsequent presentation forcefully (and politely) breaks this myth by focusing on three simple notions: WHAT TO DO: Develop a small team that includes an academic dean, an admissions director and a career services director […]
