Search Results for: meeting

Access and Prestige: The Complex Function of Financial Aid in Higher Education

Posted on by Brady Stanton

In my last post, I wrote about how admissions works, although the lesson, perhaps, is that the term “admissions office” means very different things at different institutions. And while it’s still true that we in admissions and enrollment management all agree on one thing—that if a student never applies, they won’t enroll—it’s also true that the final step in the process is the processing and delivery of financial aid. A caveat: This is hard to grasp on the first pass—if it sometimes does not seem to make sense, that just means you probably understand it better than you think you do. I recommend paper, a pencil, and some note-taking to get you through this. It’s going to be challenging to navigate. About 15 years ago, I started gauging the age of my audience during presentations by putting an image on the screen. It’s the floorboard of an automobile, showing part of the brake and floormat for some context. You’re likely to notice the bright red carpet before you notice something else that doesn’t look quite right: To the left of the brake is a silver button, a little bigger than a quarter. I ask the audience members to raise their […]

Adding Gender-Neutral Housing

Posted on by Greta Bell

While most media coverage and public attention to gender-neutral housing has been positive (for example, see this article in the Washington Post), it is critical to manage communications with the local media, conservative student groups, parents, and other campus constituencies with some care. A few proactive steps early in the process can help prevent or mitigate consternation among campus groups or the wrong type of media attention. Solicit Broad Input To learn more about how colleges and universities can prepare for opening gender-neutral housing, we interviewed Peter Konwerski, dean of students at the George Washington University. GWU has just walked through the process of setting up a pilot program for gender-neutral housing. From his recent experience with the process, Konwerski offers these practical takeaways for peers at other institutions: “Spend a lot of time listening first,” Konwerski suggests. “If your community does have strong reservations about including gender-neutral housing in your residential opportunities on campus, you need to know them and address them as early as possible.”“Put the story out early in the process to alert the local community. Find out if there will be any negative outcry at that point, before the decision is made. Test the community’s response.” Peter […]

What’s Next for Data-Informed SEM?

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

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:*role=”document”, aria-multiline=”true”, aria-readonly=”false”**aria-label=”Block: Paragraph”* 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 […]

This is How We Need to Rethink the Work of Student Affairs

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

by Daniel Fusch and Caleb Tegtmeier (Academic Impressions) The challenges facing our students and our institutions are more complex than in the past, and no single, siloed office can address these challenges adequately. That’s why some institutions have been forming student affairs innovation hubs to bring together a more diverse crew of creative minds from across campus and put them to work on improving the student experience. One of these institutions is Seattle University, and we recently interviewed Seattle U’s vice president for student development, Michele C. Murray, Ph.D., and Seattle U’s assistant vice president for student development, Monica Nixon, Ed.D. Rethinking Our Work Murray and Nixon suggest that the one-stop shop approach to serving specific student demographics (such as transfer students, for instance) has several flaws. When Seattle University set up an office to serve its transfer students, Murray notes, “the great thing was that we had one full-time staff person completely committed to those transfer students. The downside was that the transfer students felt siloed. They weren’t introduced to the fullness of the student experience, and that issue was replicated across multiple student populations.” “Another unintended consequence of the siloed way of using one-stop shop areas to serve specific […]

Preparing Faculty For Effective Corporate Partnerships

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

In January, we shared three effective models for more holistic corporate engagement. This is the second article in our series on corporate engagement in higher education. While partnering faculty members with companies seeking research partnerships is increasingly attractive to colleges and universities, faculty may approach the new partnerships cautiously. Building effective corporate and faculty partnerships requires you to address potential challenges early — ideally before a contract is in place! We spent time interviewing institutions with successful corporate engagement strategies. Here is a review of the challenges, steps to take in addressing them, and key considerations for aligning corporate and faculty interests proactively and responsibly. 3 Critical Challenges 1. Building Faculty Trust and Buy-in At Kansas State’s Office of Corporate Engagement, Director Richard Potter explains that one of their biggest challenges has been to change how faculty partner with corporations, and to build trust in the university’s vision for a holistic approach to corporate relations. They have been asking faculty and departments to share information about existing partnerships with companies, but some have been reluctant to compromise those relationships. At California State University Fullerton, the challenge has been to build faculty relationships with the CSU Foundation, which was established in […]

How One Registrar’s Office is Securing Buy-in to Streamline Transfer Credit Evaluation

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

The transfer credit evaluation process is one that touches many different stakeholders. The registrar’s office is where the heart of the action happens, but the way credit is articulated has far-reaching implications for the admissions office, department chairs, and academic advisors as well. Because all of these entities have such a stake, it can be tricky for registrars to manage policy changes and gain the buy-in needed to streamline their transfer credit evaluation processes. Two Success Stories at CSU Kelley Brundage, associate registrar at Colorado State University, has worked in transfer credit evaluation for over 20 years and has led two major streamlining initiatives at CSU. The first large-scale streamlining initiative occurred when Kelley was a new hire at the university. As she entered into her new leadership role as associate registrar, she was advised that the overall perception of the registrar’s office was, on the whole, a negative one: other Departments viewed her office as inflexible and unlikely to compromise, and as a result, the efficiency of the transfer credit evaluation process was suffering. Kelley immediately began taking steps to turn the perception of her office around and gain allies throughout the institution. The second streamlining initiative that Kelley […]

Courses with No Syllabi: A Unique Instructional Model at LDS Business College

Posted on by Daniel Fusch

In this interview, learn about a unique approachto designing a more immersive learning experience. In this short clip, you’ll hear my conversation with Bruce Kusch, the current president of LDS Business College. Formerly the chief academic officer at LDS, Bruce spearheaded an instructional framework there called the i4 model of design. i4 means campus instruction that is: To pilot this model, Bruce worked with an LDS faculty member to pilot a semester-long leadership course with no syllabus. He is going to tell us why he decided to do this and what it looked like along the way. Bruce Kusch, LDS College. What our mission here is … is to really prepare our students for the world of work that they will encounter when they graduate. The jobs that are waiting for our students when they finish don’t come with a textbook or a syllabus, and they’ve got to be ready to go to work and produce. The best way that we can help them do that is to put them in a learning environment that in the greatest way possible simulates work. Bridget Dattilo, Academic Impressions. So your intent here is to focus on building the mindset in students for […]

Special Edition: Making a Difference with International Students – The Resources You Need

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

According to the Open Doors report on international education, international student enrollment has increased every year for the past 60 years. With this trend expected to continue, and international students becoming an increasingly important constituent group, it’s critical for institutions to take a more holistic view at how they’re meeting these students’ needs now and in the future. To help you learn from some of the most effective approaches to serving international students, Academic Impressions offers this series of  resources: A Whole-Campus Approach This report offers practical considerations for optimizing the international student lifecycle: Beyond recruitment efforts, institutions need to think broadly about integration into the campus community and the academic curriculum to ensure international students persist and succeed. They also need to plant seeds for future support and giving as these students graduate and potentially return to their home countries. HEAR FROM THE EXPERTS View a free recording of our June 2012 webcast “The Internationalized Campus” to hear from experts Darla Deardorff (AIEA) and Gretchen Dobson (Gretchen Dobson Go Global) about critical opportunities during the undergraduate years to introduce programming that supports international students’ academic success and persistence … and invites them to engage with the institution in the […]

Retaining Your Major Gift Officers—From Day One

Posted on by Daniel Fusch

Retaining major gift officers begins on day one—with how you onboard them and connect them with key networks across the institution. A formal process for major gift officer training is one of the key factors in their success that is also within your control. In my article “Recruiting the Right Major Gift Officers,” I encouraged managers to define the specific skills they are hiring for—and seek non-traditional candidates for major gift officers. Now I would like to encourage you to rethink how you onboard and support your major gift officers in ways that encourage their success and retention from day one. Major gift officers, due to their sporadic attendance in the office, need as much clarity as possible, and this is especially true if you are hiring non-traditional candidates who are new to both the work and the institution. This means more than just ensuring that you have a formalized onboarding and training process (one that communicates the unit philosophy, establishes a common foundation of expectations, and outlines options for potential professional development) and clear performance expectations for both input metrics (e.g., contacts, substantive visits, number and value of asks made, and office attitude/collegiality) and output metrics (e.g., dollars raised, […]

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