Search Results for: meeting

The Critical Step in Allocating Resources Across Alumni Relations and Annual Giving

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

Most alumni relations and annual giving operations have limited intelligence about who will be a strong reunion volunteer, annual giver, or alumni travel prospect—if the person has not previously participated in any of those activities. But rather than pulling a random database query and then reaching out at random to the contents of the entire resulting list, applying predictive analytics can help provide a more targeted allocation of your resources and more targeted messaging. Why Predictive Modeling is Critical Many organizations seeking to improve operating performance are turning to predictive analytics and predictive modeling to either increase revenues, decrease costs, or both. The size of our alumni population and database at Penn make focusing resources critical to fundraising success. The objectives of our early pilot projects in predictive modeling have been to reduce fundraising-related marketing costs and/or increase the dollars raised, or improve business performance in some other way. Here are examples of how our recent analytics efforts at Penn have informed critical resourcing decisions: The Steps for Effective Predictive Modeling The steps in the predictive modeling process are: Identification of the business need and a proper problem definition are critical for a successful project. In most data warehouse systems, […]

Creating a Culture of Advisement: Engaging Faculty in Advising

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

Sometimes you don’t just need to change advising procedures; you need to change the culture of academic advising on campus. A few years ago at Ramapo College of New Jersey, our enrollment management division surveyed faculty, first-year students, and upper-class students to learn where students turned for help in making academic decisions as they progressed through the curriculum. What we learned was striking: Further, over 57% of first-year and 47% of upper-class students did not even know who their academic advisor was. What this survey told us was that we didn’t just need to improve our advising procedures; we needed to create a culture of advisement on campus. 3 Keys to Changing the Culture Knowing that a culture of advisement is as dependent (if not more so) on buy-in and commitment from faculty than buy-in from administrative units, we embarked on the creation of an overall academic advisement plan for our campus, which included a series of action plans that hinged on three key change management strategies: Engaging faculty in academic advisement is essential to advancing Ramapo’s work — or any college’s work — in student success. Here’s what we did to engage our faculty: 1. Modeling the Change We […]

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

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

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 identifying the opportunities to lead change at your institution and in your field. In this article by the authors of the book A guide to becoming a scholarly practitioner in student affairs, learn how positioning yourself as a scholar in student affairs can be critical to this process. If you could give voice to those who were marginalized, if you could change the field of student affairs through your voice, if you could create better collaborations across campus with our academic colleagues, and if you could share your insights with parents, students, and other invested stakeholders so that they know what we contribute to student learning and development, then why would you not? Student affairs practitioners need to engage in scholarship to give voice and to inform others about their impact on student lives. Scholarship addresses the concerns of stakeholders, and it is essential for professional […]

3 Tips for Re-admitting Stop-Outs

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

This article offers critical tips gleaned from two of the earliest and successful college stop-out re-enrollment programs – the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s 49er ReAdmits and 49er Finishers, and Harper College’s Completion Concierge. It is a must-read if you are thinking of starting your first stop-out program. Looking to boost completion rates, more colleges are reaching out to students who left the institution or “stopped out” due to family, life, and career changes — or due to financial hardship — but who either qualify for a degree or other credential without realizing it, or are within a few courses of completion. In 2010, we interviewed Demaree Michelau, WICHE’s director of policy analysis, for her advice on the key barriers stop-outs face in returning to campus and how institutions can begin to address them. In this new article, we review two highly successful programs — one at a four-year institution and one at a two-year institution — and we have asked those leading the programs to share tips and advice that may be replicable at other institutions. Our two sample programs are the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s 49er ReAdmits and 49er Finishers, and Harper College’s Completion Concierge. […]

6 Powerful Ideas for Building a First-Class Team on Campus

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

Why You Need a Stellar Team To build a high performing team is a daunting and noble task, and such teams are as rare as blue diamonds. The silo mentality that often exists on our campuses often limits our collective actions, and creates redundancy and replication. Given shrinking resources and the rapid pace of change, the siloed approach to team building and decision making is neither strategic nor feasible. We must work collaboratively to utilize the collective talents of our campus stakeholders. And learning to build high performing teams is one of the most effective ways we can meet the many challenges that confront us. If a senior leader can build a stellar team, the organizational leverage that can be achieved is powerful and can be a game changer for a campus. In this scenario: We have had the opportunity to work with scores of senior teams in higher education. Almost always, these teams were comprised of highly intelligent, dedicated, honest, and mission-driven individuals. But few of them ever became a first class team.  When you witness a high performing senior team being transparent with each other, asking for help, dealing with conflict effectively, and listening carefully to each other, […]

Spotlight on Innovation: How Georgia Tech and AMAC Are Working to Make Course Materials More Accessible

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

SPOTLIGHT ON INNOVATION SERIES The US Department of Education has awarded multi-million dollar “First in the World” grants to 24 colleges and universities that are innovating to solve critical challenges with access, recruitment, retention, and student success. At AI, we have interviewed each of the recipients to learn more about the projects these institutions are pursuing, how their approaches are unique, and what other colleges and universities can learn from these new efforts. Despite increased demand for more accessible course materials for disabled students, there is often a lot of inertia on the part of the textbook industry. Georgia Tech’s Bob Martinengo, who serves as the accessibility solutions publisher outreach specialist for AMAC Accessibility Solutions—an organization that is part of Georgia Tech’s College of Architecture, and that was incubated out of the University System of Georgia in 2005—offers this theory for why some changes have been slow: “The industry has often said ‘yes, but we are concerned about cost’ or ‘we’re working on this project, but maybe tomorrow.’ The problem has been around so long that there’s little measurable movement.”Bob Martinengo, AMAC and Georgia Tech Martinengo wants to see two things change, in particular: Rethinking the Market “The overarching theme is […]

Engaging International Alumni

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

With the balance of wealth shifting overseas — and with more colleges and universities increasing their international enrollment — international fundraising is likely to play an increasingly larger role in development at North American institutions. To learn how institutions can get started in such an effort, we interviewed Gretchen Dobson, the past senior associate director for alumni relations at Tufts University and the principal and founder of Gretchen Dobson Consulting, LLC, a consulting firm focused on helping educational institutions, nonprofit member organizations, and consulate/embassy education officers facilitate alumni engagement and advance international programs. Dobson has also authored the book Being Global: Making the Case for International Alumni Relations (CASE, 2011). A TWO-PART LOOK AT THE CHALLENGES After speaking with Dobson, we’re offering these two articles to help you think through some initial steps for getting started with international fundraising: Dobson recommends several steps that make all the difference in launching an effective effort: Telling the Story As with any fundraising effort, the key to being effective is to tell a story about what your institution can help potential donors achieve with their time and money — not just a story about how they can help you with their time and […]

Overcoming Barriers to Student Affairs/Academic Affairs Partnerships: 4 Examples

Posted on by Daniel Fusch

In our 2016 article “Improving Student Success Can’t Be a One-Office Effort,” Paul Marthers at SUNY spoke of the power of leveraging strategic partnerships across traditionally divided functional areas: “Whole-campus efforts tend to have higher visibility and the power to motivate collective buy-in and effort. Student success became everyone’s job, because just about everyone who works on a college campus is involved in some part of the student lifecycle.” Developing strategic partnerships between student affairs and academic departments on your campus isn’t easy work, but it can be critical to improving students’ experience and success. That’s why we’re offering an intensive learn-and-work training this summer focused on the structural and cultural aspects of developing a successful partnership. In advance of that workshop, though, we wanted to collect powerful examples of how experts at different institutions have overcome common but significant hurdles to establishing and strengthening these partnerships. Here are the examples our expert panel want to share with you: Examples: How Each Panelist Overcame Hurdles to Successful SA/AA Partnerships Christopher Romano, Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs, Ramapo College. Higher education is known for its siloed approach to serving students. However, one way that Ramapo College of New Jersey has […]

5 Steps Any University Can Take to Develop Student Leaders

Posted on by Daniel Fusch

Beyond a workshop, what does developing student leaders effectively look like? The former president of Nichols College shares 5 quick steps any college can take – followed by advice on how to take student leadership development to the next level. by Susan West Engelkemeyer, Former President, Nichols College At many colleges and universities, student leadership development programming is limited or localized to an office in the student affairs division. Yet we know that leadership is one of the core capacities that employers (and society) require of our graduates in the 21st century. Leadership development should be integrated throughout the curriculum and co-curricular experience, for all students. We have been working on that integration systemically at Nichols College, but you don’t have to systemically re-imagine your general education curriculum in order to get started. Here are 5 things any university can do that supplement existing offerings and programs with meaningful leadership development: 1. Add a Module to Your First-Year Seminar In a course already required for first-year students, include a several-weeks-long module or two that focus on leadership practices and issues. Or offer a dedicated seminar during intercession. Having students work through case studies serves as useful format. The subjects can range […]

Many Faculty Misunderstand What Enhancing Customer Service Means in the Classroom, and You May, Too 

Posted on by Brady Stanton

As a senior administrator in higher education for decades, I spent a great deal of time creating programs and policies that would enhance the student experience. This seemed natural, and it was done in pursuit of boosting student satisfaction and retention. As an instructor, however, reconciling “student satisfaction” within my classroom was not as straightforward. My goal as an instructor was to provide information and build knowledge for students, despite the fact that sometimes the outcome was disappointing for both of us. Since students pay for classes, but not grades, there was never an expectation that students would be universally satisfied.  Enhancing the student experience and customer service on campus is often delegated to administrators and staff who develop policies, procedures, and programs for students that will act as guardrails at the edge of the enrollment cliff. However, many discussions over the years surrounding this important topic have often purposely steered away from the classroom— as though classrooms are shrouded under an invisibility cloak and are not up for discussion when it comes to customer service.  On one occasion, I was meeting with a mixture of administrators and faculty, and I shared my belief that we needed to examine our […]

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