Search Results for: meeting

A Close Look at Rio Salado College’s Approach to Boosting Success for At-Risk Online Students

Posted on by 25337pwpadmin@ai_azuread

SPOTLIGHT ON INNOVATION SERIES The US Department of Education has awarded multi-million dollar “First in the World” grants to 18 colleges, universities, and organizations 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. 2015 was the second year of the First in the World grants. You can read our interviews with the 24 institutions that received 2014 grants here. If you’re looking for ways to assist online students who are academically under-prepared, you may want to watch Rio Salado College’s developing research project, PLan for Undergraduate Success (PLUS). The two-year college’s latest initiative targets new students pursuing an associate degree or planning to transfer to a four-year institution, and will allow Rio Salado to route additional support and preparation to these students. Assisted by a $2.7 million First in the World grant, the college hopes to increase degree completion and persistence by personalizing learning, supporting students with a college success course and facilitator, and by offering an online boot camp […]

Free Webcast: Accelerate Your Professional Growth: A Forum for Chiefs of Staff

FREE WEBCAST RECORDING Accelerate Your Professional Growth: A Forum for Chiefs of Staff Join other Chiefs of Staff to grow your skillset, support network, and influence on campus. The Chief of Staff role is a relatively new and evolving entity on college campuses. The role is often vaguely defined and consequently, locating resources and support systems to be successful in your position can be a challenge. Join us for this free recorded discussion as we explore tactics and resources to help grow your skillset, create a support system, and utilize your unique position to advocate for change. This discussion was led by Max Allen from Clemson University and Brittany Williams-Goldstein from Ramapo College, two accomplished Chiefs of Staff who shared what they have learned from their experiences. Who Should Attend If you are a current or aspiring Chief of Staff or you are in a similar role of support for a President, Chancellor, Provost, or other leadership position charged with implementing initiatives across constituents, you will benefit from this recorded discussion. Agenda During the recorded webcast, you will hear ideas, experiences, and challenges within the following topic areas: 1. Identifying and Building Critical Competencies as Chief of Staff In this […]

Tailoring the RCM Model to What Works For You

Posted on by 25337pwpadmin@ai_azuread

In an era of public scrutiny and requests for increased financial accountability, higher-ed leaders are looking for ways to show the public that they are addressing the issue of rising college costs. Many have turned to responsibility-centered management (RCM) as a way to reduce costs and encourage financial responsibility within individual academic departments. While many institutional leaders see RCM as a way of decentralizing financial decision-making, allowing vice presidents and deans to take responsibility for their own budgets, they may not realize that certain principles of this financial structure can be tailored to fit the distinct culture of their campus, even without wholesale adoption of an RCM model. The University of Notre Dame recognized how they could adopt some principles from RCM to meet their institutional needs and goals. Here is what they did, and what you can learn from it. Adopting Elements of RCM – Not the Whole Model Linda Kroll, associate vice president for finance at the University of Notre Dame, states that when their institution looked at some of the fundamental elements of the RCM model, university leaders liked that the model allowed for: Distribution of responsibility to unit leaders Creation of a culture that rewards lowering […]

Spotlight on Innovation: A New Take on Developmental Education at Gateway Community and Technical College

Posted on by 25337pwpadmin@ai_azuread

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. There has been no shortage of research documenting the extent to which developmental education courses under-serve academically under-prepared students; traditional dev-ed curriculums typically award no college credit yet cost students time and money, while showing dismal persistence rates. In the past couple of years, we have seen a number of colleges and universities undertake innovative and impactful reforms of their developmental education. Gateway Community and Technical College in Florence, KY, is currently engaging in such a reform through its Flexible Learning and Exploration space (FLEXspace) project, which is funded by a $3.4 million First in the World grant. We reached out to Kristen Smitherman, project director; Kerri McKenna, division chair of developmental education and orientation and assistant professor of developmental writing; and Doug Penix, director of learning […]

The College Store: Encouraging Customer Loyalty

Posted on by greta@academicimpressions.com

As college bookstores face increased competition from chains such as Barnes & Noble, peer-to-peer sites, and popular online retailers such as Amazon and eBay, many stores are seeing fewer students come through their doors, meaning not only declines in revenue from textbook sales but also from sales of other items — apparel, electronics, and campus memorabilia. A feature in The Chronicle of Higher Education emphasized that bookstores at many colleges are responding to their changing industry with new services they hope will keep students coming: performance spaces for in-store concerts, multimedia stations for printing digital photos, and even dry cleaning. However, diversification of services can be an expensive investment, and many stores are neglecting their best opportunities for increasing customer loyalty around their core services. This week, we turned to Mark Mulder, past auxiliary services director at Pacific Lutheran University and a key planner for the Garfield Book Company, and Dennis Mekelburg, associate director of Arizona State University Bookstores, to learn some practical tips for encouraging customer loyalty for the college store. Positioning Your Campus Store in a Changing Industry Before leaping into adding new programs to strengthen your customer base, Mulder suggests beginning with key strategic questions: At the end of […]

Empowering Higher Education Leaders Through Coaching in Challenging Times 

Posted on by enya@academicimpressions.com

When I served in a cabinet-level leadership role, my leadership style was rooted in my belief that success was determined by strategy, collaboration, and execution alone. I had a clear vision and a strong sense of responsibility, but what I did not realize at the time was that there was a powerful tool – leadership coaching – that could amplify my effectiveness in ways I could not anticipate.   Looking back, I can’t help but wonder how much smoother some challenges would have been, how much more I could have developed as a leader, and how much stronger my team could have become, if I had embraced coaching earlier. With the benefit of hindsight, rooted in my growing knowledge of coaching, I am confident that leadership coaching would have been an invaluable asset – both for my own growth and the success of my team. This is the power of coaching: the ability to unlock untapped potential, overcome obstacles with greater ease, and evolve as a leader in ways that go beyond what I can do on my own.   Higher education is facing profound challenges. Our students, institutions, and communities are grappling with uncertainty, burnout, and ongoing crises. The world is […]

Campaigns: Meaningful Ways to Engage the Board

Posted on by 25337pwpadmin@ai_azuread

Too often, board involvement in the campaign is limited to what are essentially tactical assignments — making the ask to their contacts, raising certain quantities. What’s missed in these cases are opportunities to engage the board in what board members do best — big-picture thinking, advocacy, and getting key messages out to the community. Jim Langley, founder and president of Langley Innovations, and past vice president of advancement at Georgetown University, offers suggestions for how to approach the board from the outset in a way that will contribute more to the success of your campaign. Starting with a Cognitive Map Langley recommends involving board members early in framing the campaign and the “big ideas” driving it. In an unproductive relationship between the board and the campaign planning committee, board members are shown a gift pyramid, told that the institution has X number of prospects at each level, and then given assignments. “In too many cases,” Langley warns, “we assume that a gift pyramid is enough; we present the pyramid, then march through and orchestrate the ask. If you present the campaign that way to the board, they will assume it is a tactical exercise.” Langley warns that there are two risks in this: […]

Speaking with Applicants and Admits About Financial Aid

Posted on by 25337pwpadmin@ai_azuread

The 2010 Student Poll published by the College Board and Art & Science Group, LLC confirms that most college applicants are dismissing colleges from their list on the basis of sticker price, without considering net price. The study also finds that applicants are nonetheless willing to attend a higher-priced school for: In this article, W. Kent Barnds, vice president of enrollment and communication at Augustana College and Robert Massa, vice president for communications at Lafayette College, share their tips for smaller, liberal arts institutions on how to approach the conversation about net price and financial aid with applicants. No Silver Bullet There are standard ways to help educate the public about the sticker price/net price difference: But Barnds and Massa warn that these methods do not address the real issue, and they share concern that polls and media (as well as federal) attention to the problem of communicating net price to the public actually focuses attention on a “red herring.” “Providing a net price calculator is not enough,” Massa warns. “Because you will package students differently, there may be so many packaging options that would change the cost to families — and a student’s total college expense is affected also by personal and […]

Adjusting Housing and Dining Operations for the Fall: Ideas from Your Peers

Posted on by Daniel Fusch

Every campus with plans to re-open in the fall is scrambling to adjust campus housing and dining services – but often, we are moving so fast and feeling so isolated that we lose the opportunity to compare notes and brainstorm solutions with our peers, or to learn from what other institutions are trying. That’s why we brought a couple dozen housing and dining services leaders together for a virtual brainstorm session. Here’s some of what they came up with. As a student life professional, you are currently planning how housing and dining operations will adjust in the fall under the “new normal” of COVID-19. Assuming your institution will host students on campus beginning in August, you will soon have to implement plans to keep students and staff safe in these shared spaces. Before moving to the implementation phase, have you stopped to discuss your plans with other housing and dining professionals to ensure the very best options are on the table? On May 20, 2020, leaders in housing and dining from just under two dozen campuses met online to discuss the issues entailed. This virtual workshop was unique in its format and was the first of an ongoing series of […]

Student Affairs: Trends to Watch in 2017-19

Posted on by 25337pwpadmin@ai_azuread

What will student affairs look like, 3 years from now? Looking ahead, what concerns you most? What do we most need to do this year? Recently, we held vigorous discussions of the future of student affairs with a panel of experts that included two vice presidents of student affairs (Les Cook and Paul Marthers), a career services expert (Jeremy Podany), and a sitting president (Karen Whitney, Clarion University) whose background is in student affairs. All four are forward-thinkers and bring unique perspectives to student affairs. Paul Marthers heads up both student affairs and enrollment management at SUNY’s central office, and Les Cook, as vice president for student affairs and advancement at Michigan Tech, oversees the entire student-alumni lifecycle from pre-college outreach to planned giving. Karen Whitney’s approach to leading Clarion University is deeply informed by her work in student affairs, and Jeremy Podany, as executive director of Ascend and The Career Center at Colorado State University and the founder of the Career Leadership Collective, is pursuing the integration of career and co-curricular at every step of the student experience. Our conversations with this panel of experts left us enthused, and we want to share some of the highlights from these interviews […]

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