Search Results for: meeting

Spotlight on Innovation: How Texas A&M – Corpus Christi is Using Online Supplemental Instruction to Boost STEM Student Success

Posted on by 25337pwpadmin@ai_azuread

SPOTLIGHT ON INNOVATION SERIES The US Department of Education has awarded the multi-million dollar First in the World grant 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. Texas A&M – Corpus Christi already offers face-to-face supplemental instruction (SI) for many barrier STEM classes and has seen it boost retention and graduation. However, the number of students who took advantage of SI remained low in comparison to the number of students in the courses. Students frequently reported they could not attend face-to-face sessions due to schedule conflicts or jobs. Dr. Patricia Spaniol-Mathews, Executive Director for Programs for Academic Student Support, hopes to eliminate that obstacle by piloting an interactive online supplemental instruction program with the $3.3 million First In The World grant.  It is an exciting opportunity because the online option will eliminate schedule barriers, increase the number of students who can benefit from supplemental instruction, and hopefully boost STEM retention and completion rates […]

5 Tips for Improving International Alumni Data

Posted on by 25337pwpadmin@ai_azuread

Today, international alumni relations looks and feels: Successful programs require leadership support, designated staff management, volunteer engagement and resources such as budgets and updated data. With current databases, our efforts are only as good as the information we have — or the information we are getting today. How are we tracking international alumni? Does this area need a thorough review before we start outreach? Can we begin to track international students better? POLLING ALUMNI RELATIONS PROFESSIONALS In a recent online training with Academic Impressions increasing international alumni engagement, I asked participants what their greatest challenge was in engaging international alumni. More than 85% of responses agreed that incomplete, insufficient, old, and/or the lack of international alumni databases proved their most challenging obstacle. You can order that training here. As a follow up to it, I want to offer these five tips for improving international data management practices: 1. Know the depth of current data and create records for “non-traditional” alumni First, do the research needed to track when the first international students attended your institution and how the demographics have changed over time: 2. “Internationalize” current systems Output is only as good as input. The success of engaging international alumni […]

Training Peer Mentors for First-Year Students: What’s Missing

Posted on by 25337pwpadmin@ai_azuread

Peer educators can serve as an effective front line in the student development and academic success of first-year students, and employing peer mentors (either as employees or as volunteers) can save on costs. Yet many institutions provide only the most cursory training and orientation for their peer mentors. This week, we turned to Sarah Whitley, the forward-thinking director of first-year experience and family programs with Longwood University. We asked her what critical efforts are often missing from peer mentor training. Here are three items she drew our attention to. Introduce Student Development Theory “One thing that I have found incredibly useful and successful, and that many universities aren’t doing, is to actually provide a training session on student development theory. I know that probably seems a bit “heavy” for undergraduates. It seems like more of a graduate school topic. But offer a basic overview to kick off your training program, because it’s really important for the peer mentors to understand the developmental level of new students coming into the institution.”Sarah Whitley, Longwood University Whitley suggests that a basic overview of Chickering and Perry and brief discussions of student development vectors, how students are trying to make decisions, and how students […]

How Do You Make the Case for Funding Maintenance and Renewal for Campus Facilities?

Posted on by 25337pwpadmin@ai_azuread

YOU’LL ALSO WANT TO READ:Benchmarking Deferred Maintenance: A Recent Survey (May 2012)Proactive Approaches to Deferred Maintenance (November 2011) In our January – February 2012 survey of facilities managers (read the executive summary here), Academic Impressions learned that while physical plant operations at most institutions have assigned a high priority this year to addressing their deferred maintenance backlog, many falter in making an effective case for funding facilities replacement and maintenance needs. We turned this week to Daniel King, facilities manager at Auburn University (Auburn, AL), who has recently done some innovative thinking and piloting around just this issue. Here are two ideas Dan King offers – one for working with academic leaders to prioritize “small and modest” maintenance projects, and one for communicating to institutional leaders the big picture of the institution’s replacement and renewal needs. A Clear Process for Prioritizing Maintenance Projects Auburn University has piloted a prioritization process that involves soliciting maintenance needs from across campus and then meeting with the provost to evaluate the proposed projects on a regular basis. The keys to the process are the involvement of the entire campus in a discussion of the institution’s maintenance needs and transparency around the decisions made. King’s […]

Strategies to Build & Sustain Your Donor Base

Strategies to Build & Sustain Your Donor Base A 6-Part Discussion Series for Annual Giving Professionals   Recorded on October 11, 2023 | Recorded on October 18, 2023 | Recorded on October 25, 2023 | Recorded on November 1, 2023 | Recorded on November 8, 2023 | Recorded on November 15, 2023 REGISTER Gain new ideas in community with other annual giving professionals to strengthen donor acquisition and retention. Overview As competition for donor dollars increases, it’s more important than ever to build solid strategies around the three critical components of the annual giving fundraising cycle: acquisition, participation, and retention. Join us for a discussion series to learn new ideas for how to build and sustain a healthy donor base. In community with other annual giving professionals across the nation, you will engage in dialogue, share current practices, and have space to ask questions about how to apply these new strategies at your own institution. Each session will be co-facilitated by our expert panel, Nky McGinnis, Executive Director of Annual Giving Programs at the University of Rochester, and Tyrell Warren-Burnett, Senior Director of Annual Giving at Oregon State University Foundation. Collectively, they bring 25+ years of experience to the table […]

Can Confusion Be an Asset and a Resource for a Leader?

Posted on by 25337pwpadmin@ai_azuread

How Do Successful Higher-Ed Leaders Deal with Adaptive Change? We’re well-equipped, in higher education, to meet technical change head-on. We’re often less well-equipped for adaptive change. This is a distinction Ron Heifetz drew, first in his thought-provoking book Leadership without Easy Answers (1998) and later with Martin Linsky in Leadership on the Line (2002). With technical challenges, situations arise where current knowledge, expertise and resources are enough to deal effectively. A technical problem is not necessarily trivial or simple but its solution lies within the organization’s current repertoire of resources (such as updated technology, takeaways from past experience, or decisions to invest more money or people). With adaptive challenges, there are fewer clear answers. Adaptive challenges demand that we lead differently, because these challenges cannot be solved with current knowledge and expertise, but require experimentation, risk taking, creativity and the ability to use “failures” as learning opportunities. Adaptive leaders – the leaders I would follow – are those who know how to embrace confusion and ambiguity. Those are the leaders I would trust; those are the leaders who are visibly comfortable with ambiguity and who are always learning and moving forward. (I unpack this idea further in my article “Higher Ed is Facing Adaptive Changes.”) This […]

6 Questions Advancement Leaders Need to Ask New Presidents

Posted on by 25337pwpadmin@ai_azuread

Quickly establishing a rapport with a new president is of immense importance to an advancement leader. If a shared sense of purpose and a framework of collaboration are established between the two of you in the first month of a new presidency, the institution can soar to new heights. But if this groundwork isn’t established, missteps and misunderstandings can accrue and result in heightened tension, mistrust, and, ultimately, turnover in advancement leadership.Advancement leaders can help establish that rapport by asking their new presidents some very strategic questions. The Right Questions to Ask These questions include: 1. Who were your mentors or the leaders who inspired you? What in particular did you admire most about them? Why this is the right question:The answer will provide you real insight into the president’s leadership style and allow you to mesh your style with his or hers. 2. What information would be most helpful for my staff and I to bring back as we interact with alumni, parents and other key constituents? Are there questions that you would like us to be asking these constituents on your behalf? Why this is the right question:This question will help the new president understand that advancement can be […]

Rethinking the President’s Role in Fundraising

Posted on by 25337pwpadmin@ai_azuread

Because your institution’s president is uniquely positioned to scan the horizon and help develop and communicate a vision of the future to prospective donors, his or her role in fundraising entails far more than just making connections and making the ask. In his recent monograph “Fundraising for Presidents: A Guide,” Jim Langley, president and founder of Langley Innovations and past vice president for advancement at Georgetown University, contends that the president’s primary role in fundraising is not to ask for money but to create the conditions that attract significant philanthropic investments. We followed up with Jim Langley this week to learn more. FUNDRAISING FOR PRESIDENTS: A GUIDE Jim Langley’s monograph offers a forward-thinking look at: Slow Persistence, Not Rapid Persuasion We asked Langley for the key thing presidents need to know about philanthropy. In response, Langley noted a fact that is relatively well-known but infrequently (or inconsistently) acted upon. “Fundraising,” he cautions, “is often depicted as a short-term if not transactional phenomenon, while the research on philanthropic patterns suggests that fundraising needs to be long-term in its focus.” Citing research on donor trends and behaviors, Langley notes that: Langley uses this data to issue a reminder to institutional leaders that […]

How You Approach the Last Day of Class is More Important Now Than Ever

Posted on by Daniel Fusch

We’ve never had a term quite like this, and how we close our classes this semester matters. For some students, their classes may have been their most consistent and stable community during this time of rapid change and abrupt isolation. This article offers tips and techniques for approaching the last day of class in ways that provide both closure and connection.  I was chatting – well, zooming actually – with a colleague who felt inclined to skip the final class session, given that students seemed so exhausted. I absolutely understand this inclination, but I suggested otherwise. I was not promoting intentional course closure due to policy or typical good practice, but because this semester is like no other we’ve experienced and students will likely be grateful for that closure. A webinar on trauma-informed pedagogy confirmed my belief in the importance of closure this semester. Let’s consider why. Your class, while inconsistently “delivered,” might have been the only consistent and stable community for students this semester. Many students had to leave their college residences and support networks. For some, the only thing in their lives that stayed the same was your presence, and that of other students in your course. As […]

Strengthening Library/Faculty Partnerships

Posted on by 25337pwpadmin@ai_azuread

Last week, after heated protest from the faculty senate, the Syracuse University Library pulled back from plans to move thousands of books off campus. The tensions at Syracuse University illustrate the importance of communicating with faculty and with academic leaders early and often; as academic libraries continue to grapple with issues of core identity and as they plan to reshape collections, it is critical that library deans and directors find productive ways to involve faculty in the conversations from the start. Charles Forrest, director of the library facilities office at Emory University, offers some tips for launching these conversations. Start Talking Early It is important to establish strong partnerships with faculty champions before the time comes to discuss major changes in the library. If you don’t already have one, Forrest advises, “get a mechanism in place for ongoing dialogue: a library policy committee, a faculty advisory group.” You need to build a core of advocates who understand what the library is facing as an organization and as part of the larger academic institution. Continually look for opportunities to engage new voices from the faculty in dialogue about the role of the academic library at your institution. Get them involved in […]