Search Results for: meeting

Habits of Highly Effective Higher-Ed Professionals, Part 2: Finding Your Purpose

Posted on by Daniel Fusch

Recently, I published the article “Habits of Highly Effective Higher-Ed Professionals,” talking about how (and why) higher-ed professionals need to take Stephen R. Covey’s advice about “sharpening the saw” to life. That article stressed the importance of professional development to our careers and our effectiveness. Now I want to take a step further and discuss another habit of highly effective higher-ed professionals: creating a purpose statement to provide your career and life with lasting fulfillment. It sounds simple, but often is anything but. I’ll talk about:  1. Why You Need to Pursue Purpose, Not Happiness Recently, I was having lunch with a friend and former colleague. We were reminiscing about the “good ol’ days” when we worked together as consultants. It had been years since we had met for a meaningful conversation. I found that as I explained the journey that had taken me from full-time consultant/part-time professor to full-time professor/part-time consultant, I realized that I had never been “myself” in front of him…until this moment. Whether in a team meeting or a golf outing with a client, I had always felt that I had to be someone who I really wasn’t. I hadn’t been happy with who I was. I had spent the […]

The Best Gift Higher Education Never Asked for: Donald Trump 

The Best Gift Higher Education Never Asked for: Donald Trump By Amit Mrig, CEO, Academic Impressions Over the past 120-plus days, like many of you, I’ve wrestled with the shock, fear, and frustration sparked by the current administration’s actions against higher education. From slashing research funding and dismantling DEI efforts to threatening international student visas and imposing endowment taxes, the administration’s moves are deeply harmful to higher education. There is no justifiable rationale behind these decisions; instead, there is simply an intent to dismantle the system that has long been a cornerstone of American innovation and progress. And yet, amid the disillusionment, I’ve arrived at a difficult but important conclusion: This administration may be the gift higher education never asked for—but one it desperately needed. And that gift is the urgency to act. This administration may be the gift higher education never asked for—but one it desperately needed. And that gift is the urgency to act. I’ve been writing for more than a decade about the void of leadership in higher education. We’ve let numerous unsettling and self-defeating trends continue—costs continue to outpace inflation; student outcomes have largely remained stagnant; our universities have taken on greater and greater debt; hundreds […]

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 […]

Alumni Relations ROI: An Approach

Posted on by 25337pwpadmin@ai_azuread

Marquette University has piloted (and refined) an innovative metrics tool for measuring the impact of alumni engagement efforts. Numerical scores are assigned to specific activities that are indicative of alumni engagement and participation, and the scoring is used to measure the return on investment for alumni relations efforts in quantitative terms and to inform allocation of future resources. To learn about the basics of the approach and how these metrics have informed decision making at Marquette, we interviewed Andrea Petrie, director of development for Marquette’s College of Nursing, and Taylor Schult, an associate engagement officer who serves on Marquette’s Affinity-Based Giving team. Schult notes that what is especially empowering about Marquette’s point-scoring system of alumni relations metrics is that once you have numerical scores, you can set specific goals for improving those scores for specific groups of alumni. And those goals can then be measured quantitatively. BY WAY OF EXAMPLE: MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY’S METRICS Marquette University uses a 16-point model to assess alumni engagement and giving. For each alum, up to 8 points are assigned to metrics that assess engagement: 8 points are assigned to metrics that assess giving: The Marquette point system (above) is just one example of how an […]

Improving Completion Rates for Online Students

Posted on by 25337pwpadmin@ai_azuread

(An earlier version of this article ran in April 2010.) With the percentage of students who are taking online courses rising rapidly (a 17% increase in 2009 alone), improving completion rates for online students (many of whom are returning, adult learners) will likely become a key priority for higher education. In an interview with Academic Impressions, Ken Udas, CEO of UMassOnline, offers his advice on how academic leaders can promote higher completion rates as their institutions strive to meet a growing demand among adult learners for online and distance education. Where You Can Make the Most Difference Udas suggests that there are two areas where relatively small investments in online student retention can see significant returns: Encouraging Course Completion First, Udas suggests, identify your “warning signals,” your indicators that a student engaged in online coursework may be at a higher risk of not completing the course; then set up a process for immediate response to those signals. Warning signals for online learners might include: For example, suppose that your online calculus course has a 40% completion rate each semester. Once you know this, you can respond by making tutoring services available, whether face-to-face or in the form a virtual math lab. […]

Spotlight on Innovation: How Hampton University Plans to Increase STEM Retention and Completion through Course Redesign and Engagement

Posted on by 25337pwpadmin@ai_azuread

How do you increase the number of underrepresented minority students attaining STEM degrees? Hampton University has a holistic approach. 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. Hampton University has set a specific goal of increasing the number of underrepresented minority students who graduate with STEM degrees, and Hampton is looking to address several obstacles to degree completion for minority students, including access, affordability, and engagement. Hampton intends use its $3.5 million First in the World grant to identify students who have declared a STEM major and engage them with a number of activities designed to boost success and completion. The project includes partnerships with several other organizations to facilitate internships and other opportunities for STEM majors. To learn more, we reached out to Dr. Ira Walker, project director of the grant and associate professor […]

Leveraging Parents as Allies in Student Success

Posted on by 25337pwpadmin@ai_azuread

by Daniel Fusch (Academic Impressions), interviewing Marjorie Savage (University of Minnesota) While some colleges are seeking positive ways of managing parent involvement throughout the college years, others have established farewell rituals near the start of a student’s first term to deliver the message that parents are expected to let go and step back. These separation programs range from a formal ceremony at Morehouse College to sessions on “Letting Go” during orientation at other institutions. Not Just About Letting Go Although introducing programming to encourage parents to “let go” may be a way to define the separation process for both students and student services staff, this approach (especially if adopted in isolation from a more holistic strategy for parent engagement) precludes opportunities to leverage parents as key resources in promoting the academic and social success of your students. Marjorie Savage, researcher on the topic of parent/college relations and author of the books Not Helicopters but Allies: Partnering with Parents to Better Support Students (Academic Impressions, 2016) and You’re on Your Own (But I’m Here if You Need Me) (Simon & Schuster, 2009), suggests that parents can be an asset to the institution and play a key role in student success — if that role and the […]

Strategies to Promote Student Resiliency: What to Do When Students Blame Faculty for their Lack of Success

Posted on by 25337pwpadmin@ai_azuread

This article is an excerpt from Sue Ohrablo’s acclaimed book High-Impact Advising: A Guide for Academic Advisors, which you can find here. When working with students, advisors are likely to encounter students who blame others for the academic challenges they experience. It is the responsibility of the advisor to provide a sympathetic ear and refrain from judgment while creating a non-threatening environment.  The advising session should be a safe place for students to express their concerns without fear of retribution or rejection. In such an environment, students are apt to be more candid in their assessments about faculty and peers. Scenario: The Hard Professor Advisors know the reputations of many faculty members, especially those who are considered “hard” or “demanding” by students. Although, in the back of our minds, it might be tempting to think, “Yeah, he’s a real hard-nose,” buying into that characterization of the faculty member does not provide the student any assistance. Instead, the advisor can add value by providing strategies to the student. For instance, a faculty member may be known to criticize students’ academic abilities by using what is interpreted to be a condescending tone when communicating with students. The faculty member may point out deficiencies […]

How One Institution Took Space Management to the Next Level

Posted on by 25337pwpadmin@ai_azuread

Here’s how the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) completely updated its approach to space management. What We Faced As capital funding becomes more competitive, it is increasingly important that the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) uses spatial data in a strategic fashion to acquire monies for capital projects. Upon creating a spatial database, UTEP recognized the importance of making the data within it robust enough to identify space accurately and understand how to increase utilization and efficiency. In turn, this would help upper-level administrators to make data-driven decisions in order to meet the goals and objectives of the university. What We Did The DatabaseFirst, we created a spatial database that not only addressed the reporting requirements from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, but also addressed the internal university attributes that were deemed important when determining whether a space was being utilized efficiently – such as: When instructors become accustomed to using a certain room, it is useful to be able to list these attributes. Then, we can justify offering them another room that better matches space capacity with course capacity and their teaching needs. The Space PolicySecond, to stress the importance of space management to […]

Engaging the Board in the Campaign

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: […]